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Rock as history, not nostalgiaBy GINA VIVINETTO
© St. Petersburg Times, ST. PETERSBURG -- How's this for a rocking history lesson: "Only in America: Popular Music in American Culture, 1956-1964." Charles McGovern, curator of American popular culture at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., presents the hourlong lecture tonight at the Florida International Museum. The lecture, which incorporates the sounds of many familiar -- and some not so familiar -- rock 'n' roll tunes, is more than a trip down memory lane. "This isn't about nostalgia," McGovern says. "We get nostalgia marketed to us every day. This is about history." McGovern's aim is to probe popular music's role in the country's social fabric during the music's inception and throughout the turbulent 1950s and '60s. Those years are McGovern's focus because, he says, that's when rock 'n' roll became a national phenomenon. "That's when it began causing controversy, largely because people were upset that the races began to mingle," McGovern says, emphasizing that early rock 'n' roll concerts were the first publicly integrated events in many communities. McGovern, also curator of "Rock 'n' Soul: Social Crossroads," a Smithsonian Institution exhibit at the Rock 'n' Soul Museum in Memphis, also will discuss the impact of class and region in popular music, and the crucial roles played by European immigrants and Hispanics. AT A GLANCECharles McGovern presents "Only in America: Popular Music in American Culture, 1956-1964" at 6:30 tonight at the Florida International Museum, 100 Second St., St. Petersburg. Free. RSVP: (727) 822-3693.
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From the wire |
