Class Schedule: Thursday, December 19 | 7:30 – 9:00 PM
From 1963 to 1969, the Beatles sent Christmas messages on flexidiscs to their US and UK fan clubs. In 1970, a compilation of these messages was sent out, and they were re-released as a collector’s set in 2017. Join SCOTT FREIMAN and KEN WOMACK for a one-session virtual course to explore this unique aspect of the Beatles’ history.
Zoom Link will be provided upon registration.
ALICIA OSTRIKER has published 19 collections of poetry, been twice nominated for the National Book Award, and has twice received the National Jewish Book Award for Poetry, among other honors. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Yale Review, American Poetry Review, Best American Poetry , The Atlantic , Prairie Schooner, and other journals, and has been translated into numerous languages including Hebrew and Arabic. Her most recent collections of poems are Waiting for the Light and The Volcano and After:Selected and New Poems 2002 – 2019 . She was New York State Poet Laureate for 2018 – 2021 and a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2015 – 2020.
JOAN LARKIN is the author of five previous collections of poetry, including Blue Hanuman (2014); My Body: New and Selected Poems (2007), which received the Audre Lorde Award from the Publishing Triangle; Lambda Literary Award winner Cold River (1997); and Housework (1975). With Jaime Manrique, Larkin translated Sor Juana’ s Love Poems, a bilingual edition of Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz’ s poetry (1997). Her prose works include I f You Want What We Have: Sponsorship Meditations (1998) and Glad Day: Daily Meditations for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender People (1998). Her plays include The AIDS Passion, The Living, and Wiretap.
This event is being held in conjunction with A Tribute to Jean Valentine – Panel Discussion on October 29 at 2:50 in the Julian Abele Room.
Hosted By Department of English (Brother Austen Poets-in-the-Classroom Series) in partnership with the Visiting Writers Series
Class Schedule: Thursdays – December 5 & 12 | 7:30 – 9:00 PM
Parliament/Funkadelic’s George Clinton declared “we want the funk,” and by the mid-70s the genre was in full swing. On the R&B and pop charts as well as on the dance floor, funk had officially taken over. This two-session virtual course taught by Kit O’Toole covers the peak of the genre, its eventual decline in popularity, and its continuing influence. Artists examined include the Ohio Players, Stevie Wonder, Average White Band, Kool and the Gang, Earth, Wind, and Fire, the Commodores, Cameo, Slave, Zapp and Roger, and many more. In addition, subgenres including go go, punk funk (coined by Rick James), funk rock, and Bay Area funk will be covered. The course includes multimedia presentations and class discussions.
Zoom Link will be provided upon registration.
Class Schedule: Thursdays – November 7 & 14 | 7:30 – 9:00 PM
In this two-session virtual course taught by Robert Rodriguez, students will learn how to produce a podcast from the planning stage to the final upload. The two sessions will focus on developing a concept, basic recording technology, post-production and launching onto Apple & Spotify. No previous podcasting experience is required.
Zoom Link will be provided upon registration.
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Based on his acclaimed podcast, Producing the Beatles, Jason Kruppa explores the music of the Fab Four from the perspective of the one person whose point of view has never been properly and thoroughly examined: their producer, George Martin. Using innovative techniques to break down their recordings, we’ll discover how the Beatles went from learning their way around the studio to becoming masters of the art of recording, with their producer working side by side with them each step of the way. And finally, with re-recordings and detailed recreations of Martin’s orchestral scores that allow us to hear individual instrument parts,, we’ll learn how his arrangements enhanced and shaped the Beatles’ music.
Zoom Link will be provided upon registration.
Roxey Ballet’s Journey Back to 80s is a pop/rock music and dance extravaganza featuring top hits from the 80s like: features songs including Flashdance, Jenny Jenny, Tainted Love, Walk Like an Egyptian, Billy Jean, Like A Prayer, Footloose, and many more! Phenomenal choreography and dancing by Roxey Ballet will take the audience back to the era of rock ‘n roll, shoulder pads and iconic music and have them to on their feet, singing and dancing in the aisles!
Celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2025, this Grammy-nominated, all-female ensemble will dazzle audiences of all ages with a rousing program of traditional Irish melodies and original arrangements. Enjoy virtuoso instrumentation, beautiful vocals, and spirited step dancing that has earned them recognition as the BBC’s “Best Musical Group of the Year” and the Irish Music Awards’ “Top North American Celtic Group.”
Led by Bronx-native Joanie Madden, a 2021 NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award winner and All-Ireland flute and whistle champion, Cherish the Ladies captivates with their “passionate, tender, and rambunctious” (Washington Post) performances. Known for their heart, humor, and “heaps of music in their fingers and toes” (Glasgow Herald), this concert promises to be an afternoon filled with traditional Irish music and dance—bursting with energy, wit, and spirit. Don’t miss this electrifying performance that will have everyone tapping their feet and clapping along!
The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music is excited to announce a special, solo performance by Adam Weiner (aka LowCut Connie) on Saturday, August 24th at 8pm. The concert is being presented by the Spring-Nuts and will take place at Monmouth University’s Pollak Theatre. Tickets are $25 and will go on sale Wednesday, July 24 at noon and can be purchased here or the Monmouth University box office. All proceeds from this event will benefit Stevie Van Zandt’s TeachRock, FulFill of Monmouth County and the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music.
The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music serves as the official repository for the musical legacy of Bruce Springsteen. The Archives includes photographs, periodicals, oral histories, rare recordings, historic footage, and artifacts related to Springsteen and the E Street Band. The Center for American Music produces museum exhibitions, seminars, concerts, and other public and educational programs that both explore and celebrate the nation’s rich music tradition. For further information, please contact Eileen Chapman, Director, at echapman@springsteenarchives.org, or 732-571-3512, or visit our website.
Rama, a literature professor and novelist, travels from Paris to Saint-Omer to observe the trial of Laurence Coly and write about the case. Coly is a student and Senegalese immigrant accused of leaving her 15-month-old daughter on a beach to be swept away by the tide in Berck. Rama, who is four-months pregnant and, like Coly, is in a mixed-race relationship and has a complex relationship with her own Senegalese immigrant mother, feels a personal connection to Coly. She plans to write a modern day retelling of the Greek Medea myth about the case. As she learns more about Coly’s life and the isolation Coly experienced from her family and society while living in France, Rama becomes increasingly anxious about her own life and pregnancy.
There will be a post screening Q&A hosted by Marina Vujnovic with special guest speaker Prof. Julius Adekunle.
An Indonesian man with a communist background named Ramli was brutally murdered when the “Communist” purge occurred in 1965. His remaining family members lived in fear and silence until the making of this documentary. Adi, a brother of his, decided to revisit the horrific incident and visited the men who were responsible for the killings and one survivor of the purge. These meetings uncovered sadistic details of the murders and exposed raw emotions and reactions of the killers’ family members about what happened in the past – much to Adi’s disappointment.
There will be a post screening Q&A hosted by Professor Minna Yu with special guest speaker Dickie Cox.
