Mystery Train 50th Anniversary Celebration (Oakland)

Submitted by the Event Organizer

On March 7, Greil Marcus joins Daveed Diggs for a live 50th anniversary celebration of Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock ’n’ Roll Music. Written by Greil Marcus and first published in 1975, Mystery Train is a book that changed how we understand rock ’n’ roll — not as youth culture, but as an unfolding of American culture itself. The book reshaped music criticism and was later named one of TIME’s all-time best nonfictions. Its argument that rock ’n’ roll is a lens into the American story continues to reverberate fifty years later. Lauded by Bruce Springsteen as his #1 must-read music book, Marcus’s genre-defining exploration of artists like Elvis Presley, the Band, Sly Stone, and Randy Newman still resonates across cultural thought today. Marcus and Diggs, each a groundbreaking creative force in his own right, will revisit the book’s enduring legacy and discuss why music continues to define the American ethos. This gathering will take place at the California Ballroom, an Oakland Art Deco landmark since 1926. Note: No live music will be performed at this event. Presented by the Bay Area Book Festival.

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