Topics include: The state of music writing before the mid- to late 1960s; the original visions of the pioneer magazines; music and the New Left/counterculture; women in the “boy’s club.” Suggested reading: “Lesley Gore: They Don’t Own Her,” Let It Rock, (1975); “Big (Fleetwood) Mac: The Cover Story,” Rolling Stone (1978); “Perils of Rock Criticism,” …
Topics include: The tension between listening and considering music in its political/cultural contexts; the challenge of hearing innovation in relation to sources; the evolution of musical styles; how Dave inspired new paths to hearing rock and pop music. Suggested reading: “Introduction,” “The Lonesome Death of Florence Thompson,” Fortunate Son, Dave Marsh (1985);“I Heard It Through …
Topics include: Detroit as the crossroads of American music; performing venues, record stories, studios; Motown and “rock ‘n’ roll”; music, labor and radical politics. Suggested reading: “The Great Levi Stubbs,” Rock & Rap Confidential, (2008, reprinted in Counterpunch)
Topics include: Economics and exploitation in the music business; the impact of balance sheets on artists and their creations; the relationship of producers, label owners, and musicians; changing platforms of music distribution; censorship in the music industry. Suggested reading: “Wanted for Attitude: The FBI Hates This Band” Dave Marsh and Phyllis Pollack, Village Voice (1989); …
Topics include: The changing relation of print, radio, digital media; the role of DJs and editors; political expression and the media industries. Suggested reading: “Back in Black” (on rock censorship and war), Rock & Rap Confidential (1990); “Wanted for Attitude: The FBI Hates This Band” Dave Marsh and Phyllis Pollack, Village Voice (1989);
Topics include: The pressure of inherited wisdom; expanding the soundscape; the challenge of introducing audiences to new sounds, deepening historical awareness; creating conversations between histories, styles, and traditions. Suggested reading: “Epilog” from Trapped: Michael Jackson and the Crossover Dream, Dave Marsh (1985); “Perils of Rock Criticism,” Rock & Rap Confidential, 1994.
Topics include: The role of music in creating and/or supporting communities; opening spaces for marginalized/oppressed groups; the challenge of bringing different communities into conversation. Suggested reading: “Celebrity Skin” (on “We Shall Overcome”), Rock & Rap Confidential (1999)
Topics include: Challenging the white/male bias of musical institutions; empowerment vs. uplift; music as a political weapon from the Civil Rights era to the present. Suggested reading: “The MoJo Wire’s Top 20 Political Songs,” Mother Jones, 1996.
Topics include: Music and health care, the healing power of music, health care and social justice, Dave Marsh's role in patient advocacy. Suggested reading: “Jimmy LaFave in the Present Tense,” Austin Chronicle
Topics include: Dave’s support for musicians addressing social issues; Dave as a collaborator and network building; the importance of empathy Suggested reading: Dave Marsh Introduction to DaDooRonRon email list
Topics include: Education in and (mostly) beyond classrooms; learning how to teach from/with music; moving between intellectual/academic and community spaces; the tension between outsider and insider “audiences.” Suggested reading: “Nemachtilli: The Spirit of Learning, The Spirit of Teaching,” “Monsters of Our Own Making,” Louis J. Rodriguez
Topics include: Thinking about how the issues Dave’s raised, and the way he’s crafted the stories of and around music, connects with the actual practice of writing, movie-making, songwriting. Suggested reading: "The Lonesome Death of Florence Thompson," Fortunate Son, Dave Marsh (1985) ; Brian DePalma in Two Hearts, Dave Marsh (2003)