INDIANAPOLIS — Making his first Indianapolis appearance, acclaimed music journalist Preston Lauterbach will discuss the city’s musical and cultural history Feb. 21 at the University of Indianapolis.
The Memphis-based Lauterbach is author of The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock ’n’ Roll, the first definitive look at the network of African-American nightclubs that nurtured innovative performers and altered the course of 20th century music, all the while functioning outside the confines of mainstream U.S. culture. Indianapolis is featured heavily in the narrative.
The lecture, titled “Indiana Avenue and the Road to Rock ’n’ Roll,” will draw from Lauterbach’s research into the Indianapolis R&B and jazz clubs that hosted black America’s top acts and rising stars from the 1930s into the ’60s, as well as the colorful characters who ruled the scene.
The talk, which will begin at 4 p.m. Feb. 21 in UIndy Hall A of the university’s Schwitzer Student Center, is part of the university’s Sutphin Lecture Series. Admission is free.
