The Springsteen Center for American Music will host a Chuck Berry symposium and tribute concert, Oct. 10.
Stevie Van Zandt, Vini Lopez, Sonny Kenn and Charlie Giordano are among those confirmed for the “Chuck Berry at 100” symposium that The Bruce Springsteen Center for the Arts will present at The Pollak Theatre at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, Oct. 10.
Van Zandt will take part in two panel discussions, Lopez will be among the performers in the event’s closing concert, and Kenn and Giordano will both speak on panels and perform in the concert
Berry, who was born in October 1926, died in 2017, at the age of 90.
Here is the schedule. For tickets and information, visit SpringsteenCenter.org.
8:30 a.m.: Doors open
9:30 a.m.: Opening remarks by Springsteen Center executive director Bob Santelli
9:40 a.m.: Keynote address by RJ Smith, author of “Chuck Berry: An American Life”
10 a.m.: “The Birth of Rock and Roll: How Chuck Berry Changed American Music”
Panelists: Holly Gleason, Jim Cullen, Charlie Giordano
Moderator: Melissa Kozlowski
10:55 a.m.: “Cars, School, Girls, and Guitars: Chuck Berry as America’s Storyteller”
Panelists: Alan Light, Anthony DeCurtis, Bob Santelli
Moderator: Marquette Folley
11:50 a.m.: “Crossing the Color Line: Chuck Berry, Race, and American Popular Culture”
Panelists: Dave Golland, David Browne, RJ Smith
Moderator: Hettie Williams
12:40 p.m.: Lunch
1:40 p.m.: Thom Zimny Film Screening
2:30 p.m.: “Inventing Rock Guitar”
Panelists: Sonny Kenn, Stevie Van Zandt, Bob Santelli
Moderator: Nick Corasaniti
3:25 p.m.: “The Complicated Legacy of Chuck Berry”
Panelists: Hettie Williams, Stevie Van Zandt, Alan Light
Moderator: Melissa Kozlowski
4:30 p.m.: Concert by Sonny Kenn, Vini Lopez, Charlie Giordano, Chris Plunkett, Joe Bellia and “special musical guests”
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