Event

Speaker Series: Jason Heller

On Thursday, July 26th, at 6:00 p.m., doors will open at the Charleston Library Society for a night of funkadelic, psychedelic music and literary discussion unlike anything seen before in the Lowcountry.

Spearheaded by Hugo Award winning author and music journalist Jason Heller (The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, and more) in support of his latest book, Strange Stars: David Bowie, Pop Music, and the Decade Sci-Fi Exploded, the night will feature music, conversation, and a specialty Strange Stars cocktail.

Strange Stars is a unique story, featuring an exciting decade of music and one of its biggest icons: David Bowie. As the 1960s drew to a close, Bowie slipped into the empty balcony of a London cinema to see 2001: A Space Odyssey. He emerged a changed man. As the 1970s progressed and mankind trained its telescopes on distant worlds, Bowie would lead other rock stars to see the world of science fiction as the catalyst needed to continue the revolution begun in the sixties.

Strange Stars explains how science fiction and music came to depend on each other throughout the decade. With Bowie as their leader, Heller ties some of pop musics most influential names into a single narrative including: Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Sun Ra, Parliament-Funkadelic, Kraftwerk, Rush, Devo, and X-Ray Spex, while also including the more obscure musicians of the decade who nonetheless helped influence the scene.

At the Charleston Library Society, Jason Heller will be joined in conversation with local journalist/Charleston Library Societys own Leah Rhyne as the two muse about writing, research, rock, pop, disco, and all the music popular in the 70s. If you love music, too, this nights for you.

Copies of Strange Stars will be available for purchase as Jason Hellers own carefully curated playlist of the music in his book is played through the evening. Come for the music, stay for the stories and the Strange Stars cocktail. Tickets are only $5/members and $10/nonmembers.