Jonathan Gould in Conversation with Ben Ratliff

Join us to celebrate the recent release of local author Jonathan Gould's .

"Psycho Killer." "Take Me to the River." "Road to Nowhere." Few artists have had the lasting impact and relevance of Talking Heads. One of the foundational bands of downtown New York's 1970s music scene, Talking Heads have endured as a musical and cultural force for decades, their unique brand of transcendent, experimental rock a lingering influence on popular music--despite having disbanded over thirty years ago.

Now on the 50th anniversary of the band's formation, acclaimed music biographer and contributor to The New Yorker Jonathan Gould offers the definitive story of Talking Heads--a band whose sound, fame, and legacy forever connected the avant-garde to rock music. From their art school origins, to the enigma of David Byrne, to the internal tensions that ultimately brought them down, Gould tells the story of a band that emerged back when rock music was still young and unwittingly redefined the era's expectations of what a rock band could sound, look, and act like.

Jonathan Gould is a writer and a former professional musician. A contributing writer for The New Yorker, he is the author of Can’t Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America and Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life. He currently divides his time between Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and Livingston, NY.

Gould will be joined in conversation by Ben Ratliff, former music critic for The New York Times. Ratliff is the author most recently of , a collection of essays on running and music that The Washington Post called “an ecstatic and eccentric blend of criticism, music, autobiography and philosophy." Ratliff has written about pop, jazz, traditional and experimental music for publications including Granta, Slate, Artforum, Wire, Rolling Stone, the Guardian, and The New York Times, where he worked for twenty years. His subjects are popular music, listening, journalism, creative nonfiction, and the practice and history of cultural criticism. He has taught criticism and nonfiction writing at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and the Columbia University School of the Arts.

We expect this to be a wide-ranging conversation about Talking Heads, music journalism, listening, creative practice, and more. Following the discussion, we'll open up to questions from the audience, followed by book signing. Copies of both Burning Down the House and Run The Song will be available for purchase and signing.

This event is free and open to the public; your RSVP helps us anticipate attendance and is very much appreciated!

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