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Gass to give virtual talk on Lennon Tuesday, 40th anniversary of musician's death
On the 40th anniversary of the night of John Lennon's untimely death, IU Auditorium will host Remembering John Lennon 40 Years Later with Glenn Gass.
The virtual event is set for 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 8.
The live event can be viewed on Zoom and on the IU Auditorium Facebook page and will later be archived at IUauditorium.com/Livestreams.
The remembrance will feature a conversation with Gass on the impact John had and continues to have on music and the world.
After changing the course of rock and roll and popular music as a founding member of the Beatles, Lennon went on to a prominent solo career as a singer/songwriter in the 1970s. He was murdered outside his New York City apartment on the evening of Dec. 8, 1980, just two months after his 40th birthday.
Gass, who retired from instructing classes in May 2020, is the provost professor and Rudy Professor Emeritus of Music at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Spending almost 40 years teaching at IU, the Greencastle native created the first rock history classes ever offered by a school of music. The classes became so popular that Gass has taught more than 60,000 students and was often voted the most popular professor at IU Bloomington.
He also developed courses on the history and origins of rock music and created specialized courses on The Beatles and Bob Dylan. The success of his classes led to the eventual creation of a certification program at IU and also inspired other colleges and universities to follow suit by adding rock history courses to their offerings.
In June, Editor Emeritus Eric Bernsee wrote a column of Gass’s remembrances of his distinguished career as well as growing up in Greencastle.
Presented free of charge, the program is presented with support from the IU Campus Tutoring Service and Fred and Beth Cate, along with season partners Curry Auto Center and Cook.