Presented by Brian Chidester

What do Dave Brubeck, The Beach Boys, and The Doors have in common? They are facets of the California Sound. But what is the California Sound? Is it the sweeping film score of the 1930s Golden Age of Hollywood? Or the breezy Cool Jazz and ersatz Tiki sound of the '40s and '50s? What about Surf Music? Or Folk-Rock? Or Psychedelia and the Haight-Ashbury sound? Does California music have to be ABOUT the state of California? Or even made by artists FROM California? This seminar explores the subject from these and other angles, discovering a throughline of imagination, novelty, and experimentation that inspired fans and artists alike around the world.

Brian Chidester is an art and music historian with a background in curation, documentary filmmaking, and journalism. He has curated exhibitions, been a segment producer of documentaries for the BBC, PBS, and Showtime, and is co-director of the feature film As the Wind: The Enchanted Life of Eden Ahbez. With Domenic Priore, he was the editor-in-chief of Dumb Angel Magazine and co-author of the book Pop Surf Culture. He lives in New York City.