Jonathan Taplin’s extraordinary journey has put him at the crest of every major cultural wave in the past half century. He was tour manager for Bob Dylan and the Band in the ’60s, producer of major films in the ’70s, an executive at Merrill Lynch in the ’80s, creator of the internet’s first video-on-demand service in the ’90s, and a cultural critic and author writing about technology and the new millenium. Join us for a discussion between this right-hand man to some of the greatest talents of both pop culture and the underground and Princeton history professor and music critic Sean Wilentz.

With cameos by Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Martin Scorsese, and countless other icons, The Magic Years is both a rock memoir and a work of cultural criticism from a key player who watched a nation turn from idealism to nihilism. Taplin makes a strong case for art’s power to deliver us from “passionless detachment” and rekindle our humanism.

This event is ticketed but free. It is a virtual event that will be hosted by Labyrinth Books on the Crowdcast platform. Donations in any amount are much appreciated and directly support Labyrinth’s events programming.