Come visit the Norwalk Public Library for an Ohio Humanities Speakers’ Bureau event with Matthew Donahue!

This presentation highlights the history of rock and roll and popular music from the crossover of blues and country music in the 1950s leading to rock and roll through the many genres since the early rhythm and blues, rockabilly scene to contemporary music styles such as punk, hip-hop, heavy metal and electronic pop.

Dr. Matthew Donahue is a Teaching Professor at the Department of Popular Culture at Bowling Green State University, specializing in topics related to popular culture, popular music, film, media and culture and popular culture and the arts.  He has lectured on such topics regionally, nationally and internationally and has served as an authority on popular culture topics for national and international publications.   In addition to his academic work, he is also a musician, artist, filmmaker and writer.  As a musician, he has released sound recordings internationally working within a variety of popular music genres.  As an artist, he uses popular culture as the basis of his artistic creations working in two and three-dimensional collage/mixed media, street photography and art cars and has exhibited his work at exhibitions, galleries, festivals and museums throughout the United States.  He is an award-winning documentary filmmaker for such films as “The Hines Farm Blues Club”, “The Amsterdam T-Shirt Project” and “Motorhead Matters”.  Additionally, he has made documentaries on the history and culture of art cars such as “Taking It to the Streets: An Art Car Experience” and “Car Power: Another Art Car Experience”.  His written work consists of the award winning “I’ll Take You There: An Oral and Photographic History of the Hines Farm Blues Club” and a collection of photography related to his art cars titled “Taking It to the Streets: An Art Car Experience” as well as writings on popular music and the arts.  His academic and creative efforts can be viewed at www.md1210.com.

Curious about our Speakers Bureau? Check out speakers and topics here.

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