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Presentation: Prince as a Revolution

How “The Artist” Changed Music and the Music Business: A New Music History Lecture with Mark Montgomery French
Tuesday, 6/25/2024
6:30 - 7:30
African American Center - 3rd Fl
Main Library

100 Larkin Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
United States

415-557-4400

Prince was a musical phenomenon without peers, from his transcendent songs to his kinetic live performances. But due to his restless artistic output and quest for secrecy, tracking how revolutionary Prince was across the musical spectrum has been mysterious until now.

Musician and historian Mark Montgomery French will lead an immersive one-hour talk exploring the depths of The Purple One’s genius from multiple angles. You’ll see rare music videos, listen to and dissect his multi-tracks, and explore his songwriting through his unique studio processes. You’ll also learn about his battles for gender, racial, financial, and artistic equity. It’s like a live documentary, with jokes!

San Francisco-native Mark Montgomery French is an award-winning film composer with the group Spiky Blimp, an award-winning Creative Director and Co-Producer of Glide Memorial Church’s Sunday Celebration, host of the YouTube music review show “Still Got It” and the podcast “All Your Favorite Music is (Probably)…”, staff writer at PopMatters, and the manager of critically acclaimed queer country band Secret Emchy Society and classic power-punk band The Furys. He’s also a music historian noted for his course All Your Favorite Music is (Probably) Black, the series 28 Days, 28 Black Music Documentaries, and Uppity Music—Your Guide to Unsung Black Departure Albums. He was formerly the co-leader of the ’90s progressive funk band Endangered Species.

Dance & Music

Enjoy performances, talks and workshops that celebrate movement and the musical arts.

More Than a Month: Black Interest

Connect to engaging discussions and performances related to the Black community.

More Than a Month recognizes important events in Black history, honors community and national leaders and fosters steps towards collective change. Programming features authors, poets and craft classes. 

BIPOC Interest

Attend programming, lectures and workshops intended for the BIPOC community.

Spotlight

This program is sponsored by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library.

Attending Programs

For questions about the program or help registering, contact sfplcpp@sfpl.org. All programs are drop-in (no registration necessary) unless otherwise noted. All SFPL locations are wheelchair accessible. For accommodations (such as ASL or language interpretation), call (415) 557-4557 or contact accessibility@sfpl.org. Requesting at least 3 business days in advance will help ensure availability.

Notice: This event may be filmed or photographed. By participating in this event, you consent to have your likeness used for the Library’s archival purposes and promotional materials. If you do not want to be photographed, please inform a staff person or the photographer. A sticker will be provided to help identify you so that we can avoid capturing your image.

Public Notice and Disclaimer

This program uses a third-party website link. By clicking on the third-party website link, you will leave SFPL's website and enter a website not operated by SFPL. This service may collect personally identifying information about you, such as name, username, email address, and password. This service will treat the information it collects about you pursuant to its own privacy policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of each third-party website or service that you visit or use, including those third parties with whom you interact through our Library services. For more information about these third-party links, please see the section of SFPL’s Privacy Policy describing Links to Other Sites.

The views and opinions expressed in programs presented by groups unaffiliated with SFPL do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SFPL or the City.