BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE, TALKING HEADS: Author Jonathan Gould in Conversation with Alec Wightman

Name: BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE, TALKING HEADS: Author Jonathan Gould in Conversation with Alec Wightman
Start: 2025-06-26T19:30:00-04:00
Location: 945 King Ave, Columbus, OH, United States, Ohio 43212

Schedule

Thu, 26 Jun, 2025 at 07:30 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

945 King Ave, Columbus, OH, United States, Ohio 43212 | Columbus, OH

Gramercy Books Joins Natalie’s Grandview and Zeppelin Productions to Present Songwriter Spotlight: BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE Author Jonathan Gould in Conversation with Alec Wightman! Parker MacDonell Playing Talking Heads Hits!
A literary and musical evening not-to-be-missed features acclaimed music biographer, Jonathan Gould, author of Burning Down The House, the long-overdue, definitive story of this singular band that brought fringe culture to rock’s mainstream, forever changing the look and sound of popular music! Gould will be in conversation with music devotee Alec Wightman; performing several Talking Heads standouts is singer/songwriter Parker MacDonell.
Admission is $15 and all attendees who purchase BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE during registration or at the event will get 20% off the retail cost of the book. Doors open at 6:30 pm.
NATALIE’S GRANDVIEW and ZEPPELIN PRODUCTIONS are Community Partners with GRAMERCY BOOKS for this exclusive songwriter evening.
“Psycho Killer.” “Take Me to the River.” “Road to Nowhere.” Few artists have had the lasting impact and relevance of Talking Heads. One of the foundational bands of downtown New York’s 1970s music scene, Talking Heads have endured as a musical and cultural force for decades, their unique brand of transcendent, experimental rock a lingering influence on popular music—despite having disbanded over thirty years ago.
Now on the 50th anniversary of the band’s formation, acclaimed music biographer and contributor to The New Yorker, Jonathan Gould offers the definitive story of Talking Heads—a band whose sound, fame, and legacy forever connected the avant-garde to rock music. From their art school origins to the enigma of David Byrne, to the internal tensions that ultimately brought them down, Gould tells the story of a band that emerged back when rock music was still young and unwittingly redefined the era’s expectations of what a rock band could sound, look, and act like. At a time when guitar solos, lead singer swagger, and sweaty stadium tours reigned supreme, Talking Heads were pretentious, awkward, infectious, distinctive—most comfortable on the ragged stages of the East Village where they could make art for themselves, above all else.
More than just a biography of a band, Gould masterfully captures the singular time and place that incubated and nurtured this original music—downtown in the 1970s—that much romanticized, little understood moment in New York City history when art, music, and commerce uneasily collided to cement the post-Woodstock generation of rock stars, often with messy results. What emerges is an expansive portrait of a band and a scene that permanently shifted the horizons of popular music, iconoclasts that pushed the cultural fringe into the mainstream and then burned down the house.
Jonathan Gould is a writer and a former professional musician. A contributing writer for The New Yorker, he is the author of Can’t Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America and Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life. He currently divides his time between Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and Livingston, NY.
Alec Wightman’s passion and knowledge of music, particularly rock and roll, runs long and deep, as revealed in his 2021 memoir, Music in My Life. His Zeppelin Productions, Inc. has promoted national act singer-songwriter concerts in Columbus since 1995. He’s also a longtime member of the Board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he served three years as Chair.
Parker MacDonell has been using his original songs, voice, and acoustic guitar to communicate with audiences for years. A veteran of the Los Angeles club scene and college student unions across the United States, Parker has released four recordings: Miracle on Broad Street with Matt Munhall (2017), The Present Tense (2012), Looking For You (1985), and Home to the Heart (1983). His two recent recordings are available on Spotify and Apple Music.
Food & Bar: Our full food and drink menu will be available before and during the show.