Rock Historian Richie Unterberger

On Wednesday October 17th local rock music writer Richie Unterberger will present a follow-up to his very successful 40th Anniversary of Summer of Love program at SFPL's Park Branch. Call it a celebration of "The Indian Summer of Love" or of "The Fall of the Summer of Love,” the program will consist of more rare and classic 1967-era film clips of psychedelic rock, from San Francisco and elsewhere.

No clips will be repeated from the prior program! Footage includes: Big Brother & the Holding Company, with Janis Joplin; Donovan; the Rolling Stones; the Beatles; the Mothers of Invention; the Nice; the Spencer Davis Group; Ravi Shankar; the Youngbloods; the Moody Blues; and several others.

Park Branch
San Francisco Public Library
1833 Page Street.
Wednesday, October 17th 7-9 p.m.
Admission is free


The library has recently acquired Unterberger’s latest book - The Unreleased Beatles: Music and Film. This exciting, thoroughly-researched tome aims to document thousands of hours of unreleased recorded material ranging form studio outtakes, live concerts, home tapes, television broadcasts, rehearsals and demos.

To Beatles fanatics the purpose of this book is obvious. The casual Beatles-fan might however ask, why examine unreleased works when there are so many wonderful commercial recordings available? To have a full appreciation of the band’s evolution and creative process the unreleased works are invaluable. Interested in how the Beatles sounded with Pete Best as drummer, or with Stuart Sutcliffe as bassist? Interested in their songwriting methods? Interested in how much they improved in the year between their Decca audition and the release of their first LP, or in how much they argued during the "Get Back" sessions? The unreleased works and Unterberger’s commentary on them will illuminate.

For readers thirsting for more after reading The Unreleased Beatles the library's collection has 80 titles on the band.

The library also has several other Richie Unterberger titles:

Eight Miles High: Folk-Rock's Flight From Haight-Ashbury to Woodstock (2003).

Music USA: The Rough Guide (1999).

Turn! Turn! Turn!: The '60s Folk-Rock Revolution (2002).

Unknown Legends of Rock'n'roll: Psychedelic Unknowns, Mad Geniuses, Punk Pioneers, Lo-fi Mavericks and More (1998).

Urban Spacemen And Wayfaring Strangers: Overlooked Innovators and Eccentric Visionaries Of '60s Rock (2000).