DEPAUL — It was 50 years ago Thursday that the Beatles released "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," and DePaul University marks the occasion with a wide-ranging two-hour program at the Student Center, 2250 N. Sheffield Ave.
In the final event of this year's DePaul Humanities Center "Transformations" series, an array of academic lectures and musical performances is set for 7 p.m. Thursday in Room 120 of the student center, all on the subject of "Sgt. Pepper" and its lasting influence.
Lectures will take on "Sgt. Pepper" from what the program calls "a feminist, historical and musicological perspective," including presentations by DePaul's John Kinsey, associate professor in the School for New Learning, and professor of Philosophy Bill Martin, as well as Elaine May, professor of history and American studies at the University of Minnesota.
Six bands and solo musicians will perform songs from the album. They were selected from bands that applied to play at the event, and DePaul posted a video pulling some of the performances together on YouTube.
Rock critics have since taken issue with the notion that "Sgt. Pepper" is the Beatles' "masterpiece," but there's no denying it was their first major artistic statement after declaring an end to their live touring days the previous year, and it helped usher in the so-called Summer of Love in 1967.
