Three months shy of what would be his 100th birthday, Woody Guthrie, the prolific, influential and politically charged folk musician, is being celebrated with a day-long conference arranged by “four distinguished universities,” the Woody Guthrie Archives and the GRAMMY Museum. “The Dust Bowl Troubadour” traveled alongside migrant workers from Oklahoma to California, gathering songs and rising to fame in Depression-era Los Angeles. Woody Guthrie's Los Angeles: A Centenary Celebration offers quite a heady program for an itinerant wanderer whose guitar announced, “This Machine Kills Fascists,” with discussions examining Guthrie's “Musical/Political Evolution,” “Woody's Influences Across Space and Race,” the forging of “an American political tradition,” labor unrest, migration, and the Dust Bowl culture. The day is punctuated by performances from students at the Thornton School of Music, but attendees can also opt to attend the separate Club Nokia musical celebration, featuring John Doe, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Morello, and others. University Park Campus Bovard Auditorium, 3551 Trusdale Parkway; Sat., April 14, 8:00am-5:30 p.m.; free, resv. required: https://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/113/event/893771

Sat., April 14, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., 2012

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