The History of Rock and Roll

Show Topic: Rock Music Spotlight – McCabe’s, Jim Marshall, The Beatles & Bob Dylan

This Thursday, August 13th, 2026, we’re back with another Rock Music Spotlight, featuring great music from the 1960s and 70s and the stories behind the artists, venues, writers, and photographers who helped define those unforgettable decades.

This week, we’ll explore the history of California’s legendary McCabe’s Guitar Shop, remember iconic rock photographer Jim Marshall, and examine the fascinating creative relationship between two of the most influential forces in popular music: Bob Dylan and The Beatles.

We’ll take a closer look at McCabe’s Guitar Shop, founded in 1958 and known not only as a destination for acoustic and folk instruments but also for its intimate back-room concerts. Over the decades, its stage has welcomed an extraordinary range of performers, including Arlo Guthrie, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, Roger McGuinn, Peter Asher, Laurence Juber, Billy J. Kramer, and many others. Guest Peter Alan Lesser will take us inside that history and discuss his work documenting the celebrated Live at McCabe’s concert series.

We’ll also remember legendary photographer Jim Marshall, whose camera captured some of the defining images of 1960s and 70s rock culture. From San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury scene and the Monterey Pop Festival to The Beatles’ final ticketed concert at Candlestick Park in August 1966, Marshall was there for moments that became part of rock and roll history.

Music journalist Joel Selvin and Amelia Davis, who preserves and manages Marshall’s photographic archive, will share stories about the man, his photographs, and his enduring legacy.

Adding another fascinating chapter to the program, New York Times editor and author Jim Windolf joins us to discuss his new book, Where the Music Had to Go: How Bob Dylan and the Beatles Changed Each Other—and the World. We’ll explore the creative relationship and friendly rivalry between Dylan and the Fab Four, and how their mutual influence helped push songwriting and popular music in bold new directions during the 1960s.

Along with these conversations, we’ll feature classic music from the 60s and 70s connected to the artists and stories we’re exploring.

Mark your calendars for a show filled with music, history, photography, and remarkable stories from rock’s golden era. Don’t miss it!

Guest(s) for our show:

Date: Thursday, August 13th, 2026

🎶 Peter Alan Lesser

Peter Alan Lesser is a lifelong music enthusiast, concert presenter, and author whose career has been devoted to bringing audiences and musicians together. In the 1980s, Peter and his wife Therese founded the Java Jive Coffee House in Saranac Lake, New York, which led to producing concerts and acoustic music festivals throughout the Adirondacks. He later worked at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall and, beginning in 2000, at the Empire State Plaza Performing Arts Center, better known as “The Egg,” presenting a wide variety of music, dance, and family performances.

After moving to Santa Monica, California, in 2022, Peter turned from presenting music to writing about it. We’ll focus on his work documenting the Live at McCabe’s Guitar Shop concert series and the remarkable history of McCabe’s as an instrument store, repair shop, music school, and intimate concert venue that has hosted generations of celebrated folk, rock, bluegrass, and roots musicians.

peteralanlesser.com

📰 Joel Selvin

Veteran music journalist and author Joel Selvin had both a close personal friendship and an important creative partnership with legendary rock photographer Jim Marshall. Through that relationship, Joel gained a unique perspective on the man behind some of the most recognizable photographs in rock and roll history.

Joel will help us remember Marshall’s extraordinary career and the music culture he documented, including the San Francisco scene of the 1960s, Haight-Ashbury, the Monterey Pop Festival, and many of the legendary musicians who passed before his camera.

joelselvin.com

📸 Amelia Davis

Amelia Davis worked closely with Jim Marshall and today oversees his extraordinary photographic legacy through Jim Marshall Photography LLC. She manages Marshall’s extensive archive and helps preserve and introduce his work to new generations through exhibitions, books, documentaries, and other projects.

Amelia will join Joel Selvin in remembering Jim Marshall and exploring the stories behind his photographs, including his documentation of San Francisco’s music culture, the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, and The Beatles’ historic final ticketed concert at Candlestick Park on August 29th, 1966.

jimmarshallphotographyllc.com

📚 Jim Windolf

Jim Windolf is an editor at The New York Times and author of Where the Music Had to Go: How Bob Dylan and the Beatles Changed Each Other—and the World, a new book exploring the remarkable relationship between two of the most important musical forces of the 1960s.

Jim will discuss the creative relationship, friendly rivalry, and mutual artistic evolution of Bob Dylan and The Beatles, tracing how they influenced and challenged one another as songwriters and recording artists. Their intersecting musical journeys helped transform the possibilities of popular songwriting and played an important role in the rapidly changing sound and culture of the 1960s.