Deep Cuts: Classic Rock and Hair Metal with Professor and Guitarist Jesse Kavadlo

New Books in Popular Culture

Jesse Kavadlo is the classic “renaissance man” – literature and humanities professor, author of acclaimed books and articles, President of the Don DeLillo Society, fantastic husband and father…AND self-taught guitarist and vocalist with Top Gunz, one of the most popular 1980s rock cover bands in America.

In this Deep Cuts conversation, Jesse and Bob discuss his guitar-saturated youth and the circuitous path he later took to the university classroom. They regale in their shared Gen X roots and how that past still informs them today, as well as a variety of pop culture topics, from grunge’s almost overnight takedown of hair metal to professors and tweed jackets (and spandex).

At the heart of this Deep Cut episode is Jesse’s guitar playing and singing as a lens to uncover the ways a new generation of young people are discovering classic rock, particularly the Doors (the subject of Bob’s book Roadhouse Blues: Morrison, the Doors, and the Death Days of the Sixties, published by Hamilcar Publications). A highlight is Jesse’s demonstration of the subtlety and beauty of Doors guitarist Robby Krieger versus the styles of soloists like Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen.

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Bob Batchelor is an award-winning cultural historian and biographer. His latest books are Roadhouse Blues: Morrison, the Doors, and the Death Days of the Sixties and Stan Lee: A Life. Visit him on the web at www.bobbatchelor.com or email at [e-mail]

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