A former manager of the Rolling Stones will be teaching a course at Thompson Rivers University next year.
Andrew Loog Oldham, the Rolling Stones’ first manager is collaborating with TRU’s Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Adventure, Culinary Arts and Tourism to offer a course on the evolution of pop culture from 1954 to 1984.
“I get ‘Oh man, you know it must be really great to hang out with Keith Richards.’ Well I knew all these people and these people all knew me at a time when there was absolutely nothing really incredible about these people except when they got on stage or in front of a camera or in a recording studio then they became special,” Loog Oldham said while on the NL Morning News.
He will be a visiting scholar-in-residence with the Faculty of Arts, and will be giving 10, two-hour interactive talks during the 13-week course, which will be co-taught by Bruce Baugh from philosophy and Billy Collins from tourism management.
“Andrew Loog Oldham was at the epicentre of the most exciting music scene of all time: London in the 1960s. Not only did he manage the Rolling Stones, but he knew the Beatles, the Who, the Kinks, Rod “the Mod” Stewart, Jimi Hendrix, the original Small Faces, Jimmy Page, and on and on,” said Baugh.
“It was a scene where everyone of any importance knew everyone else, it was incredibly concentrated in one place and it was amazingly fertile, artistically. The musicians were all under 30, and Oldham was as young as they were. It was a cultural revolution that shook the world. There has been nothing like it before or since.”
The university says non-TRU students can also register for the three-credit university course which will have assignments and grades.
There is also the option to audit the course, where people pay the registration fee and attend the entire 13 weeks, but are exempt from assignments.
“This is truly an exceptional and unique opportunity — not only to relive the firsthand experiences of a living icon from the music industry, but to go beyond that to explore an era and a time with a major influencer who helped to shape it,” said Faculty of Arts Dean Rick McCutcheon.
“The learning that students will do in this class will go far beyond anecdotes and stories, to extend into a deeper understanding of a pivotal period of pop culture and society that has contributed to the cultural influences that we see today.”
Rock Dreams: A History, 1954-1984 – Up Close and Personal with Andrew Oldham will be offered on Thursdays from 6 to 9 p.m., starting in January 2020.
People who are interested in the course are asked to call the Faculty of Arts at 250-828-5200 for more information.
(Photo via Betina La Plante)
