The History of Rock and Roll

Show Topic: Rock Music Spotlight – McCabe’s Guitar Shop & the Photography of Jim Marshall

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, and people who helped define those unforgettable decades.

This time, we’ll explore two very different but important pieces of music history: the intimate performances associated with California’s legendary McCabe’s Guitar Shop and the extraordinary rock photography of Jim Marshall.

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. Our 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 archive director Amelia Davis will share stories about Marshall, his work, and the continuing effort to preserve his remarkable photographic legacy.

Along with those conversations, we’ll fill the show with classic rock, folk rock, and other great sounds from the 60s and 70s that connect directly to the artists and stories we’ll be exploring.

Mark your calendars for a show that brings together live music history, unforgettable photography, and some of rock’s most iconic moments. 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