Dr. Benjamin Tausig presents research on his recently released book “Bangkok after Dark:
Maurice Rocco, Transnational Nightlife, and the Making of Cold War Intimacies” (Duke).

Description:
From the 1930s to the 1950s, jazz pianist Maurice Rocco was a mainstay in Hollywood and American nightlife scenes. As rock and roll surpassed jazz as America’s most popular music in the 1950s, the queer Black pianist’s fortunes faded and he was forced to go abroad for new opportunities. In 1964 Rocco settled in Bangkok, where he thrived and enjoyed a relatively privileged life until he was murdered by two young male sex workers in 1976. This talk, based on Benjamin Tausig's new book Bangkok after Dark, tells Rocco’s story through blisteringly cool archival films and audio of his performances in many places.

This is a free event that takes place up a flight of stairs.