Bruce Springsteen, Rock-and-Roll and the Fight for America
Mondays, 10 am-12 pm
September 15, 22, 29, & October 6
Choose to Attend Online via Zoom or In-Person in Thousand Oaks at CLU
Course Description:
Bruce Springsteen stands as one of America’s true rock-and-roll superstars, one who has achieved both commercial and artistic success. Springsteen’s influence extends beyond music, however, as in recent years he has become a prominent and outspoken voice in American politics. This course will explore Springsteen’s development as an artist working within the same tradition as Walt Whitman, Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie, and Bob Dylan. We will also explore key themes in his work, especially the American Dream, the power of love, and humanity’s deep need for redemption. We will look at how Springsteen has continuously updated his conception of American promise and possibilities, and how this vision has increasingly led him to engage in contemporary political debate, challenging President Trump over the perceived erosion of American constitutional limits and liberties. In short, we will listen to some great music and, at the same time, explore how Bruce Springsteen has engaged in and continued to influence the American cultural and political landscape.
● Week 1: New Jersey Rocker to Folk Poet
● Week 2: Bruce Springsteen and the American Dream
● Week 3: Stay True: Mega-Stardom and the Working Class Hero
● Week 4: Voice of Americans: This Land is Our Land
View a preview of these courses on our YouTube page at the following link: https://youtu.be/glfkl6aUp3w
Bon Dylan: A Jewish Lens
Friday, October 7 & 14 , 2025, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Calabasas Civic Center through the Senior Center
Course Description:
The 1960s witnessed an explosion of gifted songwriters and musicians. Bob Dylan ranks among the very top in this class. Over the course of a long and productive career, Dylan achieved a quality in his writing that elevated his work to the level of serious literature. Dylan has earned multiple literary awards in his career, most notably the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016. Dylan’s work reflects multiple influences. Arguably, his Jewish background represents one of the clearest and most important influences on his work. His lyrics and poetry reflect a deep connection with Jewish tradition and biblical sources, especially the Hebrew prophets. These lectures will examine the Jewish elements in his work and seek to demonstrate the value a Jewish perspective brings to our overall understanding of Bob Dylan’s art and influence.
● Week 1: Becoming Bob Dylan: from Obscurity to Icon
● Week 2: Poet, Prophet, Modern Minstrel: The Many Faces of Bob Dylan
Debbie Friedman: Folksinger as Jewish Feminist Revolutionary
Friday, October 17, 2025, 10:00 am - 12:00 pm
Calabasas Civic Center through the Senior Center
In the early 1970s, a young Jewish summer camp and youth choir leader burst onto the scene of formal synagogue music and introduced a new way of singing Jewish songs that would eventually result in a revolution in Jewish music. Debbie Friedman (1951-2011), starting out first in St. Paul, Minnesota, and then moving to Chicago, gained a foothold among synagogue audiences first as an arranger and composer of Jewish music for young people, in which she took traditional songs, often using both Hebrew and English lyrics, and set them to original and very contemporary folk-rock compositions. Her students loved her, and she quickly developed a following among Jewish audiences of all ages, introducing what was essentially a joyful “summer camp” approach to the staid and traditional world of synagogue music. In establishing her new approach to synagogue music, Friedman challenged both gender and musical stereotypes, ultimately revolutionizing the way music is used in contemporary Jewish services. This lecture will provide a brief biographical sketch of Debbie Friedman and explore both her musical and social/gender contributions to Jewish practices in the late-20th and early 21st centuries.
Dr. Cliff Wilcox Bio
Dr. Cliff Wilcox has a Ph.D. in intellectual history from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and an M.A. in Jewish Education from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR). He is the Director of Education and Operations at Temple Beth Torah, Ventura, CA and adjunct instructor. He focuses his teaching on the history of ideas and Jewish Studies. He is particularly interested in the intersections of culture, politics, and identity in American and Jewish history.
