Talks & Entertainment

Thurston Moore moved to New York City in 1978, wanting to be immersed in the feral energy of its nightclubs, the angular roar of its bands, and the magnetic personalities within its orbit. But more than anything, he wanted to make music that would move, provoke, and inspire.

In 1981, he co-founded Sonic Youth with Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo, which became a fixture in New York’s burgeoning No Wave scene—an avant-garde collision of art and sound, poetry, and punk. The band would evolve from critical darlings to commercial heavyweights, headlining festivals around the globe and introducing listeners to artists like Nirvana, Hole, and Pavement.

Sonic Life is a coming-of-age story, a love letter to downtown New York, and a music-obsessed retrospective by an artist whose name stands for art, defiance, experimentalism, and undeniable cool and whose songs have challenged the basic ideas of what rock music can be. 

Moore will be in conversation with Alec MacKaye, a musician and writer who has played in punk rock bands since 1979, including The Untouchables, The Faith, Ignition, The Warmers, and currently, Hammered Hulls. He is the author of Hard Art D.C. 1979 and works in the installations/curatorial department at the Phillips Collection Museum. 

Book signing to follow.