The 40th anniversary of the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair is getting a 40-year dose of Boston rock and roll.
Archivist David Bieber, who is showing a fraction of his massive collection of rock and roll memorabilia in a permanent exhibit at the Verb Hotel, will be showcasing "Collecting the Boston Music Scene: 1976-2016" later this month at the Hynes Convention Center. The dates for this year's Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair are October 28 to 30.
Bieber, formerly WBCN's Director of Creative Services and the Director of Special Projects at the Boston Phoenix, will display items from his extensive personal collection including rock posters, albums, and ephemera documenting 40 years of Boston’s music scene. That means expect a decent amount of Aerosmith, the J. Geils Band, and the Cars, but also several other underground artists that have colored the city's sound over the past four decades.
"With this show I want to pay tribute to Boston music and acknowledge the many performers who have made the city a significant contributor to music history,” Bieber says in a press release. “Coinciding with the 40th Anniversary of the Book Fair, this exhibition will uniquely place these selections from my collection within a broader historical context.”
Adds show producer Betty Fulton: “David has been a regular attendee at the Book Fair, and we have a shared history in the Boston music business. With the renewed interest in collecting vinyl, I thought that a look back at the Boston music scene through his collection would be appealing to both our traditional attendees and audiences unfamiliar with our event. That these items are now collectibles is a testament to the fact that the passage of time renders extraordinary value to ordinary things.”
In addition to "Collecting the Boston Music Scene: 1976-2016", other events at the Antiquarian Book Fair include The Typewriter Rodeo poetry group, Boston College English professor Paul Lewis lecturing on Edgar Allen Poe "and the rediscovery of Boston’s citizen poets after the American Revolution", and the 15th Annual Ticknor Society Roundtable, where Northeast librarians discuss their personal collections.
Find complete and more details listings here. Below is one piece that will be on display: Asa Brebner's Guitarra Demuerte (2012); photo by Betty Fulton. Brebner was a member of the '70s Boston rock groups the Modern Lovers and Robin Lane and the Chartbusters.
UPDATE October 7, 10:18 p.m.: And here's a look at some other items that will be on display...
