Tonight (2/10), acclaimed music journalist Peter Guralnick will present Sam Cooke: Legend, his Grammy-winning 2003 documentary about the groundbreaking soul singer, songwriter and entrepreneur, in a special screening as part of Vanderbilt’s International Lens film series. The 7 PM screening, at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema in the Sarratt Student Center, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, is free and open to the public.
Guralnick, author of Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke and writer and interviewer for the documentary, will introduce the film and take questions afterwards. Guralnick, also author of a two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, is currently a writer in residence at Vanderbilt.
“(Cooke) wrote his own songs, hired his own musicians, and started his own record label and music publishing company – all at a time when record companies treated black artists like hired help,” Guralnick writes in Dream Boogie.
The International Lens film series strives to transcend geographic, ethnic, religious, linguistic and political boundaries by promoting conversation through cinema.