Historical songwriter
Maybe it’s not the biggest subgenre in rock music, but there’s a distinctive style called “textbook-pop” — or maybe I just came up with the phrase after pondering Al Stewart’s catalog.
Stewart is the hyper-melodic Scottish singer-songwriter with the delightfully clipped vocal delivery, and that he frequently draws his subject matter from world history is not only interesting but educational. His giant hit, “Year of the Cat,” of course, is stuffed with 1940s imagery of an exotic market, an alluring mystery woman and references to Bogart and Peter Lorre.
Go further! “A Man for All Seasons” is about St. Thomas More. “Roads to Moscow” is about the German invasion of Russia in World War II. “Nostradamus” details the famous seer’s predictions for modern times. “On the Border” is about Basque separatists and gun running. “Warren Harding” is about, ah, Warren G. Harding (and, in case you’re wondering, Al Stewart, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook; sold out; 1-877-503-1286.
Stewart couldn’t come up with a word that rhymes with “Harding,” either). “Charlotte Corday” concerns the assassination of 18th-century French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat.
There are many more “textbook-pop” tunes by Stewart, as
well as “regular” hits like “Carol,” “Time Passages,” “Song on the Radio” and “Midnight Rocks.” See most of these — maybe all of them — when Stewart entertains tonight at The Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center. Norwich sculptor Bela Lyon Pratt; free.
7 p.m., Savoy Bookshop and Cafe, 10 Canal St., Westerly; author talk and signing, with moderator Annie Hartnett; free; (401) 213-3901.
Gabriel Tallent —
(860) 441-6750.
4 p.m., Public Library of New London, 63 Huntington St.; activities for grades 3-6; free; (860) 447-1411.
5:30-7 p.m., Groton Public Library, 52 Newtown Road; video and tabletop board games for teens; free; (860) 441-6750.
Tween Thursday — Teen Gaming Club — Year of Percy Jackson —
6:30 p.m., Cragin Memorial Library, 8 Linwood Ave., Colchester; discussion regarding the upcoming book club series; free; (860) 537-7201.