We Gotta Get Out of This Place
Registration opens Nov. 18
Join us on Friday, Jan. 10, 7:00 p.m. for an evocative presentation by Doug Bradley, author and Vietnam veteran, as he delves into the powerful role of music during the Vietnam War. In his talk, We Gotta Get Out of This Place - The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War, Bradley will examine how U.S. troops used music to forge connections with each other and with home, and how it served as a coping mechanism amidst the complexities of war.
Drawing from veterans' testimonies, Bradley will highlight how music shaped individual and cultural memories of the Vietnam War, a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of the American experience. He will also discuss the profound impact of Vietnam-era music on the countercultural revolution and the turbulent political landscape of the time.
Doug Bradley, a distinguished author, educator, and Vietnam veteran from Wisconsin, brings extensive experience to this topic. His work includes blogging for “PBS’s Next Avenue” and The Huffington Post, teaching at institutions such as UW-Madison, Baldwin-Wallace University, Edgewood College, and Arizona State University. Bradley is the author of three books on the Vietnam experience, including DEROS Vietnam: Dispatches from the Air-Conditioned Jungle, Who’ll Stop the Rain: Respect, Remembrance, and Reconciliation in Post-Vietnam America, and the co-author of We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War, which was named Best Music Book of 2015 by Rolling Stone magazine. His forthcoming music-based memoir, The Tracks of My Years, will be published by Legacy Book Press in 2025.
Bradley was drafted into the U.S. Army in March 1970, following his college graduation. He served at the Army’s Hometown News Center in Kansas City, Missouri, and as a combat correspondent with U.S. Army Republic of Vietnam headquarters at Long Binh, South Vietnam, from November 1970 to November 1971. After relocating to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1974, he helped establish Vets House, a community service center for Vietnam-era veterans. With over three decades of experience as a communications professional and senior lecturer at the University of Wisconsin, Bradley’s insights into the Vietnam War and its cultural legacy are both profound and enlightening.
Don’t miss this compelling exploration of how music became a vital part of the Vietnam War experience.
Admission to all Premier Speaker Series events is $15 per person and can be purchased online or with cash in the lobby of the Renaissance Theater one hour prior to the presentation, subject to availability. Up to four admissions can be purchased in one transaction per LLL user account.
For online purchases, two to three days before an event, a QR code ticket will be emailed to the email address of each person who is registered. The QR code ticket is a personal code for each person registered and the printed or electronic ticket displaying the QR code is required for admission to the event. Will call is not offered.
EVENT DATE/TIME: Friday, Jan. 10, 7-8:30 p.m.
COST: $15
MAXIMUM: 320 (no assigned seating, no waitlist)
