What piece of art changed your life? How did it affect you?

Ben E. King's recording of the R&B classic "Stand By Me" captured me as a high school freshman in 1961. The song was a haunting interracial partnership of artists that rose above the segregation of culture and politics in that era. It inspired me not to look down on rock music, but instead to sing it myself in a band to help pay college bills. Now, in my '60s, I still love singing those old songs with a goofy reunion band called Off Our Rocker. Every writer needs a little fun in the midst of history and literature.

Pulitzer Prize winning historian Taylor Branch discusses his new book, The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President, at the Central Branch of the Enoch Pratt Library on November 5th. The talk begins at 7:30 pm.