Devo in Ohio

Presented by David Giffels

Join us for a presentation of a unique book about Devo's early history by notable Akron and national best-seller writer, David Giffels.

The Beginning Was the End is the definitive account of Devo’s vibrant early history, from the authors of the first-ever book about the band. The Beginning Was the End features more than eighty never-before-seen images of the band members and their visual history as it tells the unlikely story of a collection of creative misfits who formed a musical kinship, drawing material and inspiration from the industrial Midwestern environs of Northeast Ohio. With the May 4, 1970, Kent State shootings as a catalyst, Devo channeled protopunk energy into a sprawling art project that would pioneer the use of music videos, innovate technology in pop music, define the aesthetic of the 1980s New Wave/MTV era, and maintain an edge of social, political, and cultural criticism that continues their relevance fifty years after their formation.  Limited to 60 people.

About the authors:

David Giffels is the author of six books of nonfiction, most recently Barnstorming Ohio: To Understand America (Hachette Books 2020), one of Library Journal’s Best Books of 2020. His other books include the memoirs Furnishing Eternity (Scribner 2018) and All the Way Home (William Morrow 2008), both winners of the Ohioana Book Award, and The Hard Way on Purpose (Scribner 2014), a New York Times Book Review “Editors’ Choice.” His writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Parade, The Iowa Review, Esquire, Grantland, and many other publications. He is professor of English at the University of Akron, and serves on the faculty of the NEOMFA creative writing program.  

Jade Dellinger is director of the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery at Florida Southwestern State College where he has curated shows, commissioned installations, hosted lectures and held performances with artists including the Guerilla Girls, Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson, the Go-Go’s Jane Wiedlin and Devo’s Gerald Casale.  He first invited Mark Mothersbaugh to the Sunshine State in 1999 for a project with the Contemporary Art Museum in Tampa, but most recently world-premiered the Devo frontman’s “Postcards For Democracy” exhibition (with collaborator Beatie Wolfe) at the Rauschenberg Gallery in 2021.   

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