Our meeting today was a trip to and private tour of the Rock This Town exhibition at the Waterloo Museum.  Our host for the evening was Jennifer Huber, the Program and Engagement Associate at the Museum, introduced by Louise Gardiner.

 

Jennifer Huber has worked in the field of museum programming and interpretation for 15 plus years in Waterloo Region, Guelph and Ottawa.  She is born and raised in Kitchener-Waterloo and attended the University of Ottawa receiving a BA in History Cum Laude.  Her love of museums and history started at a young age with her father and the watching of history movies, visiting museums and often heading out on adventures to explore new things.

 

Jennifer has experience ranging from seasonal summer staff and front line historic interpretation, to a variety of program coordination roles.  In more recent years, Jennifer has honed in on social history and the history of community development.  In her current role, a new one for the museum, her gaol is to develop programs and engage community as part of the city’s ongoing Heritage Strategy.  Through this role Jennifer has developed virtual programs during the pandemic which over 20,000 students.  In addition, she has been busy researching rarely covered topics such as early Chinese history in Waterloo and local 2SLGBQTIA+ history.  She has been fortunate to work with many outstanding community members to explore these histories and many more.

 

Jennifer provided interesting background information to the Rock This Town exhibit highlighting appearances in the area of many famous musicians form the 60’s and 70’s along with some of the local groups such as Copper Penny and major Hoople’s Boarding House that emerged at that time.  She challenged us with a “Name that Tune/Performer” with some of these groups that was a lot of fun and brought back many memories to most of us.

 

The background and significance of various sections of the exhibition was provide and we were free to explore them at our leisure.

 

The exhibit endeavors to highlight some of the multifaceted live music moments we have enjoyed in the area, which includes a rock and roll confessional of memories from those who were part of the local music backdrop from the late 60s to the 80s. Through interviews, memorabilia, and music interactive, the exhibit is packed with backstories of famous musicians who played in Kitchener-Waterloo.  Not to be overlooked are the many local successes we have turned out such as 80s Juno award winner for R&B/Soul recording of the year Erroll Starr, Copper Penny, Major Hoople’s Boarding House Band, and Helix, just to name a few.  Visitors learn why music and song continues to be an ingrained component of Indigenous life that flourishes in the modern era.  It celebrates early Waterloo when music was much rarer.  How we hear music is displayed with a history of musical devices featuring local industries Marsland Engineering, Electrohome and BlackBerry.

 

The setting for this exhibit celebrates Rock This Town a 60-minute documentary produced by Waterloo native Betty Anne Keller, and is directed by Paul Campsall and Tom Knowlton.  Rock This Town takes you on a journey through the rock ‘n’ roll history of Kitchener-Waterloo, featuring captivating stories about the many legendary musicians who came to play here in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Rock This Town premiered on March 26, 2022 at the Princess Theatre in Waterloo.

 

Reminder that the next meeting on April 3rd will be on Zoom with guest speaker, Dr. Neil Naik. The topic will be Health Privitization and the Future of Health Care.