Jorgensen Gallery Presents Fall 2025 Exhibition: “Eight Days a Week: An Illustrated Record of Rock ‘n’ Roll”

 “Eight Days a Week: An Illustrated Record of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” an exhibition of rock music memorabilia, is now on display in Jorgensen Gallery at Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts on the UConn Storrs campus throughout Jorgensen’s fall season of events (through December 6^th Holiday Pops concert). 

This unique exhibition of rock music memorabilia is from the archive of journalist and radio disc jockey Ken Best that features iconic photos, album covers, posters and promotional materials that he collected while writing about music for newspapers in New Jersey and Connecticut and interviewing musicians and authors on the air during almost 30 years at WPKN in Bridgeport and WHUS in Storrs.

The exhibition features more than 100 items, including more than 40 photos of members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that were taken by Connecticut photographer Joseph Sia, including his famous image of Jimi Hendrix at Woolsey Hall in New Haven, known as “The Shadow,” from Best and Sia’s 1992 book, Eight Days a Week: An Illustrated Record of Rock ‘n’ Roll (Pomegranate Books). Other exhibition items include posters, promotional materials from record companies, museums as well as historic albums and special editions of Rolling Stone, Life, Billboard and other magazines. 

Best wrote about music for the Courier-News, a Gannett newspaper in Bridgewater, New Jersey, and served as editor of the Weekend section at The Stamford Advocate and Greenwich Time in Connecticut. His newspaper stories were nationally syndicated by the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service. He also spent 10 years as a contributor writing about Connecticut news for The New York Times. He served as editor of UConn Magazine for 10 years, covered the School of Fine Arts at UConn for UConn Today, and was a co-founder of the award-winning UConn 360 Podcast before retiring in June 2021.

Since 2008 he has been the host of the Good Music Program on WHUS (Wednesdays, 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.), the radio station at the University of Connecticut, and previously hosted the show on WPKN-FM in Bridgeport, an all-volunteer, listener-supported community radio station, from 1996 until 2008. During the summer of 2015 he produced the weekly program Walking a Blues Road, on WHUS based on the holdings of the Samuel and Ann Charters Archives of Blues and Vernacular African American Musical Culture, in Archives & Special Collections at Babbidge Library. 

As a reporter and disc jockey he conducted interviews with several members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: John Phillips of the Mamas & Papas, Bruce Springsteen, Joan Jett, George Clinton of Parliament-Funkadelic, Billy Joel, Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, Steve Miller, guitar innovator Les Paul, Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, and Chubby Checker, who will be inducted later this year, as well as the authors of books on major figures in music such as Willie Nelson, James Taylor, Phil Spector, Johnny Cash, The Supremes, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, Carole King and songwriter Doc Pomus (Save the Last Dance for Me, Suspicion, This Magic Moment).

JORGENSEN GALLERY & EXHIBITION RECEPTION

Jorgensen Gallery is located on the lower level of Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts at 2132 Hillside Road on the UConn campus in Storrs. For more information and Gallery hours go to the Jorgensen Gallery web page for more information. The reception for this exhibition will be held on Saturday, September 27 at 6 p.m. prior to INIVICIBLE: A Glorious Tribute to Michael Jackson at 8 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public. Tickets to the 8 p.m. show are $35 to $45. The Jorgensen Box Office is open Mon – Fri, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For questions and assistance, email jorgensen.tickets@uconn.edu or call 860-486-4226.  Ample parking is available in North Garage near Jorgensen. The cost of parking is included in the price of an event ticket (North Garage only). (Note: all artists, events, dates, programs, and policies are subject to change.)

ABOUT JORGENSEN:

Opened in December of 1955, Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts presents 25-30 diverse performances each season, from nationally and internationally acclaimed artists and ensembles ranging from classical music to world music and dance, classical ballet and contemporary dance, comedy, family programming and contemporary entertainment.