{"id":28503,"date":"2026-05-21T17:04:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T21:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&p=28503"},"modified":"2026-05-21T17:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T21:50:15","slug":"hendrix-springsteen-joplin-still-echo-inside-atwood-hall","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2026\/05\/21\/hendrix-springsteen-joplin-still-echo-inside-atwood-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Hendrix, Springsteen, Joplin still echo inside Atwood Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Video, exhibit recall Clark\u2019s storied rock \u2019n\u2019 roll history<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Throughout rock \u2019n\u2019 roll history, playing in certain venues meant that a performer had made it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woodstock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madison Square Garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hollywood Bowl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atwood Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wait \u2026 Atwood Hall? At Clark University? That <\/em>Atwood Hall?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One and the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The artists who performed in the venerable auditorium, and on other campus stages, form a compendium of rock royalty that is rare for a school of Clark\u2019s size. Some arrived at Clark as established stars \u2014 Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin \u2014 while others were in the early stages of their ascent\u2014Bruce Springsteen, The Talking Heads, The Cars. Beginning in the late 1960s and into the \u201990s, Atwood was a common stop for bands on their way to play gigs in Boston or New York: a quick stop in central Massachusetts to perform for some college kids, test the limits of the sound system, earn a few bucks, and move on to the next show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These memorable concerts have been memorialized in a new video, \u201cEchoes of Atwood Hall<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0and exhibition (see sidebar) thanks to the generosity of Clark Trustee Nancy Mack, P \u201927, and her husband, Chad Smith, P \u201927, the drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers (shown above, being interviewed in Atwood Hall).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n