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28
WEDNESDAY
In 1964, Sam Cooke, pop star, former gospel superstar, civil rights activist, and record label owner, was found half-naked and shot to death in a seedy motel. The LAPD quickly determined that Cooke had been killed in self-defense by the motel manager after the 33-year-old allegedly kidnapped and attempted to rape a young woman. In You Send Me—The Life & Times of Sam Cooke, Daniel Wolff, a former editor of Rock & Rap Confidential, offers his own hypothesis about what happened that night. But this product of 10 years of research does much more. Pulling few punches, Wolff looks at a charismatic man “who perfected an ability to maintain discreetly separate lives” and his place in 20th-century America. Wolff will be reading and signing at 12:30 p.m. at Reprint Books, 455 L’Enfant Plaza SW. FREE. (202) 554-5070. CP