EMP Pop Conference 2011

Call for papers posted:

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Cash Rules Everything Around Me: Music and Money
2011 EMP Pop Conference at UCLA
Feb 24 - 27, 2011
Los Angeles, California
Jointly sponsored by Experience Music Project and the UCLA Department of Musicology

"The best things in life are free, but you can give them to the birds and bees, I need money!" Motown founder Berry Gordy co-wrote it, Barrett Strong sang it, and John Lennon's vocal in the Beatles cover offered a fervent affirmation. By the time Wu-Tang Clan recorded "C.R.E.A.M.," however, chasing bucks in pop found kinship more with gundowns and teens behind bars. For this year's Pop Conference, the tenth annual meeting and first outside of Seattle, we invite presentations on a matter Los Angeles knows well: the relationship between song and paycheck — or, to invoke the O'Jays hit "For the Love of Money," bass line and bottom line.

Topics can cover any era or style of music and may include, but are not limited to:

* Selling out: self-objectification and compromise, but also selling out as breaking out—codebreaking and innovation
* The music industry, past, present, and (?) future, from records to radio and retail; impresarios in idolatry; the current slump and pop through boom and bust, affluence and scarcity
* Money, bling, "Life in the Fast Lane," etc. as a topic in song and discourse: how different genres view commercialism differently; charity and social consciousness as rival impulses
* Class as operating force; profitable music and blurred hierarchy, the working class and "Don't Get Above Your Raisin'"—how class-bound assumptions affect musical valuation
* Los Angeles in the pop imaginary, a place that has never pretended music is a solely artistic enterprise
* "Capital (It Fails Us Now)": payola blues, the pervasive sense of the business as (to quote Hunter S. Thompson) a "long shallow money trench" and distillation of capitalism's inequities
* Globalization and monetization: pop as international product, differing national and regional approaches to music merchandising
* Patronage: sponsorships, institutions as support structures for pop, music in advertising
* Financing musical production: the aesthetics of hi-fi—as David & David once sang, "all that money makes such a succulent sound"

The EMP Pop Conference, launched in 2002, joins academics, critics, performers, and dedicated fans in a rare common discussion. The conference is jointly sponsored in 2011 by the Department of Musicology at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and by the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame. This year's program committee members are: Jasen Emmons (EMP/SFM), Robert Fink (UCLA), Gaye Theresa Johnson (UCSB), writer Maura Johnston, Josh Kun (USC), Katherine Meizel (Oberlin), filmmaker Jim Mendiola, Ann Powers (Los Angeles Times), writer-musician Tim Quirk, Jeffrey Rabhan (NYU), and biographer David Ritz.

Please send proposals of 250 words, with 50 word bio, to organizer Eric Weisbard (University of Alabama) at Eric.Weisbard @ gmail.com. Deadline for proposals is Friday, October 15. Panel proposals, specifying either 90 minutes 120, should include both overview language and individual proposals/ bios, or overview and bios only for roundtable discussions. We welcome unorthodox proposals and proposals aimed explicitly at a general interest audience.

Registration for the conference is free to presenters and the public.

Earlier this year!

Holding the conference in April on the same weekend as Coachella = probably not the best of ideas.

this should bring out the artists as presenters in droves!

Subject for my pitch already settled on -- I was just waiting to see what the theme was! (And it'll fit, thankfully.)

I think I know what I'm gonna propose, too.

Isn't Coachella the weekend before?

It's varied from year to year. This year it was the same weekend in April.

Nine days to proposal deadline so get 'em finished up...

I wasn't sure if I should post this in the previous conference thread or this one, but Social Text just published a revised version of my 2010 EMP paper online:

http://www.socialtextjournal.org/blog/2010/10/curtis-jackson-and-the-jeweled-skull.php

(the huge final paragraph should actually be two paragraphs! back to 2011 proposal research)

I am kinda o_0 about this... I am used to calls for papers on boring super-academic stuff in my school email. Calls for papers on... pop music? Just kinda blows my mind.

It's damn good fun too. Pitch something, you've got time!

Andrew W.K. and Steev Mike:
The Schizophrenia of Commercial Success and Creative Integrity

i might work on that but if someone else wants to run with it go ahead.

Hahahah. I say go for it.

Deadline tomorrow!

Worked on it tonight.

Sent mine in, got my confirmation, and now to wait. I'm looking forward to it being a local thing for me this time around!

Sent.

Time to plan the inevitable parties.

Actually FWIW -- a basic overview of local hotels near UCLA. No word yet in terms of any official one but I hope/presume it'll be one of the walking distance ones.

Never been and can't wait to go.

I had a great topic that I never got around to sending in. :/

Me too.

Paper proposal responses going out! I didn't accepted but am not surprised, it was a bit of a jury rig in my case and I'm working on the idea for something else regardless. How did others do?

i will buy ned and maria and rufus and cyrus all these in n out burgers.

Me neither, boo hoo! On the plus side, the research would've required that I leave the house, so I'm a little relieved. I may still work on it regardless, too.

i will buy ned and maria and rufus and cyrus all these in n out burgers.

:-D

Still haven't heard word yet, which is odd, as several close friends got great news a few hours ago. Regardless, I'm going, and hope to see Ned, Scott, and Maria again.

among others, of course

My proposal was accepted! Very excited about some of the research I have in mind (along with the upcoming hangz). And condolences to anyone who got turned down - if you're near the East Coast you should come regardless.

Um, West Coast, I mean...this is what happens when you post at 4 am. Are you still going to go and post panel roundups, Ned? They were really helpful last year.

Haha I was going to say, "East Coast?" Anyway, yes, definitely going as ever -- hell, it's a LOT less distance to travel for me this time!

i've never been to california. that's kinda why i wanted to come. and the kids have never been either. should be fun.

It'll be great -- how long are you planning on staying out for? Just the conference itself or longer? (And are the kids asking for Disneyland and/or anything similar?)

SHHHH...they don't know what to expect. we will have to plan stuff for them and maria to do. they obviously can't stay at the EMP thing the whole time. we're gonna see if maria's mom and brother can come down from oregon and seattle too. make a weekend of it.

my time in seattle that time was so perfectly perfect in every way that i kinda never wanted to try and duplicate it. but this way i don't have to! its a completely different place and will have a completely different vibe. i'm sort of weird that way...

Cool. There's plenty to do that'll keep 'em busy! Will drop a separate line later.

For anyone flying in, LAX, while a rat's nest in many forms, is pretty much where to go rather than any regional airport if only because it's a fairly short freeway hop along the 405 from LAX to UCLA, especially if you need to get out on Sunday in good time to be back home/at work on Monday. If you're staying with anyone in the Valley, though, definitely consider Burbank/Bob Hope as an option. That said, I know there's a lot of road work planned on the 405 north of UCLA so that could be a bugbear...get bent/Elvis/omar/Jeff/admrl/everyone else to thread.

I'm in.

just try not to hit me if you see me around.

wtfever

Haven't been around these parts in a little while! I'm in. Looking forward to the research and the writing, but looking forward more to the seeing you all there.

"wtfever"

my fave chillwave band!

Schedule is up!

http://www.empsfm.org/education/index.asp?categoryID=26&ccID=126

A slightly rejigged time format, starts midafternoon on Friday and runs through 6 pm Sunday.

This looks so, so good and I so, so can't go. For reasons having entirely to do with... money.

can't wait

Carl Wilson's looks predictably excellent.

This is the first one I'm missing since the second ever conference in 2004. I'm unemployed without benefits, also see Pete's reason.

Would love to see the pieces by Tim Quirk and Tom Kipp and Andy Zax alone, but this whole thing looks great.

i'm in this, which means i need to find some money somewhere. of course it's the first one not to be a $60 train ride from my city. still, v. excited.

So glad this is in my hometown now... looking forward to attending for the first time.

It will be such an amazing treat to have this locally. Also we need to persuade all the best food trucks to come to UCLA on that weekend or something.

Still think this whole thing should be webcast--it seriously would be my TV for a month. And I hear there are people with cameras in Los Angeles.

I'm already hoping to change the title, but here's the abstract of my paper:

http://www.empsfm.org/education/index.asp?categoryID=26&ccID=127&xPopConfBioID=1466&year=2011

Oh so that's who you are! (I never wanted to flat out ask, y'see. Thought it would be rude.)

Hah, I wouldn't have minded, but then my username is pretty arcane/ridiculous...

Think this has more stuff than earlier schedule posted upthread (thee CLE contingent, for inst)
http://tinyurl.com/64r37ls

Will also selfishly say this is happening a couple of days before my fortieth birthday so I have half a mind to turn any Saturday night get-together into a pre-birthday bash.

okay, this is new. my biggest fan wasn't moderating before:

>> Hunting for Records
Venue: Royce Hall, UCLA
Moderated by: Greil Marcus
Featuring:
John Shaw, "Tune Thieving on the Popular Front"
David Grubbs, "'Remove the Records from Texas': Parsing Online Archives"
Scott Seward, "Ebay, Light Of My Life, Fire Of My Loins, My Sin, My Soul – The Confessions of a Record Dealer, The New Vinyl Renaissance, the Impossibility of Supplying the Demand for Old Led Zeppelin Records, and the Essential Human Need for Objects"

damn, better rite something good now.

A bigger fan than us?!

The preface to Marooned says it all!

http://books.google.com/books?id=FhGhMWOQk-MC&lpg=PP1&dq=marooned&pg=PR10#v=onepage&q&f=false

Page x

so rock critiky. the squirrel bait dude. the dylan dude. the whatever i am. rock on. squirrel bait made me appreciate phil ochs more.

and now--phil ochs IS squirrel bait!

Playing in heaven with Ned Raggett's All-Squirrel Band.

Could happen.

Word.Furry Fans sing along with me: "Cheep cheep, Unca Ned!"

Argh, my panel was moved to the same timeslot as the Big Payback one.

i want a Marooned sequel. Phil should rally the troops and have them put new shit up on the blog, if you ask me. money? bah! fuck money!

any Saturday night get-together into a pre-birthday bash

Double sad now I can't be there this year

http://media.cakecentral.com/gallery/754886/normal_1285684914.JPG

exact replica of the cake i am getting ned, by the way.

I suppose I should go to this, what with it being literally right up the road from me.

I approve of this cake. And damned right you should go, Jeff. I'm staying with a couple of friends nearby for the weekend.

Seems like there should be anthologies of EMP papers...

Annual series, dammit.

There actually have been two collections so far!

I only just realized yesterday how many panels and presentations I'll inevitably miss. Triple and quadruple booking is busy enough, but quintuple, dang. My notes this year will be even more of a brief impression of the whole than ever.

don, the thing i read in seattle at the conference is gonna be in the emp book coming out this year. duke university press. i don't know when its coming out though.

Just dropping in to make sure you all know that the Thursday before EMP, a bunch of the folks from the EMP proceedings will be doing the pop/gender/sexuality/professionalism conference Work It! at USC. Details here: http://workitconference.blogspot.com/

It's free, there's lunch, and it is going to help frame some of the discussions that go on all weekend. Hope some ILX folks come.

Best-DaphC.

Is there an archive of any of these papers available to read online? I wish these presentations were filmed and available to view afterwards.

They've tried to make archives before, but there's no one central deposit of them. So many people end up using the work for freelance or scholarly articles or even books, it would be hard, I imagine, to have such an archive.

The presentations from last year's conference are going up on iTunes U shortly -- I know this having received a note about it earlier this year. But mine was already long up on YouTube so hey.

And heya there Daphne! Won't be able to make Thursday, sadly, but anyone else who can go really should do so!

Oh cool re: the iTunes U thing, but they didn't ask your permission to record the talks first? Hmm. I wonder if they'll do it this year, since the change in venue is bound to cause some chaos.

And, hi Ned! And ILM. I'm usually lurching, sorry. It's BMW season so I shouldn't be doing anything else but work work work.

they didn't ask your permission to record the talks first?

Oh they did, and specifically referred to that in the note to me; I remember signing the release. So if someone didn't sign theirs presumably it won't go up.

Btw, I will be in attendance for this.

:-D

glad this is on a weekend, i will make some of it at least

Just a quick note that a slew of the 2010 presentations are now live on iTunesU.

http://bit.ly/eCug4u

And of course looking forward to seeing everyone next week! I'm planning on being at UCLA pretty much early Friday afternoon.

Can only go on Sunday, but going nonetheless. Thank goodness I live near UCLA so it would be easy for me to get there. Looking forward to it.

would love to go but i have a friend in town this weekend :(

I know what it means to party like a rockstar, but what does it mean to party like a music critic?

The drink level is about the same from what I can tell.

Presumably there are less groupies.

But critics have Twitter!

I assume it's a lot like this:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/15/18909607_ee51edc31d.jpg?v=0

Speaking from experience:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/2007_Pop_Conf_afterparty_03.jpg/800px-2007_Pop_Conf_afterparty_03.jpg

Rock critics live blog their encounters with groupies.

so gonna happen

oh yeah, and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6bARIaMhCM

just look over your shoulder

Hey, that's my beret between Ned and the Dean!

Guess that makes you Lucky... ah never mind.

My most vivid memory from last year's final-night party was the weird yet adorable painting of a chubby Hispanic boy hanging over the bar. The guy there said it has its own Facebook group.

i am sitting just behind alfred's beret in that picture, i think.

^ Thanks Ned for the Itunes link! Cool pic with the Dean.

Holy crap, there's a ton of these talks! Any highlights?

writing my thing! it's fun! now if i can just remember how long these things are supposed to be... how many words do humans speak in a minute?

you don't want to go over 17 minutes/20 minutes at the absolute outer edge. So practice reading your writing aloud SLOWLY and see how many pages-per-minute you're at. It varies. One conference "pro tip" (jk): it can help to write a conference talk with a 'detachable tail', i.e. a possible ending that is three pages before your "real"/ideal ending- if things are running late, you can have this option as a way to get your primary point in but not go rudely past your time. Etiquette about overspill at conferences is crucial.

What the tune just said. Lord knows I rehearsed and refined mine quite a few times to make sure I got within the limit.

when i did the emp thing in 2007 i had to skip a section toward the end cuzza time but it worked out pretty good! it was totally skippable.

the thing i'm writing now, man, i could go forever. so i'll have to be good and prune stuff.

drew, have you done one of these? the emp conference thing? too bad you are on the other side of the country now. would be cool if you could come.

The best piece of advice I received last year (my first one) was "FINISH YOUR PAPER BEFORE YOU GET THERE." A couple of people I hung out with had been frantically completing theirs in a hotel room at first and feeling frazzled/miserable until they did so.

xpost to scott, yeah I've done it many times, it's totally fun

1st time: talked about Germs burns and Darby Crash
2nd time: talked about Lynyrd Skynyrd and slavery
3rd time: talked about queer minstrelsy (The Meatmen, The Frogs, etc.)

plus I was on some panels (including the infamous one with Stephin Merritt about which you can websearch if you wanna know more)

it's such a great conference, people are sweet and you get good questions during Q+A

the only sucky part is that there are too many good things at the same time so it's kinda torture to choose what you do

wish that I was going, would love to hang

but now that I'm a renaissance lit professor I can't do too many music conferences per year and I already spoke at the black metal theory symposium so that was my music talk for 2011

This weekend's weather looks terrible. At least I won't feel guilty for spending so much time indoors.

i was really worried that i wouldn't have enough material for 20 minutes, and then i finally wrote it up over the weekend and read it out loud and lol it was 35. so i'm frantically hacking away.

Not sure what the food situation will be like around Royce Hall for the weekend, or at least for lunch. Guess we'll all find out together.

the andy zax thing on itunes U is amazing -- bizarre reprise/warners radio ad spots.

Utterly stellar, one of last year's highlights, even more amazing live.

would love to get the CDR he mentions at the end! hint hint.

You never know. (Are you attending?)

nah, i seriously considered it, but couldn't make it work. someday!

YA BETTER.

It is really great fun. I am going to be exhausted as all hell by Sunday evening though.

well, the move to LA is a step in the right direction in re: to me actually coming to an EMP. is that a permanent-type thing?

Not at present. This is the first year of a planned three-year rotation schedule where EMP itself, UCLA and (I believe) NYU trade off hosting the conference. (I'm all for four year rotations and having the fourth be held in Miami in that Alfred can then show us to the best Cuban restaurants anywhere.)

ah -- well, NYC 2012 isn't out of the question for me, either.

god i am going to cling to this lengthy paragraph relating a remark of a ska-punk band frontman to the history of censorship in russia UNTIL I DIE. or at least until saturday night when things are really down to the wire.

I'm counting on you to include it.

Oh god, I really need to figure out my plan of attack this year. I'm going to be running all over the place.

DLH, this morning I mentioned your presentation to a coworker, who proceeded to tell me about how he traded a pair of blue jeans for an Aquarium cassette while in St. Petersburg in the 1980s.

they really do love blue jeans. still, even.

aquarium gets mentioned a lot! although i don't have time to show the mean youtube video of a guy dressed up as the band's frontman having goofy adventures in clueless political manipulation. i need a For Further Reading section.

This sounds intimidating.

Hardly! It's a way to learn a lot of things all at once and be able to talk about it immediately as well. That and a lot of the presenters are entertaining as hell.

Food advice: there are tons of restaurants around UCLA, most of which are fine if not mind-blowing. Maybe someone who's spent more time in Westwood than I can get more specific. The ice cream sandwiches at Diddy Reese are genius and iirc are only $1.50. yes I just recommended ice cream sandwiches.

Father's Office in Culver City has the best burger in a town that excels at burgers. They also have an excellent beer selection. If one of your LA friends says "let's go to Umami Burger!" your requisite answer should be "fuck no let's go to Father's Office."

You need to eat Mexican food while you are here. Loteria at the Farmers market is delicious and has great vegetarian options (zucchini and corn burritos, potato tacos); there's also a Loteria on Hollywood Blvd. Montealban on Santa Monica and Brockton (just west of the 405) is a sleepy restaurant with cheesy decor but brilliant food--a variety of mole sauces and things on the menu that aren't just standard burritos and tacos. El Carmen on 3rd Street in West Hollywood has great food in a more bar-like atmosphere.

There are a ton of other places all around LA. If anyone is staying in a particular neighborhood and wants suggestions, I'm happy to offer. Sorry I don't know more specifically the best stuff right at UCLA. They have a little of everything in that neighborhood though.

Also if anyone is arriving to town early and is looking for something to do, I work at the LA County Museum of Art and can set you running around the galleries. If your so inclined. Just email me - sjtennent at gmail.

I won't be at EMP itself -- I've a good friend's wedding on Saturday -- but I'm hanging out with several of the panelists and other good friends tomorrow and Thursday. I'd love to see some of you again, or meet new faces.

scott, do you know bernardo?

Yes!

yesssss! old friend of mine, we went to college together.

He's great. I knew him for a while and then happened to see his byline on a Dusted review - neither of us had any idea that the other wrote about music. We bonded over burritos and krautrock.

Sounds like when I discovered that a longtime library coworker had cowritten and performed a song on a Six Organs of Admittance album.

Or when I got a job in NYC and found out one of my coworkers was in Spent.

Or I hung out on a message board and wondered if that really was the one guy who did the one thing.

I married an axe murderer.

cool. bernardo should be posting on ILM, but uhh, maybe he has better things to do.

Finished my paper at not quite the very last minute! But I just found out that I'm not staying at the hotel with the shuttle, argh...

Father's Office in Culver City has the best burger in a town that excels at burgers.

This place also has an excellent beer selection, iirc.

Mailout today with some general info:

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Check-in Table
The registration and information room will be located on Friday, Feb 25th in Schoenberg Music Building, Room 1230 and on Saturday, Feb 26th and Sunday, Feb 27th in Royce Hall, Room 160.

Conference Details
Please note: space within individual conference rooms and the keynote is limited. Arrive early to ensure a seat. In addition, many of the presentations and lectures are for mature audiences and candid in nature - some material may not be suitable for all ages.

Food
Be sure to take advantage of food trucks that will be parked south of the flagpole, in front of the UCLA Humanities Building - a mere 500 ft from the entrance of Royce Hall. On Saturday we will have: Flying Pig and Canter’s and on Sunday: Border Grill and Sky Taco. The food trucks will be available for the entire lunch time during the designated days.

Attendance
If your plans have changed and you are unable to attend Pop Conference – please reply to this email and let us know.

Directions
Driving directions can be found here: http://www.ucla.edu/map/ and a UCLA campus map can be found here: http://www.ucla.edu/map/ucla-campus-map.pdf.

Parking
Parking at UCLA is $10/day.

UCLA parking map: http://www.transportation.ucla.edu/portal/maps/parkingmap/0206UCLAParkingMap.htm#

2/25/2011 Parking: Pop Conference attendees should park in Lot 2, off of Hilgard, where it crosses Westholme. Parking attendants will be there from 1 - 5 pm. Attendees should park and go northwest to Schoenberg Hall (on the corner of Hilagard and Charles Young Drive.) The UCLA Faculty Center, where the reception will be held, is across the street from Schoenberg Hall. At later times, conference attendees will need to get a parking permit at the main kiosk on Westwood Blvd (drive North from Wilshire on Westwood, and the road ends right after the parking kiosk for UCLA.) Ask there for directions to Lot 2.

2/26/2011 and 2/27/2011 Parking: For all day parking, there will be parking attendants at Lot 4 from 8 am – 11 am. This is the underground parking structure off of Sunset Blvd at Westwood Plaza. Conference attendees should turn left after the guard booth to the section with credit card parking. Once parked, attendees can exit at the back corner (NE) --farthest one away from where one entered. At the top of the stairs, outside, attendees would then be at the Fowler Museum. Up the stairs from Fowler Museum is Royce Hall. After 11 am, conference attendees must go to the main Kiosk at Westwood Blvd. (drive North from Wilshire on Westwood, and the road ends right after the parking kiosk for UCLA.) Ask there for directions to Lot 4.

There is a limited number of pay by space parking (by credit card) available in Lot 2 and Lot 4.

In addition, many of the presentations and lectures are for mature audiences and candid in nature - some material may not be suitable for all ages.

This means you, Andre Gunder. No swearing every other word now.

"some theoretical content, rated R"

Neat - this is happening on Saturday night:

Opening: Saturday, February 26, 2011, 8:00PM Cost: Free

Beacon Arts and SASSAS Present

Ad Hoc #2: David Watson & David Grubbs
A Sonic Exploration of the Beacon Arts Building
With Joe Potts, Steve Roden, William Roper, and More

Beacon Arts and the Society for the Activation of Social Space through Art and Sound (SASSAS) present Ad Hoc #2: David Watson & David Grubbs, a site-specific sonic exploration of the Beacon Arts Building’s fourth floor on Saturday, February 26, 2011 at 8:00 pm. This free event features a unique aural experience that encourages interplay between the musicians and the listening audience. In realizing these new works, New Yorkers Watson and Grubbs will be working with several experimental sound artists and musicians from Los Angeles including Joe Potts, Steve Roden, and William Roper.

The evening consists of two works created specifically for Beacon Arts. Experimental music bagpiper Watson’s work revisits minimalism and uses processional movement as an inspiration for performance – a concept he calls "ambulant music" – and features Potts and Roper as well other well-known Los Angeles area musicians. The second piece, authored by Grubbs and designed for the trio of Watson, Grubbs, and Roden, consists of three ten-minute sections which explore the dynamic range of both the space and the instruments employed.

Ad Hoc #2: David Watson & David Grubbs is produced by SASSAS in partnership with Beacon Arts. Light refreshments will be served. Beacon Arts is located at 808 N. La Brea Ave., Inglewood, CA 90302. For additional information on Ad Hoc events please visit http://www.sassas.org/adhoc or call 323-960-5723. For additional information on Beacon Arts please visit http://www.beaconartsbuilding.com as well as http://www.facebook.com/pages/Inglewood-CA/Beacon-Arts-Building/129817703733091?v=info.

we made it to lalaland! love it here already. or maybe its just the novelty of seeing flowers growing instead of 4 feet of snow.

It is a good thing indeed!

Okay so, as I just told Facebook/Twitter people, whatever little birthday thing I'll have will be Saturday night presumably after the keynote, and won't be anything heavily planned or major -- just drinks and chat somewhere in the area! (Yeah, it'll be busy given it's UCLA but we'll figure something out.) Just ask me closer to the time.

Meantime if anyone's free, lunch tomorrow at Attari?

http://www.yelp.com/biz/attari-sandwich-shop-west-los-angeles

Thinking maybe 11:30, then an amble over to the Schoenberg for registration at 1.

Is there stuff tomorrow?

Yup, starting at 1:30.

Tomorrow's lunch might be a more prosaic stop at In-n-Out near campus but that's because the good Mr. Seward might be there too. Will let folks know.

Dammit, I was planning on going to see Drive Angry 3-D tomorrow afternoon.

I'll be around at lunch time...

Rock. Will text you when I'm up in LA itself.

Have fun for all of us desperately wishing we were there! Jealous of you that will get to hang out with Mr. Seward.

I'm so mad I have to work evenings on Friday and Saturday. I really wish I can go and see the talks during that time. :( :(

I hope Sunday's topics will be good.

They'll be great!

Anyway my notes on the Friday presentations will be updated throughout the day starting in the early afternoon.

Off to a great start! Wish you were all here!

Love the iTunes talks from last year! Have fun!

But Christ NOW would be the day when I would have a screwup where a lot of my notes get wiped. Bah. Will try again tomorrow.

Sorry. Liked your notes that survived:
Juan Carlos Kase, “Go-Go Dancer and One Hit Wonder: Toni Basil as Embodiment of Cultural Mobility in 60s Los Angeles” — Toni Basil mostly associated with “Mickey” and the accompanying video that she choreographed, banished to VH1 nostalgia specials and the like. Short-sighted! She had a different impact in the 1960s/early 70s as a dancer/choreographer in film and TV, an active visualization of the time. An exchange of sexuality, cinema and sound. TAMI Show, Shindig, Hullabaloo, various B films, dancing in the go-go style of the Sunset Strip. There’s a semantic excess in her style, goes beyond the terms. Clip from _Village of the Giants_ shown — no Tom and Crow though! — Jack Nitzche music and she shakes groove thing to Beau Bridges’ giant leers. Great blue bell bottoms. Classical training, modern dance moves, improv all at once. The film is goofy and formulaic, but still altogether stranger. Representing the social energy of the era — theorist cited on go-go dancing, an icon like the 20s flappers. “The girl is free to let themselves go, as wild as they feel.” Little scholarship here on popular dance of the time, but a change in gender roles, quick turnovers, solo dancing. “Dance, Gender and Culture” cited, males not defining the dancing,

Somebody's tweet:

Chritigau: Barry White & Abba are a simulacrum of authenticity. You can get pleasure from that. Shank calls it ironic discourse. #popcon2011

And more:

Christgau, to Shank: "What is Pitchfork doing if not assessing greatness? Badly."

Camper V B dude on another panel

Lowery: buying records just like options trading. Long positions on average last longer.

"Here comes the obligatory Adorno quote..."

Paper on Disney's tween music informs us that the main listening-tracking company ignores under-12s

Is the isolation of tween culture really the marginilization of GIRL culture? Diane Pecknold suggests

Jerry Lee Lewis's dad mortgaged his house to buy the 8-year-old a piano

"Music was their way out of the working class...but there were personal costs."

Christgau

it always comes back to foucault. always

Really wish I could have hung out the rest of the weekend! I left L.A. this morning.

Nothing but tweets. I wonder if any of these presentations are being videotaped? I guess when the weekend's over some folks will hopefully post their presentations and do more extensive discussions of what they've heard.

http://www.businessinsider.com/these-charts-explain-the-real-death-of-the-music-industry-2011-2

This is being tweeted about

Presentations are being recorded for iTunesU

scott seward killing it from what I hear

It pretty damn well ruled.

the man is worth his weight in liquorball 7 inches

tweets:

David Ritz's account of the origins of "Sexual Healing" includes the phrase "Marvin, this is some fuckin' sick shit here."

Bob Pfeifer reveals: Human Switchboard reissue coming--at long last!--from Bar/None later in 2011

Audience member: "But why does everyone leave Cleveland?" Cheetah Chrome: "Because it sucks

what did scott talk about

I think Scott talked about buying used records on Ebay; the ongoing demand for Marley and Led Zep vinyl in his record store...

Ellen and Adam Lambert had a child and it's called Glee, which has affected the Top 24 American Idol panel at #popcon2011
about 1 hour ago via TweetDeck Ann Powers

Ned quoting Scott

"I can't think of anything lamer than cleaning your weed on top of your hard drive." And fin. Amazing as ever, Scott

Scott Seward's "eBay, Light of My Life, Fire of My Loins, My Sin, My Soul: The Confessions of a Record Dealer
"I've spent so many hours on my knees in strange basements that the jokes just write themselves!" It's flying here folks

Soulsides tweets:

Cohen's book, all about Aretha's "Amazing Grace" album, coming out in Sep:

what a great time! i could go on forever. emp thing kinda rules if you ask me. and i finally got to meet the beeeeyooooteeeeful jbr in person! yay!

nice to chat with d. wolk for a bit. sad i won't see his thing tomorrow.

great to hang with yeti mike and amy p.

great to see simon again. and meet the awesome joy p. and i was glad that simon introduced me to the dude that wrote that great disco book and arthur russell book cuz i am a big fan of that stuff. kinda bummed i didn't see his talk.

nice to meet and hang with scott t.! and i'm glad he got to talk to david grubbs about his slint book. um, scott's book. not david's book.

and nice to meet d. grubbs. he's a swell guy. and it was really nice to meet g. marcus too. i finally got to thank him for the kind words he wrote in his intro to the marooned book. and he really dug my thing today which was nice.

here's a little something you might not know about me: i love talking with ann powers. she is so friggin' smart and fun to talk to. if you get the chance talk to her about anything. her brain is always on go.

and jeff "girly metal" treppel! great to see him as well.

and ned, well, ned is 100% ned and i wouldn't have it any other way. and i'm so glad my first visit to in 'n' out burger was with him.

g. marcus's thing might have been my fave talk when all is said and done. but i saw lots of interesting stuff. wish i could have caught more. and i know i will miss a ton of good stuff tomorrow. but we are leaving early in the morning.

and jaymc! yay! great to see him in the flesh!

um, who am i forgetting? probably lots of people. i'll come back here if i think of more.

loved LA. wanna come back. didn't get to go to any record stores. just great to finally see a little bit of a place that i've always been fascinated by.

:-D it was a blast as ever, sir!

Really good to meet you too Scott - and everyone else I met at the conference. Bummed I won't be there for the final day.

and i finally got to meet the beeeeyooooteeeeful jbr in person! yay!

bless your heart! glad i got to meet you, sorry you couldn't stay in town longer.

personal highlight was getting to take matos for his first in-n-out burger! (we went to the one on sunset near highland; there was a crazy traffic clusterfuck but that seemed to heighten the excitement for him.)

anyway, today i'm going to cheer everyone on from home -- the westside is madness on weekends, and it's oscar day to boot. my only regret is that there were still more people i wanted to meet, reconnect with, etc. i'll catch up with the presentations when they hit the web.

When do the presentations get posted on I-tunes University?

No idea, will check. Heading home now! Great times, everyone! Come out to NYU next year!

i would luv 2 party with all these ilxors in nyc. leave the kids at home this time.

NYC next year? Hell, I'll show up for that.

Couldn't make it to any of the days but it sounds like a good time was had.

Come out to NYU next year!

will james franco host?

I had a great time today. Chuck D sat behind me in one of the talks and I almost had a heart attack. This is the second time I ever felt lucky living in Los Angeles.

Dude did we meet at all this weekend? I just now remembered you'd be there.

No we didn't. I was reading your twitter feed and you were at the talks that were my second picks.

Haha it does happen. I literally was finally saying a first hi to some people almost just before I left.

how can you miss ned at the emp conference? it's a statistical impossibility.

he's everywhere man!

Yeah I left quickly because I felt embarrassed after asking a question and fumbling a little bit because I realize it was years I was in a setting like that.

he's everywhere man!

Yeah I didn't speak to anybody there. I went by myself because I'm new to Los Angeles anyway. Plus, I don't know what people look like so it would've been hard to spot people.

BTW Scott I passed on yer kind words to Ann and she was very touched and thanks you!

i got such a kick out of my brother's friend who is 21 and who came from hudson, new york by herself and stayed in a crummy hotel in beverly hills and who i'm pretty sure talked to everyone who was there this weekend. she's awesome. i had a fun time hanging with her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dADNBoN7idQ

she was afraid to use the shower. a shared shower? something like that. and she was kinda freaked out by beverly hills in general. but i think she had a good time!

the only thing that bummed me out the whole weekend was: i put the magazine that i had done with cyrus and rufus on the book table and when i went back to get coffee on the first day it was gone. so it was on the table for like an hour. i guess i should have put my name on it or "display copy only" on it or something. i really wanted to show it to the kids when the table was set up on saturday. that kinda bummed me out. we worked hard on that! i guess it wasn't music-related though...

and i didn't have another copy. i gave yetimike the other copy i had with me.

seeing a crowd of people run over to gawk at some new Banksy piece was kind of the perfectly ridiculous ending to this weekend

(it was great, will probably post more later)

a true meeting of the minds. ned and rufus!

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/183628_10150147631770908_767115907_8100740_6467252_n.jpg

Yes! I was just looking for a way to link this photo! Thanks!

well this was fun.

Okay! Compilation/organization of my notes are up:

http://nedraggett.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/emp-pop-conference-2011-summary-and-full-notes-from-twitter/

Edits w/links etc. to happen later in the week, I hope.

Does Daddino post here anymore?

Yeah I left quickly because I felt embarrassed after asking a question and fumbling a little bit because I realize it was years I was in a setting like that.

― Okay Pet Shop Boys Aren't That Bad. (lilsoulbrother), Sunday, February 27, 2011 11:02 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Oh God, at the first panel I attended, I asked a question that I intended to come out all smart and insightful but instead was rambling and vacant. Then I did it again at the next panel. Never even raised my hand for the rest of the weekend.

it can be hard to be on the spot like that! all of a sudden 50+ people are staring at you and the room gets magically hotter.

Totes. Good to meet you, too, Scott, btw!

Then there's me and my egomania. Or something.

Sole-sides.com has their overview up:

http://soul-sides.com/2011/02/emp-2011-in-review/

And here's Tavia N.'s take:

http://hearisqueer.wordpress.com/2011/03/01/emp-2011-wrap-up-where-were-the-queers/

Here's xgau's summary.

http://www.najp.org/articles/2011/03/emp-report.html#more

moby to majors: drop dead

http://www.billboard.com/news/moby-major-labels-should-just-die-1005053902.story#/news/moby-major-labels-should-just-die-1005053902.story

Meantime, the audience some minutes before the keynote. Spot a critic!

http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/188330_571649797876_81500275_32628026_5682171_n.jpg

Meantime, the audience some minutes before the keynote.

i'm somewhere toward the back!

And here's Andrew Beaujon's film that was his presentation:

http://vimeo.com/20573079

xp I'm loitering in the lobby!

the keynote with moby, etc is up on youtube.

Photos!

http://www.scott-photo.com/Events/2011-EMP-Pop-Music-Conference/15994340_ZZY79#1199797595_uMRuG

Plus, Stefan Shepherd's take:

http://www.zooglobble.com/archives/2011/03/emp_pop_conference_2011_a_brief_rev.html

Hahah okay NICE:

http://www.scott-photo.com/Events/2011-EMP-Pop-Music-Conference/15994340_ZZY79#1204434115_FYkk3-M-LB

And I like my appearance in this one:

http://www.scott-photo.com/Events/2011-EMP-Pop-Music-Conference/15994340_ZZY79#1204438373_Dv7od

In that it is a very representative shot of me at the conference -- sitting near the wall and a power outlet, madly taking notes.

Oh hey:
http://www.scott-photo.com/Events/2011-EMP-Pop-Music-Conference/15994340_ZZY79#1204433941_2Pkji-A-LB

(L-R): Mike Powell, me, Chris Molanphy, Matos

Yeah I should explain that photo I really liked -- it's Scott Seward (and a friend of his brother's), my friend Mike Scholz and myself listening to Mike McGonigal at that same reception.

shannekia! i think that's how you spell it. i'll have to get word to her that there is a picture on the internet of her and simon. she is a 21 year old simon fangirl.

Yeah I saw that photo too and thought it was damn cool!

my panel:

http://www.scott-photo.com/Events/2011-EMP-Pop-Music-Conference/15994340_ZZY79#1204450251_SSTjE-XL-LB

scott you totally spelled it right! it's was really great meeting all of you guys! did i really talk to all the writers? ned are short interaction was lovely and you will always be "nice ned" in my mind. I went to AMOEBA and almost pee'ed myself (they didnt have a bathroom).

Hi there! Much thanks for the compliments, too kind. And yeah, Amoeba's lack of bathroom = argh. (But there's a couple of nearby spots either direction on Sunset.)

I am about to disgust all of you.

So, Flavorwire has their take on the conference up.

And it includes...THE ROD STEWART PHOTO.

Those of us at Tom Kipp's presentation know.

And now...you do:

http://flavorwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/rod-stewart.jpg

http://www.scott-photo.com/Events/2011-EMP-Pop-Music-Conference/15994340_ZZY79#1204432508_Lpu8b-A-LB

i am in the middle background of this, holding a glass of wine, in the red shirt with the giant yellow "THERE'S PARAMORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM" letters (unreadable here). i don't know what i'm doing but it appears to be in the neighborhood of a harangue.

Looks like you're telling off Ian Mathers, you horrible man. (I could be wrong.)

"I said cheddar, not Stilton!"

And another review:

http://superbon.net/?p=1761

yeah, that's ian. alfred probably has the right of it.

Anyone know what the timeframe is before the panels show up on iTunes?

only ned would know the answer to that and i don't think he knows the answer to that.

And indeed, I don't.

Tim Quirk's presentation now posted.

Really liked his presentation, and the conversation with Ben Lee from the same panel.

forgot to come back to this thread to self-advertise! here's the written version of mine: http://nickyswhat.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/what-a-convenient-world-russian-music-in-the-era-of-big-money/

posted my paper on my blog. if you are curious(yellow):

http://skotrok.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-2011-emp-pop-conference-paper.html

was in the audience for that. laughed hard.

Turns out a slew of the presentations have gone live on iTunes *much* more quickly than I was anticipating:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/2011-emp-pop-conference-at/id431416241

(No Kiss panel, though? So sad.)

Finally got around to posting a print version of my 2011 paper:

http://backtotheworld.net/2011/06/02/enjoined-joy-gross-national-happiness-and-pop-music-in-bhutan/

100.

Does Daddino post here anymore?

No.

the fact that you're counting down each of your new posts makes me worry that something like the premise of that Eddie Murphy movie A Thousand Words is happening here