EMP Pop Conference 2012 -- NYC

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2012 Pop Conference

Save the date!
March 22 - 25, 2012

The 2012 EMP Pop Conference continues its road trip by traveling to NYU in New York City, March 22 - 25, 2012. Call for conference proposals will be announced in August.

EMP's Pop Conference, launched in Seattle in 2002, provides a platform for academics, critics, performers, and dedicated fans to join in a rare discussion. The 2012 EMP Pop Conference at NYU is jointly sponsored by The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music and EMP Museum. Additional support is provided by The University of Alabama College of Arts and Sciences, on behalf of the American Studies department.

This year's Pop Conference is also held jointly with the annual conference of the US branch of IASPM: The International Association for the Study of Popular Music.

cool!

I do have a real concern in that it overlaps right with the end of an academic quarter where I work so I'm going to have to lay the groundwork for getting the time off starting...well, now!

And we've got formal details:

Sounds of the City

2012 EMP Pop Conference presented by NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music

Jointly held with IASPM-US Annual Conference

New York City, March 22 - 25, 2012

Charlie Gillett's pioneering book The Sound of the City declared, with its title, that the electrified roots music of Elvis and Little Richard was an urban synthesis: "In rock and roll, the strident, repetitive sounds of city life were, in effect, reproduced as melody and rhythm." But the metropolitan modernities of popular music take many different forms: Nuyorican salsa, Ralph Ellison "living with jazz" in his apartment building, San Francisco open-air psychedelia, double dutch and breakdancing, Amadou & Mariam's "fast food Dakar," and beyond. So, for this year's joint EMP Museum Pop Conference, presented by New York University's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, and International Association for the Study of Popular Music-US branch gathering, we copyedit Gillett slightly and ask that presenters explore sounds of the city--the reverberations of people gathered en masse. Following are some suggested but not required sub-themes. All styles and eras of pop music are welcome.

Cultural Collisions. New York exemplifies urban notions of music made modern, disparate people tossed together in a structural blender. This takes multiple forms: immigrants and musical migrations; African Americans, Latinos, and others leaving rural areas for urban spots; taste formations of urbanity and cosmopolitanism; subcultures; Tin Pan Alley(s); large scale amusements. What are the micro-sites of city music, from artisan guitar pedal makers to crate diggers, to after-hours Korea-town karaoke bars? Do Shibuya-kei, kwaito, or baile funk suggest evolving paradigms?
The Global Metropolis. Can sentimental myths of the city as melting pot be critiqued? Do power relationships differentiate uptown and downtown grooves? Is hip-hop's reliance on the urban different from Gillett's rock and rollers? LA sprawl a rejoinder to NYC density? How do smaller hubs (Austin, Philadelphia, Manchester, Frankfurt, Osaka, Accra) remix global flows? What cuts hipsters off from a multicultural dynamic in places like Williamsburg? Does the glamor of the female or feminized pop star reflect the agenda of global capitalism? Has globalization rendered urban exchanges subsidiary?
Urban Listening. Does urban space alter the ways we register recordings and live performances? Are there larger effects to listening amid the daily hustle and bustle? Can the insights of sound studies inform pop analyses to show how city listening changes music making and fandom? What allows cities to acquire signature sounds? What listening creates identity within shared space, from the family gathered around the radio to the girl screamers at the Hollywood Bowl or a boom box in motion? Is our unexamined belief that certain sonic patterns are urban as much imaginary as material?
Women on the Town: Cities have always been sites of female empowerment and risk taking, where the village daughter becomes a Bollywood star, or a budding feminist forms an all-girl band. If this has stimulated fears of women adrift, free of small-town norms, from Dreiser's Sister Carrie to the girls who "need blinders" in Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind," it has also incited celebration: Beyonce's single ladies, "up in the club, doin' my own little thing." How, within music, has the city made women, and how have women made the city?
Sex and the City: From Detroit and Chicago in the 1970s -1980s, to Berlin in the 1990s -2000s, great cities have often developed signature dance music sounds around which urban queer (and often minority) cultures have gathered. Does the city still gather races, genders, and sexual orientations as "one nation under a groove"? Can country line dancing, as popularized by Urban Cowboy, be positioned alongside such legacies?

The Sounds of the City conference will offer a cultural collision of the best kind. Its program brings together two longstanding institutions. EMP's annual Pop Conference, launched in Seattle in 2002, joins academics, journalists, performers, and dedicated fans in an all too rare common discussion. IASPM-US publishes The Journal of Popular Music Studies and anchors American popular music scholarship. And thanks to NYU's Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, they do so in the city called home by most of the music press, a group we hope to see amply represented.

This year's program committee includes Daphne Brooks (Princeton), Anthony Kwame Harrison (Virginia Tech), Hua Hsu (Vassar), Patricia Costa Kim (EMP), Jason King (NYU Clive Davis Institute), Karl Hagstrom Miller (University of Texas), Evie Nagy (Rolling Stone), Tavia Nyong'o (NYU), Caroline Polk O'Meara (University of Texas), Ann Powers (NPR Music), and Greg Tate (Village Voice, Burnt Sugar, and Coon Bidness).

Please send proposals to organizer Eric Weisbard (University of Alabama) at Eric.Weisbard @ gmail.com. The deadline for proposals is Tuesday, November 15. Individual proposals should be 250 words with a 50 word bio.Panel proposals should specify 90 minutes with three presenters, or 120 minutes with four presenters. They should also include a 125 word overview, 250 words for individual proposals, and a 50 word bio, or a 250 word overview with multiple 50 word bios for roundtable discussions.

We welcome unorthodox proposals and those that target a general interest audience. Registration is FREE for presenters and the public.

digging the theme this year - i'll most likely submit something

Thankfully I've got the time off to attend already set up.

these things are inspiring to me. i'm gonna give it a go. either way i might go. it being so close and all.

OK I've got something that might work as a proposal this time and will definitely attend. since it's in my backyard and all

one week left until abstracts are due (oh god)

Wish I had the time to prepare something.

I've had my idea set in stone for a while, I just need to remember to write it up...

Will write this weekend.

Finally will be able to go to one of these since NYC isn't miles away but life is too busy to write up a proposal. Regardless, excited. Yay EMP.

One of these years...

Finally will be able to go to one of these since NYC isn't miles away but life is too busy to write up a proposal. Regardless, excited. Yay EMP.

Awesome! Can't wait to meet! That's a large part of what makes EMP worthwhile.

The deadline is here, folks! Get 'em in by tomorrow (or tonight, depending).

And again, today is the CFP deadline...

Sent.

Almost finalized...hope to meet some of the ILM crowd face-to-face there next year. On a related note, is anybody else attending SEM 2011 in Philadelphia this week?

Sent my abstract in, 12 hours earlier than last year's.

omg, gotta flee.

Sent my proposal in last night.

omg, gotta flee.

Nope, you're attending every presentation. (Don't ask me how.)

if Alex in Montreal does all of them? :)

Amazing!

Sent!

sent! ~fingers crossed~

Eric W. on FB:

I am happy (now that I've slept) to announce that the combined EMP Pop Conference at the NYU Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music and IASPM-US conference, taking place next March, drew proposals from 500 people. That says something great about the number of folks devoted to intellectual work on popular music. Special thanks to host Jason King, whose response to the crazy figures was "We never do anything small, if you haven't noticed."

maria and i will be there for this. buy us beer every chance you get. leaving the kiddies at home.

I'll be there too hopefully. FAP!

Heck to the yes. Tickets bought, will be arriving with my sweetie early Wednesday morning and staying through Monday, so if people want to get together before or afterwards as well...

Also, yes, buy Scott and Maria beer. It's well deserved.

count me in!

Proposal was accepted. Will probably write the paper after I get back from giving a talk about 1980s German thrash bands in Berlin in mid-February.

i'm most likely coming home for this.

my proposal was accepted! see y'all there!

i promise not to #occupy anything.

it always ends badly when i do...

totally psyched to meet up w/y'all. also pleased & proud that my proposal was accepted. and nervous...

I am going to this I think

Is registration open yet?

this is going to be so much fun.

Whoa, weird, I'm going to this.

I mean, "NYC is so close! Weird!"

Planning to go even though my proposal didn't get accepted. I really, really, really wanted to present this year. Are all of you on the program?

I'm not this time but I always go because hey, it's fun.

Yeah, I definitely wouldn't want to miss this year like I did last (my first EMP was 2010 - I actually met you at that wine and cheese thing, Ned). And it's actually close and I actually have multiple options for free accommodations this time.

Can't wait to see the program...

Being in NYC this week for the first time has convinced me that there is no way I can miss this when it's so close. Hoping that my professors agree (assignment schedules released next week etc.)

For the first time since I was 16, rather

I was there last year in LA, and I will make it this year again (but perhaps alone--eek!). It really is quite fun.

i might go to this thing

my proposal was accepted, so anyone interested in hearing thousands of words about K-pop and Seoul should be in luck!

even more excited than usual about this year's conference - I'm probably going to stay in NYC for at least a week, and may be putting together a related event...

Had a blast last year, but prob. not attending this time around, since it's my birthday weekend, and I'm planning a trip to NYC in April, anyway.

Would love to hear a K-pop paper; if you're scheduled the same day as me (and not opposite me), will definitely drop in.

On two panels this year. I don't know when the first one is yet, but my paper's called "From the Corner to Carnegie Hall and Beyond: The Urbanization of Miles Davis, 1972-1991." The other one is a more free-form discussion on Sunday afternoon, March 25, on the state of present-day jazz and improv in NYC, moderated by Greg Tate; in addition to me, the panel will apparently include Butch Morris and several other musicians, a prospect which has me basically soiling myself.

if i can find a very cheap/free place to stay, i think i'll go

wait –– i'll come to see/meet you all, not nec. to attend a lot of the conferance, which i prob. won't understand anyhow.

I am thinking of attending as well, I just have to find a play to stay.

oops I meant "place to stay" argh.

"play to stay" sounds like some weird sex tourism trip

I could see "Place To Stay" bring the name of a Drake album, for some reason. Especially in the aforementioned context.

yup yup

http://www.empmuseum.org/education/index.asp?categoryID=26

" Puerto Ricans, Black Men, and No Less Than One Dominican: Slammin’ the Rock with Todd Terry, Chep Nuñez , Blade Runners, and The Blue Jean Regime – An Exegesis of 1990’s Warlock Records War Party Compilation Sliced and Edited in the Style Of Omar Santana. "

This looks awesome Scott

it remains to be seen. er, written. i've cleared my schedule for the next month. ilx in full effect on that panel. me and lovebug starski!

and rj smith and dave tompkins scheduled at the same time will take the heat off of us if we happen to be hungover...

everyone in nyc who gets up late on friday should come to this. party with me and the tate-meister! hennessy!!!

6:15pm - 7:30pm

Book release gathering for the new Pop Conference anthology, Pop When the World Falls Apart: Music in the Shadow of Doubt (Duke University Press)

Featuring:

Greg Tate, "Roundtable: The Church of What’s Happening Now: Improv 2012 and the Cosmopolitan Truth"

Alexandra Vazquez, "Street Dreams: Blackness on the Move"

Tom Smucker, " When Bobby Went Bob: Darin’s Muddled Dylan Turn, The Assassination of RFK, and the Collapse of Ring A Ding Urban Masculinity. "

Karen Tongson, "“Drive and Sounds of the ‘80s Metropolis”"

Eric Lott, "Andy's Mick: Warhol Builds a Better Jagger"

J. Martin Daughtry, "Evocative Objects and Provocative Actions on the Acoustic Territory of War"

Larry Blumenfeld, ""Treme" and the Abstract Truth: Fact and Fiction in New Orleans"

Nate Chinen, "Nice Work: Jazz Agency and the New York City Cabaret Card, 1943-1967"

Diane Pecknold, ""The Spectral Cityscapes of Tween Pop""

Oliver Wang, "The The ? Remains: Toward a Culture-Emergent Hip-Hop Studies"

Carlo Rotella, "Shipping Up to Boston: A Pecking Order"

Michelle Habell-Pallán, "Violence Girl: East L.A. Rage to Hollywood Stage, A Chicana Punk Story -- a D.I.Y. "Archiverista" Conversation"

Scott Seward, " Puerto Ricans, Black Men, and No Less Than One Dominican: Slammin’ the Rock with Todd Terry, Chep Nuñez , Blade Runners, and The Blue Jean Regime – An Exegesis of 1990’s Warlock Records War Party Compilation Sliced and Edited in the Style Of Omar Santana. "

Kembrew McLeod, "Killer Apps Play the Sounds of the Cities""

Carl Wilson, " We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful: The Death and Life of Great North American Scenius "

Eric Weisbard

also, just a heads up, if anyone wants to join me, i will be staging a direct action mic check during this panel. you can bring signs and banners if you want:

>> Clubways

Venue: Room 3

Featuring:

Michaelangelo Matos, "A Trip to MARS-FM: The Story of L.A.'s Rave Radio Station, 1991-92"

Al Shipley, " Tough Breaks: The Story of Baltimore Club Music "

Benjamin Court, "Feeling the Political in "Can You Feel It?""

Joshua Clark Davis, "G.I. Rap and Euro-Dance: How African-American Soldiers and West Germans Created a Hybrid Hip Hop Culture in 1980s and 1990s Frankfurt "

oh that looks awesome

My head spins already...

I may need to hire substitutes.

EMP at its best is a process of making you realize you cannot be everywhere you want to be.

what's a scenius?

Although I'm not listed, I believe I'm participating in this:

Friday, March 23 2:15 - 3:45
>> Roundtable: The Church of What's Happening Now: Improv 2012 and the Cosmopolitan Truth
Venue: Room 4
This gathering will examine the economics, aesthetics and ethnicities of improvisational music culture in present-day NYC. It will include special emphasis on how older definitions of jazz, neo-classical, dance, rock, folk, global, breakbeat and fusion have been provoked, transformed and morphed by contemporary urban artists and audiences. The role of digital technologies and social media will be in the mix too. The panelists will also look at how race, class and gender issues have been addressed by present-day practitioners, and how gentrification has affected the communities and venues available to the city's contemporary improvising community.
Moderated by: Greg Tate
Featuring: Butch Morris, Vijay Iyer, Marika Hughes, Mazz Swift

And then on Sunday morning at 9, I'll be delivering my regular paper:

>> Jazz Alleys
Venue: Room 3
Featuring:
David R. Adler, "Ghost Train: Pre-Swing Big Bands and Urban Experience"
Nate Chinen, "Nice Work: Jazz Agency and the New York City Cabaret Card, 1943-1967"
Phil Freeman, "FROM THE CORNER TO CARNEGIE HALL AND BEYOND: THE URBANIZATION OF MILES DAVIS, 1972-1991"
Alex W. Rodriguez, "Deconstructing the Hang: Urban Spaces As Cross-Cultural Contexts for Jazz Improvisation"

[No, I don't know why my paper's title is in all caps while everyone else's is upper-lower. Looking forward to the panel, though, as I don't think I've ever met any of the other writers face to face.]

what's a scenius?

― Dr Morbois de Bologne (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, January 24, 2012

As I recall this refers to critic Simon Reynold's discussion of Eno's scenius versus genius thing...Does great music come from musicians who are part of a "scene" versus musicians off on their own

Oh my god this thing looks amazing. Just registered.

300 papers! or presenters or whatever! here's mine: http://www.empmuseum.org/education/index.asp?categoryID=26&ccID=127&xPopConfBioID=1724&year=2012

So former V. Voice critic RJ Smith's gonna do something related to his James Brown bio due out in March. Bet this will be good

The One: The Life and Music of James Brown

Simon Reynold's discussion of Eno's scenius versus genius thing...Does great music come from musicians who are part of a "scene" versus musicians off on their own

ok, I know when I'm licked -- see u guyz at the bar.

scott we're going to rock the house

programming is brilliant, our thing is like nyc from 1970 thru 1990

stiff competition though

as nycentric as i can be the LA panel looks awesome esp this

Ken Tucker, " L.A. Eccentricity in the 1970s: Thomas Jefferson Kaye, Hirth Martinez, and Moon Martin

Morbz, you're checking it out?!

or are you going to be one of those guys with posters screaming about socialism

I want to come up from DC for this but may not be able to (work and family responsibilities). :(

Does registration fill up early? I really want to score a spot for this but I'm not 100% sure I can go. Can you cancel later?

I registered because it was free but there usually isn't a problem.

I didn't realize registration was required - how do we go about doing it?

I don't have a bus ticket yet, etc. but would like to make sure I can go.

Go to the website (linked yesterday by Scott) -- there's a link there.

Morbz, you're checking it out?!

Are you nuts? I mean I will be here if you guys ever lead the premises.

leaVE

full table of contents for emp book coming out this year. looks cool! hope some new yawk people can make it to the book gathering/party on friday of the conference this year. would love to see anyone and everyone:

Introduction / Eric Weisbard 1Collapsing Distance: The Love-Song of the Wanna-Be, or The Fannish Auteur / Jonathan Lethem 7Black Rockers vs. Blackies Who Rock, or The Difference between Race and Music / Greg Tate 15Toward an Ethics of Knowing Nothing / Alexandra T. Vazquez 27Divided Byline: How a Student of Leslie Fiedler and a Colleague of Charles Keil Became the Ghostwriter for Everybody from Ray Charles to Cornell West / David Ritx 40Boring and Horrifying Whiteness: The Rise and Fall of Reaganism as Prefigured by the Career Arcs of Carpenters, Lawrence Welk, and the Beach Boys in 1973–74 / Tom Smucker 47Perfect is Dead: Theodor Adorno, Karen Carpenter, and the Radio, or If Hooks Could Kill / Eric Lott 62Agents of Orange: Studio K and Cloud 9 / Karen Tongson 82Belliphonic Sounds and Indoctrinated Ears: The Dynamics of Military Listening in Wartime Iraq / J. Martin Daughtry 111Since the Flood: Scenes for the Fight for New Orleans Jazz Culture / Larry Blumenfeld 145(Over the) Rainbow Warrior: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole and Another Kind of Somewhere / Nate Chinen 176Travel with Me: Country Music, Race, and Remembrance / Diane Pecknold 185The Comfort Zone: Shaping the Retro-Soul Audience / Oliver Wang 201Within Limits: On the Greatness of Magic Slim / Carlo Rotella 230Urban Music in the Teenage Heartland / Brian Goedde, Austin Bunn, and Elena Passarello 240"Death to Racism and Punk Revisionism": Alice Bag's Vexing Voice and the Unspeakable Influence of Canción Ranchera on Hollywood Punk / Michelle Habell-Pallán 247Of Wolves and Vibrancy: A Brief Explanation of the Marriage Made in Hell between Folk Music, Dead Cultures, Myth, and Highly Technical Modern Extreme Metal / Scott Seward 271The New Market Affair: Media Pranks, the Music Industry's Last Big Gold Rush, and the Hunt for Hits in the Shenandoah Valley / Kembrew McLeod 282All That Is Solid Melts into Schmaltz: Poptimism vs. the Guilty Displeasure / Carl Wilson 299Contributors 313Index 317

okay that came out totally wrong. sorry.

Okay so -- I gather on Twitter people are trying to work out accomodations so if there's a need for anyone, might as well post information here. (I'm already set, this is a public service revive.)

Hello--I'm in the middle of trying to organize accommodations so I can go and talk about Addis Ababa... (http://www.empmuseum.org/education/index.asp?categoryID=26&ccID=127&xPopConfBioID=1700&year=2012)

at some point on the 25th i'm gonna have to sneak away to watch the mad men premiere. (yes, it is important.)

just heard about this last week when daphne carr sent an email out to all the peeps who supported the BMW kickstarter campaign. i don't know any of you in person, but here's hoping this will give me the opportunity. looking forward to this!

Who's going? I'm not sure I can swing all the days off of work but I definitely definitely want to come up one night and kiw a bunch of u

I'd suggest either Thursday (opening night/reception/etc.) or Saturday due to this:

--

EMP Happy Hour, at Von, a short walk from NYU, Saturday 6:30-9:30. "Conference attendees 21 and older are invited to continue the conversation into the night at Von, http://www.vonbar.com/, located at 3 Bleecker Street between Lafayette and Bowery. Panelists will receive a wristband to enjoy cocktails at the bar -- venue capacity is limited, first-come first admitted."

We're hitting the big time -- Colbert actually made a couple of EMP Pop Conference jokes right out of the gate tonight, I gather!

Also, another formal event or two to note, these on the Friday night:

--

Libation NYC: A Global Soul Dance Party featuring DJ Ian Friday
Venue: 218 Sullivan Street NY 10012
Acclaimed music historian Tim Lawrence, author of Loves Saves the Day: A History of American Dance Music Culture, calls New York dance party Libation "one of the few parties in New York where the sonically and socially progressive lineage that began with the Loft and carried on at parties such as the Gallery, the Paradise Garage, the Underground Network and Body & Soul lives on." Ian Friday, Manchildblack, and Afro Mosaic Soul have teamed up with this conference to present a special evening of one of Gotham's hottest underground dance parties: Libation (The Global Soul Experience). Resident mixologist Ian Friday (Global Soul Music) will spin a seamless set of deep, underground, soul-drenched music.
21+ only, ID required; $15 all night; or $10 for EMP/IASPM-US participants w/ unique badge

--

Poor Baby Bree presents Ragtime, Ragmen, and Ragamuffins: Historic Songs of the Lower East Side
Venue: Bleecker Street Theater (45 Bleecker)
"Like being transported into another era. What an amazing performer!"
- Laurie Anderson
Join singer/archivist Bree Benton (as Bowery waif "Poor Baby Bree”) and musical director/frequent EMP presenter Franklin Bruno for a revue of comic and pathetic songs dating from the 1870s-1910s, the golden age of New York vaudeville. Hear songs by Irving Berlin ("Yiddle, With Your Fiddle, Play Some Ragtime"), variety impresario Tony Pastor ("In the Bowery"), and Irish-American musical theater pioneers Harrigan & Hart ("The Market on Saturday Night"), and other rarely-performed numbers, reconstructed from original sheet music and songsters. With Franklin Bruno (piano), Karen Waltuch (viola), Jacob Garchik (tuba/trombone), and Nick Russo (banjo/mandolin).
$8 at the door for Pop Conference/IASPM-US attendees ($12 otherwise). Please visit www.poorbabybree.com for more information and advance ticketing.

That said the thing I'm really up for is a full 17-member band performance from Escort at Brooklyn Bowl that evening at midnight.

http://www.brooklynbowl.com/event/102635/

http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/tue-march-13-2012-andrew-bird

Hahah holy shit, I am POSITIVE that photo of a panel they use is one of mine! And that might be...Matos presenting?

Colbert's mock proposal sounds pretty good actually

He's got the academic title style down perfectly.

Okay, that's not Matos, that was Charlie Bertsch introducing the panel of Nate Chinen, Geeta Dayal and J. D. Considine. And yep, that's my photo:

http://nedraggett.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/emp-pop-conference-2010-friday-presentations/

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2012/03/emp_pop_conference_colbert_report.php

i posted that info on geeta's facebook wall. funny!

you need to ask for a royalty check, ned.

SUE 'EM OUT OF EXISTENCE oh wait

advise u to go thru underaero

That would be unethical!

Poor Baby Bree is fucking awesome btw; everyone should see that show

Last day to pre-register:

http://www.empmuseum.org/education/index.asp?categoryID=26

Registered a while ago, still haven't gotten the update e-mail with details etc. Trying to plan when I should be busing down and so forth.

Does anyone know what time on Thursday the conference starts? Is it a "you should be there early Thursday morning" thing or does it not get properly started until the afternoon, etc.

(also, trying to rationalize/justify going by getting as much work done in the next 24 hours as possible)

and when can I say hi to you EMP gays?

I'm still waffling on ability to go. Couchsurfing with friends just got confirmed, so now it boils down to whether my summer job applications (due Friday) and other coursework that I promised myself would get done does get done.

Family obligations mean I can't make it up there. Thursday night opening looks like it could be interesting

7:00pm - 8:30pm
>> Conference Opening Keynote: The Artist in the City: with Angélique Kidjo, Esperanza Spalding, Santigold, and Himanshu Suri (aka Heems)

i have been procrastinating so much on everything as far as planning what i'm actually doing this weekend, beyond that i am definitely taking the bus up Thursday night and doing a panel (w/ Matos!) on Friday afternoon and staying til Sunday. maybe i can wing it? i need to get my shit together.

wandering down to the bus station now. new york!

this is an ungodly hour, iirc

I can't make it, alas: a work meeting tomorrow afternoon that's probably the most important of the year.

ah that's a bummer. i was looking forward to meeting you. maybe next time it'll be in miami

I'm heading down to NYU later today for the keynote address. who else will be attending?

Same here! At least a dozen people I looked forward to meeting for the first time.

I'll be there will bells on at 5 for registration and immediate socializing. Of course.

The Friday panels and presentations looks so awesome (so do the rest, but...Friday)

http://www.empmuseum.org/education/index.asp?categoryID=26&ccID=126&year=2012&panelDate=3/23/2012

everybody come to me and matos's panel! i wanna meet people!

I will be there. Perhaps not at 5 - bus arrives around 430 and I need/want to head out to Brooklyn where I'm crashing to drop my stuff at a friend's place but I should get there for the keynote.

Damn that was a great first night. Had to miss karaoke though.

the keynote thing was awesome! all those guys were so smart and funny.

karaoke was wild, i think you all are great

man more and more i feel like i missed out by not getting in earlier last night for the fun stuff, but hey i'm here now

skot i'm gonna try to come to your panel today and say hi! really hoping i run into everyone itt at one point or another, i guess there'll be nametags and it'll be easy to spot people?

;_;

I pre-registered but then found out I had a stupid concert with stupid rehearsals this weekend

I hate peeking into this thread because my blood boils. I had also registered.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/03/22/149155311/watch-the-emp-pop-conference-keynote

This NPR link says that when the Thursday night keynote with Angélique Kidjo, Esperanza Spalding, Santigold, and Himanshu Suri (aka Heems)
is available it will be posted on this NPR site

http://clivedavisinst.tisch.nyu.edu/object/popconlivestreaming.html

live streaming here?

it occurs to me I'm not sure what curmudgeon's real name is. I imagine you walking around this weekend saying "I'm curmudgeon" and getting the response "me too!" over and over.

Ha. I am not there alas, family obligations. I'm in the DC area.

oh bummer! we need to hang sometime, though, we're practically neighbors

So Scott Seward killed it again. A sample line of many:

"OK UK stop inventing things, all hopped up on Cadbury bars and PG Tips"

Exchange after he was done:

Jim Miller: "You grew up on Sesame Street didn't you?"
Scott: "Yeah!"

hello people! i'm in town but i haven't been to any of the popcon stuff yet. no sleep on the plane last night means zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. anything fun happening tonight?

that was fun today. i'm glad my dad could make it. nice to meet jim miller today and tom smucker tonight. it's really nice that greil is my biggest fan, but him sitting right in front of me when i was talking was still kind of intimidating. i avoided eye contact.

is that why you sat right in front of matos and me and tried to psyche us out?

exactly! it didn't work though. you guys were fine.

http://storify.com/touchofallright/layers-and-layers-of-not-so-dope-synths-listening?awesm=sfy.co_jHd&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter&utm_source=t.co&utm_content=storify-pingback

Wish I could have heard that one and Some Dude's Baltimore club thang

that whole panel of yours was really good. all 4.

x-post

joshua clark davis's frankfurt rap thing was such a kick. scott you ran off but hopefully at some point this weekend i'll run into you and we can tape a quick interview, i need your pov for what i'm doing!

would love to have watched greil's facial expressions during "you gotta have dick control"

yeah that whole panel killed btw

I wish I could be at more of this :(

You around today? What are you doing for lunch?

From 1 to 2 there's a lunchtime Prince panel.

Thing tonight needs extra prep time, I can't make it today and I'm *sad*, yesterday was a blast, but also *here for aero*. May drop by Von afterward b/c that's my "Cheers".

Yeah you better. For one thing I haven't said hi yet!

J Shep is interviewing Josh Kun on east village radio about his EMP presentation on Mexico/Cali border music right now (plus playing songs from Nortec collective and others) 4:10 Saturday East coast time

http://www.eastvillageradio.com/

nick sylvester calling out whiteness of mixtape panel, but admits to hiring all his friends at pitchfork #popcon

discussion of minstrelsy w/ all-white panel

enough twitter excerpts for now from me

so much good stuff on sunday. getting option anxiety!

i went to the mixtape panel and said hi to Breihan and enjoyed what he had to say because that's my dude but oh god so much else of what was said was just a smh greatest hits circa 2005

hahaha

do they do transcripts?

how many songs off 'we got it 4 cheap' were played?

several were mentioned by name

My paper (on 80s Miles Davis) will be on BurningAmbulance.com (with video of his Honda scooter commercial, even!) on Monday morning.

mixtape panel was iffy. i didn't stay for the whole thing. still haven't met some dude despite going to your panel and being at the mixtape one also. haha. perhaps tomorrow.

ah damn man, sorry i missed you! i still have no idea whether i will get back to popcon before getting on my bus tomorrow. 3 day weekend flying by frustratingly quickly!

rob sheffield/ann powers/jody rosen/greil marcus panel was the hightlight for me. everyone so good. kinda the ideal for ANY conference. whitney houston panel was my second fave. could listen to nelson george and danyel smith talk forever. and danyel's story of the time she was dissed by whitney was daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn!!!!

really wish i could be their for gza talking about liquid swords tomorrow but we have to get back.

really glad spike lee got into the emp spirit today. it was nice to see.

did not see owen at von. i drank a LOT of beer at von.

dinner at prune after von kinda one of the highlights of my year. ohmygodsofuckingamazing.

and i can't believe john aerosmith was in town and he didn't stop by emp. he missed some great stuff.

also really nice to see the usual emp suspects: daphne carr, matos, my pal amy phillps, carl wilson.

also, ilxors sang freud and alex in montreal and my hero jbr/get bent.

and last but not least to meet ned's completely adorable galpal!

lotsa folks were tweeting about Greil Marcus recounting Robert Johnson's life if he hadn't died in '38. He produced Straight Outta Compton

Plus pro and con thoughts on Rob Sheffield's presentation on the city of Los Angeles and the Doors

jazz panel with phil and nate chinen was totally for real awesome

missed jody rosen and greil marcus because i don't even want to be remotely near rob sheffield talking about the doors

nate chinen at one point imitated the 'old-timey' voice from ken burns docs

so great

rob's thing on the doors was one of the funniest things i've heard in a LONG time. it was great.

someone's tweet:

this mixtapes panel is like the ultimate inside joke: ex-P4K writers drone on about dipset, drink whiskey, berate people who leave.

i kinda think that rob can write rings around most of the people presenting. and he really WROTE his thing.

German GI/Dance thing was so great during Al and Matos's panel. wish xchukx could have been there for that.

this is the amazing video that kicked off the german gi dance thing, which i've spent the rest of the weekend showing everybody i can:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5xY53JqTnU

Was at Von but the 1-4 shift. Can't wait for Daphne tomorrow

Full weekend, this. A very good weekend indeed! More later but Scott, my sweetie thanks you kindly!

good seeing you too, skot! yours was even funnier than sheffield's. it's easier to riff on the doors than warlock records which is far from well-trod ground. but everything was great. i'm up early 'cause i need more.

nice meeting you too, maria!

seconded! it was great meeting you scott & maria. sorry i missed yesterday but i'll be back today

definitely kicking myself that i didn't see more panels and that i can't stay in town longer today but great weekend, meeting all y'all was a blast

The Tom Smucker/Jack Hamilton/Andy Zax/Douglas Wolk panel killed.

yeah, i would have loved to see that.

we just got home. oof, like, 4 hours sleep. beers at von + cocktails and wine at prune = wooooooooooooooo. that food at that restsaurant is godly. i ate so much.

i kinda think that rob can write rings around most of the people presenting. and he really WROTE his thing.

haha then i'm sorry for being dismissive

i just

no more things about the doors in my life, please

current favorite thing about the conference was michael b. gillespie's paper about post-9/11 music and theo parrish

it is a hard paper to explain but it was like one incredible idea per sentence

OMG i can't believe i had to leave before this. Douglas singing his paper on carole king with daphne backing him up!

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/549964_10150810888377317_524112316_11832933_151041330_n.jpg

lotsa tweets about a panel with Whiney on it talking about maximizing internet hits and dealing with publicists. Breakbeats panel and New Orleans panel also getting plenty of tweets

my EMP paper for those of you who are into that sort of thing. *snark alert* do not read if you are david denby.

http://skotrok.blogspot.com/2012/03/2012-emp-pop-conference-paper.html

urban ears panel was fascinating, especially david suisman on audio documentarian tony schwartz and franklin bruno on old-school record men hugo & luigi

xpost

scott i meant to tell you, denby used to live in my building and boy you got his number

Do they even have any competition as far as being the most annoying music lover? You might say country fans, but at least you know where you stand with hardcore country fans. They stand over here and I stand over there not asking them what they think of the president.

Damn, scott, thanks for that Nemesis track. It's a shame I couldn't make it up to EMP to say hello.

Argh so sorry I didn't make it out.

That Douglas Wolk thing was the conceptual coup of the weekend. Not only did he sing his presentation, he took the conference's theme -- "Sounds of the City" -- quite literally, focusing on Carole King's 1968 band "The City" and even playing some of their music.

Tom Smucker upon noticing Robert Christgau and Greil Marcus in the audience: "Seeing as we have the Beatles and Stones of music criticism out there, you can think of me as the Herman's Hermits."

it was really nice to talk with tom smucker at this thing. he's so nice. i'd seen him at the seattle one i went to, but never tslked with him. it was nice to talk with jim miller too. he was the moderator of our panel. i used to look at that rolling stone illustrated history of rock and roll at the library when i was a kid all the time. he edited that.

My great memory of Tom Smucker is him in '07 dancing with great concentration at Matos' house.

i remember that too!

jim miller to me: "i really like how you put all those words together. i used to edit lester bangs...i know how hard it can be." ha!

meanwhile, he's a braniac professor who writes books about cicero and stuff. not that i've read his books on cicero...but he writes them. i don't think he's done the rock crit thing in a long time.

also funny was seeing barney hoskyns yelling at the doorman at the bar everyone went to. not funny for the doorman maybe. although the doorman didn't seem to think it was a big desl. but i always think its funny if someone is mad and there might be a chance that they use the word "git" or "prat".

"deal"

(briefly) meeting the LEGENDARY NED RAGGETT was one of today's many highlights. also, hanging out w/ Alex in Montreal was supersuper funnnnnn

i met a raggett!

in my first day of wandering around trying to spot someone familiar i was like IT'S NED!!! and instantly fell into his orbit and went to lunch w/ his group, very surreal. ned missed a nick sylvester shoutout at a panel yesterday ("you aspire to be nelson george or ned raggett or robert christgau")

bummed that i didn't get to meet alex or brainwash!

My great memory of Tom Smucker is him in '07 dancing with great concentration at Matos' house.

― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, March 25, 2012 6:02 PM Bookmark

lol, i just remember LEGENDARY NED RAGGETT dancing on this occasion

Haha thanks all. That's the first I've heard about this Nick Sylvester thing! I wouldn't even DREAM of comparing myself to those two! My head is spinning.

Had a great time as ever. Great seeing everyone. Bring on the return to Seattle!

I remember Tom dancing, I remember me dancing, I remember the Reverend dancing (extremely goddamn well) and him amusingly asking what the heck kind of dancing I was doing. I think you later compared it to how certain artists make sculptures out of garbage.

Sorry some dude - I meant to say hi to you and matos at the end of your panel but I got distracted (typically) and you guys were engaged in other conversations and I didn't realize you wouldn't be around later. Next time, perhaps. If I can manage to get away again this time next year.

For my first EMP, it was a lot of fun. I felt very out of my depth, but it was totally weird and awesome to meet so many awesome people - first night in town I ended up sitting across from Ann Powers over dinner and my mind was just not comprehending things. And then Maura & co. dragged me out for karaoke. So, yeah. Fun weekend.

Now back to reality and school. The bus finally left town around 11:45.

i still haven't done karaoke with any ilxors other than clay, i don't think

Don't know how many were ILXors. It was a lot of Singles Jukebox and other music critics... Maura, JBogs, Katherine St. A, BradNelson, some other folk.

Scratch that. Bogart turned in early. The rest were there.

it was nice to meet you, alex!

i am always really happy to meet more ilxors.

Indeed! More than matching faces to names, it just feels like an extension of community.

Flying back in a few hours. Always so nice not to rush home.

Here's my talk, now with bonus video.

Tags: 60 minutes, a tribute to jack johnson, al foster, alicia keys, amandla, america eats its young, arsenio hall, art blakey, bill murray, bitches brew, black artists group, bomb squad, burning ambulance, cameo, chick corea, chuck brown, complete miles davis at montreux, coonskin, crime story, cyndi lauper, d train, dark magus, dave liebman, decoy, desmond tutu, devo, dingo, dizzy gillespie, doo-bop, down beat, earth wind and fire, easy mo bee, emp pop conference, fat albert, francis davis, funkadelic, furious five, get up with it, grace jones, grandmaster flash, heavy traffic, herbie hancock, human nature, in a silent way, isaac hayes, joe mcphee, john mclaughlin, joshua nkomo, kind of blue, live-evil, lou reed, miami vice, michael henderson, michael jackson, miles davis, mtume, notorious b.i.g., on the corner, pangaea, pete cosey, pharoah sanders, phil freeman, prince, purple rain, ralph bakshi, reggie lucas, rhino records, ricky wellman, robert mugabe, rolling stone, saturday night live, scritti politti, scrooged, shaft, sly and the family stone, sly stone, something on your mind, sonny rollins, soul searchers, spike lee, star people, sting, sun city, the complete jack johnson sessions, the complete on the corner sessions, there's a riot goin on, timbaland, time after time, tutu, we want miles, weather report, wynton marsalis, you're under arrest

i think i just read your paper via tags!

isn't that how you kids read everything these days?

whiney i didn't see you at this thing. were you hiding from me? i wouldn't hummus you, i swear.

I had a pretty brutal work week, so I needed Saturday to recoup. I was running around all Sunday though!

yeah we had to get back on sunday. which sucked cuz we missed so much good stuff.

Loved this conference, loved it - wish I hadn't gotten cold feet about introducing myself to people, but I always feel weird. "Hi, I post on this pne forum like twice a week." I was just psyched to hear so many great ideas and to be scurrying off to listen and read up on what I heard here - but fuck, I should've said what's up to more of yall.

yeah i know how it is. i think it was a lot easier for the panelists because we already had nametags, i could kind of float into the view of ilx people and they'd say hi. it was hilarious having ned point to me and expain to someone, i think m coleman, "he's some dude!"

xpost -- It happens! V. pleased to meet you, so just do more of that in future, I sez.

it was hilarious having ned point to me and expain to someone, i think m coleman, "he's some dude!"

Hahah yes, I was doing that kind of shorthand all week but actually saying that in your case was kinda funny. "Over there is that one guy..."

A wrap-up:

http://nyongo.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/emp-pop-conference-2012-wrap-up/

(And in my case, not a twitter impersonator -- I think -- but a guy who pretended to be me to get into the Pitchfork day party at SXSW. Not kidding!)

More praise for Skot!

http://rebeccacweibel.blogspot.com/2012/03/popcon-roundup.html

I stayed for the rest of the session, and heard an interesting paper on boombox culture, and an interesting postmodern rant about a compilation record.

Praise for m coleman too there.

Scott Seward, PoMo Ranter, is actually on my business card.

meanwhile, I totally forgot to buy that new EMP book when i was there. i would have gotten a 50% discount! that conference makes me so scatterbrained.

also, first review of the book that i've seen:

http://blog.kexp.org/2012/03/23/scribes-sounding-off-more-than-human-pop-when-the-world-falls-apart/

i wouldn't hummus you, i swear.

girl, i'll hummus you.

i'm sad that i didn't get to see more EMP stuff, but i swore to my family i'd make some time for them too. there are still so many of you i haven't met! maybe next year, if time/money allows.

I didn't get to see every ilxor's panel, but I'll cosign on Scott and Mark Coleman's lectures, both among the standouts I saw all weekend. Also great: Josh Kun on "maquiladora music" in Mexico's industrial border towns, Julianne Escobedo Shepherd on ball culture/vogue house, Greil Marcus's imagined Robert Johnson history, RJ Smith on James Brown's conflicted relationship with his hometown, Ben Sandmel on Ernie K-Doe, and of course the roundtable on Whitney Houston.

-s

Only being available for 9am-12pm lectures, 1am-4am drinks
Missing ?uestlove, Scott, all roundtables
Phasing audio in every lecture
Not meeting Ned

+s

Bf was really into it, was surprised at how class- and race- it was
Seeing Daphne Brooks do her thing in the flesh
Being condescended to in a Q&A
Fangirl moment w/Maura

Oh, another big + was Scott thinking Carl's Toronto lecture was a work of fiction

Not meeting Ned

Such a pity! I was looking around for you too. Also I inadvertantly startled Daphne Carr in that I thought you were looking forward to her collaboration with Douglas Wolk and might have made her nervous! (But yes, Ms. Brooks rocks, does she not?)

Bf was really into it, was surprised at how class- and race- it was

A good focus; there have always been strong voices on these matters but I think this was easily the broadest and strongest conference yet.

Owen - I realized in retrospect from Chris' tweets that we were both at the K-pop panel and apparently also at Daphne Brook's amazing paper, but I didn't spot you! Heh.

The class and race focus of a lot of the papers was something I appreciated. Given the focus on the cityscape and urban spaces, it didn't shock me, but I would have been disappointed if it wasn't a big part of the conversation.

that whitney thing was great. my fave thing was prob rob sheffield. he cracks me up.

this should go on the braggin' thread, but Gr#il M@rc^s sent me a rilly flattering email after this, and now i feel like i should really read one of his books. i've been meaning to! i mean i've been reading his stuff since the 70's so there is that. i'm sure some of it stuck through osmosis. just like xgau's stuff.

All you people havin' fun making me mad again.

Owen how did sat nite go with anony4 and j0hn?

Particularly glad that most of the papers on queer issues didn't ignore the class and race implications of their subjects.

i loved how "urban" this conference was. just lots of great black/rap/dance/electronic talk and i was way into that.

Owen how did sat nite go with anony4 and j0hn?

― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, March 27, 2012 1:19 PM (30 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I didn't get tickets to this but BradNelson raved about it to me, so I'm assuming it was pretty awesome.

oh and i loved listening to alice bag talk a lot, but i could have done without beck's mom. sorry, beck's mom! okay, now i feel bad for beck's mom. its just that alice is so interesting all on her own...

I didn't get tickets to this but BradNelson raved about it to me, so I'm assuming it was pretty awesome.

Yeah been hearing similar. Was so hoping to catch it but tickets were long gone before I could put two and two together and go "Hey wait I'll be there at the same time..."

i just looked to see if he was coming around here but doesn't look like he is anytime soon. he's comin' atcha, australia! i had fun at the MG show maria and i saw in northampton when we first moved around here. and was completely in awe of everyone in the crowd who knew every word to every song. there are a lot of words in those songs!

and we FINALLY got a copy of the 33&third black sabbath book. sorry, J*$n!!!! i'm a bad pal....i just never go anywhere that has them. got douglas's book too and the carl wilson one. they sold out of geeta! before i could get one.

A4 and j0hn was awesome! Like, actually! Not in a "It is important to be positive about a client's work" way but in a "I may cancel my shit this weekend and see it again in London" way.

phil's miles davis thing is p cool

phil essentially wrote the reappraisal of '90s miles davis i've always wanted to see written

he's totally right about doo-bop

'80s-'90s miles davis*

^^^yeah, this is great! i've always meant to dig deeper into that stuff, only heard a handful of albums. should probably get this: http://www.amazon.com/Warner-Years-1986-Miles-Davis/dp/B005G4YE4S

we want miles is a killer live album. funky as hell

http://www.gpb.org/news/2012/03/31/crossover-appeal-the-pop-conference-in-new-york

mentions of various presentations including:

Jack Halberstam traced the sound of a scream through three songs performed by women with loose connections to punk, but little else in common: "The Boiler" by Rhoda Dakar & The Special A.K.A., a cover of Joy Division's "She's Lost Control" by Grace Jones and "Come Alive" by Janelle Monae. Noticing similar sounds is easily done. What made Halberstam's paper eye-opening was the idea that we can categorize songs by tracking their sounds through history just as effectively as we can using genre tags. Simple and bit magical, like opening a door into a room where things are messier than what you're used to, but somehow make a little more sense

I'm still a little too far inside comedown mode to say anything insightful about this year's conference, but it was my favourite one yet in pretty much every way. The only real disappointment was missing a few papers I really wanted to see (Daphne Brooks, Douglas Wolk) due to exhaustion. I'm grateful that people came to my panel and my party and the karaoke outing where I sang "Pussy Control" with Brad.

(also: http://critickittens.tumblr.com/post/20356066358/after-a-long-day-of-panels-at-last-months-pop)

where I sang "Pussy Control" with Brad

this was the best

i got a big laugh during my paper when talking about the Baltimore club song "Dic Control" and was later told that at least some of the laughter was due to "Pussy Control" being sung the night before

My biggest regret IS missing karaoke for sure. Next year.

is it a coincidence you said that right after some dude's 'dic control' post, or

In a word, yes. (My girlfriend and I had planned on going but we were just too wiped out from jet lag still.)

just posted my paper!

http://backtotheworld.net/2012/04/04/driving-freely-through-the-world-cosmopolitanism-in-k-pop/

:-D

raggett control