Apparently my online presence is now limited to short facebook chunks of nerdovision. And that’s about it. Seriously. Ask anybody. Check me out on twitter, all I do is repost other shit. LAME.
I’m still writing, it’s just not public right now.
I’m going to Philadelphia! I’m going to just start calling it Phila., PA, with the period and coma, of course. I’m going there! This year’s Society for Ethnomusicology conference is in Phila., PA. You know I get busy online this time of year. I will be tweeting away. Hashtag #SEM2011. I didn’t even have schoolcraft wax this time last year. Woah. Here’s my DDD post about SEM in Los Angeles: DDD SEM 2010.
EDIT: I present Thursday afternoon. My paper is titled “Genre Ownership and Boundary Negotiation in Detroit Electronic Music.”
Moving on: The following was part of my soundtrack this past weekend. Totally relevant because it’s music that I like. I’ve been schooled on it. (schoolcraft wax) And it’s totally influential to Motown music.
Big Mama Thornton “Hound Dog” is the first thing I want you to listen to, my dear readers. I love it. Maureen Mahon, Ph.D. gave the Popular Music Section lecture last year at SEM on this fascinating woman. This is Mahon’s new research project and I’m really excited about it. Mahon wrote Right to Rock, a fantastic book about the Black Rock Coalition and race. Listen to Big Mama Thornton sing “Hound Dog.” Before Elvis. Her voice is amazing. The way she begins the song knocks me down.
Next up, Ruth Brown. She is awesome. Awesome. Look at that tambourine action. I mean what the fuck. How often do you get to see and hear somebody play and sing and move like that. I love it. Yes, I am a scholar. “What the fuck” is a commonly used evaluative phrase in academic circles. It means “shit yes.”
Chuck Berry kills me with this song. Look at his skinny legs stomp. Total shoulder shimmy song and hip hop bounce song.
Sam Cooke.
And Harvey Fuqua, married Gwen Gordy, wrote Motown songs, did other cool stuff.
I love these songs. Enjoy. In my mind, I’m already in Phila., PA.
Check that link there. This event has been wonderful. Every night this week has featured prominent Detroit musicians. I wish I had taken the time to post this before the actual event began, but like I mentioned below, my days have been crammed with other stuff. I’ll have lots to tell you about the week when I get a chance to sit down and really write something thorough.
Ed Wolfrum, chief engineer at Motown’s Studio B and United Sound Systems, changed my world last night. That is something I definitely want to be able to tell you about in full. Inspiring and invigorating. And, he’s a badass Detroiter.
Here’s what he opened with:
Along with some other beautiful sounds that I failed to write down and now my tired head can’t remember. I’m really not that tired. It’s just a lame excuse. LAME.
Don’t worry. I’m busy with stuff that will probably make you happy. Dissertation is well on it’s way. I have a dissertation committee of four Indiana University faculty members. The chair of my committee reads and suggests revisions to the whole thing. Then approves the changes I make. Then my whole committee reads it through and suggests more revisions, if necessary. Then I meet with them and defend, which means I talk about what I did and what I wrote, and then answer questions they have. Then the shit is done.
Right now, chapters 1 and 2 have been revised. Chapters 3 and 4 are waiting to be revised. Chapter 5 should be completed next week. And the conclusion needs a few paragraphs added in the middle.
Then comes the transition to a book. My dissertation chair is so brilliant and skilled that she seems to have that end result in mind while editing my dissertation. She’s got my back in a lot of ways and I appreciate it. That book will be academic. Lot’s of anthropological and philosophical theory, but also a shit ton of Detroit. If you’re not into theory, that’s cool. I have big plans for other books and projects about Detroit music that will involve the words and ideas of many people from Southeast Michigan who know and can talk about what they know. These future projects will not be primarily for an academic audience. They will be directed at a wider audience of people who are into music, life, Detroit, and other stuff that you love.
One in Chicago, yes, yes, of course, that makes sense. Here is the facebook event for that night. And a lovely afternoon in Millennium Park. Here is the facebook event for that. Chicago. Okay, so they’re going to play NYC too, right? Nope, they were, but not anymore. Flight difficulties. So, okay, they’re playing on the west coast then, right? Um no.
