Quick Thoughts on Performance Paths
Nothing too deep here, but something hopefully worth thinking about and expanding. I should preface it with the caveat that Performance Studies is not my main gig and that I’m not … Continue reading
Outkasted.
Awesome to run into such cool music/place/race/narrative scholarship from Memphis. Dr. Zandria F. Robinson and Regina N. Bradley talking it out.
I really really want to thank you for dancing to the end.
So, there are these three videos from Janelle Monae’s new record The Electric Lady that I keep watching, over and over. They tie into, and are the latest episodes of … Continue reading
Concrete Jungle
There was at least a solid two years in Fayetteville where it seemed like you could not go to a party or hangout or a show without hearing “Legend.” Usually … Continue reading
Cultural Exchange
Dave Bruceck has passed, and everywhere on the net, “Take 5” is playing. That’s a wonderful thing, but here’s a lesser known bit of the Brubeck legacy, a musical written … Continue reading
Selling Out
Some notes from an email I sent into a discussion list while working on ideas about how to talk about pop music that stands against pop music. It’s not exactly right in some places, but it does a good job of explaining where my thinking about pop music and authenticity comes from. Written in reply to the estimable Tony Thomas, I’m trying to salvage what was good (or at least necessary) about being worried about selling out, while recognizing what’s really problematic about the foundations of the whole idea.
No Radio Free Lunch (Blog)
Adele, R&B, & a Century of Generic Purity This article from The Atlantic is…Interesting. I’m not going to write about the Club Music as/not as R&B aspect much, because I … Continue reading
Conversations: “Free” Music
Over at Dangerous Minds, Nail O’Conghaile has a post about the Emily White–David Lowery-Free Music-Piracy conversation that rolled across social media a couple of weeks ago. Arguing in support … Continue reading
Unpop
…is short for Unpopular Popular Music, which I wrote about in my recently completed dissertation for the University of Iowa Department of American Studies. The term refers to music (folk … Continue reading
No Radio Free Lunch! 