EMP Pop Conference 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:

--

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!