EMP Pop Conference 2012 -- NYC

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.