EDM as tourism: the rebranding of UK rave
Last month, I answered some questions for a UK media/marketing firm researching how UK rave circa 1989 evolved into the US youth phenomenon of electronic dance music (EDM) — a question I’ve asked before on this blog. The piece is lengthy and lies behind a paywall, but author Emmajo Read did a great job. By...
Martha and the Muffins: a book project in musical urbanism
This summer I begin in earnest a new research project on the Canadian new wave group Martha and the Muffins. I’ve blogged about them extensively already, focusing on the mixed-gender approach and geographical sensibilities that inform their work. The book I intend to write will incorporate these into a new focus: the career of a...
let the children use it: the School of Rock presents David Bowie
Last weekend I saw my nephew play drums in a David Bowie tribute concert at the School of Rock in Fort Washington (a suburb of Philadelphia). Unsurprisingly, I had a blast. I mean, how could any Bowie fan resist the prospect of watching a rotating ensemble of middle- and high school-aged kids performing a 2+...
in memoriam: Maggie Estep (1963-2014)
Maggie Estep moved to New York in the 1980s to live the downtown life. Her calling appeared in a writing class she took for drug rehab. By the decade’s end, she was performing slam poetry regularly at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. A tiny girl with greasy hair and attitude for miles, Estep was instrumental in...
music for being: notes from an adult rock band party
In urbanists’ excitement over music scenes and the desirability of “social and interactive street-level culture” (to invoke Richard Florida), it’s easy to lose sight of whether there’s any value to all of this besides promoting careers and urban economies. Does “enriching creative communities” actually involve extending the practice of creativity into people’s everyday lives? Or...
artistic/career reinventions: a research question
For a future post, I’m crowdsourcing a topic: performers, bands, or other musical units whose work received a significant artistic or commercial boost by reinventing themselves. What examples come to mind for you? Sure, lots of musicians adopt new approaches with virtually each album. Others have pursued new styles or found greater success through a...
community food assessment research in Poughkeepsie
In the Fall of 2010 I began serving as primary co-investigator on a community food assessment (CFA) in the city of Poughkeepsie, New York. A remarkable coalition of local groups came together under the title Poughkeepsie Plenty, including the Poughkeepsie Farm Project, Dutchess Outreach, the Dutchess County Dept. of Health, and Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess...
album radio spots, 1967-82
Continuing with my last post on the decline of urban music retail, here’s a truly extinct medium: the album radio spot. These advertisements flourished in an era when record companies pursued mass markets of radio listeners who bought their music in record stores. How many of those conditions exist anymore, at least in this combination?...
some thoughts on the decline of urban music retail
I had a brief but interesting Twitter conversation yesterday triggered by Maura Johnston’s link to a New York Times article about how J&R Music World, a venerable downtown NYC retailer of music, hardware and technology, is abandoning its CD sales. already happened to fans of all music across US… MT @nytimes NY classical fans running...
why I have two Twitter accounts
I set up a personal Twitter account, @LeonardNevarez, to accompany my original @MusicalUrbanism account. In explaining why, this is a good moment to review the evolution of my Musical Urbanism project. In the fall of 2007, I introduced a new co-taught course, Musical Urbanism, as a senior seminar at Vassar College’s Urban Studies Program. The...
favorite music of 2013
Julia Holter, Loud City Song Holter’s 3rd record has to be the Musical Urbanism album of the year — the title is almost an alternate title for this blog, right? In the four months since it came out, I’ve been puzzled and intrigued by how an album this composed, in both senses of the word,...
Restless Records, 1989: from an independent label intern’s view
The inspiration for my latest post: a request. How cool to find out @enigmarecords, where I did my first internship, is on @twitter. Tweet more, Enigma! What are the Effigies up to? — Mara Schwartz (@mara_schwartz) December 8, 2013 @MusicalUrbanism @EnigmaRecords I would like to read this. — Mara Schwartz (@mara_schwartz) December 9, 2013 In...