EMP Pop Conference (Friday, part II)
Apr. 16th, 2010 04:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jinianUnexpended cherry blossoms: few. Children dressing up in kimono: many. Most of the kids didn't get to take the kimono with them, but they wound up with paper crowns with wind-sock-like carp motifs and their names in katakana on the front. Cuuuute!
Talked to m-pig on the phone. Read a bunch and put my foot up. Got lunch at Blue Water with Wim and his mom. Then back to the EMP!
Session: "Bent"
I missed most of Gustavus Stadler's paper about Andy Warhol "reorienting aural fidelity" but was amused to find that he had a significant relationship with a microphone and would force it on people even when they really had to pee.
Tina Majkowski showed amazing footage of Kaki King playing guitar with an unusual over-the-fret technique and electronic sample pads on the guitar body; apparently King was trained as a percussionist, but it's really impressive and cool regardless. Melissa York, sometimes of the Butchies, was referred to for her DIY drum-in-guitar-shape hardware and later similar configurations with other sound samples. I might get bored behind a drum set and want to bounce around the stage too!
I actually bothered Alexandra Apolloni after the session to say how much I liked her presentation and how happy I was someone had done it -- she talked a lot about Lady Gaga and metaphors of disability. The main message was that Gaga's disability is always temporary and chic and that this is kind of a problem for actual disabled folks. It's used deliberately as a metaphor for fame, that it hampers you but is fascinating at the same time, and, which I thought was very cool, that staring at disability is illicit and to invite it as Gaga so clearly does is pulling the viewer into a more voyeuristic vibe (me) than they would likely feel without it. Also her use of truly excessive fashion that makes normal activity difficult for her, including a sort of human gyroscope outfit that I hadn't seen before, is nicely metaphorical for fame and for more normal fashion sacrifices. Simulating vocal problems or damage using Autotune, stutter, unintelligibility. Cool stuff. The speaker is thinking of expanding it into mental illness as well, which I am wary of but would cautiously support.
Not sure what I'm going to do now. I like the EMP, but it's a lot when I'm feeling overwhelmed. Errands first, I guess. Maybe I need more origami paper. Hmm, that Laurel Canyon movie is in at the Green Lake library. Maybe I can fill my day after all. :)
(Aww, guy across from me at the library just said, "I sure hope the rest of your day's as beautiful as you" as he left. How nice.)
Talked to m-pig on the phone. Read a bunch and put my foot up. Got lunch at Blue Water with Wim and his mom. Then back to the EMP!
Session: "Bent"
I missed most of Gustavus Stadler's paper about Andy Warhol "reorienting aural fidelity" but was amused to find that he had a significant relationship with a microphone and would force it on people even when they really had to pee.
Tina Majkowski showed amazing footage of Kaki King playing guitar with an unusual over-the-fret technique and electronic sample pads on the guitar body; apparently King was trained as a percussionist, but it's really impressive and cool regardless. Melissa York, sometimes of the Butchies, was referred to for her DIY drum-in-guitar-shape hardware and later similar configurations with other sound samples. I might get bored behind a drum set and want to bounce around the stage too!
I actually bothered Alexandra Apolloni after the session to say how much I liked her presentation and how happy I was someone had done it -- she talked a lot about Lady Gaga and metaphors of disability. The main message was that Gaga's disability is always temporary and chic and that this is kind of a problem for actual disabled folks. It's used deliberately as a metaphor for fame, that it hampers you but is fascinating at the same time, and, which I thought was very cool, that staring at disability is illicit and to invite it as Gaga so clearly does is pulling the viewer into a more voyeuristic vibe (me) than they would likely feel without it. Also her use of truly excessive fashion that makes normal activity difficult for her, including a sort of human gyroscope outfit that I hadn't seen before, is nicely metaphorical for fame and for more normal fashion sacrifices. Simulating vocal problems or damage using Autotune, stutter, unintelligibility. Cool stuff. The speaker is thinking of expanding it into mental illness as well, which I am wary of but would cautiously support.
Not sure what I'm going to do now. I like the EMP, but it's a lot when I'm feeling overwhelmed. Errands first, I guess. Maybe I need more origami paper. Hmm, that Laurel Canyon movie is in at the Green Lake library. Maybe I can fill my day after all. :)
(Aww, guy across from me at the library just said, "I sure hope the rest of your day's as beautiful as you" as he left. How nice.)
