CMJ 2008

I have a somewhat lifelong love affair with the art of college radio. It started in high school, led me to DJ at KXLU and then sat in the back of my mind for a while until I ended up in grad school and the music director of a college radio station - USC's student run KSCR. And so, 10 years after having a crush on a boy who attended the conference/music marathon and dating him for the three years following his return, I enjoyed the music-related networking extravaganza that is CMJ the week before last in new York City. I hadn't been there in a while and it was awesome to see so many people I haven't seen in a long time. Plus I got to sit around and listen to music for hours on end and ask George Clinton, members of the Funkadelic, a producer from Public Enemy and a producer from the Wu-Tang Clan about Afrofuturism.

George ended the conversation by saying, "One nation under groove" and I handed them the stickers Steven Serrato designed for the cover of Ghetto Sci-Fi by Ras G and the Afrikan Space Program.

I'm basically going to present my itinerary with links.

Saturday 10/18 I landed and was picked up by my friend Bruce and went for a big Greek dinner in Astoria with his family and friends.

Sunday he drove me out to Irvington in Westchester County where I visited with my Aunt, Uncle and cousin. My sister's father-in-law picked me up and drove me back to Wanaque, NJ where I had a big Italian dinner at their place with their other son and his family. So great to finally see the town where my brother-in-law grew up!

On Monday he drove me to the hostel in the City where I met up with the other representatives of KSCR. We followed Barry's recommendation and had pizza at John's of Bleeker Street in Greenwich Village ("My mom used to life above a shoe store around here with some guys in the late 60s"). We headed to Arlene's Grocery for Punk Rock Heavy Metal Karaoke ("I think I read a journal article based on an ethnography of that venue"). Check out Jeff's post on the KSCR blog Bandwith.

Tuesday I did some work for school at a Starbucks on Broadway on the Upper West Side and then picked up my CMJ badge near Washington Square and went with Team KSCR to the college radio mixer at The Delancey co-hosted by New Zealand in some way, with meat pies and some free kind of vodka at the bar.

The rest of the gang went to see bands they were interested in and I checked out the Spectre party at the Bowery Electric and quickly left - stumbling across Carlos Niño on my way out - for the Allido Records showcase at S.O.B.'s with Wale, Daniel Merriweather, The Rumble Strips and Mark Ronson DJing. I mostly sat on an amp in the corner and listened enough to keep me awake (thanks AAM Robb for helping me in the door). Somewhere along the way I had visions of a travel neti-pot and purchased one at the Whole Foods on the L.E.S. between events.

Wednesday I got up in time to see a panel called "The Stinging Reach of the RIAA" to meet up with a colleague teaching at NYU. We got sandwiches at a nearby Deli and he showed me his office and gave me the perspective of someone 4 years ahead of me in school. I headed straight to Cake Shop from there for the Terrorbird showcase. Highlights were: Mona's DJ set upstairs; Shugo Tokumaru downstairs, with their accordion, glockenspiel and distorted Japanese and English vocals; and Tobacco's electro ways. I met some folks for dinner and headed for the Stones Throw party at The Gallery Bar. I caught a bit of Edan the DJ and met some cool folks and ran into Dru but had made plans to see Ashes of Time Redux with the friend of a friend.

Thursday I made it to NYU for College Day just in time for the Music Director's summit and a free lunch before heading to the Brooklyn Vegan event at Pianos. SK's vegi-burger and fries looked really good but I'd just had the free lunch. Highlights were: Friendly Fires with their 80s Korg, MPC and rocking drummers wearing ties; San Diego's The Muslims; and Merge's Wye Oak doing an upstairs set. I left around 5:30, allowing for time to get lost on my way to Lolita Bar for the girlgroup anniversary party. It was rad but I felt shy and headed to meet up with SK at Webster Hall for the Who Made Who / Fujiya & Miyagi / Crystal Castles show. We had trouble finding each other so I stopped by the Barsuk:Merge:ReadyMade magazine:Sub Pop:Suicide Squeeze:Touch & Go party at the HiFi Lounge as it was getting started and decided to check out the Global Hip-Hop Throwdown at Drom down the street. I caught the end of South Korea's DJ Soulscape's set and the beginning of a set by France's Too Many Fish. I stopped by the Hi-Fi again but it was full of free-drinking badge-holders of varying sorts. Deciding to call it a night, I hailed a taxi and recognized the Mali cab driver's accent and he turned the volume up on some West African music on the stereo as he drove me up town.

Friday I caught up on sleep and got to NYU in time for much of the One Nation, One Groove Panel on the Changing Role of the Producer before hitting up the Choueette showcase at Cake Shop. Running into Ami Spishock on the street was one of the highlights of the trip. Juliana Barwick was the upstairs highlight and while I waited to see The Castanets downstairs, I chatted with the current KXLU music director, which was rad. I got a text about happy hour at Pianos a few doors down before the Sub Pop / Hardly Art showcase and was excited to have my chance at the bar food that had been on my mind the past 24 hours. I caught Hardly Art's Pretty & Nice upstairs but didn't realize the downstairs had filled up so tried to catch the Social Registry event at Santo's Party House but the line looked long so we were early attendees of the Beggars/Matador afterparty at Stanton Public with DJs from bands such as Times New Viking, where I ran into Ian MacKinnon, which was rad.

Saturday I met up with a friend from high school. It was the first time we'd seen each other since graduation. She suggested Sarabeth's for brunch, which was yummy. We headed to The Music Hall of Williamsburg for the AAM extraveganza, caught the end of The Ruby Suns, some of A Place to Bury Strangers, and the incredible live show of Monotonix (who my friend described as Borat meets The Wedding Singer). In between bands I purchased a hat. My friend wanted to take advantage of Williamsburg and, as a fan of Diner Journal, suggested an excursion through rain and wind to Marlow and Sons where we started with soup, continued by splitting the potato tortilla and ended up sharing a salad, too. Since she isn't often across the bridge from Manhattan, we decided to check out another spot on her Williamsburg to-do list and visited Pete's Candy Store. We caught a beautiful set by Matt Bauer on banjo, accompanied by friends on an upright bass, guitar and glockenspiel. After a couple acts that didn't match our post-Matt Bauer expectations, my friend decided to head home and I headed to The Blender Theater at Gramercy to meet up with the KSCR crew at the Fanatic showcase. The Octopus Project was rad. The boys had matching outfits and as Aisah noted, the girl manning the electronic elements had a dress that matched her hair. She was also very impressive with a Theramin, something you don't see everyday. Yo Majesty were rad. Shunda K's brilliant delivery of fast paced rhymes and Jwl B's harmonizing, singing and dancing were inspiring and a great last act for my week. I decided to take the train down the street and catch Lee Perry's set only to find he'd canceled and I'd extended my evening a couple hours waiting around for the subways that would bring me back to the hostel.

On Sunday 10/26 I packed and dashed to The Whitney for a 15 minute run through the Calder exhibit and thought of my mother, my writing class last Fall, and the words I'd found through it, about the sources of inspiration connecting my childhood, the people I'd seen on this trip and the work I still wish to pursue. I bought a Calder Tshirt for my brother and a chocolat chaud for myself with Macaroon gift boxes from the La Maison de Chocolate I passed on Madison Avenue. I gave one box to Bruce for his family when he and his son picked me up. They got me safely to the airport with plenty of time, even with a stop at Bruce's high school to demonstrate a story he was telling on the way.



Hopefully I'll go back to New York in March '09. I can't wait.