Heads up about a really cool (and free) conference coming to town over the weekend of April 19-21.

It's the EMP Pop Music Conference, and it brings together "academics, critics, performers, and dedicated fans in a rare collective discussion" about that thing we all love - music! EMP stands for "Experience Music Project," which is the Seattle museum that presents these events annually in a different city every year. This year, New Orleans was chosen as one of five cities that will all hold regional conferences at the same time, and our theme is "Due South: Roots, Songlines, Musical Geographies." I love it already.

So basically, for free, you can hear panelists from around New Orleans and the U.S. discuss quirky and critical topics like "The Secret World of Southern Soul," "Noise Ordinances and a Sound Future in New Orleans," "Why the Chocolate City Kept Go-Go Music to Itself," "White People Writing about Black People Playing Country Music," "Second Lines from the Inside," "The African Retentions of Zydeco," "How New Orleans Revived Bob Dylan," and "Gay, Transgender and Cross-Dressing Black Male Entertainers in New Orleans." And those are just a few of the items that will be discussed.

The event, again, is free and open to the public, but registration is highly encouraged, as space is limited. It takes place at Tulane University, on the second floor of the Lavin-Bernick Center (aka The LBC), and from 9am-5pm on Friday and Saturday, plus a 10am Sunday "Banjo in the African Diaspora" brunch event. For more information, the complete schedule of events and panelists, and to register, click to bit.ly/popcon-nola. Tell a friend, and make sure you register.

See you there, all weekend, for lots of music talk, one of my favorite things to do.

Best,

djss

PS: Don't miss the panel that I'm introducing, which will kick-off the entire weekend of events, on Friday, April 19 from 9:00-10:30 am. It's called "D.C. 'Bama: Go-Go Music in the Nation's Capital," and features Natalie Hopkinson, author of Go-Go Live (named by SPIN magazine as one of the top 10 music books published in 2012); poet, professor, photographer, and DC go-go scholar Thomas Sayers Ellis; and the popular DJ Stylus of Washington D.C.