Wacky pop culture intellectualism

Am I back? I don't know. Is this thing on? Does it matter?

I've been MIA for quite a while, from both my blog and my life. Working 3 jobs in academia last quarter led right into family holidays, a chosen family wedding (maybe thoughts on that later), and then the inevitable exhaustion and illness that comes from too much work and not enough sleep. I was in New York when the Butchlalis performed Dickwhipped at Highways, so I was sad to miss the show and even sadder that I was too sick to be doing fun fabulous queer and/or theater things in NYC while I was there. I am perhaps not yet hardy enough to live in New York - the cold weather and my flu-like symptoms made me want to sleep and watch movies and play Wii and never leave Brooklyn, so I did.

Looking forward, there are some pretty exciting public intellectualism kinds of events going on in the near future here in LA and in blogworld.

As you may or may not know, I've spent a bit of time in the last five years hanging out with musicologists, who are suprisingly fabulous and interesting people. A few pretty cool musicologist friends of mine are keeping a group blog called Musicology/Matters which, so far, is a fascinatingly idiosyncratic collection of ruminations on music-related issues ranging from what's up with this week's column in the New Yorker? to the tension between academic interest and guilty pleasures. They're smart folks, and I'm interested to see what they have to say to each other and the world.

Speaking of group music/culture blogs, apparently the fabulous Karen Tongson of USC is collaborating with some other smart folks (Christine Bacareza Balance and Alexandra Vazquez) across the country to blog about pop music, culture, and taste, and whatever else comes to mind at Oh! Industry. For their mission statement, start here. Though the blog seems to be well underway and going strong, they're throwing a launch party here in LA on January 17.

And if you're looking for some good live discussion of popular music, head to the REDCAT on January 22 for Listen Again in which a bunch of scholars and journalists get together and talk pop. The LA academic community is well-represented by Alice Echols, Bob Fink, Josh Kun, Judith Halberstam, and Karen Tongson, several of whom aren't strictly music scholars, so there will be a particularly fun, approachable, interdisciplinary vibe to the event. I can't speak for the many journalists who will also be participating in the event, but the scholars are smart and cool and interesting to hear talk. Plus, it's only $8 ($4 for students), so it's finally an event at the REDCAT I can afford!

Speaking of events at the REDCAT that I can't afford, The Wooster Group will be performing their Hamlet there at the end of the month. This will sell out. It will be weird and brilliant and deconstructed. Kate Valk will be playing both Ophelia and Gertrude. I need to see it. Anyone care to join me?