New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority's Music Under New York program has been producing music performances in the subway system for over 22 years in an ongoing music festival. Musicians at this panel will tell their stories and highlights from their experiences in this unique underground music culture.
The state of the urban music genre is in flux and its players have a variety of opinions on its health. This meeting of the minds will table many tribulations while also shedding light on positive aspects of the genre's uncertain future.
You know how soulless a pitch can be. Continuously sending your demo into a void can seem less than rewarding. But at this panel, don't expect to just play a demo - this is a full-on get-in-front-of-a-real-person-that-can-sign-you pitch session. And if you dare to pitch, you sure better have something fantastic to back up your act like sales, radio play, live shows, and online numbers - just to name some additional collateral. Be prepared to ante-up, and be ready for the truth.
Believe it or not, there are major label deals still happening, but their components have changed greatly - not to mention the money going into them. This panel will get you up to speed on major label current affairs and how you can get in on the action.
When the personality precedes the music, who knows what you'll get on stage? Andrew W.K. has built himself as a living phenomenon - an artist who has made his work and music, a public evolution of personal expression, backed up with a celebratory, charged soundtrack of his own making. He's toured internationally, opened a mainstay music club in New York, produced releases from top artists, started his own record label, collaborated on a raucous sound and film collage called WHO KNOWS?, and recorded four full-length albums including his most recent release, 00 Cadillac. As a speaker, Andrew W.K. has transformed traditional lectures at institutions such as Yale, Carnegie Mellon and the Cooper Union into multi-platform "happenings,"
The definition of cool can be summed up in two words: Miles Davis. Explore this timeless musical genius; The greatest year in jazz, music, arts and culture with the 50th Anniversary of landmark recording Kind of Blue, the all-time best selling jazz record, and Sketches of Spain, the key Gil Evans collaboration, and how the cycle repeats itself and connects to the present.
Fresh from recording his third album, WARchild, Sudanese hip-hop artist Emmanuel Jal will share his first-hand experience of being a child soldier for a rebel army in Sudan and how he imparts messages of social justice in music. He will discuss his heroic navigation of the injustices in Darfur and how he has learned to rap for freedom.
Over 30 years ago, the musical HAIR hit Broadway with an innovative performance style that mirrored the 1960s cultural shift. Learn how the new creative team built upon this revolutionary model for HAIR's current award-winning revival and experience an unforgettable performance.
An intimate and informal performance and discussion with former member of Taking Back Sunday's Fred Mascherino who has managed to creatively and successfully stay ahead of the game. Through authenticity with work and art, Fred is finding success in more ways than just the normal traditions of the music industry.