Below are two videos of presentations I gave at online conferences in 2020. The first is my paper for the IASPM UK & Ireland biennial conference. The second is a keynote presentation for the conference Urban Nostalgia: The Musical City in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Texts of these and other papers are available via… Continue reading Recent presentations
Blog
Updates – May 2020
Recent updates to this site include the texts of several of my published essays (mostly and journal articles and chapters for edited books) and presentations that I've given at conferences, symposia and research forums. This includes the full text, references and a video of my latest presentation, which was on the batida (electronic dance music)… Continue reading Updates – May 2020
New publication on Bruce Springsteen’s recent autobiographical projects
My article ‘Brilliant Disguises: Persona, Autobiography and the Magic of Retrospection in Bruce Springsteen’s Late Career’ has been published in the new issue of the open access journal Persona Studies, a themed issue on 'Music and Persona' edited by Charles Fairchild and David Marshall. Abstract Popular musicians with long careers provide rich source material for… Continue reading New publication on Bruce Springsteen’s recent autobiographical projects
Upcoming Presentation: ‘Navigating Bruce Springsteen’s sonic persona in the Born to Run audiobook’
I'll be presenting new work on Bruce Springsteen's audiobook Born to Run at the inaugural International Persona Studies Conference, which takes place at Newcastle University on the 25th and 26th of June. This work relates to an article I've written on Born to Run (the book and audiobook) and Springsteen on Broadway, due to be… Continue reading Upcoming Presentation: ‘Navigating Bruce Springsteen’s sonic persona in the Born to Run audiobook’
Site updates
As of late May 2019, I am making a number of updates to this site. I want to provide clearer access to, and information about, the various projects I'm currently working on and have been involved with in the past. I also want to post various kinds of resources connected to these projects and to… Continue reading Site updates
Audible Empire review
I'm happy see my review of Audible Empire finally make an appearance online. I wrote the review when the book shortly after the book was published in 2016 and it is now available at Reviews in Cultural Theory.
End of year playlist
My 2018 playlist as it stands at the end of the year. As usual, compiled thoughout the year, with a few tweaks and substitutions at the last minute. 101 songs. 7 1/2 hours. spotify:user:traumaticcolonel:playlist:3tkmldTkqNM1qmXJASNYEn https://open.spotify.com/user/traumaticcolonel/playlist/3tkmldTkqNM1qmXJASNYEn
ppp: the personal, the political and the piano
The news that today is being celebrated as National Album Day has inspired me to post the following text on Nina Simone’s 1969 masterpiece Nina Simone and Piano! It’s a text that’s being lying dormant for a few years and now seems a good time to do something with it. The concept shouldn’t have been… Continue reading ppp: the personal, the political and the piano
New publication: Sounding Out Popular Music History
I've contributed a chapter to the newly published Routledge Companion to Popular Music History and Heritage, edited by Sarah Baker, Catherine Strong, Lauren Istvandity and Zelmarie Cantillon. My chapter is entitled 'Sounding Out Popular Music HIstory: A Musicological Approach'. SUMMARY: While the relationship between musicology and history has shifted considerably over time, the importance of… Continue reading New publication: Sounding Out Popular Music History
Nina Simone’s tribute to Martin Luther King – fifty years ago today
Fifty years ago today, Nina Simone and her band performed at Westbury Music Fair in New York. Three days had passed since the murder of Martin Luther King and Simone used her concert to stage an act of collective mourning and outrage. Below is a re-post of a 2013 entry from my blog So Transported:… Continue reading Nina Simone’s tribute to Martin Luther King – fifty years ago today
Late Voice 