The CMCI Blog

Cohen discusses the legacy of the Lomax recordings on the BBC World Service

lostincci — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:45:02 +0000

Earlier today, CMCI’s own Dr Harvey G Cohen appeared on the World Update programme on the BBC World Service, speaking about the significance of the international field recordings of John Lomax and his son Alan Lomax (pictured), 17,000 of which are being released over the internet for free this week. These songs and oral histories, mostly recorded from the 1930s to the 1960s, captured and popularised folk music across the United States and around the world, starting what later became known as the global world music movement. As Cohen says on the broadcast, these hundreds of Lomax sessions represented “the last musical snapshot of the United States before the mass media descended” in the 1920s and 1930s, and the advent of top 40 radio wiped out many local music scenes, in the United States and internationally. For more information and to download these recordings, visit the Association for Cultural Equity’s website. To hear Cohen’s 6-minute broadcast appearance sometime during the next 7 days, tune in to the 31 January 2012 edition of World Update at the 43.20 mark at this address. World Update is broadcast around the world to hundreds of radio stations.

Culture and Technologies Dialogue

lostincci — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:08:00 +0000

Dr Tim Jordan has been participating in an international reseach group on digitalisation and its effects on cultural production. As part of this he participated in a dialogue with Dr Gina Neff University of Washington and Dr Joshua McVeigh-Shultz USC on the nature of technologies and their cultures.

The British Universities Film and Video Council

lostincci — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:48:52 +0000

CMCI’s Dr Richard Howells has been re-appointed to the Advisory Board of the British Universities Film amd Video Council.

The British Universities Film and Video Council (BUFVC) is a representative body for universities and colleges in the UK. It supports the advancement of education by promoting the production, study and use of moving image, sound and related media within post-compulsory education and research via a range of services and resources. The BUFVC is part-funded by HEFCE, via the JISC and receives additional income from subscriptions, research and events.

They have premises just off Oxford Street and Dr Howells has been involved in numerous projects with them, including the creation of a database and online delivery system for newsreel footage for academic researchers in collaboration with Reuters and ITN.

For more on the BUFCV and it value to researchers, go to: http://bufvc.ac.uk/

Arts & Humanities Researchers’ Society

lostincci — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:55:52 +0000

The Arts & Humanities Researchers’ Society, an organisation set up by CMCI PhD student Laura Speers for early careers researchers at King’s, invited Professor Andy Pratt to speak at their first event of 2012. The seminar, ‘How to Get Hired in Academia’, was held on Tuesday 17 January. The other speaker was Dr Alice Taylor from the History department at King’s. Over 60 PhD students across the Arts & Humanities at King’s packed into the CMCI workroom, wanting to receive tips on how to get a lectureship position. The event is part of a monthly seminar series focusing on career progression and professional development hosted by the Arts & Humanities Researchers Society.

Guardian proclaims Duke Ellington’s America an “impressive book”

lostincci — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:43:55 +0000

Over last weekend, both the Guardian and the Independent published reviews of the newly released paperback edition of Duke Ellington’s America (University of Chicago Press) by CMCI’s own Dr. Harvey G. Cohen. For a look at the front and back cover of the book, click on the graphic attached to this post.

Guardian reviewer John Dugdale probably defined the book’s genre better than any previous critic so far: “Neither musical analysis nor full-blown biography, this impressive book is perhaps best described as cultural history with a biographical focus.”

The Independent termed Duke Ellington’s America an “exemplary study”. But just to set the record straight, the interview that begins the book took place in 1964, not in 1974, as the review stated, which was the year that Ellington died. And, contrary to what the Indie reviewer reported, the landmark album Money Jungle was indeed mentioned in the book on pages 344 and 346, with some description that demonstrated how it represented a prime example of Ellington’s tendency to “fight nostalgia” during the 1960s and 1970s.

Cohen is currently on sabbatical writing his next book, an examination of the historic and artistic importance of the Warner Bros. Great Depression musicals of the 1930s, particularly the delightful and significant Footlight Parade (1933), the first musical role for Jimmy Cagney.

The creative economy and the global city

lostincci — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:57:01 +0000

Andy Pratt has a new publication – the last of 2011 – that looks at the intersection of debates about global cities and creative cities. The chapter discusses the complex relationship between the cultural economy and global cities; arguing against the commonly held view that culture is an ‘icing on the cake’ for a global city; suggesting instead the cultural economy (in its widest sense: the for and the not for profit sectors) is in many cases become integral to the fortunes of global cities.

A download of a version of this chapter is available:
Pratt, A. C. (2011). The cultural economy and the global city. pp265-274 in International Handbook of Globalization and World Cities. P. Taylor, B. Derudder, M. Hoyler and F. Witlox (Eds.). Cheltenham, Edward Elgar.

SRO Crowd for CMCI Music Business Event

lostincci — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:59:04 +0000

On Monday night, 12 December 2011, a standing room only crowd enjoyed “For The Record: A Starter-Kit for the Music Industry,” a live event sponsored by CMCI featuring five music business professionals from different areas of the industry, hosted and produced by CMCI’s Dr Harvey G Cohen as well as TimeOut London music journalist Sharon O’Connell. Each of the 91 seats of the venue were filled, with 30-40 students sitting on the floor or in the aisles, many MA CCI students and alumni were present, as well as CMCI PhD students. Each participant on the panel gave an account of how they entered the music business, and students were treated to an no-holds-barred look at problems and opportunities in today’s music industry. Among other insightful nuggets, students learned about the difference between and importance of gross and net when one is getting paid for live performances, and why major record labels are still important for new artists in these days of the internet and illegal downloading. Thanks to CMCI’s Dr Nick Wilson for taking the picture accompanying this post. Onstage, left to right: O’Connell, Cohen, Gillian Porter (managing director, Hall or Nothing PR), Dean Wengrow (Mute Records A&R), John Best (manager, Sigur Ros and other music acts) and Chris Bellam(Head of Promotion, Beggars Group).

And Harvey would like to take this opportunity to congratulate this year’s cohort of MA CCI students for putting on the most impressive holiday party in the history of CMCI, and wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season.

New Book from CMCI

lostincci — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:19:55 +0000

CMCI’s Dr Richard Howells is delighted to announce the publication of a second, fully revised and updated edition of his Visual Culture book from Polity Press.

The first edition came out in 2003 and has been reprinted every year since. Improvements for the second edition include more theoretically advanced sections: Prominent among the new provocateurs are Kant, Baudrillard, Althusser, Deleuze, Benjamin and Foucault. There are also more and better illustrations, together with new examples and suggestions for further reading.

A Korean edition is in press, in addition to the existing Chinese translation.

Co-credit for work on the second edition goes to Howells’ former supervisee Joaquim Negreiros. Joaquim was the first person to receive his PhD from CMCI, and is now working as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Lisbon in Portugal.

The book cover was a collaboration between Howells and another of his former students, Jon Lloyd, who is now a professional graphic designer.

Music Biz Professionals Appear at CMCI Event

lostincci — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:33:13 +0000

CMCI Lecturer Dr Harvey G. Cohen in partnership with TimeOut London music journalist Sharon O’Connell are producing and hosting a special CMCI event “For The Record: A ‘Starter Kit’ for the Music Industry.” Five experienced London professionals from different areas of the music business will be interviewed, offering their advice for MA CCI students on how to best get a foot in the increasingly narrow door of the music industry, and explain how they got their start in the biz.

In alphabetical order, the guests at this event will be Chris Bellam (head of promotion, Beggars Group), John Best (currently manager of Sigur Rós, previously managed Pulp and other Britpop acts), Gillian Porter (managing director, Hall Or Nothing PR firm, which handles Muse, Beady Eye and Manic Street Preachers, among others), Simon Raymonde (founder and head of Bella Union Records, one of the premiere indie music labels in the UK, whose roster includes Fleet Foxes), and Dean Wengrow (Mute Records A&R agent, who has signed Richard Hawley and Goldfrapp, among others).

The event will be on Monday 12 December 2011, at 6:15PM in room K2.31 on the Strand campus of King’s College London. Admission is free.

Milano: selling the city, selling culture (or not)

lostincci — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 10:20:33 +0000

On 1 December Andy Pratt visited colleagues in Milano from three institutions: Università a degli studi di Milano, Università Bocconi, and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore to discuss research linkages. He gave a lecture at the School of Political Sciences, and a seminar at Bocconi. Andy covered topics linked to the current policy debates about creative cities and critiques of the relationship between place marketing and local culture. If you look at his google scholar pages you will see several recent publications on these topics.