GNY-MLA News and Newsletter
Greetings fellow GNYMLA members!
By all accounts a fine time was had by all at the Memphis national meeting. Our next chapter meeting is sure to put a little spring in your step! It takes place on Wednesday, March 29th at New York University at 10AM. Join us for an exciting day devoted to the history of "Downtown," music. My thanks to Kent Underwood, Peter Hirsch and Mi-Hye Chyun for planning the day and coordinating this program so quickly. See you all then!
--Sincerely, Gisele Schierhorst, Chair, GNYMLA
10:00-noon Fales Library
(aka Dept. of Special Collections, 3rd Floor of Bobst Library - 70 Washington Square South New York, NY 10012, 212.998.2500)
(1) Talks by Marvin Taylor and Kent Underwood
Marvin Taylor, head curator of the Fales Library (NYU's Department of Special Collections and Rare Books), will discuss and highlight the musically significant materials housed there, with particular attention to components of Fales's "Downtown" collections, such as the papers of Richard Hell (the punk rock pioneer), the papers of Richard Kostelanetz (prolific writer on music), the archives of Judson Memorial Church (center of alte rnative dance, music, and performance art from the 1950s through 1995), and the archives of Mabou Mines (experimental theater company, employer of Philip Glass, Pauline Oliveros, and other composers).
Kent Underwood, music librarian at NYU, will offer a talk, "Revisiting Downtown: Mapping a Neighborhood of Modern American Music," which will outline the history of Downtown music from La Monte Young and Yoko Ono's 1960 loft concerts up to the present day, illustrated with recordings from NYU's music and media library.
(2) Business meeting (ca. 30 minutes)
This will include follow up on some of the outreach issues raised in Memphis and other business matters.
Noon-3:00
Break for lunch and visit to NYU Grey Art Gallery (1 block from Bobst Library)
The exhibit, "The Downtown Show: The New York Art Scene, 1974-1984" which pays considerable attention itself to music, will be on view both at the Fales Library and at NYU's Grey Art Gallery.
3:30
Reconvene at ARChive of Contemporary Music (54 White Street)for a tour lead by Founder and Director, Bob George.
The ARChive of Contemporary Music is one of New York's most inexplicably little-known institutions. According to the AoCM website - The ARChive is "a n ot-for-profit archive, music library and research center located in New York City. The ARChive collects, preserves and provides information on the popular music of all cultures and races throughout the world from 1950 to the present. Since the ARChive's founding in 1986 ... holdings have grown to over 1.5 million sound recordings, making the ARChive the largest popular music collection in the United States.... over 500 record companies, publishers, and distributors from around the world donate new materials to the ARChive. In addition to sound recordings and publications, the ARChive actively collects all books, magazines, videos, films, photographs, press kits, newspapers clippings, memorabilia and ephemera relating to the history of popular music--over 2 million items. We also maintain an electronic database of 35,000 people working in the music industry and 200,000 sound recordings catalogued at the ARChive... American libraries and sound archives, in cluding the Library of Congress, have also been slow or resistant to preserving emerging popular music. Most consider popular music "commercial" and therefore less worthy of saving--or more able to survive on its own. The ARChive is America's only non-affiliated (University or Federal) broad based music archive. We believe that all forms of popular music--jazz, be-bop, bluegrass, country, rock, rap, blues, enka, reggae, calypso, zydeco, zouk and countless others are important culturally. Not only do they entertain, they reveal to the world a great deal about a people and their values."
This should prove a Downtown Day to Remember - be there. Come for the whole day or part of it, but come.
Questions and RSVP - phirsch@nypl.org
