City Soundscapes: Music, Words & Identities in Urban America |
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February 25, 2014, Volume 60, No. 24 |
In City Soundscapes: Music, Words & Identities in Urban America, a Penn Institute for Urban Research Seminar highlighting the 10-year anniversary of Penn IUR, Nick Spitzer, producer of NPR’s “American Routes” and a Penn alumnus, will discuss the intersection of cities, music and civic life. With a line-up of special guests, Dr. Spitzer will explore how music and musicians express Philadelphia’s cultural identities. Live performances will follow the discussion.
The Thursday, February 27 event is hosted by the Penn Institute for Urban Research at the University of Pennsylvania, with a grant from the Office of the Provost’s Year of Sound and co-sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences’ Urban Studies Program.
Featured speakers and performers:
- Introductory remarks by Kathy Peiss, the Roy and Jeanette Nichols Professor of American History, University of Pennsylvania;
- Nick Spitzer, producer of Public Radio’s American Routes (heard in the Philadelphia area on WHYY- 90.9 FM, 3 p.m. Saturday, 6 p.m. Sunday) and professor of American studies and anthropology at Tulane University; in the 1970s, he served as program director of WXPN-FM; in 1972 he earned a BA in anthropology at Penn. After graduation, he was afternoon drive host on the popular “underground” rock station WMMR-FM in Philadelphia;
- Jimmy Heath, National Endowment for the Arts jazz master saxophonist and leader of Philadelphia’s Heath Brothers;
- Sam Reed, jazz saxophonist and bandleader at the Uptown Theater in the ’50s and ’60s;
- Elaine Hoffman Watts and Susan Watts, mother-daughter, trumpet-drum klezmer duo;
- The Budesa Brothers with Lucky Thompson, organ trio and
- Frankie and the Fashions, four-part, doo-wop harmony group.
The program will be 5:30-7:30 p.m. in Meyerson Hall, Lower Gallery, 210 S. 34th St.
This event is free and open to the public. Space is limited, registration required. Go to http://penniur.upenn.edu/ |