I was asked a couple of months ago to help organize an evening at the end of a conference The New Yorker was putting together. 3 speakers on the subject of music was my directive and the evening was to be short — only one hour — and after the dinner.
I popped by the conference in the morning and heard Hans Ulrich Obrist talk about plans he has for some art shows in Europe, and then he read a list of statements about the future given him by a slew of artists. Then Tim Hu spoke about digital rights and copyright issues. Jonathan Haidt talked about morality and how democrats and republicans come from different social models and how that informs their moral and political choices and how democrats and liberals need to empathize more with the conservative moral POV if they are going to get anywhere.
The hall was full so I sat at a coffee table outside and watched the talks on a big video screen. Then I had to make further edits to my own presentation so I rushed home.
The music speakers were Daniel Levitin, neuroscientist; myself, and Issa, formerly the artist called Jane Siberry, who has taken some radical steps in how she distributes her music. At the end we sang 2 of her songs and one new one of mine. Daniel’s talk was concise and enlightening, mine got some laughs, and Issa’s was idealistic and vague in its specifics, but possibly the most radical. (Among other things she initiated a pay-what-you-will policy for her downloads.)
