Steve Perry Talks Loss, Grief, and Music at Pop Conference 2019

GOING UP YONDER:
HOW MUSIC MAKERS AND WRITERS CONFRONT LOSS AND GRIEF
April 11, 2019

featuring

ISHMAEL BUTLER, musician, Shabazz Palaces, Knife Knights
DAPHNE A. BROOKS, writer/scholar, Yale University
DAVID TOOP, musician/writer/scholar, London College of Communication
EFRIM MANUEL MENUCK, musician, Godspeed You! Black Emperor
STEVE PERRY, singer/songwriter/producer
ANN POWERS (panelist and moderator), writer/author, NPR Music

To kick off a multi-day conference at Museum of Pop Culture on the connections between music, death and afterlives, the keynote conversation invites a phenomenal panel of musicians, songwriters, producers, authors, and scholars to muse about the impact of grief on the creative process, and how the creative process functions in and around—and against and through—profound loss. Among the subjects on the table for discussion: music, spirits, phantoms, and ghosts; the promises and challenges of writing obituaries, elegies, and eulogies; how artists find the space to cope with the departure of loved ones and essential collaborators; and how artists creatively rummage up tools of melancholy or resilience as responses to loss. On board for the discussion: Ishmael Butler, the creative force behind Shabazz Palaces and founder of jazz rap mainstays Digable Planets; Daphne Brooks, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of African American Studies at Yale University, and author of books like Bodies in Dissent and the 33 1/3 entry Jeff Buckley’s Grace; Efrim Manuel Menuck, the creative force behind acclaimed Montreal-based bands Godspeed You! Black Emperor And Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra; Steve Perry, the legendary singer-songwriter who earned global fame as the voice of Journey and whose recently released solo album Traces (his first in nearly twenty five years) is a powerful testament to love, loss and heartbreak; David Toop, the iconic musician, author, and professor of audio culture and improvisation at the London College of Communication, whose forthcoming manuscript, Flutter Echo, considers the complexity of memories and personal experiences; and moderator/panelist Ann Powers, NPR Music Critic and author of many books, most recently Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul.

The event is produced by Jason King of New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music and will be presented in conjunction with Billboard.

Learn more about Pop Conference at MoPOP.org/popcon