New York City has long been home to one of the world’s most innovative music scenes. Since 1970, the city has incubated genres that have altered the landscape of popular music while nurturing experimental forms which remain unpalatable to commerce. Moderated by Jeff Wengrofsky, Profiles of the Downtown Music Scene offers a public forum for downtown musicians, scene makers and engineers to talk about how New York has been an inspiration, a crucible, a social nexus and at times, a hindrance. Three sessions examine the 1970s, 1980s, and the 1990s music scenes.
Moderator
Jeff Wengrofsky teaches cultural history at New York University, and directs the Syndicate of Human Image Traffickers and Human Features Film. He has coordinated conferences at Yale University, The Wolfson Center for National Affairs at The New School, and the New York Academy of the Arts, and has served on the staff of Aperture Photography Magazine, Coilhouse Magazine, and Constellations: An International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory. He is working on The Song of Hiawatha, a feature length documentary film about the American Counterculture.
Participants
Mykel Board is a columnist for Maximum Rock n Roll, and founder of ART: The Only Band in the World.
Jayne County is a transsexual DJ and member of the Backstreet Boys.
Handsome Dick Manitoba is the vocalist for The Dictators.
Alan Vega is the vocalist for Suicide.