Tag Archives: MTV

[AUDIO] “We’re Not Worthy:” ’90s Sketch Comedy in Conversation with Jason Klamm (January 23, 2024)

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Photo by Andrea Graham, CRDL

Last week, despite another looming winter storm, Jason Klamm was able to make the drive up from Detroit to join me and a great little audience in conversation about his new book We’re Not Worthy: How ’90s Sketch TV Changed the Face of Comedy (available in Mt. Pleasant at Sleepy Dog Books and online here from 1984 productions). Here’s the recording of the full discussion, with some audience questions.

Two of my favorite highlights include when (1) it occurred to me, as I was sounding it out, that shows like The State were my punk rock before I discovered actual punk rock, and (2) Jason revealed how he almost got a role in the Weird Al biopic (and the person who replaced him).

Thank you again to Barb Sanford, Andrea Graham, and everybody at the Veterans Memorial Library for making this happen, and thank you to everybody who braved the weather and made it by.

UTK Mic Nite Talk on Symbolic Gentrification (Video)

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For some reason, I was never notified that the video of my UTK Mic Nite talk last Fall was available online. Because it has been online, for almost a full year. Anyway, here it is, in all its glory. I hope you find it well worth your 7 minutes.

Geography Department Talk TOMORROW: Geography and Popular Culture (DOW 270)

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For anybody who is either around the Dow Science Complex on the Central Michigan campus tomorrow (Friday 11/1) or enjoys eating gratis lunch, I’ll be giving a talk at Noon! Join me and my colleagues in DOW 270 to learn about my research, the overlap between Geography and Pop Culture, and see me break down what I mean by Symbolic Gentrification. I look forward to seeing you.

Those details again:

Friday, November 1,  12pm – 1pm
Central Michigan University 
Dow Science Complex Room 270

There will be lunch. And cookies, probably.

 

This Saturday: Balancing the Mix in Memphis

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Memphis! I’m coming back to your city for the first time since 2011, when I took this iconic photo en route to California (below). What makes this even more amazing is that I’ve lived in Tennessee since 2013 and still haven’t been any further west (within the state) than Nashville. It’s a long state.

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I’m excited to debut some new work on MTV and the Symbolic Gentrification of the Music Video. If you’re in Memphis and/or at the conference on Saturday, it will be meeting at the Fogelman Center at the University of Memphis in Room 215 at 1:35 PM. The topic of the session will be “Music and Erasure.” I momentarily did a double-take when I saw that title, before realizing nobody was doing anything about the works of Vince n’ Andy. Looks like I’ll have to get on that.

Balancing the Mix is a conference about the convergence of music and activism that came together under the aegis of Mark Duffett and Amanda Nell Edgar. This will be my first time at a music conference that isn’t SEMSEC, and I’m looking forward to meeting everyone.