GOING UP YONDER: 
HOW MUSIC MAKERS AND WRITERS CONFRONT LOSS AND GRIEF 
A keynote panel conversation at The Museum of Pop Culture’s “Only You and Your Ghost Will Know: Music, Death and Afterlife” Pop Conference
Keynote produced by Jason King
in conjunction with Billboard 
and 
New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music 

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

When: Thursday April 11th at 7:30 pm sharp
Where: Sky Church, Museum of Pop Culture
325 5th Avenue North, Seattle, Washington
Admission: Free with Conference Registration
https://www.mopop.org/popcon

Musician Nick Cave—who tragically lost his son Arthur in 2015—wrote a powerfully sensitive open letter to a fan about how he copes with mourning. Cave’s reply went viral last year; in it, he offered a trenchant reminder that “grief is the terrible reminder of the depths of our love and, like love, grief is non-negotiable.” Indeed, to live is to constantly be reminded that everything must change: none of us are immune from the looming, inevitable finality of death (unless you envision death as a transition rather than a terminal destination). Music makers and music writers alike find ways to process the losses of family, friends, partners, pets, the ends of relationships, and the closing of artistic chapters and legacies—and some of us do so by mourning, and grieving, in and through art. Along the way, our own mortality haunts us, stalks us, obstructs us, propels us, and sometimes frees us, too.
 
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.

For more information, visit the Pop Conference page: https://www.mopop.org/popcon