Liftoff!

So I was recently at another boring academic conference giving a paper and, lo and behold, no one showed up to hear the panel I was part of. Well, about five people were sitting in the audience, but I realized that there must be more people in the world, probably not anthropologists, who would be interested in hearing a little bit about what's going on in the world of music, particularly some Latino musicians who play in Charlotte, North Carolina- who are some pretty interesting people, although you wouldn't know it from the reception my paper got.
So I'm starting this blog, If I can get more than five people to view it, then I know it will be a success. That's what social scientists like to call measurable (quantitative) results. Then, I won't have to rely on academic conferences to feel inadequate and disappointed. In fact, you out there in the blogosphere can do that for me, or stroke my ego and help me pretend like I know what I'm talking about.

Sidebar: Despite any impression you may have so far, this is not an anti-intellectual or anti-academic blog. If you stay with me, this rant is just a segue into something more interesting...

So to explain the blog- I am doing a field study, which, for the uninitiated, is something that we anthropologists do to try to get a degree. It's a form of self-inflicted torture that turns some of us on and then we do it for the rest of our lives while other anthropologists hide in the archives and end up being glorified historians. To make my field study more palatable, I decided to concentrate on my real first love, music, and found that it jibed well with my other interested, namely studying immigration and the US South.

Sidebar: see I'm from the South (Athens, GA) but went to high school in Atlanta (which would be the South except everybody who lives there is a Yankee, or from South Carolina), college in Ohio (where part of my family is from) then the last decade or so in New York City. Does this make me a "Native Anthropologist?"


I invite anyone who shares my interests, or has a comment on them, or just likes the music and other stuff I will be posting on this blog to join the discussion. I'm looking for audience participation here people!

Peace, Sam