Engaging Commodities conference at University of Chicago

[Michael Raine]

The Eighth Japan at Chicago Conference:
"Engaging Commodities:  Crossing Mass Culture and the Avant Garde in 1960s
Japanese Film, Music and Art"
 
 
May 21-22, 2010
University of Chicago
 
On May 21-22, the University of Chicago will host "Engaging Commodities:
Crossing Mass Culture and the Avant Garde in 1960s Japanese Film, Music and
Art," a conference focusing on the remarkable world of 1960s Japanese
culture.   During that turbulent decade, Japanese filmmakers, musicians and
artists operated in a highly fluid environment in which boundaries between
mass-culture entertainment and avant-garde art came under constant pressure.
This remarkable environment gave rise to hit songs and movies that
incorporated abstract experimental techniques, as well as to avant-garde art
pieces that freely integrated elements from commercial culture.   The
conference will include new scholarly papers on experimental film, popular
genre film, jazz, folk music, rock-and-roll, animation and other cultural
forms from the period. 
 
The conference will also feature special appearances by musicians who were
key figures in the 1960s Japan rock scene, including Alan Merrill, an
American singer/songwriter who was a member of the Group Sounds band The
Lead, then a solo performer signed by the influential Watanabe Pro
management agency, and subsequently the leader of the pioneering glam rock
outfit Vodka Collins. (After leaving Japan in 1973, Merrill founded The
Arrows, a band that had several hits in the UK, including the original
version of "I Love Rock and Roll," a Merrill composition later recorded by
Joan Jett and many others). 
 
Three original members of the legendary Group Sounds band The Golden Cups
will also appear at the event - lead guitarist Eddie Ban, bassist Louise
Louis Kabe, and drummer/singer Mamoru Manu - and the conference will include
a screening of The Golden Cups: One More Time, an acclaimed 2004 documentary
about the band. 
 
All events are free and open to the public.  A full schedule is available on
line at: 
http://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/japanatchicago/