Antony, Calvin Johnson to Speak at Conference

That may sound like some boring, bullshit college seminar, but wait until you see the lineup! Modern Culture and Media Studies never rocked like this.

Moderators for this weekend's conference include Pitchfork's favorite/most hated funnydude David Cross, "TV Party" mastermind Glenn O'Brien, and MTV talking head Gideon Yago. A few highlights of the varied schedule:

*A songwriting discussion and demonstration with Antony of Antony and the Johnsons.
* "Aesthetics & Economics of Independent Music" with Calvin Johnson (Beat Happening, K Records), Mac McCaughan (Superchunk, Portastatic, Merge Records) Kris Chen (Domino Records).
* Documentary Filmmaking with Bruce Sinofsky (Metallica: Some Kind of Monster), Jonathan Caouette (Tarnation), and Ondi Timoner (Dig!).
* Comedy Writing with David Cross ("Mr. Show", "Arrested Development", Sub Pop), Neal Brennan ("Chappelle's Show"), and David Wain ("The State", "Stella").
* "Iconic Advertising" with Eric Grunbaum (iPod), Peter Wijk (Absolut), and Steve Basset (Geico)

Why anyone would pass up the opportunity to watch Antony write a song, argue with Calvin Johnson, hear what a bitch Lars Ulrich is, and learn how they came up with that cute Geico gecko, all in one weekend, is beyond me. Although the fact that it costs $45 a day, or $75 for the whole thing, may be a slight deterrent for some folks. But if you're a student, you get a whole $5 off. How generous... now those nice, little, eccentric NYU students will be able to go buy themselves a warm latte 'round the bend at one of the two Starbucks on St. Mark's place.

Tokion: http://www.tokion.com/