USC Thornton Hosts PopCon 2024
By Deanna Gasparyan
The acclaimed conference celebrated music writing and popular music studies over three days at USC.
PopCon arrived at USC for the first time this month. Now in its 22nd year, the premier conference on popular music writing and music scholarship featured three days of lectures, discussions, and keynote events across USC’s University Park campus. Pop Conference 2024, titled “Legacy! Legacy! Music Collections and Archives,” featured over 30 events and panel discussions on critical studies within popular music, led by celebrated musicians and scholars.
“I’ve been part of Pop Conference for most of its 22 year duration and I’m so happy to have been able to bring it to USC for the first time,” said Jason King, Dean of USC Thornton. “There’s no conference quite like PopCon—it brings together writers, journalists, critics, scholars and musicians together for deep and engaged conversation about all things related to pop music. This year was no exception—there were so many amazing panels and roundtables connected to the unique theme of legacies and archives.”
Wednesday, March 6th: On the eve of PopCon at USC, Jason King hosted George Clinton, the celebrated artist and founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic, in a private masterclass for USC Thornton students at Carson Soundstage. Note: To hear USC Thornton students present their songs to George Clinton, please use these chapters in the video player’s timeline: (42:57) “Lily Lotus” by V.C.R., (51:34) “Reputation” by Kyndall Jourdain, (59:21) “God Said” by Shorty-G. (Videography & editing by Dario Griffin)
King served as the USC conference producer and keynote curator, bringing icons such as George Clinton and Wendy & Lisa to campus. In a sneak-peek of the event, King hosted the celebrated artist and founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic in a private masterclass for Thornton students on Wednesday, March 6. The following night, Clinton was the featured artist of the conference’s opening night keynote in a discussion led by acclaimed writer Danyel Smith, an event highlighted by Billboard, a sponsor of this year’s event.
Among the other highlights was a second night keynote with Wendy & Lisa, celebrated musical duo and longtime members of Prince & the Revolution, in conversation with Timothy Anne Burnside, Museum Curatorial Specialist at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Wendy & Lisa discussed their musical journey in relation to themes of legacy, loss, memory and the power of archives. The duo announced a new project with Scottish singer-songwriter Annie Lennox, which was covered by Variety.
“If you’ve got any good names for a band name for the three of us, that’d be great,” Melvoin told the audience.
Friday, March 8th: Celebrated musical duo and longtime members of Prince & the Revolution, Wendy & Lisa, in conversation with Timothy Anne Burnside for PopCon’s second keynote at USC’s Newman Recital Hall. (Videography & editing by Tyler Eschendal)
USC Thornton hosted the conference in collaboration with the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. Numerous events were held at Annenberg Forum, including a key roundtable on Friday, March 8 that addressed archival gaps in the story of P-Funk. This panel discussion and live oral history was centered around women who greatly contributed to the funk collective’s legacy, namely Cheryl James, Lynn Mary and Mallia Franklin. On March 9 at Annenberg Forum, award-winning filmmaker and writer dream hampton delved into issues of legacy and memory with Dean Jason King. She shared clips from her new visual memoir film, It Was All a Dream, which explores significant artists and cultural developments in hip-hop history through footage from hampton’s personal archive.
Award-winning filmmaker and author dream hampton in conversation with Dean Jason King. (Photo by Dario Griffin)
Photo by Dario Griffin.
(From left to right) Michelle Habell-Pallán, Program Committee Chair & Producer of Pop Conference 2024; musician Lisa Coleman, Timothy Anne Burnside, Museum Curatorial Specialist at the National Museum of African American History and Culture; musician Wendy Melvoin, USC Thornton School of Music Dean Jason King. (Photo by Loreen Sarkis/Capture Imaging, Inc.)
PopCon 2024 was held on USC's University Park Campus from March 7th to 9th, 2024. (Photo by Dario Griffin)
Wendy & Lisa, celebrated musical duo and longtime members of Prince & the Revolution, in conversation with Timothy Anne Burnside, Museum Curatorial Specialist at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Photo taken at the second night keynote of PopCon on March 8th, 2024. (Photo by Loreen Sarkis/Capture Imaging, Inc.)
Photo by Dario Griffin.
Photo by Dario Griffin.
Photo by Dario Griffin.
Photo by Dario Griffin.
George Clinton in conversation with Danyel Smith at the PopCon 2024 opening night keynote in Bovard Auditorium. (Photo by Dario Griffin)
“This year’s theme—all about music legacies, archives and collections—was a topical one, given that we’re living in a moment where we are witnessing polarizing cultural debates around the value of history, memory and the past,” said King. “I’m so happy to have brought this conference to USC and Los Angeles.”
*Featured Spotlight photo by Michael Jimenez: USC Thornton Dean Jason King hosts George Clinton in a private masterclass for Thornton students on Wednesday, March 6th at USC’s Carson Soundstage.
