John Paul Meyers
@johnpaulmeyers.bsky.social
Ethnomusicologist. Associate Prof. of Af-Am Studies at UIUC. Midwestern repatriate. My book, "Same Old Song: The Enduring Past in Popular Music," is out now! https://www.amazon.com/Same-Old-Song-Enduring-American/dp/1496850874/ref=sr_1_2?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.8
I wrote 6 pages on D'Angelo for my book, and I titled its last chapter after a line from his song "Back to the Future." To my ears, he was one of the most important artists, musically and politically, of the past 30 years.
October 14, 2025 at 7:29 PM
I wrote 6 pages on D'Angelo for my book, and I titled its last chapter after a line from his song "Back to the Future." To my ears, he was one of the most important artists, musically and politically, of the past 30 years.
Second student has told me that I remind them of a particular stand-up comedian. It's the one I share some superficial age/race/demographics with (you can probably guess) but otherwise I look and sound nothing like him.
September 29, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Second student has told me that I remind them of a particular stand-up comedian. It's the one I share some superficial age/race/demographics with (you can probably guess) but otherwise I look and sound nothing like him.
Bonkers disco-funk version of "Eres para mi" by Julieta Venegas, with orchestra. What a time to be alive! www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye3c...
Eres Para Mí (Sinfónico En Vivo)
YouTube video by Julieta Venegas - Topic
www.youtube.com
September 26, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Bonkers disco-funk version of "Eres para mi" by Julieta Venegas, with orchestra. What a time to be alive! www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye3c...
Gearing up for a bunch more concerts in the next week. Hyde Park Jazz Festival this weekend, including Jason Moran doing a solo Ellington set. Back to Urbana for Nidia Gongora at the Krannert Center. Then back to Chicago for Makaya McCraven and Tom Skinner at Thalia Hall.
September 24, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Gearing up for a bunch more concerts in the next week. Hyde Park Jazz Festival this weekend, including Jason Moran doing a solo Ellington set. Back to Urbana for Nidia Gongora at the Krannert Center. Then back to Chicago for Makaya McCraven and Tom Skinner at Thalia Hall.
My aunt, who is probably about 80 years old, has gone all in on the AI-generated Ch@-ie K!rk Facebook memes depicting him as some kind of Christian martyr/saint. I doubt if she had ever heard of him before last week. Yikes on bikes.
September 16, 2025 at 12:51 AM
My aunt, who is probably about 80 years old, has gone all in on the AI-generated Ch@-ie K!rk Facebook memes depicting him as some kind of Christian martyr/saint. I doubt if she had ever heard of him before last week. Yikes on bikes.
I took "The Radical Tradition in America" taught by Eric Foner and "Intro to South Asian History and Culture" taught by Partha Chatterjee. Wild times at Columbia in the early 2000s. Absolute embarrassment of riches that I hope was not completely wasted on me.
What was your favorite early clas NOT in your eventual major. Mine was Ethnomusicology: an introduction to folk music.
I invariably get, "Ooh anthro that was my favorite class/cool professor" from people I meet. I tend to think soms of it is our outré material, being willing to talk "taboo" subjects in a cross-cultural context.
Ironically MY favorite class was probably Geology 101...
Ironically MY favorite class was probably Geology 101...
July 28, 2025 at 8:12 PM
I took "The Radical Tradition in America" taught by Eric Foner and "Intro to South Asian History and Culture" taught by Partha Chatterjee. Wild times at Columbia in the early 2000s. Absolute embarrassment of riches that I hope was not completely wasted on me.
Wednesday is National Hot Dog Day, but Devil Dawgs sent me a promo code for a free Chicago dog today--apparently they're going to have promos via email all week. I fucking love Chicago.
July 15, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Wednesday is National Hot Dog Day, but Devil Dawgs sent me a promo code for a free Chicago dog today--apparently they're going to have promos via email all week. I fucking love Chicago.
Reposted by John Paul Meyers
In American Music 41.4, @johnpaulmeyers.bsky.social analyzes musician and music industry veteran Adrian Younge's multimedia project, "The American Negro," created in 2020 and released in February 2021. Out on @projectmuse.bsky.social now! muse.jhu.edu/pub/34/artic...
May 29, 2025 at 6:03 PM
In American Music 41.4, @johnpaulmeyers.bsky.social analyzes musician and music industry veteran Adrian Younge's multimedia project, "The American Negro," created in 2020 and released in February 2021. Out on @projectmuse.bsky.social now! muse.jhu.edu/pub/34/artic...
Reposted by John Paul Meyers
American Music 41.4 is on @projectmuse.bsky.social !
Contributors include:
- Derek Strykowski at @ubuffalo.bsky.social
- Laurie Blunsom, @g-ninjab.bsky.social
- Stan Pelkey at @universityofky.bsky.social
- @johnpaulmeyers.bsky.social at @uofilsystem.bsky.social and more!
muse.jhu.edu/issue/54302
Contributors include:
- Derek Strykowski at @ubuffalo.bsky.social
- Laurie Blunsom, @g-ninjab.bsky.social
- Stan Pelkey at @universityofky.bsky.social
- @johnpaulmeyers.bsky.social at @uofilsystem.bsky.social and more!
muse.jhu.edu/issue/54302
May 19, 2025 at 1:07 PM
American Music 41.4 is on @projectmuse.bsky.social !
Contributors include:
- Derek Strykowski at @ubuffalo.bsky.social
- Laurie Blunsom, @g-ninjab.bsky.social
- Stan Pelkey at @universityofky.bsky.social
- @johnpaulmeyers.bsky.social at @uofilsystem.bsky.social and more!
muse.jhu.edu/issue/54302
Contributors include:
- Derek Strykowski at @ubuffalo.bsky.social
- Laurie Blunsom, @g-ninjab.bsky.social
- Stan Pelkey at @universityofky.bsky.social
- @johnpaulmeyers.bsky.social at @uofilsystem.bsky.social and more!
muse.jhu.edu/issue/54302
Reposted by John Paul Meyers
Holy shit another massive new trove of live music on the Archive - this time it's 750+ recordings from the SFJazz nonprofit arts org, and just the first ten I'm looking at are stunning - Pharoah, Zakir + Joe Henderson, Cecil Taylor etc
#jazz
archive.org/details/sfjazz
#jazz
archive.org/details/sfjazz
Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free & Borrowable Texts, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine
archive.org
May 16, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Holy shit another massive new trove of live music on the Archive - this time it's 750+ recordings from the SFJazz nonprofit arts org, and just the first ten I'm looking at are stunning - Pharoah, Zakir + Joe Henderson, Cecil Taylor etc
#jazz
archive.org/details/sfjazz
#jazz
archive.org/details/sfjazz
I don't know, it seems really dumb to pick fights with two insanely popular musicians and songwriters, one of whom has been filling stadiums for 5 decades, with the other being the world's biggest pop star.
May 16, 2025 at 3:22 PM
I don't know, it seems really dumb to pick fights with two insanely popular musicians and songwriters, one of whom has been filling stadiums for 5 decades, with the other being the world's biggest pop star.
As part of it's 55th anniversary sale, the @upmississippi.bsky.social has put my book on sale for 55% off, with free shipping. $13.50, plus tax, direct to your door. Grab a copy, add it to the list of books you're "meaning to read" over this summer. www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/S/Same...
Same Old Song
Popular music and its listeners are strongly associated with newness and youth. Young people can stay up late dancing to the latest hits and use cutting-edge technology for listening to and sharing fr...
www.upress.state.ms.us
May 14, 2025 at 3:05 PM
As part of it's 55th anniversary sale, the @upmississippi.bsky.social has put my book on sale for 55% off, with free shipping. $13.50, plus tax, direct to your door. Grab a copy, add it to the list of books you're "meaning to read" over this summer. www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/S/Same...
My TA from the Democratic Republic of the Congo said that I looked "very bureaucrat" today. I was wearing light gray suit pants and a blue dress shirt, no jacket or tie. He explained "bureaucrat" had a positive connotation in French. Sweet guy, but not sure I believe him.
May 7, 2025 at 10:26 PM
My TA from the Democratic Republic of the Congo said that I looked "very bureaucrat" today. I was wearing light gray suit pants and a blue dress shirt, no jacket or tie. He explained "bureaucrat" had a positive connotation in French. Sweet guy, but not sure I believe him.
I wrote my Friday afternoon emails using the wifi at the Costco food court.
April 11, 2025 at 9:49 PM
I wrote my Friday afternoon emails using the wifi at the Costco food court.
Haven't looked for an apartment in quite some time, but we're trying to sublet a place in Chicago over the summer this year. And man, the online listings for apartments and sublets seem to be 98% scammers trying to get people for application fees, credit checks, and deposits.
April 1, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Haven't looked for an apartment in quite some time, but we're trying to sublet a place in Chicago over the summer this year. And man, the online listings for apartments and sublets seem to be 98% scammers trying to get people for application fees, credit checks, and deposits.
those aren't nearly my favorite kendrick songs, but my god what a performance.
February 10, 2025 at 1:42 AM
those aren't nearly my favorite kendrick songs, but my god what a performance.
Read this thread.
take congestion pricing. of the 3.8 million new yorkers who commute to work, a grand total of 128,000 drive a private vehicle into manhattan. of those, about 16,000 are low income workers. we are looking at .4% of working new yorkers who are poor and potentially burdened by the fee.
January 7, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Read this thread.
My parents got divorced 20 years ago and they mostly don't speak to each other. But separately and intensely, they both really like Stephen Colbert. And they also both really like Jon Batiste. So tonight is an important night for them. latenighter.com/news/jon-bat...
Jon Batiste Sets Return to Stephen Colbert's Late Show - LateNighter
Jon Batiste is coming home for the holidays. The jazz musician reunites with Stephen Colbert this week as a guest on 'The Late Show.'
latenighter.com
December 12, 2024 at 12:51 AM
My parents got divorced 20 years ago and they mostly don't speak to each other. But separately and intensely, they both really like Stephen Colbert. And they also both really like Jon Batiste. So tonight is an important night for them. latenighter.com/news/jon-bat...
"As unlikely as big-time TikTok success is for most people, the barriers to entry are nonexistent, unlike access to the upper tier of American life. Young people today live in a country with collapsing public services, a society actively receding away from them.
December 10, 2024 at 6:02 PM
"As unlikely as big-time TikTok success is for most people, the barriers to entry are nonexistent, unlike access to the upper tier of American life. Young people today live in a country with collapsing public services, a society actively receding away from them.
I try not to talk about that certain rapper from Chicago much these days, but he did have a good line in the song "Hey Mama," talking about his mom who was an English prof at Chicago State: "You're like a book of poetry. Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, turn one page and there's my mommy."
December 10, 2024 at 3:38 AM
I try not to talk about that certain rapper from Chicago much these days, but he did have a good line in the song "Hey Mama," talking about his mom who was an English prof at Chicago State: "You're like a book of poetry. Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, turn one page and there's my mommy."
I know, I know. But Boston University should be embarrassed at offering $5500 to teach an adjunct course IN BOSTON IN 2025. I made $6500 a course to adjunct at Michigan State in 2014.
December 5, 2024 at 8:04 PM
I know, I know. But Boston University should be embarrassed at offering $5500 to teach an adjunct course IN BOSTON IN 2025. I made $6500 a course to adjunct at Michigan State in 2014.
The deadline for this job is today, and we would love for you to apply!
University of Illinois is hiring two positions in Ethnomusicology/Musicology with preference for scholars whose work is ethnographic. UIUC is great! You should definitely apply and forward to your friends. illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree... and illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Assistant/Associate Professor of Musicology - School of Music
Position
SummaryThe
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Music invites
applications for a full-time tenure-system faculty member in&...
illinois.csod.com
December 1, 2024 at 5:22 PM
The deadline for this job is today, and we would love for you to apply!
With all the attention given to Kendrick's new album (and rightfully so), don't sleep on the new record from Michael Kiwanuka, "Small Changes." Ugandan-British singer-songwriter. Production by Danger Mouse and Inflo. I could listen to his voice all day.
November 27, 2024 at 4:58 AM
With all the attention given to Kendrick's new album (and rightfully so), don't sleep on the new record from Michael Kiwanuka, "Small Changes." Ugandan-British singer-songwriter. Production by Danger Mouse and Inflo. I could listen to his voice all day.
My UIUC colleague!
'Erik S. McDuffie...shows how cities like Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland, as well as rural areas in the heartland, became central and enduring incubators of Marcus Garvey’s Black nationalist Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and its offshoots'
www.dukeupress.edu/the-second-b...
www.dukeupress.edu/the-second-b...
November 26, 2024 at 3:14 PM
My UIUC colleague!
University of Illinois is hiring two positions in Ethnomusicology/Musicology with preference for scholars whose work is ethnographic. UIUC is great! You should definitely apply and forward to your friends. illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree... and illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...
Assistant/Associate Professor of Musicology - School of Music
Position
SummaryThe
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Music invites
applications for a full-time tenure-system faculty member in&...
illinois.csod.com
November 19, 2024 at 3:31 PM
University of Illinois is hiring two positions in Ethnomusicology/Musicology with preference for scholars whose work is ethnographic. UIUC is great! You should definitely apply and forward to your friends. illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree... and illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...