Music marathon for college radio takes over New York City

CHRISTINE ERNEST A&E EDITOR CME722@CABRINI EDU

The College Music Journal Festival returned again to New York City from Sept. 14 through Sept. 15. Celebrating its 25th year in existence, the CMJ Festival is four days and five nights of musical artist performances, panels, parties both public and private and all the music industry networking one could ever imagine.

CMJ is a trade organization that documents all of the records that college radio stations spin. Every week, the music directors from each college radio station send in their top most played albums for the week to CMJ. CMJ then compiles everyone’s list into a nationwide chart.

The CMJ Festival is the culmination of all the college radio staff, music industries insiders and artists to come together in one place to celebrate college radio at its finest.

The CMJ Festival kicked off on Sept. 15 at the Lincoln Center with the traditional keynote speech. This year the keynote speaker was Reverend Run, known mostly for his work with the rap group Run-DMC.

Friday’s panels consisted of what is referred to as “College Day,”where everyone meets and interacts with their college radio colleagues.

For example, one of the panels was the “Music Director’s Summit,” which discussed important issues in college and non-commercial radio such as ways to improve the music programming of a station and the general management of stations. Another panel was entitled “First Aid For Your Station,” which discussed

C o n c e r t B e a t s

Friday, Sept. 23

XbXrX / V.I.P. / Armalite at 7:30 p.m. at The First Unitarian Church

Particle / Gabby Lala at 9:00 p.m. at The Theater of the Living Arts

Paul McCartney at 8:00 p.m. at The Wachovia Center

Saturday, Sept. 24

Wolf Eyes / Vampire Belt / Execepter / Adoration / Prurient at 9:00 p.m. at The Vox Populi

Edwin McCain / Sun Domingo at 7:00 p.m. at The Trocadero Theatre

Sunday, Sept. 25 and Me / Cephalic Carnage / Into the Moat at 8:00 p.m. at The Theater of the Living Arts

Tuesday, Sept. 27

The Posies / Earlimart / Oranger / Deathray Davies at 8:00 p.m. at The Khyber

Wednesday, Sept. 28 Sufjan Stevens / Denison Whitmer at 7:00 p.m. at The Theater of the Living Arts

The A-Sides / Phospherescent / Bottom Lip / Explosive Bear at 8:00 p.m. at The Khyber what to do when a college dropped their journalism program or when a radio station staff doesn’t care about maintaining a station anymore.

Every night consisted of showcases of various genres of music from loud rock to hip hop to jazz to basic rock. These showcases were featured at over 70 venues and clubs for the registrants of the festival to attend.

Bands included everything from loud rock’s Turmoil to the inde darlings Arcade Fire with their special guest David Bowie.

Moreover, there was also a filmfest included in the CMJ

Festival. Some movies featured included previews of the movies Thumbsucker, Elizabethtown and Domino.

The Festival ended with an offical closing party held at the Knitting Factory only for registered members of the marathon.

For more information on how to attend the CMJ Festival, check out www.cmj.com/marathon.

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