Music Scholar Tim Anderson Remembers Icons on 'With Good Reason'
October 06, 2016
Tim Anderson
This has been a tough year for music icons, and for their fans, who were shaken by the sudden deaths of David Bowie and Prince.
Tim Anderson, associate professor in Old Dominion University's Department of Communication and Theatre Arts, studies the popular music industry. He will discuss the grief experienced by music fans, and how social media is changing how we talk about it, on the public radio program "With Good Reason," airing Oct. 9 in Hampton Roads.
Anderson, who is hosting a session Oct. 17 at Old Dominion's Strome Entrepreneurial Center about how to grow the local music industry, says collective grieving for our rock and roll heroes has been altered and amplified by social media.
In the days following the deaths of Bowie and Prince, fans produced tributes and shared memories - creating what amounted to a crowd-sourced ethnography.
Anderson will appear at 7 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 9 on "With Good Reason," which is broadcast on WHRV-FM 89.5 in Hampton Roads. The show also airs in different time slots at more than 50 public radio stations from coast to coast. Broadcast times are posted on the "With Good Reason" website.
The episode will also feature Mark Snyder of the University of Mary Washington, who teaches a course on how to succeed as a professional musician, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, speaking about the future of music.
Hosted by Sarah McConnell, "With Good Reason" is produced by the Charlottesville-based Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. The show was created more than 20 years ago to spotlight the groundbreaking research being done at Virginia's public universities.
"With Good Reason" has twice won the Gabriel Award for Best Documentary/Public Affairs Program. It also is the recipient of top honors from the Virginia Association of Broadcasters and a second-place award in the Public Radio News Directors competition.
The full program featuring Anderson and a companion feature will be published during the week of the show on the "With Good Reason" website.
Strome Center session looks to halt the musical 'brain drain'
As the "With Good Reason" interview attests, Anderson has a passion for music.
On Monday, Oct. 17, from 4-6 p.m. in the Strome Entrepreneurial Center, he will host a discussion for local music industry aficionados, seeking ways to nurture and grow the local music scene.
"From Ella Fitzgerald to Pharrell Williams, Hampton Roads has always had a deep reservoir of musical talent," Anderson said.
The problem, Anderson said, is that there are too few small- to medium-sized venues in the region, where singers and bands can break into the industry. "Most fans and musicians agree - for a region this size it is these small spaces that are the lifeblood of quality scenes and there are simply not enough of them in the area." As a result, many musicians have left Hampton Roads, achieving success after relocating for the sake of their career.
The Strome Center session, which is free and open to the public (RSVP here) seeks to begin the discussion about how what steps are needed to connect specific musicians and their audiences to proper venues.
"We need a variety of minds to get together to find solutions to this," Anderson said.