"Blue Scholars" from Brokn on Flickr. Thanks! The most important thing we brought away from the EMP Pop Conference was the name Labi Siffre, along with a link to the English musician's blog, Into The Light. This was the fruit of a moving, well-researched presentation from Charles Aaron, music editor at Spin, and we can't wait to dive deeper into Siffre's poetry and musical catalog from the 70s and 80s. Aside from that presentation......

MUSIC: The 2008 Pop Conference at EMP kicks off today (and runs through the 13th). There's more than 160 presenters across some forty panels. Tonight there's a keynote panel (inspired by the current EMP|SFM exhibition American Sabor: Latinos in U.S. Popular Music) with Louie Perez of Los Lobos and Raul Pacheco of Ozomatli. Later on in the conference, a performance by Blue Scholars, a talk about being a "ghostwriter" by the king of the......

Get your name on the official list for Experience Music Project's 2008 Pop Conference, taking place in our very own Hendrix-drenched, spring-obsessed city from April 10–13. That's next weekend! This year's theme is "Shake, Rattle: Music, Conflict, and Change," and EMP has gathered over 160 writers, speakers and musicians to expound on the many facets of the subject. (The conference is completely, gloriously free.) The many panels we're excited about include Riotous (featuring presentations......