Deep Cuts and Conversations discusses the power of music

Priscilla Carballo, Reporter

The first installment of Deep Cuts and Conversations was held on campus in the Levan Center on Feb. 5. The event was centered around a discussion on the way music touches us.

The event was an open discussion with Josh Ottum, Kris Tiner, and Reggie Williams that focused on anything that had to do with or pertained to music.

Priscilla Carballo
Reggie Williams (left), Kris Tiner (middle), and Josh Ottum (right) talking before the Deep Cuts event in the Levan Canter on Feb. 5.

Williams kicked off the start by introducing how they would go about doing the event. “We sometimes pick things, sometimes we don’t. We get together for an hour 12:30-1:30 on highly posted Wednesdays, and they bring the PA (public address system) and we play some tunes,” he said.

They started by trying to find a topic and ended up discussing the technology of music and how it affects us. Then Josh Ottum played a song by Holly Herndon called “Home.”

“A lot of her work deals with the same themes which basically was dealing with the camera on her computer and knowing that there’s certain governmental agencies that can get access to your camera on your computer and watch what you’re up to, look at you browse history,” said Ottum.

During the middle of the event the topic changed to how technology has affected people in the music industry and how they make a living. “Even buying stuff vs just subscribing is this other kind of switch in the way technology has delivered,” said Ottum.

“People used to buy books and records and CD’s and liked building record collections. Now they don’t anymore. Now you buy the latest gadget and all that stuff comes with it,” said Kris Tiner.

The event ended with them playing “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” by Gil Scott Heron. They circled back to the first point of how technology affects us and the way it is used. “I always feel like as soon as it becomes a hashtag and it’s trending and it’s meme-able It almost, to me, you might think like oh it’s spreading the word, but to me sometime I feel like oh it doesn’t mean anything anymore,” said Ottum.