Loose and Free Rock ‘N’ Roll Meets Precision Science at Rock-It Science Festival on March 3 March 3, 2009

Event features performances by 8 musicians who are also top scientists and academics in fields ranging from neuroscience to environmentalism; former Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye to headline and variety show dance star Anna Copa Cabanna will emcee the event.
New York, N.Y.—Forget the beakers, test tubes and electroencephalograms; when these scientists leave the lab it’s all about guitars, drums and wild Rock ‘N’ Roll gyrations. Rock-It Science Festival will bring together 8 outstanding scientists and academics who share a second career as rock musicians, along with six additional performers with international exposure and a great appreciation for science.
Dr. Joseph LeDoux conceived the idea for this unique event, which serves as the closing event for the Sensation to Emotion Conference on March 2 and 3. LeDoux is a professor of neuroscience at New York University who not only has pioneered study of the brain’s mechanisms for emotion and memory and the author of The Emotional Brain and The Synaptic Self, but is also guitarist and lead vocalists of rock band The Amygdaloids, who will be performing at Rock-It Science. The Amygdaloids line-up also includes three other NYU scientists: neuroscientist Daniela Schiller, graduate psychology student Nina Galbraith Curley, and Science Director of the Environmental Sciences Program and associate professor of biology Tyler Volk.
The Rock-It Science Festival will start rockin’ at 6:30 p.m. on March 3 at the Highline Ballroom, 431 W. 16th Street in New York. Australian Go-Go dancer and variety show star Anna Copa Cabanna will emcee the event, promising an interesting and humorous evening. Headlining the event is musician, writer and record producer Lenny Kaye, who is the long-time collaborator of poet-rocker Patti Smith. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at www.highlineballroom.com.
Many of the featured artists, including The Amygdaloids, perform songs whose lyrics are based on the scientists’ own research. The unique connection between science and rock music relates a new understanding of the human condition that reflects the increasing role of science in issues of the mind, body and social relations. “A lot of people have been talking about this thing called ‘neuroculture’,” says musician/producer Tim Sommer, who is co-producing the event with Dr. LeDoux. I am not 100 percent sure what this means, but I take it to mean it’s this wonderful; sphere where music and art interface with not only the workings of the brain, but art can also be made and inspired by invesitigating how the brain itself works. I think this event is an extraordinary example of that.”
Besides The Amygdaloids, scientist-musicians performing at Rock-It Science also include Daniel Levitin, a cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, and author (This Is Your Brain On Music, The World In Six Songs) who has performed with Mel Torme, Blue Oyster Cult and David Byrne; David Sulzer (a.k.a. Dave Soldier) who has worked with David Byrne, John Cale and Kurt Vonnegut along with co-leading musical groups that include The Spinozas and the Kropotkins; and evolutionary geneticist Pardis Sabeti, who leads the Boston band Thousand Days. New York Times global environment reporter and author Andrew Revkin will also take the stage as a member of the band Uncle Wade.
Guest artists at Rock-It Science include Grammy-nominated songwriter and international recording artist Gary Lucas and Peter Holsapple, an acclaimed musician, songwriter and side man who is co-leader of the legendary dBs, and has performed extensively with R.E.M. and Hootie & The Blowfish. American folk-rock duo The Kennedys, jazz/cabaret performer Pamela Luss, acclaimed songwriter Steve Wynn (of the Dream Syndicate and the Miracle Three), and Stuart Chatwood, previously the keyboard player for platinum rock band The Tea Party, also make the Rock-It Science lineup. More information about the Rock-It Science Festival and artists performing at the event, as well as ticket information and advance registration, can be found online at http://www.sensationandemotionnetwork.com/html/Rock-It_Science.html

Official Website: http://www.sensationandemotionnetwork.com/html/Rock-It_Science.html