[Editor's note: A Conversation is an HN series that features two disparate members Nebraska's music scene interviewing each other about what they do best. This is part two. Read part one here. We hope you learn a little.]
story by Michael Todd | illustration by Brittany Wehling
As the saying doesn't go, it's always a good thing when the conversation ends with exotic Asian fruit. Knowing Damon Lee, though, it's hardly a surprise that he would just happen to be carrying something grown in Vietnam and would, of course, share it at the end of our interview.
Lee, a UNL assistant professor of composition and digital arts, seems to always have a piece of something you've never heard of, but usually end up appreciating, when teaching his classes. It might be an example of a frequency shift or maybe musique concrète that makes you wonder, "What else does he have in his bag?"
He adapts his syllabi for each class, too, constantly listening to students and picking up on their interests. I finished out my senior year with two Digital Arts Initiative courses and sometimes wish I had stuck around for one more semester for just one more class. Lincoln Calling founder Jeremy Buckley picked up on Lee's widespread knowledge of music, and it was assured when Buckley pitched the first concert that came to mind, Ghostface Killah at The Bourbon, when Lee asked what he should go to.
"Yeah, I have all the Wu-Tang Clan albums," Lee says. No big surprise for me, but after talking about his work on art installations, his forthcoming orchestra piece and his film scoring classes, it's another something else he nonchalantly pulls out of his bag. Listen in as Lee talks here with Buckley about his coursework, how film composers do financially on larger productions and his work with an Afghan filmmaker that spawned from a chance meeting in a German bar:
Michael Todd is Hear Nebraska's managing editor. He'd like to answer a previous tagline by saying, "I bet you know who it is now." Reach Michael at michaeltodd@hearnebraska.org.