Dr. Robert Walser will present a lecture titled "Why Are There So Many Songs?" Dr. Walser earned doctoral degrees in both musical performance and musicology, and has since acquired certification as a Pro Tools Operator and an Apple Certified Macintosh Technician. He has published extensively on jazz and other popular musics, including his books Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music, and Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History. His writings have been translated into German, Spanish, Japanese, and Hungarian, and he is currently working on projects concerning contemporary music production technology and the implications for humanists of recent research in neuroscience. Professor Walser has received NEH and ACLS fellowships and has twice won the Irving Lowens Award for Distinguished Scholarship in American Music.

Co-sponsored by the Humanities Center and Cultural Studies