Nicholas Laudadio

Associate Professor Nicholas C. Laudadio was born and raised in Corpus Christi, Texas where he attended Catholic school throughout his primary and secondary education. After living in Providence, RI, Boston, MA, and Buffalo, NY for his undergraduate and graduate work, he moved to Wilmington in 2003 to work in the English Department.

In his academic work, he co-edited the book _Disaster Pedagogy for Higher Education: Research, Criticism, and Reflection_ (Rowman and Littlefield, 2022) and has published essays in the Journal of Popular Music Studies, Science Fiction Studies, Science Fiction Film and Television, Foundation, Extrapolation, Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

In addition to his scholarly output, he has performed in numerous touring and recording bands and now produces, performs, and releases new instrumental work from his recording studio in downtown Wilmington. His former recording projects were featured on an HBOMax series (Vice Principals) as well as at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. In various bands he has also played shows at the original CBGBs, The Mercury Lounge (NYC), The Rathskeller (Boston), TT the Bear's (Cambridge), and the 9:30 Club (DC), opening for well-known bands like The National, Interpol, The Faint, The Microphones, The Album Leaf, Songs: Ohia, and The Spinanes.

Education

Ph.D. in English, SUNY Buffalo.
M.A. in English, SUNY Buffalo.
B.A. in English, Boston University.
B.S. in Mass Communications, Boston University.

Specialization in Teaching

Literary and cultural analysis, pop music studies, critical and cultural theory, food studies, religion and popular culture, demonology and early Christianity, science fiction and fantasy, horror and popular media, and contemporary popular fiction and experimental new media.

Research Interests

Postwar 20th century American literature and poetry, popular music and culture, music and technology, electronic music and musical instruments, and science fiction and film.

Academic publications include
“Way Out Music for Way Out Kids: Bruce Haack and Esther Nelson’s Experimental Electronic Music Collaborations.” with Meghan M. Sweeney. Journal of Popular Music Studies 32.4 (2020): 60-74.
“Who Made Who(m)?: Listening to Stephen King’s Maximum Overdrive (1986).” Science Fiction Film and Television 10:2 (2017): 215-229.
“Harmony Endowed with Gifts from the Stars: Kim Stanley Robinson’s Memory of Whiteness (1986) and the Orchestrionic Instrument.” Foundation: An International Journal of Science Fiction 126 (2017): 61-73.
“‘All Manner of Revolving Things’: Musical Technology, Domestic Anxiety, and The Twilight Zone’s ‘A Piano in the House’” (1962). Journal of Science Fiction Film and Television 5.2 (2012): 159-177.
“‘Sounds Like a Human Performance’: The Electronic Music Synthesizer in Mid-Twentieth Century Science Fiction.” Science Fiction Studies 114 (2011): 304-320.
"Just Like So But Isn’t: Musical Consciousness and Richard Powers’s Galatea 2.2." Extrapolation 49 (2009): 410-31.
“What Dreams Sound Like: Forbidden Planet and the Electronic Musical Instrument.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 17 (2008): 334-49.

Professional Service

Member, IAFA (International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts)
Member, IASPM (International Association for the Study of Popular Music)
Member, SFRA (Science Fiction Research Association)
Reviewer, Science Fiction Film and Television
Reviewer, Journal of Popular Music Studies

Community Engagement

Lecture on the Popular History of the Devil for students and the public for the Bellamy Mansion lecture series.
Lecture on Witchcraft and Demonology for public audience at Gravity Records in Wilmington, NC.
Lecture on the Satanic Panic for students and public at the Raleigh Museum of Natural History.

Honors & Awards

UNCW College of Arts and Sciences, Professional Development Grant, Summer 2022.
UNCW Center for Teaching Excellence, New Course Development Grant, Summer 2018.