Today marks the launch of In The City of New York, "a two-day event bringing high level music industry debate and the most exciting new bands in the modern world back to that narrow strip of land between the Hudson and the East River." Co-presented by AEG Live, Manchester-based In The City is seeking to recreate the feverish and exciting energy surrounding the New Music Seminars of decades-gone-by, injecting them with the inimitable perspective of Factory Records honcho and ITC main-man Tony Wilson, best known on these shores from Steve Coogan's characterization in the film 24 Hour Party People.

A massively visionary and influential figure in Britain's music scene, Wilson seems to relish being something of a polarizer, and his latest attempt to bring the ITC package to New York will surely do little to dispel this reputation. Featuring two days of panels like "DRM: The End Is Nigh or Is It?", "Bring Me Your Poor and Huddled Masses and We'll Make Stars of Them and Ship Them Back" packed with industry heavyweights, there is much to commend ITCofNY. However, there is a fairly striking lack of starpower in the mix, especially since headlining act The Happy Mondays were once again denied visas to enter the US (and this is without avowed drug abuser Bez even attempting to come along with his maracas). What's left are performances from up-and-comers and solidly second-tier acts including The Rakes, Biffy Clyro, The Pigeon Detectives, Blood Red Shoes, and Enter Shikari.

There are a bunch of side-events happening, from club nights sponsored by NME, Flavorpill, ASCAP and other players in the music scene, but at the end of the day, this two day event is hardly holding a candle to the stories of New Music Seminars and CMJ Music Marathons of years gone by, to say nothing of mega-confabs like the annual SXSW conference in Austin. That said, here's hoping things go well enough to bring ITCofNY back a whole lot bigger and better next year.

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