The Flaming Lips Head Back to School

I always thought Wayne Coyne would make the perfect college professor and now it seems as though some lucky students might be able to take classes led by the Flaming Lips’ front man. Set to open this August, the new Academy Of Contemporary Music at the University Of Central Oklahoma will provide educational opportunities for students aspiring to carve out a career in the music industry. Classes — taught by Lily Allen’s producer Greg Kurstin, Warner Bros. Records General Manager Tom Biery, and members of the Flaming Lips, among others — will cover five areas of study: Performance in Guitar, Bass, Drums, Vocal, and Music Production.

Heading up the school as its CEO is Scott Booker who also heads Hellfire Enterprises, the artist management company whose roster includes the Flaming Lips. Booker worked with university and state officials to bring the school to Oklahoma City by partnering with the United Kingdom’s prestigious Academy of Contemporary Music, which was founded in 1995 and, in the last year alone, has won a Queens Award for Innovation in Education. Booker hopes that the Academy, whose classes will take place at the Oklahoma Warehouse Building off Flaming Lips Alley in Oklahoma City’s historic Bricktown district, will provide “the most innovative music industry education available anywhere in the United States.”

ACM@UCO is currently accepting applications for the fall semester with a final application date of June 1, 2009.