Name Recognition

Yesterday my name was a fixture in the blogosphere.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

Okay, not exactly. But allow me to explain.

1) Iconia

Iconia is a blog on religion and art, and every day they have a "daily roundup" of arts and religion on the web. They include highlights from reputable newspapers from around the world such as The Statesman, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Independent... and my URGO research blog?!

I guess so, because in yesterday's daily roundup post they featured the following selection from on my blog:

"The notion of a 'religious' artist bears many connotations that are immediately off-putting for many … I’ve found that I have often been forced to explain away their religiosity and defend them in light of these deep criticisms against religious art, especially in our contemporary context that forces a conservative reading of most texts."

I wonder how they came across my blog, but I'm very excited that it is being read! It makes sense that people are reading it, but I guess I just forget that sometimes.

While it is great to recognized in academia, something even more exciting occurred yesterday that appealed to a more base level interest of mine: music.

2) Pitchfork

Check it out: I was namechecked in a Pitchfork article after giving them a news tip (even if they did misspell my last name). For those who don't know- Pitchfork is the ultimate authority on all matters of music that matters (ie what is often termed "indie" versus "popular music").

Let me give you the inside scoop--over the weekend I came across a purported press release regarding a new song by my favorite singer, Sufjan Stevens, on a Purevolume page (screen capture of the page with the now-removed song and press release). I sent the link to Pitchfork after doing some research of my own and finding an interview with The Guardian that seemed to potentially affirm the validity of this release. The head news editor and I exchanged e-mails and they checked with the label and soon all involved realized it was a big joke. Check out the news article for more information.

In any case, I'm happy about this for a number of reasons. 1) I suddenly find myself an authority to the news website that has always been my authority when it comes to good new music (I find out about most of my new favorite bands through their website), and 2) I'm not just an authority to the site, I'm an authority on my favorite recording artist.

Okay, so this is all a bit nerdy/fanboy-esque, but it is exciting to me anyway. Stevens is much more than a singer to me because I find his work to be more than just good music- its relevant, engaging, immensly intelligent and important, and it is art, not a contrived formula to make money.

Anyway.

The news editor hinted in an e-mail to me that this could lead to a writing gig with them, but that might be dreaming a little too big. Still, as 'they' say: dare to dream, eh?