Appearing Live!

Recently confirmed: I will be speaking in Grand Rapids, Michigan in late March at Calvin College's "Festival of Faith and Music." The website describes it as:

Designed to forward a comprehensive interrogation of the ways grace, love, compassion, and the Christian faith are expressed in the world of popular music.

Events for ffm 2007 include two nights of LIVE performances by some of the leading artists in folk, rock, roots, and independent music, workshops led by musicians, critics, scholars, producers, and keynote speakers.

Anyway, I'll be presenting some of the findings of my undergraduate thesis on hip consumerism in Christian media culture, with a focus on Relevant Magazine, and probably some additional reflections on the theological basis for a renewed independent cultural praxis. I'm very flattered and grateful to have been invited to be a part of it. Sufjan Stevens, Neko Case(?), and Emmylou Harris (?!?) will be among the performers. And a bunch of pretty legit-looking speakers who write books with titles like Colossians Remixed: Subverting The Empire(!)

Full info is here.

By the way, have you heard that Neko Case record, Fox Confessor Brings The Flood? I know, you're thinking "pretty alt-country lady, boring!" but really it is my favorite record of the past year--at least as adventurous, textured, and sonically engaging as the last Xiu Xiu record, with some really weird dirty organ sounds, deep deep reverb--and the songs are just heartbreaking, surprising, inventively structured.