A well-done review, and some fair criticism, from the Star-Trib’s Martin Schmutterer, who takes me to task for not speaking to more people, and “thus only half the story.” In my defense, I was worried about the book becoming a morass of quotes and characters and tried to limit the “talking heads,” but I absolutely see Schmutterer’s point.

I don’t, on the other hand, concede on this one:

And, although put forward as a given, there is no insight into the mindset of separateness and persecution that pervades evangelical culture and informs its music.

I think I covered that quite thoroughly. Please let me know if you disagree.

Mikael Wood takes a looksee at my book.

Beaujon locates no easy answers. But the complexity and ambivalence he uncovers among the community’s central figures is refreshing, especially in an age increasingly defined by rampant religious fanaticism.

A nice review by Miles Raymer in last week’s edition, with a thought-provoking kicker:

Stephen Prothero, in his American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon, points out that much of Christianity’s success in the U.S. comes from the American ability to mold Jesus into a customized savior for every believer’s need. This isn’t new: 30 years ago the Jesus people just refashioned JC as the grooviest hippie of them all. The kids of the culture wars—caught between an increasingly fundamentalist culture and an ever-more-pressing material one—need more than just a Christ they can get crunk for. They need a Jesus who’s pro-life and antigay, who can sell video games—and T-shirts too.

Reviews Body Piercing Saved My Life today.

Pitchfork’s Zach Baron takes a whack at my book.

Tonight I’ll be a guest on the Mimi Geerges Show on XM. I believe you can listen to it online. Or, if you live in Richmond, Va., you can check it out Monday at 1 p.m. on WRIR.

UPDATE: The show isn’t broadcast live. You can figure out when to hear it here, and it’ll be on the website as well.

Laura Barcella interviewed me for Nerve.com. I love that she called David Bazan “super emo.” He is going to LOVE that. Incidentally, Bazan’s playing here in Washington, D.C., on Friday. He’s dropped the Pedro the Lion name and has “gone solo.”

Today I have an opinion piece about Christian rock on ABCNews.com. There’s also an excerpt of the book.

Patton Dodd reviews my book. My favorite part:

But the question persists, because in evangelical circles there’s a lot of chatter and concern over whether particular music is “Christian” or “secular.” Well—here’s a fool’s axiom: Both inside the parallel universe of Christian music and in every other universe, the only one who can make music Christian is Christ. No matter what we make of Bazan or Crowder, Rebecca St. James or Michael W. Smith, Mute Math or Newsboys—or, for that matter, U2, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Sufjan Stevens, and a million other acts—when we’re talking about music, we’d do well to remember our categories are too simple, too inflexible, and too earthy to contain the truth.

Say something like this: “Uh, hippies…Christians…crux…GAAAAACK.” At least that’s how I remember it, but otherwise today’s On Point interview went really well, and I was tickled to death to be on with Randall Balmer, whose book Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey Into the Evangelical Subculture in America was a really big influence on me while I was writing Body Piercing.

I think the show will be podcast or something soon.