The Future Of Cultural Diversity
This item is just too cool to pass up…see if you can follow the tangled trail.

One of the bloggers I follow recently got a paid gig as the official blogger for a major music group. That in itself would be cool, but here’s the kicker:

Junichi is an Asian-American blogger who writes primarily about hip-hop. The group that he’s been hired to blog about are The Dixie Chicks, the country-western powerhouse. His blog postings will appear on MSN.

Would this have happened before the age of blogging, participatory media, and the mash-up? Maybe. But it sure is one hell of a counter-example for those who claim that the Internet will result in every different culture retreating in on themselves.

By the way, this is probably as good a time as any for me to come out of the closet.

Most people don’t know this, but I am a country music fan.

While I don’t listen to the radio, much preferring the more refined comfort of books on tape (a steady mix of business books, detective novels, history, and travel writing), when I do listen to music I tend to tune into either country or heavy metal.

I’ve even been to a country music concert (Jo Dee Messina and David Lee Murphy–ever noticed how many country singers, like serial killers, take the three-name approach?), which was an interesting experience that deserves its own post. (Hint: If you’re a tall Chinese guy with advanced degrees, you tend to stand out in a crowd of working-class fans wearing cowboy hats). This was when “Heads Carolina, Tails California” and “Dust On The Bottle” had just came out, so it was a heck of a show.

But I digress.