What's in a byline?

Ann Powers is the pop music writer for the Los Angeles Times (currently living in Alabama, but that's another story.) She's been using that byline for many years since it is, you know, her name. The Washington Post recently profiled a blogger who goes by Ann Powers, but whose real name is Jayne Lytel. Therein lies a tale explored with some nuance by writer Andrew Beaujon in the Washington City Paper. Sample:

Ann Powers the rock critic, who I soooorta know—I have met her and used to work with her husband at Spin—wasn’t jazzed about the existence of Ann Powers the blogger. “I know Ann Powers is a fairly common name,” she writes in an e-mail, “and apparently the blogger in question has a legitimate claim to it…but still…..it seems like an odd choice.”

Or maybe not, Ann Powers the rock critic continues, “given the possible Google hits for someone using a name — mine — that’s already all over the Internet and which is associated with often-searched subject like Michael Jackson and ‘American Idol’ and other things pop.”

I’ve called and e-mailed Ann Powers the blogger for comment but she hasn’t replied. I’ll update when/if she does!

In exploring the value of the unique byline, the story explains the origin of J. Freedom du Lac, one of the catchier bylines in the Washington Post — belonging to a former Californian.