Nicholas Greco
Office 3A21
Address 10 College Crescent, Otterburne, MB, R0A 1G0
Phone 1-800-668-7768
Email Nicholas.Greco@prov.ca
Department UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, FACULTY - FULL-TIME

Nicholas Greco

Provost and Professor of Communications & Media

Dr. Nicholas P. Greco is Provost and Professor of Communications and Media at Providence University College in Otterburne, Manitoba. Dr. Greco’s research interests revolve around popular music, popular culture and the nature of celebrity. He has written extensively on the enigmatic star image of the British singer Morrissey, on Joss Whedon’s televisual texts and on David Bowie’s later career. His book, The Rosary and the Microphone: Religious Impulse in U2’s Mediated Brand, was published in 2019 by Equinox.

academia.edu

Courses
  • 215.31 Cultural Studies and Christianity
  • 317.13 Popular Music and Culture
  • 431.11 Introduction Communications & Media
  • 432.11 Writing for the Media
  • 432.12 Speaking in Public
  • 432.13 Visual Communications
  • 432.21 Principles of Journalism
  • 433.31 Media in Crisis: Radio and Print
  • 433.32 Television
  • 433.33 Print
  • 433.34 Photography
  • 433.35 New Media
  • 433.36 Film
  • 433.37 Topics in Communications and Media
  • 434.21 Independent Studies in Communications
  • 434.31 Practicum 1: Project Research, Planning, Proposal and Initial Work
  • 434.42 Advanced Project I
Education

McGill University (QC)

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Communications Studies
2007

McMaster University (ON)

Master’s Degree (M.A.), Music Criticism
2000

University of Ottawa (ON)

Bachelor’s Degree (B.A.), Music
1998

Eastern Pentecostal Bible College (ON)

One-Year Certificate
1996

Professional

Present

  • Providence University College, Provost, Faculty

Professional Associations

  • The Canadian Institute for the Study of Pop Culture & Religion
  • International Association for the Study of Popular Music, Canadian Branch
  • Popular Culture Association of Canada
Publications

Book and Book Chapters

  • The Rosary and the Microphone: Religious Impulse in U2’s Mediated Brand. Sheffield: Equinox, 2019.
  • David Bowie in Darkness: A Study of 1. Outside and the Late Career. Jefferson NC: McFarland & Company, 2015.
  • Only If You Are Really Interested: Celebrity, Gender, Desire and the World of Morrissey. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2011.
  • “Cruising in Prime Time.” Rush and Philosophy. Edited by Jim Berti & Durrell Bowman. Chicago: Open Court, 2011. 211-221.
  • “Feist.” The Grove Dictionary of American Music. Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. (forthcoming)
  • “‘Wild Card Inside’: Complexities in the ‘Canadian-ness’ of Leslie Feist.” Spanning the Distance: Reflections on Popular Music in Canada. Edited by Charity Marsh & Holly Everett. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. (forthcoming)
  • “Cruising in Prime Time.” Rush and Philosophy. Edited by Jim Berti & Durrell Bowman. Chicago: Open Court, 2011. 211-221.
  • “The Companion as a Doll: The Female Enigma in Whedon’s Firefly and Dollhouse. Sexual Rhetoric in the Whedonverse: New Essays. Edited by Erin B. Waggoner. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2010. 239-247.
  • “The Berlin Wall: Bowie, U2 and the ‘Urban Real.’” Culture of Cities: …Under Construction.

Book Reviews

  • The Lyre of Orpheus: Popular Music, the Sacred, & the Profane. CHRISTOPHER PARTRIDGE, 2014. Journal of Contemporary Religion 29:3 (2014). 539-540.
  • Paul Virilio,The Administration of Fear, trans. Ames Hodges. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e) 2012. Philosophy in Review 33:5 (October 2013). 418-420.
  • Paul Virilio,The Futurism of the Instant: Stop-Eject, trans. Julie Rose. Cambridge: Polity Press 2010. Philosophy in Review 33:4 (August 2013). 334-336.
  • Roland Barthes, The Preparation of the Novel, trans. Kate Briggs. New York: Columbia University Press 2011. Philosophy in Review 33:3 (June 2013). 177-178.
  • Hawkins and the British Pop Dandy. IASPM Canada (13 August 2010). Available from https://iaspm.ca/2010/08/hawkins-and-the-british-pop-dandy/. Internet. Accessed 16 October 2010.
  • Understanding Evangelical Media: The Changing Face of Christian Communication. Edited by Quentin J. Schultze and Robert H. Woods Jr. Downers Grove IL: InterVarsity Press, 2008. Disaskalia 20 (Fall 2009). 128-130.
  • Queering the Popular Pitch. Edited by Sheila Whiteley and Jennifer Rycenga. London: Routledge, 2006. Popular Music 28:3 (October 2009). 450-451.
  • Rock Music in Performance. By David Pattie. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Popular Music 27:3 (October 2008). 515-516.
  • David Bowie: Fame, Sound and Vision. By Nick Stevenson. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006. Popular Music 27:1 (January 2008). 183-184.

Conference Papers

  • The Rosary and the Microphone: The Drive for Social Justice Expressed through the Stage in U2’s iNNOCENCE +eXPERIENCE: Live from Paris.” IASPM Canada 2016 Conference. 28 May 2016. University of Calgary. Calgary AB. [Blind Peer-Reviewed]
  • “Feist as Transnational, Liminal, Neutral.“ PCAC 2016 Conference. 13 May 2016. McGill University. Montreal QC.
  • “‘Every Night I Have the Same Dream’: U2’s Linear as an example of Barthes’ Vita Nova.” IASPM Canada 2015 Conference. 28 May 2015. University of Ottawa. Ottawa ON. [Blind Peer-Reviewed]
  • “’If You Go Your Way and I Go Mine’: U2’s Songs of Innocence as an example of Roland Barthes’ ideal novel.” PCAC 2015 Conference. 8 May 2015. Sheraton on the Falls. Niagara Falls ON.
  • “‘If All the World were Under his Heels’: A Dystopian Utopia in David Bowie’s ‘Valentine’s Day’ Video.” IASPM Canada 2014 Conference. 25 May 2014. Université Laval. Quebec City QC. [Blind Peer-Reviewed]
  • “Dance as David Bowie’s Fashion.” PCAC 2014 Conference. 9 May 2014. Ramada Downtown Calgary. Calgary AB.
  • “Of Desperation and Desire in The Killers’ Battle Born.” IASPM Canada 2013 Conference. 25 May 2013. Sheraton Hamilton. Hamilton ON. [Blind Peer-Reviewed]
  • “‘Just Wanted to Get Home. That’s All I Ever Wanted’: Idiorrythmy in Firefly.” PCAC 2013 Conference. 11 May 2013. Sheraton on the Falls. Niagara Falls ON.
  • “‘A Swaying and Fluttering Form’: Foucault’s Heterotopia in Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose,” The Fourth Symposium of CISPCR. 23 March 2013. Providence University College and Theological Seminary. Otterburne MB.
  • “‘Get Some Clarity Following Signs’: The Americanness of Feist’s Canadianness as a kind of ‘Neutral.'” IASPM Canada 2012 Conference. 15 June 2012. Acadia University. Wolfville NS. [Blind Peer-Reviewed]
  • “‘Listen to that. That’s Our Angels’: Toward a Christian Theology of Desire Through the Lens of Whedon’s Work.” PCAC 2012 Conference. 12 May 2012. Sheraton on the Falls. Niagara Falls ON.
  • “There is a Light that Never Goes Out”: The Stage as Mediation in Live Performance.” IASPM Canada 2011 Conference. 17 June 2011. McGill University. Montreal QC. [Blind Peer-Reviewed]
  • “‘I Must Be Losing my Undefinable Allure’: The Flux of Gender in Inara Serra as Enigma.” Popular Culture Association of Canada Conference. 12 May 2011. Niagara Falls Marriott Gateway on the Falls. Niagara Falls ON.
  • “Memory Doing Violence to its Origins: Coupland, Nolan and McLuhan’s ‘Discarnate Man.’” LCMND 51st Annual Conference – Marshall McLuhan in a Post Modern World: Is the Medium the Message? 16 October 2010. University of Winnipeg. Winnipeg MB.
  • “‘Your Voice, It might say ‘No’: Violence In and Through the Singing Voice.” IASPM Canada 2010 Conference. 4 June 2010. University of Regina. Regina SK.
  • “‘Your problems are external’: The Transgendering of the Fractured Mind in Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse.” Popular Culture Association-American Culture Association National Conference. 2 April 2010. Renaissance Grand Hotel St. Louis. St. Louis MO.
  • “The Female Enigma in Whedon’s Firefly and Dollhouse.” The First Symposium of the Canadian Institute for the Study of Pop Culture & Religion. 26 September 2009. Providence College and Theological Seminary. Otterburne MB.
  • “‘I Feel It All’: Cruising the Voice of Feist.” IASPM Canada 2009 Conference. 12 June 2009. Dalhousie University. Halifax NS.
  • “Media and Popular Music within a Religious Context.” Presentation to the Royal Conservatory of Music Alumni, Winnipeg Chapter. 15 February 2009. First Presbyterian Church. Winnipeg MB.
  • “Melody is Not Dead: The Case of Feist’s ‘1234.’” IASPM Canada 2008 Conference. 9 May 2008. Brock University. St. Catharines ON.
  • “A Complex Canadian-ness: The ‘Problem’ of Leslie Feist.” Association for Canadian Studies Annual Conference. 28 October 2007. Holiday Inn – Plaza la Chaudière. Gatineau QC.
  • “‘I Started to Fade Away’: Feist and Barthes’ Notion of ‘Recuperation.’” IASPM Canada/US 2007 Joint Conference. 27 April 2007. Northeastern University. Boston MA.
  • “‘Don’t Make Fun of Daddy’s Voice’: The Enigma and Morrissey’s Changing Identity.” Canadian University Music Society Annual Conference. 30 May 2006. York University. Toronto ON
  • “‘…Only If You’re Really Interested’: Inactivity and the World of Morrissey.” IASPM Canada 2004 Conference. 16 May 2004. Carleton University. Ottawa ON.
  • “Inactivity and Melodic Contour in Morrissey’s ‘We’ll Let You Know.’” McGill AHCS Conference. McGill University. 24 April 2004. Montreal QC.
  • “‘We’ll Let You Know’: The Complex Gender of Morrissey.” McGill Music Graduate Student Society Symposium. McGill University. 14 March 2004. Montreal QC.
  • “‘The Boy Racer’: Morrissey at the Intersection of Gender and Nationality.” IASPM Biennial Conference. 7 July 2003. McGill University. Montreal QC.
  • “‘The Boy Racer’: Morrissey, Gender and Nationality.” A/Tension Conference. 19 April 2003. McGill University. Montreal QC.
  • “‘The Irish in America’: Nationalism and the City in U2’s Elevation Tour–Live in Boston.” IASPM Canada 2002 Conference. 10 May 2002. McGill University. Montreal QC.
  • “The Berlin Wall: Bowie, U2 and the ‘Urban Real.’” Culture of Cities Colloquium. 25 November 2000. Culture of Cities Centre. Toronto ON.
  • “Juxtaposition and Ambiguity in David Bowie’s ‘The Heart’s Filthy Lesson’ Video.” York/McMaster Graduate Music Students’ Colloquium. 14 April 2000. York University. Toronto ON.
  • “‘Skyscraper Mystics’: Paul Rosenfeld and the Music of Edgard Varèse.” York/McMaster Graduate Music Students’ Colloquium. 29 April 1999. York University. Toronto ON.

Workshops & Presentations