Maybe the smartest surprise move by the Village Voice since it put the Hold Steady on the cover in 2005, New York's alt-weekly newspaper ran a Grammy-nominations preview Wednesday asking, "Will Bon Iver be the Arcade Fire of 2012?"
All a-Twitter over Bon Iver
Reaction to the Eau Claire musician's Grammy nods ranged from giddy to gawky to locals wondering whether he's one of us.

Despite this foreshadowing, the music world was in a state of shock and gawk on Thursday after the Eau Claire, Wis.-based folk-rock star earned four nominations, including record and song of the year.
Pitchfork, Spin, Stereogum and other indie-centric sites all led off that morning with headlines like, "Bon Iver nominated for four Grammys" (no mention of the artists with more nods). Paste magazine noted, "Perhaps still feeling the glow from last year's huge Arcade Fire victory, the award show known more for rewarding pop superstars and beyond-their-prime classic rock icons has shown a surprising amount of love to some of our favorite independent artists."
Amusingly, though, the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram did not even mention its hometown boy's achievements on its front web page Thursday. This, after he booked his last concerts of 2011 at Eau Claire's Zorn Arena Dec. 12-13.
Still, the real-life Justin Vernon's impressive showing did not quell cynicism over the awards. Spin magazine mocked the fact that "Bon Iver" was pronounced three different ways during the nominations telecast. (For the record, it's "bone ee-VAIR.") Stereogum amusingly postured, "Does this make Bon Iver the Christopher Cross of our generation? Only if he wins." (Cross famously swept the major Grammy categories in 1979, including best new artist; and then ... well, you know.)
As for Vernon, the 30-year-old songwriter sounded humbled, confused but mostly unfazed. Among the messages posted Wednesday night from his personal Twitter account, @blobtower: "whats the difference between song and record?! ahhH! super weird butterflies! thank's y'all. the badgers are playing UNC. don't forget!!"
Locally, fans' elation was somewhat tempered by a question that was already nagging local music pundits at year-end time: Should we consider Bon Iver a "local artist"?
While he never really lived in the Twin Cities, Vernon has plenty of local ties, from his collaborations with Gayngs and other Twin Cities musicians to his general attitude of being at home here. He saw a lot of formative concerts here in his youth, as he noted at two sold-out Orpheum Theatre gigs in September (where he mentioned seeing John Prine).
In geographic terms, Eau Claire is closer to the Twin Cities than Duluth, and we've never hesitated to claim Duluth's Low, Trampled by Turtles or Charlie Parr as locals.
No matter where he's from, it's great to see how far Vernon has come. Now, it will be interesting to see where it takes him.
- Follow Riemenschneider on Twitter: @ChrisRstrib