He's a little embarrassed that I'm pimping his article here, but I thought our readers might like to know that our esteemed jazz critic, Sriram Gopal, has his first article published in Modern Drummer magazine today. That a DCist writer got a freelance piece published is hardly a big deal -- that happens all the time. But Sriram's story is too good not to share. See, he's a really big music geek, and a drummer, and more or less worships the niche publication. Since 1998, with a few exceptions, Sriram's been sending in his résumé to the magazine every year on his birthday as a sort of ritual, fully expecting the form rejection letter he typically received back. But last fall, armed with a stack of writing samples for DCist, he sent in his résumé again, and lo and behold, the magazine asked him to start pitching. His first piece for Modern Drummer, an interview with jazz legend Sonny Rollins in the September issue, is not yet available online, but you should be able to buy it at newsstands today. Way to go, Sriram.