NEW MUSIC
Young bearded men making sweet, sweet music is what I happen to be into at the moment. Musically speaking, of course. And they evidently don’t come any more bearded than Iron & Wine, the nom de musique of singer-songwriter Sam Beam. Beautiful song here, “Boy With a Coin.” Flamenco pulse, acoustic-indie vibe.
The dudes in Gomez need some help, though. Their beards, shamefully, are only five o’clock shadows. At best. Great song, however. The rolling rhythm and ringing, open chords totally simulate the kind of rolling, open movement suggested by the title, “Airstream Driver.”
And Black Ghosts have joined forces with Cult-Geist, a British outfit that does “short films” for songs rather than plain ol’ videos. There’s one for every track off Black Ghosts’ new, eponymous album, including this (spooky) one.
To view all of the Black Ghost/Cult-Geist tracks/videos, go here.
And here’s a vid from 2008, Death Cab For Cutie’s “Cath.” Only one bearded guy in the band, though. Sigh. At least at the time the “short film” was shot.
REPORT: MCALLEN, TEXAS IS ONE OF THE MOST EXPENSIVE HEALTH-CARE MARKETS IN THE COUNTRY
Here’s a piece from The New Yorker by Atul Gawande. “Only Miami –– which has much higher labor and living costs –– spends more per person on health care,” he writes. “In 2006, Medicare spent $15,000 per enrollee [in McAllen], almost twice the national average. The income per capita is $12,000. In other words, Medicare spends $3,000 more per person here than the average person earns.”
Part of the reason: “McAllen, with its high poverty rate, has an incidence of heavy drinking, 60 percent higher than the national average. And the Tex-Mex diet has contributed to a 38-percent obesity rate.”
Read the rest of the story here.
RUSSIAN FILM HAS A NEW ‘IT’ GIRL
And she’s emblematic of a darker, poorer post-Soviet Union. What a country …
MAJOR RECORD LABELS LOOKING TO SQUEEZE INTO THE LIVE-MUSIC BIZ
