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A Quickie With Iron & Wine: Our Endless Numbered Days

The second studio album from singer songwriter Samuel Beam, former college professor turned indie legend, turns six years old this spring. Iron & Wine’s popularity and influence has become increasingly harder to ignore since Beam stopped teaching and started recording music full time.

Having written songs used in television shows and films as far back as Garden State and as recently as Twilight, (did I lose you right there? Stay with me, I’m sorry) Beam’s songs are no secret to the public eye.

So whether you’re unfamiliar or you’re a fan, I challenge you to give what I’ve decided to call the perfect “rainy day” album, Our Endless Numbered Days, a once-through.

Marathon of Music & Madness at Gogol Bordello

Gogol bordello is one of my favorite bands. They stand somewhere in the middle of an eclectic mix of rock, punk, gypsy jazz, and folk genres. I love everything about them- from Eugene Hutz’s eastern European-accented lyrics, to the mad 50-year-old violinist, known as Sergey Ryabtsev, who

rolling stone - hutz

shreds better with his violin than most guitarists can with their guitars. So, needless to say the three hour trek I took to NYC’s Webster Theater last week to see them live was more than worth it in my eyes.

I had seen Gogol once prior in Boston and it was quite possibly the best show I had ever attended. They played for over two hours with such ferocious intensity, and I was curious to see if they would reach the bar they set so high the last time. The band did indeed reach the bar, and even raised it when they played an encore so climactic that I am still recovering today.