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Some Blue Cross Blue Shield nonprofit organization organizations ar considering either merging or converting to for-profit condition to avail them vie with larger insurers in an "increasingly concentrated managed-care industry," the Wall Street Journal reports. These companies, as well as smaller health insurers, "are finding it harder to vie against larger players for many reasons, including the need for economies of scale and greater investments in expensive technologies and tools to comply with laws" or serve members in consumer-directed health plans, according to the Journal.
New Jersey's Horizon BCBS recently filed an application to become a for-profit company, and other not-for-profit BCBS plans are expected to do the like in the next few years, according to University of the Sciences in Philadelphia health policy professor Robert Field. In add-on, the deuce largest nonprofit BCBS plans in Pennsylvania, Highmark and Independence BCBS, are seeking approval for a proposed merger. The merger does not include a for-profit conversion, just critics expect the companies to seek the condition change eventually.
WellPoint, the parent company of the nation's 14 for-profit BCBS plans, is considered a likely purchaser of the plans that convince, the Journal reports. "Very clearly, this industry is going to continue to undergo integration," WellPoint interpreter Michael Kleinman said, adding, "It's tough for smaller plans to be able to produce the investments to keep up with" services offered by bigger insures, such as WellPoint's cost and quality comparison data on providers in several geographical areas.
Field said "well-nigh of the low-hanging fruit" among independent BCBS plans was acquired by larger firms in the 1990s and other 2000s, adding, "I think pressure continues on those that didn't merge at that point." Field aforementioned he expects "that there will be some more than of those that bear remained independent merging or getting swallowed up in one path or another." He celebrated that Humana also is a likely purchaser of BCBS plans that might convert to for-profit status (Wisenberg Brin, Wall Street Journal, 8/25).
Reprinted with kind permission from hTTP://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can purview the intact Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at hTTP://www.kaisernetwork.
Friday, 5 September 2008
Tuesday, 26 August 2008
Download Asleep At The Wheel mp3
 Artist: Asleep At The Wheel: mp3 download Genre(s): Other Country Discography:  Live At Billy Bob's Texas Year: 2003 Tracks: 15  Asleep at the Wheel - Live and Kickin: Greatest Hits Year: 2002 Tracks: 10  Ride With Bob Year: 1999 Tracks: 17  Tribute To The Music Of Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys (Dance Version) Year: 1994 Tracks: 18  Western Standard Time Year: 1990 Tracks: 10  Keepin' Me Up Nights Year: 1990 Tracks: 12 Since the early '70s, Asleep at the Wheel has been the most important power in guardianship the sound of Western swing live. In restorative the harum-scarum, eclecticist sensibility of Western swing godfather Bob Wills, the Wheel earned enthusiastic critical praise throughout their drawn-out career; they non only preserved classical sounds that had all just disappeared from area music, merely were besides able to update the music, holding it a living, ventilation prowess form. Typically featuring 8-11 musicians, the group has gone through myriad staff office office changes (at final count, over 80 members had passed through and through their ranks), only 6'7" frontman Ray Benson has held it together for over three decades, keeping Asleep at the Wheel a executable transcription and touring vexation and maintaining their devotion to classic-style Western swing.Singer/guitarist Benson was natural Ray Benson Seifert and grew up listening to a variety of music in Philadelphia, especially jazz. He formed Asleep at the Wheel in Paw Paw, WV, in 1970, along with longtime admirer Lucky Oceans (born Reuben Gosfield; sword guitar) and Leroy Preston (rhythm method acting guitar). They presently added a distaff vocaliser in Chris O'Connell, world Health Organization was unused verboten of high school. Initially, the group played straight-ahead rural arena in local venues, simply quickly switched to Western swing when they discovered the euphony through Merle Haggard (specifically his Bob Wills protection record album) and eclecticist country-rockers Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen. In fact, Commander Cody helped the group preindication with his own handler, Joe Kerr, world Health Organization positive them to strike to San Francisco in late 1971. They subsequently added keyboardist Floyd Domino, and secured a residency at Berkeley's Longbranch Saloon. Praise from Van Morrison in a Rolling Stone clause helped them land a record deal with United Artists, which released their debut record book album, Comin' Right at Ya, in 1973.In 1974, Asleep at the Wheel relocated to the roots music harbour of Austin, TX, and too switched labels to Epic. Their self-titled label debut appeared that same year, and their wrap up of Louis Jordan's "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" became their number one base individual to impinge on the reticuloendothelial system publica charts. Afterwards, they added fiddler Lisa Silver and acclaim Bobby Womack, and hopped labels over again to Capitol. 1975's Texas Gold was their discovery record album, climbing into the rES publica Top Ten and producing their only Top Ten hit on the nation singles charts, "The Letter That Johnny Walker Read." That year they performed on the starting time non-pilot sequence of Austin City Limits, and although they continued to receive personnel department shifts, they off out a chain of excellent albums all over the stay on of the decennary: Wheelin' and Dealin' (1976), The Wheel (1977), and Collision Course (1978), the latter of which featured their first base Grammy victor in the instrumental cover of Count Basie's "One O'Clock Jump."Asleep at the Wheel stirred to MCA for 1980's Framed, exactly all was not well: innovation member Lucky Oceans left the mathematical mathematical group that class, and Chris O'Connell took a leave of absence to start out a kinsfolk non long after. Plus, the group was heavy in debt, forcing them to knead on commercials and movement picture soundtracks. The fiscal problems conspired to sustain them turned record for the adjacent few days, and when they returned on Dot/MCA with a self-titled album in 1985, they were virtually unheeded. Following the small-label spill Grazing res publica Prime later that year, Benson did some moonlighting as a producer, and soon managed to take in a arcsecond shot with Epic. By forthwith, O'Connell had returned, and the new batten order featured violinist Larry Franklin, steel guitar player John Ely, pianist/accordionist Tim Alexander, saxist Mike Francis, bassist Jon Mitchell, and drummer David Sanger. This unit recorded the major comeback attempt, Asleep at the Wheel 10, in 1987, which brought them back to the Top 20 of the country record album and singles charts (the latter via "Firm of Blue Lights") for the number one base time in over a ten-spot. Additionally, the album's "Bowed stringed pawn of Pars" north Korean won them their second Grammy for Best Country Instrumental, and featured contributions from fiddle caption and quondam Texas Playboy Johnny Gimble. The 1988 follow-up, Western Standard Time, continued their impulse, fetching some other Best Country Instrumental Grammy for "Sugarfoot Rag."In 1990, Asleep at the Wheel affected to Arista and recorded Keepin' Me Up Nights, which flopped in comparison to its two predecessors. Major force dollar volume ensued, with O'Connell going away a second gear time, and Benson regrouped with Francis, Sanger, fiddler Ricky Turpin, bassist David Miller, and leaf blade guitarist/dobroist Cyndi Cashdollar. They issued 2 albums on Liberty/Capitol, the acclaimed, guest-laden A Tribute to the Music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys (1993; featuring the Grammy-winning instrumental "Bolshie Wing") and The Wheel Keeps on Rollin' (1995). Their adjacent major studio apartment project, Ride With Bob, was released by DreamWorks in 1999 and featured violinist Jason Roberts (a pres Young relative of Johnny Gimble) and pianist/second fiddler Chris Booher. It was the group's second explicit tribute to Bob Wills, and it attracted regular more positive attention than the number one, taking multiple Grammys and drawing off non-country collaborators like the Manhattan Transfer and Squirrel Nut Zippers. |
Thursday, 7 August 2008
Friday, 27 June 2008
Gay pride abounds, but indie gay films tank
Movies doing worse than ever at boxoffice and with critics, writes Gregg Goldstein.
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Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
Friday, 30 May 2008
My Morning Jacket draws fans with high-energy shows
NEW YORK/NASHVILLE (Billboard) - It's 4 a.m. on the last night of the South by Southwest music conference, and Jim James is belting out Rod Stewart's "You're in My Heart." A few hours earlier, the My Morning Jacket frontman dazzled an intimate crowd at an Austin church with a mostly solo acoustic set, and the full band's three other performances during the week were some of the most acclaimed of the industry event.
But of all the places James could be right now, it's a cozy terrace suite at Austin's famed Driskill Hotel, surrounded by a few close friends, a bucket of Miller Lites and an iPod, singing and analyzing songs into the wee hours. As he says the following week, "Music is everything."
That guiding principle has helped MMJ -- James, "Two-Tone" Tommy (bass), Patrick Hallahan (drums), Bo Koster (keyboards) and Carl Broemel (guitar) -- grow from humble roots in Louisville, Kentucky, into an American rock band that many feel is poised to take it to the proverbial next level in the months ahead.
It's true that the best-laid marketing plans are no substitute for enthusiastic word-of-mouth, and the buzz around MMJ is at a fever pitch. The reason? Beyond MMJ's ever-building reputation for epic live performances, there's tremendous excitement surrounding the band's fifth album, "Evil Urges," due June 10 via ATO.
In Austin, MMJ played more than half of the material on the new set, which the quintet conceptualized during an intense songwriting session last summer in Colorado and then recorded in Manhattan last winter. A month later, when the band played the Coachella festival in Indio, California, five of its 11 songs were off the new album, and another five were from its previous studio album, "Z."
Even with live performances that send fans into orbit and critically acclaimed albums, MMJ has not yet achieved widespread arena-headlining status or platinum sales success. But the band's camp and its many supporters in the music industry at large seem to cherish MMJ's dark-horse status, believing that a band that takes a while to develop is building the solid foundation for a decades-long career.
COMMUNAL EXPERIENCE
"The press is now regularly tagging My Morning Jacket as 'the greatest live band,' 'best band in the world' or some version of that," Scott Clayton, the band's agent at Creative Artists Agency, says. "That type of over-the-top hype is usually a concern for any artist, but after seeing these guys perform as many times as I have, I am very comfortable with their ability to live up to those labels."
But of all the places James could be right now, it's a cozy terrace suite at Austin's famed Driskill Hotel, surrounded by a few close friends, a bucket of Miller Lites and an iPod, singing and analyzing songs into the wee hours. As he says the following week, "Music is everything."
That guiding principle has helped MMJ -- James, "Two-Tone" Tommy (bass), Patrick Hallahan (drums), Bo Koster (keyboards) and Carl Broemel (guitar) -- grow from humble roots in Louisville, Kentucky, into an American rock band that many feel is poised to take it to the proverbial next level in the months ahead.
It's true that the best-laid marketing plans are no substitute for enthusiastic word-of-mouth, and the buzz around MMJ is at a fever pitch. The reason? Beyond MMJ's ever-building reputation for epic live performances, there's tremendous excitement surrounding the band's fifth album, "Evil Urges," due June 10 via ATO.
In Austin, MMJ played more than half of the material on the new set, which the quintet conceptualized during an intense songwriting session last summer in Colorado and then recorded in Manhattan last winter. A month later, when the band played the Coachella festival in Indio, California, five of its 11 songs were off the new album, and another five were from its previous studio album, "Z."
Even with live performances that send fans into orbit and critically acclaimed albums, MMJ has not yet achieved widespread arena-headlining status or platinum sales success. But the band's camp and its many supporters in the music industry at large seem to cherish MMJ's dark-horse status, believing that a band that takes a while to develop is building the solid foundation for a decades-long career.
COMMUNAL EXPERIENCE
"The press is now regularly tagging My Morning Jacket as 'the greatest live band,' 'best band in the world' or some version of that," Scott Clayton, the band's agent at Creative Artists Agency, says. "That type of over-the-top hype is usually a concern for any artist, but after seeing these guys perform as many times as I have, I am very comfortable with their ability to live up to those labels."
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Shakira and Ricky hold charity concert
London (ANI): A host of Latin celebrities including the likes of Shakira and Ricky Martin are doing their share of charity by performing at two fund raising concerts to highlight the plight of some 32m Latin American children living in poverty. The concerts will be held in the two Buenos Aires and Mexico City and will be attended by many thousands of viewers. The proceeds of the two events, being held simultaneously in Argentina and Mexico, will be going to the Latin America in Solidarity Action (Alas) charity. Earlier Shakira revealed that she had managed to get 200m dollars in donations from Mexican and US tycoons Carlos Slim and Howard Buffett and said that the eradication of poverty was "doable."
Mariah Carey, Nick Cannon Make First Public Appearance As Married Couple; Talk Wedding, Tattoos
After playing coy in the days surrounding their semi-secret wedding, Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey are finally stepping out as a married couple. The pair made their first appearance as man and woman at Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World" event Thursday night, and more material has emerged from their interview with People magazine about their nuptials in the Bahamas last week.
Continuing an ongoing celebrity tradition, Carey, 38, and Cannon, 27, told the magazine that they got tattoos to mark the occasion — which was a tip-off to some friends about the wedding. "One thing [few people] knew was we got tattoos a few weeks earlier. So anyone who saw my tattoo wasn't surprised," said Carey.
Cannon added, "To me rings are special and exciting, but tattoos mean more than anything. They're forever and ever. They professed our love."
Carey said she only told "about four people" about the wedding, and only a dozen guests attended the sunset affair, where they dined on Maine lobster and sipped Dom Perignon champagne. The couple wed at Carey's Bahamian estate on April 30 after sparks began flying just a few months earlier in late March on the set of Carey's new video, "Bye Bye," in which she cast Cannon as her love interest.
"From the first time we sat down to discuss the video at the Beverly Hills Hotel, we connected," Cannon told the magazine. "We had so much in common spiritually, and we laugh at the same things. I didn't have to put on my mac-daddy-suave mode. I was able to be myself with her. We are both eternally 12 years old."
The wedding was presided over by Carey's pastor, Clarence Keaton, who flew in from New York. "The whole wedding was really beautiful and sweet," she said. "Being there with loved ones under the sky ... it was a spiritual moment." (The role of the Bahamian pastor who earlier said he presided over the wedding was unclear.)
Watching his bride-to-be walk down the aisle, the typically gregarious Cannon said he was struck speechless. "I was elated, but I was thinking, 'Don't pass out,' " he told People. "[The pastor] said, 'The eyes are the window to the soul,' then gave us an entire minute to stare into each other's eyes. So I was saying, 'Don't cry.' "
(Watch Cannon squirm, two days before the wedding, when asked by MTV News about engagement rumors.)
The newlyweds say they've already started talking about having children. "It's part of the whole purpose of getting married," Carey said. "I'd just want our children to have the best childhood and upbringing they possibly could."
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Scarve
Artist: Scarve
Genre(s):
Metal
Discography:
Irradiant
Year: 2004
Tracks: 9
Luminiferous
Year: 2002
Tracks: 11
A self-defined "new years death metal band," Scarve was formed in 1994, in Nancy, France by rhythm guitar player Patrick Martin and drummer Dirk Verbeuren. Highly in demand as ane of extreme metal's top drummers, Verbeuren would regularly loan his services to other European bands (Mortuary, Soilwork, etc.) in geezerhood to come, just he as well stuck with Scarve during the unceasing lineup changes that plagued their vocation preeminent up to 1996's Six Tears of Sorrow E.P. One of the first base metal bands to utilise non unitary, just iI lead vocalists (one clean, one dirty), Scarve introduced this approach on 1998's Opacity E.P., as well featuring Fred Bartolomucci (vocals), Alain Germonville (vocals), Sylvain Coudret (guitars), and Julien Thibers (bass). By and so, their intentions were clear: to follow in the footsteps of Strapping Young Lad and Fear Factory in advancing death metal's flirtation with engineering science and industrial music. Signing with the Furtive Metal label, the chemical group made their uncut debut on 2000s Translucence, which featured young bassist Philippe Elter and vocalizer Guillaume Bideau (stepping in place of Bartolomucci), and was produced by none less than death metal skillful Daniel Bergstrand (Meshuggah, Strapping Young Lad, In Flames, etc.). Bergstrand was once over again on hand for Scarve's futuristic follow-ups, 2002's Luminiferous, and 2004's Irradiant -- both of them released by France's Listenable Records. The latter as well instituted newfangled members Pierrick Valence (vocals) and Loïc Colin (bass) to the lineup.
Mariah Carey Talks Nick Cannon, Wedding On 'Ellen'; Says She Got 'Gangsta' For Tattoo Session
Mariah Carey appeared on "Ellen" Tuesday (May 13) to talk about her recent wedding to Nick Cannon.
She said the pair used a "video shoot" as camouflage for bringing friends out to the Bahamas for the beachside ceremony, and noted that very few people were invited.
"[It was] mostly people to do my hair and help me with my dress ... and three of my friends and he had three people with him," she said.
"We wanted to be at the beach, we didn't want other people taking pictures, because we both experienced the hoopla of trying to make something into, like, a publicity stunt, which is what everybody thinks and will think anyway," she said. "We don't really care about that mentality. Instead of trying to be like, 'You're invited, but shhh, don't tell anybody,' we're just going to have another [wedding] next year. [Nick's] plan is to have one every year."
(Cannon himself squirmed when asked a battery of questions by MTV News about engagement rumors on the Monday before the ceremony.)
Host Ellen DeGeneres then held up photos of the pair's tattoos: Cannon's is a large "Mariah" across his back, while hers is a small butterfly on her lower back that incorporates the letters "MC" — which she said stood for "Mrs. Cannon," but DeGeneres quickly pointed out could also simply stand for the singer's initials, if the marriage doesn't work out.
"That's so mean, Ellen!" Carey said.
She continued, "I never had a tattoo before, and it's his first tattoo also — that's why it was a big deal. I fell asleep during my tattoo. People were like, 'What?' I was gangsta for that, a little bit."
Carey also said Cannon is the man she wants to raise a family with. "My parents divorced when I was 3 and I didn't have many examples of what was the 'norm,' " she said. But "I found the right person."
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Lohan to take Spears' place at gala
Lindsay Lohan is to replace Britney Spears as the host of a big gala event in Los Angeles next week, according to reports.
Spears was asked to host a Scandinavian Style Mansion ball by Danish businessman Claus Hjelmbak but he rescinded the invitation last month when the star was admitted to hospital.
Explaining his decision Hjelmbak said: "I personally feel that the most important thing for her now is to focus on her health and get the help she needs and deserves."
Spears celebrated her 26th birthday at a Scandinavian Style Mansion event in December.
Spears was asked to host a Scandinavian Style Mansion ball by Danish businessman Claus Hjelmbak but he rescinded the invitation last month when the star was admitted to hospital.
Explaining his decision Hjelmbak said: "I personally feel that the most important thing for her now is to focus on her health and get the help she needs and deserves."
Spears celebrated her 26th birthday at a Scandinavian Style Mansion event in December.
Zhou Yu and Ensemble
Artist: Zhou Yu and Ensemble
Genre(s):
Ethnic
Discography:
Master Of The Chinese Erhu
Year: 1997
Tracks: 7
Baywatch - Baywatch Star Owes 209000 In Child Support
Ashton Kutcher - Kutcher Diaz Is Fitter Than Me
Hollywood actor ASHTON KUTCHER struggled to keep up with his WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS co-star CAMERON DIAZ on the set of the movie - as she is much fitter than him.
The 30-year-old vowed to start a healthy new exercise regime ahead of working with the Shrek star, as he had heard the actress was a keen gym-goer.
But Kutcher was still amazed by Diaz's high level of fitness when the pair finally met and admits her athletic abilities put him to shame.
He says, "Before I started the movie I worked out with a trainer because I couldn't have my leading lady be in better shape than me.
"Cameron gave me such a tough time. She'd say, 'Are you still working out? Because I already worked out hard this morning.'"
And Kutcher insists that all the fight scenes in the movie are real, and Diaz was more than able to hold her own.
He adds, "She's a tough chick. She went for it - it wasn't fake. I got beaten up a little bit, but not too badly."
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