The 5 Habits of Highly Successful Indie Rockers

Thumbs up on last night's Calexico/Iron & Wine show. I've come to the conclusion, though, that unless you are really going to rock so hard that people are dancing--OR I love you and your music so much that nothing else matters--three hours is a long time to stand in one place, vaguely bobbing my head and shifting from foot to foot.

Sometime around the third Iron & Wine song, it also occurred to me that you could be Sam Beam in just a few easy steps:

1) Grow chest-length beard.
2) Write gorgeous (and sort of boring) songs that rely heavily on images of the following: dogs (dirty, drinking from cups, etc.); birds, particularly crows; and sad people. I had a better list last night, but time is cruel to my memory.
3) Perform these songs in a soft lulling voice that gets a bit louder when you get worked up during your more rockin' songs. Fans will eat it up when you enter vocal territory that is more "rousing mid-tempo" than "art professor on a 4-track in his bedroom."
4) Totally get shown up by artist/singer Salvador Duran, who busts out some operatic range and wicked mouth percussion and flamenco guitar and coyote yips. Top that!
5) Don't forget to wear a striped scarf.