ROGER CLYNE & THE PEACEMAKERS, June 6

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 6, 2009
Contact: Melissa Kaupke Insight Mgt. (613-758-4588 insightmg8@aol.com)


ROGER CLYNE & THE PEACEMAKERS
“Can’t-Miss” Nationwide Spring ’09 Tour Rolls Into
[VENUE] in [CITY]
* [DAY], [MONTH] [DAY], 2009 *

Non-conformist Rock and Rollers release web-only live album, Glow In The Dark, over 14 weeks at www.azpeacemakers.com
"…the only pigeonhole Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers fit comfortably within is the one marked 'great music.'" – Cincinnati City Beat

Legendary rock and roll revolutionaries Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers (RCPM) are coming to your city when its lauded nationwide tour stops in [CITY, STATE] at [VENUE] on [DAY], [MONTH] [DAY], 2009 at [TiME]. TICKET INFO HERE.

RCPM’s 2009 Tour includes stops at the acclaimed Tempe Music Festival April 3, The Pima County Fair in Tucson April 26 and the annual band-hosted celebration of life and music, Circus Mexicus in Rocky Point, Mexico, June 6. With an intriguing array of unrivaled songs (laced with flavorful melodies, etched-in-your-brain hooks and inventive lyrics), RCPM injects a signature brand of high-energy showmanship into each of its live performances. Fans of the band know there’s nothing quite like a live Peacemakers show.

Glow In The Dark, RCPM’s new live web-only release, captures the spirit and vigor of RCPM live. The band once again loaded their guitars, drum sticks and amps onto the tour bus and traveled thousands of miles across North America in ‘08, delivering the kind of high energy rock show night after night that has become a Peacemakers' trademark. Music fans can experience the energy and excitement from one of the standout shows of the year with Glow In The Dark, which was recorded at Mexicali Blues in Teaneck, New Jersey. To commemorate this memorable performance, RCPM is raising one more round with fans to celebrate with the unconventional release of the new live album.

Beginning Monday, February 2, and continuing for 14 consecutive weeks, fans have a unique opportunity to not only hear the show, but watch the band perform a different song, both from the RCPM and Refreshments catalogs, each week. Producer extraordinaire Clif Norrell, the man behind The Refreshments' classic Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big and Buzzy as well as RCPM's No More Beautiful World and Turbo Ocho, was also there with trumpet in hand to work his magic on and off the stage.

Similar to 2008’s Turbo Ocho VivaCast, a page has been set up on www.azpeacemakers.com where fans will find one new song from the show as well as the accompanying concert footage, each week through May 2009. Each song and video will be streaming from the site to enjoy free of charge. As soon as a new song is posted on the site, it will also be available for purchase in RCPM’s digital download store. Fans can either buy a new song each week, or at the end of the 14 weeks, purchase the entire Glow In The Dark album at once. Glow In The Dark will not be released in standard CD form – only as a digital download available only through the RCPM website.

In March 2008, RCPM released the ambitious CD/DVD Turbo Ocho. Featuring rock and roll in its purest form – edgy, careless and celebratory – the release was a result of the first-ever RCPM “VivaCast” (a term the band self-coined), which included a web cast that brought daily audio and video updates to thousands of homes during the recording process, culminating with a sold out concert in Cholla Bay, Mexico. With Turbo Ocho and now, again with Glow In The Dark, RCPM continues to break through old definitions of what is expected of a rock band to forge its own path directly to what matters most – the fans.

It’s no wonder RCPM’s out-of-the-box approach to recordings and releases garners a lot of attention, but at the end of the day, creating great music and making the live music experience an unforgettable one is the band’s primary focus. Clyne’s songwriting is often compared to the greats of Rock and Americana music, including Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, John Mellencamp and Steve Earle. As frontman for mid-90s The Refreshments, Clyne scored hits with the singles “Banditos” and “Down Together” and also secured a place in TV history when he penned and performed the theme for the hit animated FOX-TV show, King of the Hill.

RCPM Spring 2009 Tour Dates:

Feb. 19 Denver, CO The Soiled Dove Underground
Feb. 20-21 Ft. Collins, CO Road 24 Bike Bar
Feb. 28 Austin, TX Antone's
March 1 Houston, TX Continental Club
March 2 New Orleans, LA The Parish @ House of Blues
March 3 Birmingham, AL The Nick
March 5 Tampa, FL Orpheum
March 6 Orlando, FL The Social
March 7 Jacksonville, FL Jack Rabbits
March 10 Atlanta, GA Smith's Olde Bar
March 11 Nashville, TN Exit / In
March 12 St. Louis, MO Blueberry Hill
March 13 Oklahoma City, OK Wormy Dog Saloon
March 14 Tulsa, OK The Flytrap Music Hall
April 3 Tempe, AZ Tempe Music Festival - Tempe Beach Park
April 5 Scottsdale, AZ The Venue of Scottsdale
April 9 West Hollywood, CA Key Club
April 11 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
April 14 Reno, NV The Undergound
April 15 Salt Lake city, UT Bar Deluxe
April 16 Boise, ID Knitting Factory Concert Hous
April 17 Portland, OR Berbati's Pan
April 18 Seattle, WA Nectar
April 19 Spokane, WA Knitting Factory Concert
April 21 Billings, MT The Railyard
April 22 Colorado, CO The Black Sheep
April 25 Tucson, AZ Downtown Prescott Courthouse
(in front of the Chamber of Commerce)
April 26 Tucson, AZ Pima County Fair
June 6 Rocky Point, Mexico Circus Mexicus

Recent Critical Acclaim for RCPM:
“The result of the band’s eight-day work haul is chronicled in its April 29 release, ‘Turbo Ocho,’…eight punchy rock tunes warmed with Southwestern charm…the ‘Ocho’ sessions carry the sonic kin to the likes of the Black Crowes spitfire and the gritty spirit of Bruce Springsteen.”
– Albuquerque Journal

“…Turbo Ocho brings thick guitar riffs and soaring, shouted vocals with straight-forward lyrics out to play. Clyne and his crew are here to have fun and they are not done until they are done.”
– PlugInMusic.com

“The result (of Turbo Ocho) is a mixture of appealing Latin-flavored tracks and some of the most hard-edged rock that Clyne has recorded in some time.”
- Arizona Republic 3.9.08

“What has remained unchanged is Clyne's appealing mix of roots music and arena rock.”
– Dallas Observer 3.20.08

“The band not only reached its goal of recording eight songs, but it came up with eight stellar tunes that are destined to be RCPM concert standards. And Clyne, who is as much a philosopher as he is a musician, ended up writing some of the strongest lyrics of his career.”
– Deseret News [Salt Lake City, UT] 4.11.08

Come on Down

Its been awhile since I last posted on my Blog, but now it is time for me to chime in. The economy of course is horrible and the news from Juarez has also really hurt the Mexico tourism and real estate markets. Now we are being bombarded with news of the Swine Flu... This is going to be a horrible year for home sellers, but buyers are going to be in a position to clean up big time in all categories of real estate here in Rocky Point and San Carlos.

The good news, as of time of this posting there is no reported cases of swine flu in Rocky Point. Thank god. If you are not one to buy into the media hype about Mexico, then now is your chance to come down here and vacation for much less money than last year and if you are considering buying real estate, now is the time to get the best deal.. Have a great week and stay healthy. Wash those hands....
Geoff

Buyers Market and Buyers Rebates

It is a buyers market down here and if you missed buying before the boom now is the time to find a wonderful property at a great price. Casa Fina Real Estate is now offering an Exclusive Buyers Rebate Program. Here are the Details:

Puerto Penasco's First and Only Buyers Rebate Program
Casa Fina Exclusive Buyers Rebate Program
· Rebate is available only to buyers who close escrow/proceed to final settlement with Casa Fina Real Estate acting as their Sole and Exclusive Agent in the purchase of real estate. For homes with a final sales price of $100,000.00 or more, the rebate is twenty percent (20%) of the cooperating broker commission actually received by Casa Fina Real Estate at the close of escrow/settlement for representing the buyer net of any allowances or other tax deductions by Casa Fina Real Estate related to the transaction. Occasionally, the seller and/or listing broker in a transaction will offer the broker representing the buyer a bonus or other additional incentive over and above the cooperating brokerage commission. Any such bonuses or other additional incentives are separate and apart from the cooperating brokerage commission actually received by Casa Fina Real Estate and buyer is not entitled to a rebate on any bonus or other additional incentive monies paid to Casa Fina Real Estate over and above the cooperative broker commission. For homes with a final sales price of $99,999.99 or less, the rebate is Two Hundred Fifty Dollars ($250.00). If within a 6 month period, a customer both buys and sells real property through Casa Fina Real Estate, the customer is eligible to receive either an additional rebate of up to five percent (5%) Casa Fina Real Estates commission for representing the buyer in the case of a purchase, or an additional one quarter of one percent (0.25%) reduction off of our listing commission in case of a sale. The additional rebate or commission reduction will be applied to the second of the two transactions to close escrow or proceed to final settlement. See your agent for details. The amount of the cooperating broker commission received will vary on individual properties. The rebate will be paid or credited to the party or parties named as the "buyer(s)" or in the official closing statement.
· All buyers must sign the Exclusive Representation Rebate Agreement before any rebate will be issued. The rebate will have applicable Mexico taxes deducted before it will be issued to the recipient/buyer. Offer subject to conditions, limitations, exclusions, modifications, and/or discontinuation without notice.
· Buyers found to be working with agents other than a Casa Fina Real Estate professional with forfeit their rights to the buyers rebate. This is an exclusive agreement between the buyer and Casa Fina Real Estate.
This Agreement is the sole property of Casa Fina Real Estate Corporation. Any use of this agreement without written consent will be punished by the copy right laws of Mexico.

It is Finally Cooling Down

The weather has broke and now the days have been great. No more sweating and being misrable. It is time to go to the beach and enjoy.... I am planning a journey in a couple of weeks to Puerto Lobos for a couple of days of fishing and then down to Los Mochis, Sinaloa for a few days of fun and sun. Pack up your cars and come down to Mexico the weather is great.

Walmart is Coming!

That is right Walmart is coming to Puerto Penasco. The announcement came late last month and I am a bit late posting the news. I had taken an extended break from the world of Blogdom and now I am back.....

Plans for Healthcare Services in Mexico for U.S. CitizensFrontera Norte Sur

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is moving ahead with his plans to open hospitals in Mexico that cater to US baby boomers.

Slim's business concept might be compared to a maquiladora export factory. A raw product, in this case an ailing US citizen, is imported into Mexico, "put together" and then re-exported back to the home country. Ironically, Slim’s fortune, now estimated to be larger than that of Bill Gates, derives in part from the tycoon's Marlboro cigarette business in Mexico.

In partnership with Grupo Star Medica, Slim's Ideal company intends to open new medical centers in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, and in Los Cabos on the Baja California peninsula. A national hospital chain, Grupo Star Medica is a fast-growing business with expansion plans in Ciudad Juarez and additional Mexican cities. In 2007, Ideal purchased 49 percent of Grupo Star Medica's stock. Specializing in construction and development, Ideal has agreed to help Grupo Star Medica with infrastructure, acquisition and financing.

With its planned medical centers in Puerto Peñasco and Los Cabos, Grupo Star Medica plans to tap into a new market segment of US baby boomers who are buying second homes in Mexico.

Reportedly, sales of vacation homes in Los Cabos and Puerto Peñasco increased 30 percent and 45 percent, respectively, during the last three years. Claudia Velazquez, an analyst for the Softec real estate market analysis firm, said the relative lack of medical services in beach resorts attractive to US vacationers and expatriates is opening up business opportunities for companies like Grupo Star Medica."(Baby boomers) are also choosing Mexico because its health system is much cheaper than in the United States," Velazquez said.

Besides Slim, other Mexico-based entrepreneurs are seriously looking at the growing population of US baby boomers who need healthcare services. Their plan is to get US private insurance companies to pay for medical treatment in Mexico."For a US insurance policy to pay for medical treatment, the treatment has to comply with certain quality control standards, and we are going to participate with products to serve this niche," said Jaime Jimenez, general director for Mexico Trane, another company on the same path as Slim. Of course, it remains to be seen if the expansion of medical services in Mexico to US residents will help lower private insurance premiums in this country.

Sources: Tribuna de la Bahia/Agencia Reforma, February 26, 2008. Article by Karla Ramirez. Biznews.com.mx, July 9, 2007. Ideal.com.mxFrontera NorteSur (FNS)Center for Latin American and Border StudiesNew Mexico State UniversityLas Cruces, New MexicoFNS can be found at http://frontera.nmsu.edu/)

Mexico Builds Hospitals to Lure Medical Tourists From America

By Thomas Black

March 27 (Bloomberg) -- The only way Bridget Flanagan, a 21-year-old college student from Olympia, Washington, could afford the obesity surgery she needed was to go to Mexico. Her health insurance didn't cover the treatment.

Traveling 2,000 miles for gastric banding surgery at Hospital San Jose in Monterrey, Mexico, saved her $6,600, making it affordable. The procedure was a success, allowing five-foot- tall Bridget to drop 45 pounds so far off her peak weight of 275.

Health-care companies and investors see a new market in patients like Flanagan. Tecnologico de Monterrey, the private university that owns San Jose Hospital, plans a $100 million medical center in Monterrey. Grupo Star Medica, the builder of seven Mexican centers in five years, is accelerating an expansion aimed at Americans, funded partly by billionaire Carlos Slim.
``This is a great opportunity not only for Mexico, but also to reduce health costs in the U.S.,'' said Marco Antonio Slim Domit, Carlos Slim's son and chief executive officer of his Mexico City brokerage Grupo Financiero Inbursa SAB. The firm took an undisclosed stake in Star Medica, a privately held hospital chain based in Morelia, Michoacan, in southern Mexico.

While Mexican authorities declined to estimate how much the country's health-care industry is expanding to handle medical tourism, companies are building new hospitals, clinics and surgical centers.

Industry Expansion
U.S.-based companies are also investing in Mexico. Christus Health, a nonprofit based in Irving, Texas, owns six hospitals in Mexico after opening one in Reynosa near McAllen, Texas. Dallas-based International Hospital Corp., the operator of three hospitals in Mexico, is building a fourth in the central city of Puebla.

Grupo Empresarial Los Angeles, Mexico's largest private hospital chain, is spending $700 million to build 15 hospitals over the next three years, said Victor Ramirez, the chief operating officer of the company's hospital unit. Oca Hospital, a family-owned company in Monterrey, is building a 200-bed facility there.

``In diverse cities that are attractive to Americans, we can offer hospitals that are very competitive and at a very good price,'' Ramirez said.
Grupo Angeles has a marketing campaign targeting Americans. The goal is for foreigners to make up 20 percent of patients within two years, up from 5 percent now, Ramirez said. At the company's hospital in Tijuana, Americans accounted for 40 percent of the 100,000 patients the facility admitted in 2007, he said.

Medical Spending
Health spending in Mexico in 2005 was about $49 billion, or 6.4 percent of gross domestic product. In the U.S., the world's biggest economy with a population almost three times Mexico's, health-care spending reached $2.2 trillion last year, 16 percent of all goods and services.
The number of private hospital beds in Mexico rose 28 percent to 34,576 in 2005 from 27,015 in 2000, according to the census bureau. Private doctors more than doubled to 55,173 from 21,565 during the same period. Surgery rooms in private hospitals jumped 46 percent to 4,545 in 2005 from 3,115 in 2000.

U.S. employers are prodding insurance companies to lower costs by providing incentives for workers to travel abroad for treatment. About 47 million Americans lack health insurance altogether.

For decades Mexico has attracted U.S. residents looking for cheap, basic health care. Border cities such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez across from El Paso, Texas, are dotted with clinics hawking bargain dental braces or discount eye exams and pharmacies that sell prescription medicines over the counter.

Beyond Cut-Rate Care
Medical tourism is expanding beyond cut-rate care, said Arturo Garza, who runs the Mexican unit of Christus Health. Mexican hospitals now perform hip replacements, spinal fusions, knee surgery and angioplasty. The U.S. cost of such procedures encourages people sometimes to forego treatment or leave the country for it, said Peter Maddox, 60, a senior vice president at Christus Health.

A hip replacement in Mexico costs $12,000, compared with $43,000 to $63,000 in the U.S., according to a study by Christus Health published last year. Angioplasty, in which a surgeon uses a tiny balloon to open a blocked coronary artery, costs $10,000 in Mexico, compared with $57,000 to $82,000 at an American hospital.

Heath-Care Boom
Star Medica in September opened a 53-bed facility in Ciudad Juarez and plans others in Tijuana and Mexicali, said Fernando Padilla, medical director for the hospital. The chain will target American patients for elective surgery such as arthroscopy and laparoscopy.
``This is something that will grow very rapidly because it makes sense,'' Garza said.
Christus is putting its seventh Mexican hospital in Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas, to attract U.S. patients. It's also adding a $100 million heart surgery center to the Monterrey unit where Flanagan had her procedure.
Flanagan, resting in a private room at San Jose Hospital, said the cost for placing a band around her stomach to reduce its size was $10,600 in Monterrey plus $600 for round-trip airfare. She would have spent $17,800 at Northwest Weight Loss Surgery in Everett, Washington, a clinic that specializes in the procedure.

Salaries for American doctors and nurses, often 10 times as much as in emerging-market countries, are the main reason for higher medical costs, said Paul Mango, a Pittsburgh-based partner with McKinsey & Co. who leads the firm's global health- care practice.

Flanagan's Surgery
Flanagan's parents, who have their own law firm, provide health care for the family with a $300-a-month catastrophic insurance policy with LifeWise Health Insurance. The policy carries a $3,500 deductible and excludes benefits for obesity such as gastric banding surgery.
Apart from the cost savings, Flanagan was attracted to the level of care and support in a full-service hospital, which a clinic can't match. She met with four doctors in Monterrey, including chief surgeon Roberto Rumbaut, who explained the procedure in detail. Rumbaut studied under Dr. Franco Favretti, an Italian doctor credited with helping develop laparoscopic gastric banding, and says he has performed the procedure more than 4,300 times.
``The doctors talked to me as long as I wanted,'' said Flanagan, a student at Evergreen State College in Olympia. ``My impression is that the doctors here do things more on a personal basis.''

Mexican Surgeons
Surgeons at San Jose operate on about two foreigners a day, and the hospital has a dedicated customer-service office for them, said Ernesto Dieck, the chief executive officer. More than 90 percent of the doctors at the facility -- which has performed heart transplants -- have worked at U.S. or European hospitals, he said.
``We have the experience,'' Dieck said. ``The borders between Mexico and the U.S. and Canada in terms of medicine will fall over the medium term.''

As Mexico's private hospitals have improved, they've attracted more patients, including wealthy Mexicans who in the past had traveled to Los Angeles, Houston and other U.S. cities for care, Dieck said.
In the race to attract medical tourists, Mexico has lagged behind other developing countries such as India, Thailand, Singapore and Brazil. The Joint Commission, an independent, nonprofit group based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, evaluates and certifies health-care organizations around the world that meet a set of quantifiable standards. The commission determined that 11 hospitals in Singapore met its standards of care, as did nine in Brazil while Mexico has only two: San Jose and Christus Muguerza Alta Especialidad, both in Monterrey.

Advantage: Location
Mexico's advantage is its location, Dieck said. A flight from Chicago to Monterrey, 150 miles south of Laredo, Texas, takes about three hours, compared with more than 20 hours from Chicago to Bangkok.

The cultural differences between Mexico and the U.S. have lessened after more than a decade of lower trade barriers under the North American Free Trade Agreement. The cab ride from Monterrey's airport into town takes travelers past a Marriott hotel, a Carl's Jr. fast-food restaurant and 7-11 convenience stores.

Mexico operates a government-owned health system that provides coverage for all workers who pay taxes and their families. Many companies also pay for treatment at higher quality private hospitals.

Slim's Inbursa is financing Star Medica's expansion in exchange for an option to take an undisclosed stake in the company, Slim Domit said. Inbursa considers Star Medica a financial investment and doesn't plan to operate the hospital chain, he said.
Slim said he would like to see the U.S. government extend its Medicare and Medicaid benefits to U.S. citizens who retire in Mexico. Although U.S. government officials say the idea isn't under consideration, investors like Slim are hopeful.
``It would create a lot of jobs in Mexico,'' Slim said. ``That would be fantastic.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Black in Monterrey, Mexico, at tblack@bloomberg.net.