In addition to a BBC radio documentary being narrated by Brad Pitt (uh-huh) that will be broadcast soon, there is a newly released short film biography of Nick Drake.

NYT reviewed it today. Here is the link and since it's short - I just copied the text.

The Short, Sad Life of Nick Drake
By STEPHEN HOLDEN

Published: May 7, 2004

How do you film a biography of an enigma who died at such a young age (26) that he barely had a life? One way is keep it short. Jeroen Berkvens's tender tribute, "A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake," is only 48 minutes long. During part of that time the camera gazes at the pastoral landscape around Tanworth-in-Arden, the English village where Drake grew up in upper-middle-class comfort. With his haunting music playing in the background, these scenes define the film, which opens today in Manhattan, as a cinematic tone poem as much as a biography.

The word haunting is not idly chosen. Before he died in 1974 from an overdose of the antidepressant Tryptizol (whether accidental or deliberate, no one will ever know), Drake released three albums that carried a strain of introspective British folk-pop to a zenith of pure beauty. A folk crooner in the tradition of Donovan in his hippie pied-piper days, Drake wrote songs suffused with dreamy private imagery that drifted like smoke rings around his intense, rich guitar, finished off with some of the most evocative orchestrations ever attached to popular song. Even the peppier songs hinted at an underlying melancholy.

The movie's main voice belongs to Drake's older sister, Gabrielle, an actress, who outlines the family history and plays a recording of a song written by Drake's mother, Molly (a composer and poet herself), that is astoundingly similar in mood to her son's work.

Drake emerges as a painfully shy introvert, obsessed with his guitar, who expressed himself predominantly in music. He attended Cambridge without finishing. In 1969, under the aegis of the record producer Joe Boyd, he undertook a commercially unsuccessful solo career. In the movie Mr. Boyd recalls that Drake was deeply disheartened at having to cancel a tour because no one in the noisy clubs paid attention.

Drake fell into a depression so profound that in his final recording session he could no longer play and sing at the same time. By then he had retreated to his parents' home, where he died, Nov. 25, 1974. Since then his legend has circulated first through word of mouth and later through a television commercial several years ago that featured his song "Pink Moon." Today if you type "Nick Drake" into Google.com, you will find 150,000 references.

A SKIN TOO FEW
The Days of Nick Drake

Directed by Jeroen Berkvens; director of photography, Vladas Naudzius; edited by Stefan Kamp; released by Roxie Releasing. Shown with a short film, Coco Schrijber's "In Motion: David S. Ware," at Cinema Village, 22 East 12th Street, Greenwich Village. Running time: 48 minutes. This film is not rated.

I don't know if this has been brought up, since I don't normally swim in these waters, but I thought I would mention that WNYC is doing a webcast of Candide , starring Patti Lupone and Kristen Chenoweth, right now at [link] . They are still in the prologue.

I saw the Magnetic Fields tonight, and they were awesome! Uh, in a morose and sarcastic kind of way. They did a bunch of songs from the new album (of which my favorites were "I Thought You Were My Boyfriend" and "I Wish I Had An Evil Twin" and "I Don't Believe You"). So many good songs. And I finally bought 69 Love Songs (I'm listening to it now! AIFG!) and also the new one.

The coolest thing about the show, though, was that Kelly Link opened! She read part of a story from Ellen Datlow's new anthology The Dark about zombies and pajamas and working at a convenience store. She seemed really nervous, and I wasn't entirely sure whether she'd meant to finish the story or not, because she stopped kind of abruptly and said "And that's all I'm going to read tonight" and walked off. But she got enthusiastic applause, and everyone I talked to was really into the story, so I hope she didn't feel like the audience wasn't appreciative enough.

So, about two weeks ago I finally got around to ordering Television: Live at the Old Waldorf 1978, from Rhino Handmade. I got an email confirming the order saying that the shipment should arrive in 5 to 7 days. I wait 7 days. I wait another 7 days. I check the order status using the confirmation number in the email. It says "Back Ordered". Hmmm. I go back to rhinohandmade.com and now the CD is listed as "Out of Print".

Doesn't sound like I'm gonna get it, does it? I was probably too late by only a few hours. Damn it.

Rhino sent an announcement saying they were gone, but that announcement was made more recently -- maybe within the last week. Write to them and complain! Maybe they have a few copies laying around. Squeaky wheel and all that.

And if that doesn't work, I'm sure "someone" could burn you a CD-R. You'll be at the F2F, right?

Yes, I'll be at the F2F, and thanks to, um, "someone" for the CD-R offer. But I've found a source for MP3s of the album. I emailed Rhino Handmade customer service, so if they come up with a copy, I'll be glad to get the legit version. Otherwise I'll be content with the MP3s.

Today I got the new Loretta Lynn - the reviews are not wrong. It is wonderful. Very Loretta - with just a wee bit of Jack White. I've listened to it four times - which is amazing considering that today I also got my hands on an unbelievably good soundboard-quality bootleg of the Pixies show in Eugene, OR on 4/28.

It is freakish how - the same - they sound. *Almost* too much the same. It was like listening to an album kind of. Or at least a perfomance from 15 years ago - I mean - they sound just like they did. If nothing else, they are incredibly well rehearsed. As much as there was a sense that there was some passion lacking in their performance - I wanted to cry at how much I can't wait to be in the audience to see them perform. Check out the set list:

Planet of Sound
Caribou
U-Mass
I Bleed
Is She Wired
Gouge Away
Ed is Dead
River Euphrates
Debaser
Crackity Jones
Hey
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Bone Machine
Levitate Me
Blown Away/Nimrod's Son
Here Comes Your Man
Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)
Mr. Grieves/Vamos
Where is My Mind
Gigantic
Tame
In Heaven
Wave of Mutilation

And lots of talking in between songs from both Kim Deal and Frank Black - they honestly seemed to be having fun and enjoying each other.

Two other things - I keep reading really good things about the new Cure album coming out at the end of June. I'm still scared (I haven't heard anything worthy of them since Disintegration). But it's still good to hear positive things.

I also heard another DJ'd mash up of Jay-Z's Black album - except this time it was mixed with Pavement's Slanted and Enchanted instead of the Beatles. Interesting. I forget the name of the DJ.

A quick google of Jay-Z and Pavement, turned up The Slack Album. I'm downloading it right now (I'll let you know later if it's fucking great).

Thanks for the link Jon - I heard it at a friend's house. His FAQ is funny "Q: Aren't Black album mash ups, like, totally February?". Hee.

I can't find a list of what songs he mixed together though for each track - did you see one?

Looks like they're in order.

[link]