my sources tell me that gilberto gil, MPB singer and now brasil’s minister of culture, will be performing in lima, peru next month — sponsored by the british american tobacco company.

hmmm. so many problems with this one (for one, BAT just bought out the peruvian national tobacco company, and has managed to suppress most movement towards effective tobacco control legislation in the country; for another, since the transition to lula, brasil has been caving to tobacco industry pressure on several fronts).

so many problems, in fact, that they outweigh the coolness factor of having a government minister with “discography” as a section of his CV.