The Oil Drum | DrumBeat: April 9, 2007

216 comments on DrumBeat: April 9, 2007

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Donal on April 9, 2007 - 9:13am

He was too loud, too, Souza says. Then she looks down at her rag, sniffs. She hates to say anything positive about these damned musicians, but: "He was pretty good, that guy. It was the first time I didn't call the police."

Souza was surprised to learn he was a famous musician, but not that people rushed blindly by him. That, she said, was predictable. "If something like this happened in Brazil, everyone would stand around to see. Not here."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR200704...

This is probably behind a registration wall and probably OT, but it was a good read.

I bought the book, Internal Combustion, by Edwin Black on Friday, and am into the chapter called, Batteries and Bicycles. The basic theme seems to be that any useful source of energy will be fought over by profiteers and eventually controlled by a ruthless cartel. Chapter 1, a deleted Chapter 1 and an expanded Chapter 2 are available on the companion website:

http://www.internalcombustionbook.com/

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ericy on April 9, 2007 - 10:52am

I am reminded of something I saw years ago in the Boston T. I was on a station platform, and there was someone there playing classical pieces on the violin, and really doing a very good job of it. A train rumbled in on the other track - the violinist stopped as the music couldn't be heard over the sound of the train, but then on the opposite side of the platform, someone with a saxophone got off the train and started to play the theme song from the Flintstones. The poor violinist gave up and just got on the train to find a more quiet station in which they could play.

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Donal on April 9, 2007 - 3:46pm

Someone told me that Joan Armatrading used to play on the T before she was discovered.

Reading the rumors below reminded me: I called to wish my Dad a Happy Easter and he started telling me that there was proof that Saddam had moved all the WMDs into Syria just before we invaded, but that China wouldn't let Bush say anything about it or they would stop buying our T-Bills, and we're so far in debt that they really have us over a barrel. William of Ockham must be rolling in his grave, but I found it interesting that some right wing source was using the debt crisis to prove the WMDs existed.

From the Baltimore Sun, one of today's most emailed stories:

Foreclosures on the rise in suburbs of Baltimore

The new wave of mortgage defaults hitting the region, part of a nationwide spike, is not primarily a city problem. Foreclosure filings rose four times faster last year in Baltimore's suburbs than in Baltimore - up 15 percent versus less than 4 percent in the city, court records show. To the south in Montgomery, one of the nation's wealthiest counties, filings were up more than 30 percent.

Suburban Baltimore foreclosure cases are increasing even more quickly this year, and local housing advocates fear a worsening as more "exotic" mortgages reset to higher payments. Already, real estate agents and auctioneers say, some homeowners are desperately trying to sell before they are overwhelmed.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-te.bz.foreclose08apr08,0,645837...

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pianoguy1 on April 9, 2007 - 2:40pm

I can't speak for the Boston saxophonist's talent, but it's not unusual for serious jazz players to quote the Flinstones theme in their improvisations. That's because the Flintstones theme was written over the chord changes of Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm," and all jazz players know "I Got Rhythm."

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oldhippie on April 9, 2007 - 4:49pm

You gotta work the room. Playing the subway you can't play like you're in a concert hall.
Classical musicians are the worst for not understanding that they are entertainers first. Article doesn't say plainly, but I got the feeling Joshua Bell never looked his audience in the face once. And what's this thing quitting after 40 minutes? That the guy knows concert violinism don't mean squat. He's the new kid and should spend 40 or 60 hours a week learning street craft.
Could there be a worse audience than D.C. bureaucrats in the morning rush?
Mostly this is an article about how remote elites are from reality.

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slx on April 9, 2007 - 5:14pm

Every time a child passed the musician, it wanted to stop and listen, and every time a parent dragged it on. What a world.

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TrueKaiser on April 9, 2007 - 9:52pm

while he is spot on that many of the technology's touted in the media as 'new' arn't. they existed before gasoline much in the same way they do now only slightly improved.
the rest of the book just prattles on about how they, in this instance the corporations. prevented the stuff from being used.
this is not true, any corporation that got their hand's on anything like that would put them in the exact same position as ford was with his model t. the name ford in the beginning became married to the word car in the popular mind. you cannot /buy/ that kind of mind share and the profits that come with it.
The most likely situation is that there is /no/ working alternative better then what we have now that doesn't in turn rely on what we have now for it's existence.

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