Up and Down, and After All It's Only 'Round and 'Round

Wheeeeeeeee!!!!!!

Hey there, I'm back. Yeah, I know it's been awhile, but it's not like there's a huge crowd out there waiting for this blog to hit the internet. At least I hope not.

Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

Don't mind that noise in the background. No I'm not out at the Boardwalk watching the roller coasters go by. It's just that I've got the TV on and right now I'm watching the latest stock market news.

Wheeeeeeeee!!!!!

And you thought all that stocks and bonds stuff was boring, didn't you? No way, dude. Broke one minute, rolling in the dough the next - that's the life of the investor, although I'd be eternally grateful if the stock market would quit making all this front page news and go into hiding for a while. Believe me, the last thing any investor ever wants to see is the market become the lead story on the evening news. You just know no good can come from it.

Luckily, our government is ever vigilant and stands ready to shield us from these slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. What they've come up with is something called a stimulus plan. You've probably heard about it. Apparently, what we need is some kind of stimulant to get us past all these "crises" we're facing. Let's see, there's the housing crisis, the credit crisis, the energy crisis, the Mideast crisis, and out here in California we can add the budget crisis to the pile. Our aging infrastructure is collapsing, our airports are overcrowded, our ports are unguarded, our borders are unsecured, our planet is heating up, our politicians are deadlocked and corrupt, our currency is in freefall, our banks are bleeding money, our schools are falling apart, our athletes are on drugs, our Hollywood celebrities are in rehab, our health care bills are climbing, our real estate values are sinking, and our TV shows are being held hostage by a writers strike. So, in our time of need, our government has bravely decided to give each of us a check for $800 bucks.

Gee that's swell of you, Uncle Sam, and I'm sure that the fact that this is an election year has nothing to do with your decision to hand out treats. No, of course not, and all cynicism aside, I can see the point of what you're trying to do. The fact is that U.S. consumption accounts for 20% of the world economy, and if we aren't down at the mall spending, it's not just Americans who are going to suffer, but dollar-a-day sweatshop workers in China as well. Our humanity itself demands we do something.

So, have you decided what you're going to do with your check yet? I figure with all these "crises" we're have surrounding our doorstep, the first thing I'm gonna do with my check is go buy some guns and ammunition. Maybe some canned goods and bottled water too - it could be a long siege. Other than that I think I'll just watch the Fed lower interest rates and watch the monthly earnings from my savings accounts slowly dwindle to nothing.

Thanks a lot, Ben.

But I don't want to finish this post on a down note so here's something totally unrelated. This is actually a little item out of Germany that I thought you might find interesting. It concerns a sensational German violinist named Julia Fischer that I've blogged about in the past, who recently did something that I thought would be impossible given her grueling schedule of concerts and recording sessions. I think I mentioned once that Fischer was not only one of today's top violinists, but was also rumored to be an accomplished pianist as well. I also offered the opinion that we would never know how good a pianist she was because of all the demands and challenges that lay before her in her career as a world-class violinist. I simply didn't think she would ever have the time to put together a piano program in the middle of her very busy violin schedule.

Well, I was wrong.

According to the article, on January 1st of this year, the remarkable Julia Fischer, Gramaphone's Artist of the Year, not only played Saint-Saens Violin Conceto No. 3 for a concert audience in Frankfurt, but came back after the intermission to play the Grieg Piano Concerto in A-minor on piano as well. I know most people don't follow classical music that closely, but I think even the most jaded hipster has got to stand back and take pause at an accomplishment like that. Most people would need a lifetime to master just one instrument, but two, and at the age of 24, is unbelievable. It may not be your kind of music, but how can you argue with the talent.

Now if I had just one word of advice for the German wunderkind it would be this: Take it easy for a while. No, I certainly can't live her life for her, but I've been thinking about celebrity a lot this past year and trying to imagine what it must be like to live under the constant scrutiny and glare of strangers. On the one hand it must be exhilarating and fun to receive all the accolades and applause, but on the other hand it must be a tremendous burden to be so public and carry the weight of conjecture and expectation with you wherever you go. We audiences seem so needy sometimes (especially the frustrated musicians among us) and it seems like the best thing an adoring audience could do for these great musicians is just pay the money, enjoy the concert, and then back off.

And maybe the best thing that a Julia Fischer could do is back off a little as well. Just a little, mind you. I believe she recently got married so why not take some time off to be with her young groom, and then come back relaxed and ready to go for her next season or project. That would be my advice, anyways, and if she heard it I'm sure she would say that I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.