Another Little Gem
I’ve always had a weakness for Albrecht Durer. I own a few of his woodcuts, and here is an example of one of my favorites. We don’t own very many woodcuts, lithographs, or etchings, but Durer is an exception. Durer is just one of those guys who moves me with his sublime beauty.
I was talking to a dealer the other day about an important acquisition I’m ready to make. We’re in the negotiating phase, and I have my upper limit of what I will pay, and she has her lower limit. I hope our limits intersect at some point as we really want this piece, and my lovely wife has some emotion tied up in this trade. At this point, I’d face penury to make my lovely wife a little happier, and a little more comfortable.
Jeff
The artwork you put up, the and the classical music you talk about sometimes certainly highlights your deep connection with creative expression. How and when did this develop for you and Denise?
I believe we all have the innate desire/impulse to create and experience, in essence to co-create the universe. Others may not, but I see it as a spiritual attribute – our purpose really. I’m always amazed (and saddened), at the number of people that have musical or artistic talent that I had no idea they had, and yet somewhere along the way it has been hi-jacked by the mundane routines of daily life. That’s one of our greatest human tragedies I think – wasted potential. So many people – who have the choice and means – give up on beauty and wonder – and the experience of it, and settle for habit and routine. Good on you guys for keeping all this wonderful art alive with your stewardship of it.
Cheers,
George
allocator
December 30, 2007 at 8:44 am
Actually, my only creative expression that I can say is my own is through my surfing. Surfing truly allows me to be free. As for music, I can’t conceive how anyone could not be enamored with music….music taps the foundations of our soul. I’d not be exaggerating if I said that music, in one form or another, is played in my house at least 20 hours a day. Something is always playing, and it makes us happy. As for the art, I really, really like looking at beautiful things that were created by man. Except for surfing, there is no better feeling than sitting down on a Sunday morning with a good cup of coffee, working a crossword puzzle, surrounded by good art and chamber music. That is as close to heaven as I can imagine.
Jeff
masteroftheuniverse
December 30, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Well you and my dad would get along then. He’s die-hard classical, very much into Bach and chamber music and so on. My classical leanings tend to be more mainstream – Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Vivalidi and Verdi in the operas – though I haven’t listened to it all that much lately. My son Nick, when he was two, could recognize and tell apart Chopin and Mozart, though he used to call Mozart “Mofarts”.
One of the most wonderful experiences I had related to music was actually on a trip to Italy in the mid-80’s, when I traveled around for three weeks by myself, most of the time sporting a Walkman. I remember taking a walk along a cliff-side path on the island of Capri on a beautiful sunny day and parking myself on a ledge in the sea breeze, listening to UB-40 and a whole lot of other stuff for what seemed like hours, just gazing out over the Mediterranean 300 metres below. I had to tear myself away in the end to catch a boat back to the mainland.
Another great time was when I was a stockbroker-in-training in New York with Bache. A whole bunch of us trainees bunked together four to an apartment in an apartment hotel on Lexington Avenue not too far from grand central station. That would have been about January 1980. There was a small piano bar on the first floor of the building, and one night a bunch of were returning from dinner and decided to drop in for a night-cap. There was an old black fellow softly playing jazz when we dropped in. Shortly after, a young woman – trying to make it on off-Braodway – also came in, and soon started singing along with the pianist. It turns out one of the brokers had a great voice and had done all the big musicals in high school. He and she were soon doing the famous duets from Brigadoon, Oklahoma, South Pacific etc…, and pretty soon EVERYONE in the bar was gathered around as one group, and we partied on that night for hours. I love that kind of spontaneity. These experiences don’t happen that often, but they are magical when they do.
Cheers,
George
allocator
December 30, 2007 at 11:55 pm
You worked for Bache?
I was good friends with the guy who ran their floor operations at the CBOT way back when they still had an operation.
As for music, although I love classical music, I listen to all types of music including Jazz, Country, Rock, and even the dreaded Rap music. There might be bad songs out there, but there’s no such thing as bad music.
I like to look at the relationship between music and markets. Have you ever studied the correlation?
The only thing I wish I would have done in New York regarding music is that I never got to see Bobby Short play. That would have been magical for us.
On your earlier comment about my street, living on the key has it’s con’s. For one thing, the key is 8 miles long and is a very narrow 2 lane road. During season, you get tourists driving 10 miles an hour trying to take in the scenery, which drives us nuts. We also have people cross our property to access the beach, even though it’s posted. We also have had people come up to our door and ask to use our bathroom…..how rude(happens a couple of times a year). Property taxes are a bitch,and the bridge gets stuck at least twice a week. Our city water and sewage is not in the best shape. Metal corrodes very quickly due to the salt, and cars rust out quicker. We generally have much more maintenance on the house than if we lived inland.
masteroftheuniverse
December 31, 2007 at 2:09 am
I did work for Bache but never liked much being a broker – the crap they tried to get you to push. Besides I was far more interested in developing systems and trading my own account. I also blew up my account trading options at the worst possible time. I dug a really deep hole, traded about halfway back, but couldn’t bring it back entirely. Of all things, I had to leave in the 1982 bear market about a month or so before the greatest bull market in history.
I went to Telesat Canada to develop satellite system software – the ground control software that actually monitors and runs spacecraft – and had a good run from that since. (I think the most fun I ever had in my career was doing the satellite launch from Perth Australia – a 3 month work/vacation trip. I know it doesn’t count, but I did a lot of body-surfing in the Indian Ocean as I recall.)
I never tried to connect the markets and music, but it would be interesting to generate notes (that work in a given key and the right chords in that key) from daily market prices to see what that sounded like. Hmmm.
I promise to never drive down Casy Key at 10 miles an hour. (I’d drive myself nuts)
Cheers,
George
allocator
December 31, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Stopped by your blog for the first time yesterday…decided to read it from the beginning. Beautiful wood carving, thank you for sharing it, and a part of yourself. Great trading insights mixed throughout…Thank you.
Rafael
Rafael
October 3, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Rafael,
Thanks for stopping by.
Jeff
masteroftheuniverse
October 3, 2008 at 8:53 pm