The Arcade Fire

Voltaire called Canada “a few acres of snow.” It is that sort of dismissive comment that has made us Canadians particularly proud of our musical heritage. Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and Neil Young, all rock icons, hail from Canada. You might be asking yourself, what does Myron Gushlak know about music? and why should I be listening to an investment banker about what is any good? While the association with the formation of EMusic has given me cache in the financial world, it is probably not enough to get a job at Rolling Stone. So it was with no little skepticism that I listened to the Canadian group, “The Arcade Fire”.

Let me tell you, this man knows his music. Though not a particularly new group, (they have been around for almost five years with two best selling cd’s under their belt) they are relatively unknown outside of the Indie music scene. This is unfortunate. Not for them. They’re doing quite well thank you, but for the masses of people who have yet to hear them. Led by Win Butler and his wife Regine Chassagine they are a vibrant tour de force of music. Besides the usual drums, guitar and bass, they incorporate such un-rock-like instruments as the accordion and the harp. Their music fills a room. I was fortunate enough to see them at Radio City Music Hall in New York, so obviously they are not unknown. Their stage act seems to incorporate a small army of versatile musicians. Violins, brass, percussion, fantastic harmonies and stunning lyrics make them a banquet both audibly and visually. I did not necessarily intend this to be a commercial for the band, but once you see them, you’ll understand why I’m so enthusiastic about them. Their 2008 tour is over after 122 shows in 75 cities in 19 countries, so your best bet at seeing them is U-Tube. Check out the one where they’re all playing in an elevator.
And to make it all too sweet for words, they’re Canadian!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNfWC4Sgkcs

By Myron Gushlak

Media

Two months ago I wrote about Eliot Spitzer’s highly publicized sex scandal. I did it light heartedly, because to be frank, I didn’t really care all that much . Now just this past week, another New York politician, republican congressman Vito Fossella was the headline darling after it was discovered he had a “love child” from an extra-marital affair. I don’t really care about that too much either, and no, I’m not going to try to make a joke of the family value spokesman’s fall from grace as I did with Spitzer – it’s too damn easy. No, what I want to comment on is how quickly this news story disappeared from the scrutiny of the press. I defy you to find a paragraph about Fossella anywhere.

I understand that the Chinese earthquake or the Myanmar cyclone were more newsworthy, but that still does not explain how quickly Fossella fell off the media earth. It raises interesting questions. Somebody somewhere seemed to have decided that an out of wedlock baby was far below an expensive call girl relationship on some sort of scandal rating index. Can we deduce that it was “society” that made this “ruling”? Did you and I by some sort of secret society tabulation decide that its newsworthiness was a weak step sister to Spitzer’s hooker? Was the disappearance related to internet hits? Letters to the editor? John Stewart or Letterman references? I find it more fascinating than the actual scandals how it is decided what is reported and how, and as in this case, for how long.

What is said about Fossella is far less interesting to me than who makes the decision to say anything or to not say anything. I picture a harried Perry White type of editor checking an Einsteinian formula to determine how many inches needs be devoted to: congressman/sex scandal/New York/Blue state/ Italian American/Republican/DUI.
If e equals excess, well, never mind, you get the point. If not deciding ultimately becomes a decision, then choosing not to comment becomes a very loud editorial comment. I wish Marshall McCluhan was still alive. I’d pay great sums of money to hear his take on media in the 21st century.

By Myron Gushlak

Helping the Economy

The name of Milton Friedman is probably heard more today than when he was alive. The New York Times called him the godfather of the credo that “prosperity springs from markets free of all government management.” The investment banker Myron Gushlak captures the essence of Friedman when he paraphrases, “If the government ran the Sahara desert, we’d run out of sand in five years.” In these days of public clamoring for government intervention into the economy, Friedman stands alone, metaphorically, of course; he died in 2006. His principles, once embraced by Ronald Reagan, have fallen into disfavor.

The wonderful novel, White Man’s Grave, comes to mind every time I hear someone stand and call for intervention into the free market system. With apologies to the author, Richard Dooling, part of that novel is about a corporate lawyer who in gratitude to an African village for helping to locate his missing Peace Corps son, sends over tons of grain (I think it was rice, but I don’t remember) to help feed the starving inhabitants. Half of the “gift” went immediately to corrupt village officials. The remainder caused a flood in the grain market, dropping the price precipitously, and resulted in the bankruptcy of the few legitimate farmers in the area. The lawyer, back home in Chicago and unaware of the negative consequences of his generosity, was smugly self congratulatory with his largesse.

Whether or not to help is a fundamental human dilemma. When your child falls, should you help him up or let him struggle to his feet on his own? The economy has fallen. I watch it struggling, unsure of what might be the best thing to do. I wish I had a little more faith that our leaders had a better idea than I.

By Myron Gushlak