The Big Picture

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• Friday Night Alt-Rock: R.E.M.
• The Coral Triangle
• Weekend Reading List
• Succinct Summation of Week’s Events (5/6/11)
• S&P 500 Futures Pit on May 6, 2010 (Flash Crash)
• Greece threatens to walk?/Meeting over Greece to deal with debt, not exit
• GAO: Judicial and Nonjudicial Foreclosure Processes Notice of
• Greece Rumor du Jour: Leaving EU
• Is A Venture Capital Revival is Upon Us ?
• BLS NFP Breakdown

Friday Night Alt-Rock: R.E.M. Posted: 06 May 2011 03:30 PM PDT I just learned that one of my favorite bands, R.E.M., is coming up on the 25th anniversary of their breakout album, Lifes Rich Pageant. It is getting the full Expanded & Remastered treatment, according to Paste. The band's groundbreaking fourth album, Lifes Rich Pageant re-release date is July 12, the album's 25th anniversary. A special 2-disc edition will feature a digitally remastered version of the original album plus 19 previously unreleased demo recordings. The album recorded by vocalist Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and drummer Bill Berry was R.E.M.’s first Gold record, reaching #21 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums chart. It included the hit singles Fall On Me and Superman. ~~~ I was a huge R.E.M. fan in grad school, and their first few albums were enormously powerful and influential on me personally. It was one of the first examples a younger me realized you could go on your own path and still be successful. Most of you young’uns probably are familiar with the band’s later bigger commercial hits — “Losing My Religion, Shiny Happy People, Everybody Hurts, Stand, etc.” That stuff is all good for what it is — better than most of the pop on the radio at the same time, anyway. You may not realize that R.E.M. was the original alternative rock band. Their first album, 1983′s Murmur, transformed the post-punk, underground college-rock era into brand new genre: What you take for granted as alternative rock was essentially created out of whole cloth by R.E.M. way back then. Its oin my top, 100 list. For those of you who only know their latter, shiny happy, pop stuff, delve into this seminal, influential band’s best work — these 4 albums; Genius that way lay. A little context: In 1983, the US Stock market had just awoken from a 16 year slumber. Reagan was President, polyester had not yet gone away. The movie Saturday Night Fever was still relatively fresh in people’s minds, and there was plenty of Disco on the air, along with Journey, Boston, and Foreigner. It was a simple, if uglier time. Along comes R.E.M., from of all places Athens, GA. Murmur broke boundaries, and literally created a new musical genre. The sound lay somewhere between the jangling guitar work of ’60s bands (Beatles, Byrds), with a drive that was not unlike later bands (Clash, Elvis Costello). The original versions of Murmur and Reckoning are $7.97. (About time the music industry started to price discs dynamically, especially on artists’ back catalogues). They are probably a decade too late, and have already lost a generation of CD buyers. R.E.M. was overtly political. Their songs were barbed attacks on the status quo, hidden beneath hauntingly beautiful melodies, arcane lyrical language, driving drumbeats, jangly guitars, and mumbled vocals. It was a completely idiosyncratic approach, but it worked well. What stood out most of all were their collections of songs, alternatively beautiful and compelling. Dramatic structures, majestic melodies, lush vocal harmonies and somewhat archaic language combined for a unique sound. The band became a critical darling, and sold increasingly well. Each subsequent album sharpened the band’s focus, and saw their writing become increasingly layered and complex, culminating in the tight, driving rock of Document. This was the album that catapulted R.E.M. from college radio favorites to mainstream stardom — and with good cause, too. It also marked their critical (but not their commercial) peak. A WSJ piece noted the commercial decline: “It has been a long, slow fade for a band that came to be known both as one of the founders of alternative rock and one of the genre’s most bankable names. Its 1996 contract turned out to be the high-water mark of a five-year frenzy of wildly expensive superstar contracts across the music industry, whipped up by interlabel bidding wars and CD sales’ seemingly boundless potential for growth. Most of these deals, such as Sony Music’s $60 million contract with Michael Jackson in 1991, and Virgin’s $70 million 1996 pact with his sister Janet, proved overly optimistic about the commercial prospects of artists who were past their prime.” That sound about right. None of these artists have since achieved any level of their former commercial — or critical — success. I hope REM breaks the streak. I like what I hear of the new album, Collapse Into Now. (mentioned previously here) Must Own Albums: • Murmur (1983) • Reckoning (1984) • Lifes Rich Pageant (1986) • Document (1987) Videos after the jump . . . Videos: Radio Free Europe (on Letterman) It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine…) Losing My Religion Man on the Moon ~~~ Sources: REM Official Website http://remhq.com/index.php REM Wikipedia Entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.E.M. Concert Project http://www.NinetyNights.com/ R.E.M. Attempts to ‘Accelerate’ The Veteran Rock Band, Facing Fleeing Fans, Ramps Up Its Publicity ETHAN SMITH WSJ, March 28, 2008; Page W6 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120666540285170459.html

The Coral Triangle Posted: 06 May 2011 03:07 PM PDT People of the Coral Triangle from James Morgan Photography on Vimeo. From The Coral Triangle website: The Coral Triangle is the underwater equivalent of the Amazon. It harbours more species than any other marine environment on the planet, including 76% of all coral types and more than 3000 species of fish. It encompasses an area half the size of the United States, passing through the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands & Timor L'Este. It supports the livelihoods of 120 million people, while satisfying much of the world's appetite for seafood. It is also one of the most beautiful places on Earth. But like the Amazon, the Coral Triangle is under grave threat. Overfishing and the use of destructive fishing techniques like dynamite and cyanide threaten to devastate these fragile coral gardens, which can take thousands of years to grow. Thn there's the mining, oil & gas exploration and irresponsible tourism. The online Coral Triangle Communications Platform (CTCP) will tell the story of this fertile bioregion using a multitude of voices and methods – multimedia, photography, writing, art and more. It will be a resource for people to get behind campaigns, find out about responsible tourism activities, source sustainable seafood, engage in dialogue and above all, help preserve this icon of the natural world by developing Marine Protected Areas, alternative economies, education programmes and more…

Weekend Reading List Posted: 06 May 2011 01:00 PM PDT Some interesting reads for your weekend reading pleasure: • How the Fed made the rich richer (MSN Money) • Has Elizabeth Warren Won Over the Banks? (MoJo) • Gary Shilling’s 11 Investment Themes (Pragmatic Capital) • How FOMC triggered Arab uprisings in two easy graphs (Telegraph) • What if Osama Bin Laden Had Been Captured? (Washingtonian) • The Cognitive Cost of Doing Things (Lifehacker) • Secret Stealthy Helicopters Used in OBL Attack (NYT) • Einstein was right. Again. (NASA) • Woody Allen on Inspiration (The Browser) • Classical Music: A history according to YouTube (Limelight) What are you reading?

Succinct Summation of Week’s Events (5/6/11) Posted: 06 May 2011 11:24 AM PDT Succinct summation of week’s events: Positives: 1) US April payrolls rock as private sector leads way, Canadian jobs report rock even more 2) Both retail comps and vehicle sales in March exceed expectations in the face of continued cost of living pressure 3) ISM mfr’g falls a touch but is better than estimated 4) For most companies and consumers, commodity prices break lower, $ bounces after Trichet comments and another week closer to the end of QE2 5) Bin Laden dead Negatives: 1) Household survey says jobs fell for 1st time since Nov ’10, unemployment rate rises to 9% as a result. I know adds confusion to payroll report 2) Slowing global growth as another key reason for commodity break as India, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam all raise interest rates, copper breaks slightly below 200 day moving average, Sensex index down 3.2% on the week, Shanghai index down 1.6% 3) China state sector weighted mfr’g PMI 1 pt below expectations 4) ISM services index falls sharply to the weakest since Aug ’10 at 52.8 5) Initial Jobless Claims above 400k for a 4th straight week

S&P 500 Futures Pit on May 6, 2010 (Flash Crash) Posted: 06 May 2011 11:18 AM PDT Blast from the past: One year ago today: This is an audio of a S&P 500 trader quoting the action that was taking place in the futures pit in Chicago at the CME. This was a historic day as the market lost nearly $1 trillion within minutes and then recovered the losses. The DJIA and S&P 500 futures fell 10% that day before snapping most if the way back. www.thefuturesroom.com

Greece threatens to walk?/Meeting over Greece to deal with debt, not exit Posted: 06 May 2011 10:06 AM PDT The German newspaper Der Spiegel is reporting that Greece is thinking about withdrawing from the euro zone and that a “secret crisis meeting” in Luxembourg is taking place tonight to deal with this threat. They will also supposedly discuss a restructuring of Greek debt. With the rest of the EU bailing out Greece, led by Germany and France, they will do what they can to keep Greece in so as to both get their money paid back in euro’s and not in devalued drachma’s but to also try to stop any precedence of countries just dropping out so they can devalue their old currency. The euro is trading at the lows of the day in response to the news but if Greece chose to leave, the state of the remaining members would thus be more enhanced and the ECB would be able to run policy without having to worry about the troubled sovereign’s. ~~~ Meeting over Greece to deal with debt, not exit The WSJ is reporting that EU finance officials are meeting to discuss Greece but over their indebtedness, NOT A GREEK EURO EXIT, according to officials.

GAO: Judicial and Nonjudicial Foreclosure Processes Notice of Posted: 06 May 2011 09:45 AM PDT In our Think Tank, you will find a fascinating GAO document on Mortgage Foreclosures, titled Documentation Problems Reveal Need for Ongoing Regulatory Oversight. Its chock full of great charts and insights: > Flow of Payments in a Basic Securitized Transaction Typical Judicial and Nonjudicial Foreclosure Processes

Greece Rumor du Jour: Leaving EU Posted: 06 May 2011 09:31 AM PDT Time to get out those old Drachmas! This seems to be pinging around trade desks that Greece (discussed here and here earlier) is that Greece is seriously considering bailing from the

Is A Venture Capital Revival is Upon Us ? Posted: 06 May 2011 09:00 AM PDT Quigley Report: A Venture Capital Revival is Upon Us View more presentations from quigleyreport

BLS NFP Breakdown Posted: 06 May 2011 08:07 AM PDT BLS data seems to be causing some consternation amongst the employment cognescenti. Let’s drill down and se what is what: First, the initial release: Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 244,000 in April, and the unemployment rate edged up to 9.0 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Job gains occurred in several service-providing industries, manufacturing, and mining.” Here are the key takeaways: • Total NFP payroll employment increased by 244,000 in April; Private sector added 268,000 jobs; • Unemployment rate rose to 9% from 8.8% • Private hiring rose by 268,000 in April — the most since February 2006 • Average workweek was unchanged at 34.3 hours • Average hourly earnings for all employees on private NFP increased by 3 cents, or 0.1% to $22.95. • Labor force participation rate was 64.2%, unchanged for the 4th month in a row. Employment-population ratio was 58.4%, also relatively flat • Retailers hired 57,000, Professional and business services accounted for 51,000 jobs, leisure and hospitality sector added 46,000, health-care companies hired 37,000, manufacturing added 29,000. • The biggest decline took place in government, continuing a recent trend, as public-sector jobs fell by 24,000. Governments cut 24,000 jobs FT notes that the past six months of payrolls looks like: November: 93,000 December: 152,000 January: 68,000 February: 235,000 March: 221,000 April: 244,000

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