Rocknrolla at The Landmark

I just saw Rocknrolla at The Landmark in West LA and I had such a good time I decided to write about it. The loveseats in the screening room are just about the nicest thing I’ve seen in a theater.

The complex has two screens fashioned like a studio screening room. These are small theaters that have small love seats and recliners replacing the traditional stadium seating. Very nice. And a great place to see Guy Ritchie’s latest London crime saga. 

Andrew Lahde

So cool.

Out of all this mess, the most successful of all the hedge funds was operating five blocks from my office, right here in Santa Monica.

I probably walked right by the office on my way to lunch at Daily Grill.

The guy who ran it wrapped things up and shut it down because he felt the banking industry had become too unstable. LOL.

Here is his “Goodbye and F*** You” address:

http://www.portfolio.com/html/assets/AndrewLahdeFarewell.pdf

Verizon Wireless

I just tried to disconnect five of our older Verizon Wireless subscriber lines. I e-mailed our gung-ho rep-of-the-week and he told me he couldn’t help, but if I called 800-822-0204 the answering party would be able to process the request.

Being the good sport that I am, I immediately picked up and dialed the number only to be greeted by a recorded message instructing me that the number had been changed. It then suggested that if I called 101515800 for $5.49 + special handling charge I could use enhanced directory services

Ever heard of Stephen A. Schwarzman?

Remember me telling you about the Seventh Regiment Armory located the Upper East Side? I finally looked it up. The guy who had his sixtieth birthday party there last year, Stephen Schwarzman, is the person one who took the Blackstone (not to be confused with Blackrock or Blackwater) company public – they were heavy into securitized debt. The list of attendees reads like a who’s who of the credit crisis.

I’m still looking for a great article I’d read earlier this year that compared our time to the end of the “Gilded Age.” I’m still looking for that article, but for proof of the interconnection between all these peeps, you need look no further than Stephen’s wife, who’s maiden name (obtained from her first husband) is Hearst.

From The New York Post:
$3M PARTY FIT FOR BUYOUT KING
February 14, 2007 — HE’S got the biggest living room in the city, but for his coronation last night as the new king of Wall Street, buyout billionaire Stephen Schwarzman rented the cavernous Park Avenue Armory and felt right at home there – he decorated it as his palatial parlor.
Some 500 guests toasted Schwarzman on his 60th birthday, hailing him for reeling in the world’s biggest buyout just four days earlier: the $39 billion deal involving commercial-building empire Equity Office Group. It broke the long-held record of financier Henry Kravis, who turned down his invite.
Those who came enjoyed a $1 million private concert by Rod Stewart, free-flowing wine and nonstop courses of gourmet feasting in a party said to top $3 million.
But, after all, the titans who partied control more than $3 trillion a day. They included Lloyd Blankfein, head of Goldman Sachs; Jimmy Cayne, the chief of Bear Stearns; Merrill Lynch boss Stan O’Neal; JPMorgan Chase head Jamie Dimon; and investment-banking chief Jimmy Lee.
CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo and Charlie Rose of PBS blew kisses, as entertainment enchiladas Barry Diller, Sony Chairman Sir Howard Stringer and Donald Trump glowed in their tans.
Along with New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, former New York Gov. George Pataki and NYSE chief John Thain, the party drew a big turnout of buyout moguls, including Wilbur Ross, Joe Parella, Leon Black, Bruce Wasserstein, Byron Wein, Thomas H. Lee and David Rubenstein.
Cosmetics king Leonard Lauder mingled with richly gowned spouses, including Schwarzman’s wife, Christine Hearst Schwarzman, the brains behind the party.
The cavernous armory, normally drafty because of peeling ceilings, was toasty and pristine because a huge indoor canopy rose high inside with a darkened sky of sparkling stars suspended above a grand chandelier. It was a copy of the decor in the living room at Schwarzman’s $40 million co-op nearby on Park Avenue. It was copied even down to a grandfather clock and Old Masters paintings on the walls.