Who is Landron?

When conceptual artist Paul Reubens encountered legal problems in a fine arts cinema in Florida in the early 1990s, he immediately called fellow conceptual artist Landron from his bail bondsman's office.

"What film was showing when you were arrested," Landron inquired.

"The Sorrow and the Pity," Reubens replied.

Landron suggested that Reubens call Doris Duke. Duke funded Landron's 1987 exhibition The De-Monetization of Money on Wall Street at the time of that year's stock market crash and the premier of Oliver Stones movie of the same name. Landron projected images of bank notes from more than 80 countries on the Morgan Stanley, Smith Barney and other financial institutions' buildings. At midnight, 300,000 Deutsche Marks were dropped from the top of the stock exchange as thousands of people grabbed for them while Polaroids and 80-pound SONY mini-camcorders captured the insanity. Many of the photos were published the next day in the New York Post with the names and home addresses of those grabbing the bank notes.

Landron said that he did not object to people having access to the monetary value of these notes, but he was appalled that there was no mention of the portraits of the people on the bank notes. Landron felt that it was especially important to acknowledge that while US bills show images of monuments and dead presidents, German currency presents the likenesses of authors, scientists and musicians. The fact that the 1000 Deutsche Mark shows the Brothers Grimm is a testament to the fable of money itself.

The entire exhibition cost around $30 million, and Doris Duke invested $55 million. When her foundation called and suggested that an audit might be in order, Landron said that this was a mere nihilistic capitalist construct and slammed down the receiver. Doris called him the next day, apologized and flew him to her retreat. They had cocktails and bree on her veranda.

After Landron had given Reubens Doris' private number, he asked, "When I call, should I say that I am Pee Wee Herman or Paul Reubens?"

Outraged, Landron shot back, "If you have to ask that, you don't know Doris."

The next day, Reubens arrived at Doris' mansion with a great, private reception and kisses. Which name did he use? As Landron would say: "You do the math."*

* = Math is a social construct.

Little Ruthie's Wild Ride

Much as I might want to say that I am not one to follow tabloid news and fallen royalty, I must admit a particular fascination with the fate of Ruth Madoff and consider the above photo the most iconic image thus far this year. Okay, the Madoffs are probably more the stuff of hard news, but Ruth being kicked out of that two story penthouse and being allowed to take only the stuff of tabloids and trash TV/movies. Who would be the ideal woman to play her? Glenn Close? Please not Meryl! Too bad Farrah didn't live to tackle such a role.

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, there was talk of the Garbo interview being the Holy Grail of celebrity grilling. It was Rex Reed, if I recall correctly, who said that would probably be one of the most boring interviews ever since all she would talk about would be her yoga routine, diet and bowel movements. Others have said the same of hearing J.D. Salinger spill his guts about all the books he didn't write over the past 50 plus years.

So who wouldn't love to hear Ruth Madoff interview? A couple of friends have said that they are perplexed about what to think about Ruth since unlike Anna Nicole Smith or even Ivana Trump, her opulence was always so subdued and tasteful.

Even the Times can't resist being a being a bit like the Post with articles like this, and the various paparazzi shots of Ruth slumming by having to actually by her groceries at Food Emporium are hard to resist. Ruth is supposedly down to one friend in Connecticut. She's yet to appear on Facebook but has her MySpace profile where she has lowered her age by three years and only seven people ("Tom" doesn't count) have dared to befriend her. Even fake Adolf Hitlers and Atila the Huns do better than that. Or is that just a testament to the death of MySpace. Whatever the case, this "Ruth" who claims that Thieves Like Us is her favorite movie does have a mildly amusing introduction:

I guess you could call me the original shopaholic. My husband's away on a business-related sojourn, which leaves me some extra time to surf the web and find new friends. Maybe we can even go shopping together! I have more fun things to do on my blog. See you!

It will be interesting to see where she goes from here with the clothes on her back and $2.5 million to start from scratch. Even in "this economy" that's barely enough to start a lower middle class lifestyle in Manhattan or San Francisco, and there probably won't be many visits to the high end salons and eateries. Will there be a reality TV show or book deal in the future?

Indeed, 99 cents does more.

As Bernie Madoff Goes Off to Trial...

...I've been curious about Charles Ponzi and the origins of Ponzi schemes. He looks so pleasant in that mug shot. I'd follow him anywhere. At least my bond fund is slowly getting back to its original value.

Soon, a change is gonna come.

Krugman the Movie

Just as many are re-examining Oliver Stone's Wall Street, it was fitting that Paul Krugman won the Nobel Prize just as his warnings about the global economy came true. I've read him for quite a number of years and have been a bit embarrassed to admit to finding him to be a heart throb. The right mix of salt and pepper, intense eyes and a Nobel to boot are a good combination. Word of George Clooney now playing him in a movie may prove me to be not as wacky as I'd feared.

Most important we can hope that events of the past few weeks might finally convince people that Milton Friedman and the market driven economy might be just a wee bit, dare I say it, flawed.

Biggest. Drop. Ever.

After having a great visit with Gary's first grade students, this afternoon I headed down to Ground Zero and Wall Street since I've not been there in years and it's a place that's been on many of our minds lately. I got there just around the time the news about the failed attempts to push through the bailout hit and stocks were falling. People weren't jumping out of buildings, but the place was swarming with reporters, tourists who weren't exactly smiling and the air was filled with an odd stiffness I've never experienced in the neighborhood.

Making it all the more surreal, I saw a glimpse of myself while watching a CNN report on my jetBlue flight back home.

This was definitely not the highlight of my Manhattan trip, but I thought I'd post it since it's a rare time that I actually crossed paths so closely with world news.

Photos and stories of my four days in Manhattan to follow, but I'm now ready for bed since it's nearly 2 a.m. Eastern Time. Mouse beat me to the punch with this slide show.

Black Monday

Yesterday over cake and coffee a friend and I were talking election nightmares the way I used to tell ghost stories with fellow Wolf scouts by a camp fire enjoying 'smores and hoping I wasn't being too blatant at looking up their shorts. As I babbled on about how I still held that image of Obama in the stadium in Denver and those wonderful "real people" testimonials, we both imagined a McCain-Palin White House. McCain would be dead in the first six months. If not by natural causes then by the gun of a hired pair of Russian/Iranian hitmen. A President McCain is more likely to be the target of a right wing bullet than a President Obama, we concluded.

Oddly at the most secure financial position in my life that could still suddenly slide down the slippery slope, I must relish that today's news from Wall Street may be the same fuel that turned the tide in 1992. I really want to attend Bye Bye Bush parties the way I didn't on a blustery January night in 1993, filled with hope that there really is justice in the world. I still believe and demand that hope return.