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The Violinist


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Happy New Year, my friends! I wasn't able to join you Tuesday afternoon due to the limitations of the little Sony notebook my friend Joel is letting me use (thank you, Joel) until The Creatureville Machine is brought out of its coma, hopefully this coming Tuesday afternoon. But I found that when things got quiet it did allow me to slip into town after dark (image of a Bram Stoker character coming up for anyone here?).

 

So for this reason I am once again opening this, the first IDS thread of the year, a little on the early side this morning, somewhat before the sun rises, just to guarantee I can do it. And in all probability I will be relying on Doc, Greg or Rich to open the PM thread, not just for today but for tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday as well (the next three morning openings I should still be OK with). In fact, guys, why don't we leave that as the default arrangement. If, by some miracle, I find that I can do PM after all, I will let all three of you know well before 12:45.

 

So now, as I start my seventh month of public service as your IDS Steward, I wish to once again express my appreciation and gratitude to Doc, our Chief, for his continuing first-class technical work within the context of a most unique writing style as well as for the creation of this most excellent community from which much creativity, strength, inspiration and support flow. Thanks, Doc.

 

And I also want to express my appreciation to all my fellow Stewards in acknowledgment and recognition for the leadership they provide elsewhere in town as well as to those of you who contribute your knowledge, experience and wisdom here on a regular basis. I have learned so much from you folks as well as from Doc in such a relatively short period of time. You are my teachers and I salute you all.

 

Finally, I want to thank the rest of you for your continued participation here which helps make our vibrant community grow ever stronger as an oasis of sanity and stability amidst the gathering storm.

 

bdaycake.gif And lest I forget, Direwolf celebrated his birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday, Direwolf!

 

 

And now, I have something very, very special for you, something I've been saving for months for this particular day.

 

The following was written by Jack Riemer of the Houston Chronicle, and it appeared on February 10, 2001 in Section E on page 12.

 

 

wk-perlman.jpg fisher.gif

Photos from Google Image Search

 

On November 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the violinist, came on stage to give a concert at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City.

 

If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small achievement for him. He was stricken with polio as a child, and so he has braces on both legs and walks with the aid of two crutches. To see him walk across the stage one step at a time, painfully and slowly, is an unforgettable sight. He walks painfully, yet majestically, until he reaches his chair. Then he sits down, slowly, puts his crutches on the floor, undoes the clasps on his legs, tucks one foot back and extends the other foot forward. Then he bends down and picks up the violin, puts it under his chin, nods to the conductor and proceeds to play.

 

By now, the audience is used to this ritual. They sit quietly while he makes his way across the stage to his chair. They remain reverently silent while he undoes the clasps on his legs. They wait until he is ready to play.

 

But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings on his violin broke. You could hear it snap - it went off like gunfire across the room. There was no mistaking what that sound meant. There was no mistaking what he had to do. People who were there that night thought to themselves: "We figured that he would have to get up, put on the clasps again, pick up the crutches and limp his way off stage to either find another violin or else find another string for this one."

 

But he didn't. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the conductor to begin again. The orchestra began, and he played from where he had left off. And he played with such passion and such power and such purity as they had never heard before. Of course, anyone knows that it is impossible to play a symphonic work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that night Itzhak Perlman refused to know that. You could see him modulating, changing, recomposing the piece in his head. At one point, it sounded as though he was re-tuning the strings to get new sounds from them that they had never made before.

 

When he finished, there was an awesome silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. There was an extraordinary outburst of applause from every corner of the auditorium. We were all on our feet, screaming and cheering, doing everything we could to show how much we appreciated what he had done. He smiled, wiped the sweat from his brow, raised his bow to quiet us, and then he said, not boastfully, but in a quiet, pensive, reverent tone, "You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left."

 

What a powerful line that is. It has stayed in my mind ever since I heard it. And who knows? Perhaps that is the way of life - not just for artists, but for all of us. Here is a man who has prepared all his life to make music on a violin of four strings, who all of a sudden, in the middle of a concert, finds himself with only three strings. So he makes music with three strings. And the music he made that night with just three strings was more beautiful, more sacred, more memorable than any that he had ever made before when he had four strings.

 

Maybe our task in this shaky, fast-changing, bewildering world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.

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Touching.

 

Go to RUSSIA and see THEM try "to make music" with "what they have left".

 

Then get down on your knees and pray to the Lord above WE don't wind up like that.

 

You'll hear "music", alright. Disenfranchised Americans/Baby Boomers wailing like banshees.

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Many tanks to Glad for the kind words, and his great work in opening these threads each day! We all need to find that little something extra that to people like Perlman becomes second nature. It takes perseverance and dedication to doing that which you most love to do.

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Here's one for Fxfox -

 

looking at the wave count on the FTSE-100 and the path projected for the next couple of months in this leading index.

 

 

 

the commentary said "leading index"

http://www.marketclues.net

charmin,

if those guys say footsie is the leading index for DAX and their website is called marketclues, they better should rename their site in "wehavenoclue.com" :lol:

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Thanks Glad. Itzak Perlman has been an inspiration since I first heard him. There is a great percussionist who is deaf and plays brilliantly. I can't remeber her name, something like Glenny? She's from Scotland. A friend saw her perform and got to meet her. She somehow feels the vibrations. She's truly remarkable.

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Glad that one was special for me. Thanks. :)

 

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For the new year I'll show you the big picture. This here chart is a weekly DOW going back to 2000 produced using Metastock. I've included a Fib going all the way back to the top and longer-term MACD and ROC. The trend is the trend until it isn't.

post-3-1041513706.png

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