alocispepraluger102

many people are 'forced' into paying more than they can afford because of wanting their children in better schools.

with ayler and trane and duke alone, you could do a 3 months of shows.

amen, brother. slick, or sickening?

that means payments have had to be sent to 3 or 4 different, so far, places?

After we put 20% down on our house, our total mortgage was about equal to what our annual income was at the time (about 5 years ago). Which turned out to be a DAMN good thing -- cuz about two years after we bought our house, I lost my job -- didn't work hardly at all for about 18 months (just some contract work, here and there) -- and I finally moved into doing something completely different in the not-for-profit sector, making only about 40% of what I used to make as an IT business analyst (so a 60% cut in pay). The key is that we have ALWAYS bought way, WAY less than we could afford. Until last year (when we bought a new Prius), my wife and I were both driving 12 and 13 year old cars -- one of which I still drive today (and probably will for another 5 years). We're certainly not rich, but we're also not a 'house-of-cards' just waiting to fall either. If my wife lost her job, and had to take something else for only around 50% of what she makes now -- I think we could still make it (though it would be very tight). And remember, that's after I've already taken over a 50% reduction in pay a couple years ago. .....betting you sleep well, too.

Depending on where you live, you are forced to spend much more. The two room appartment (not a house!) I bought is worth 8 times my annual income, and I did not take excessive financial risks. A parking space in the common garage would already have cost almost one annual income at that time. The housing and personal debt situation is actually much worse in Spain, where young people are forced to take 50 year loans, in order to cope with the monthly paybacks. i have read that in japan home loans are passed from generation to generation.

real estate agents a couple years ago were telling me all the ways houses were being sold. interest only loans, balloon payments, adjustable rates, second mortgages at purchase, and i cant remember what else, and it was a big surprise, and disappointment. my personal rule has been 'dont buy a house worth more than 2.5 times your annual income.' most people have made out much better than i using a different set of rules and i wish them well.

Mortgage crisis hits million-dollar homes Thu Mar 29, 2007 2:52 PM ET By Walden Siew NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sheriff Leo McGuire presides over foreclosure auctions in Bergen County, New Jersey, where the bidding for a home reached $1.2 million last June -- a record for one of the wealthiest counties in the nation. Homes sold on the auction block for as much as $852,000 this month -- more than quadruple the median home price in the United States. County officials believe they are close to setting another record soon. In Troy, Michigan, Dorothy Guzek, a credit counselor since 1988, has also seen the changing face of foreclosure. Her clients, while predominantly poor and minorities, increasingly are neither. Nowadays, homeowners holding professional careers with six-figure salaries regularly drop by her office. More and more they come from upscale Michigan communities such as Independence and Clarkston -- once the summer retreat for Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Co. "Because of the financing that was possible, so many people bought the bigger house, the million-dollar house with the bowling alley or the tennis court outside," says Guzek, who works for GreenPath Debt Solutions, a nonprofit service based in Farmington Hills, Michigan. "People across all income brackets are having financial hardship." For those on the frontlines of the growing U.S. mortgage crisis, these are the early signs that the explosion of subprime loans made to mostly poorer borrowers is reaching higher ground. The damage is hitting homes financed through jumbo loans for more than $400,000 and so-called Alt-A loans that are a notch above subprime and a step below prime. Americans already are facing foreclosure at a record pace, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Lenders started foreclosure actions against more than one in every 200 U.S. mortgage borrowers in the last quarter of 2006. About 2.2 million foreclosures due to bad mortgage loans may cost U.S. homeowners $164 billion, mostly from lost home equity, according to the Center for Responsible Lending, a Durham, North Carolina-based research group. In the last three months, the percentage of foreclosures for U.S. homes valued at more than $750,000 has climbed to 2.5 percent, the highest since early 2005, when RealtyTrac, a online marketplace for foreclosed properties, began tracking data. The overall rate of foreclosures also is on pace to increase by a third this year. "Everyone's looking at subprime. The rock they aren't looking under are the adjustable rate mortgages and teaser rates and low money-down loans," said Mark Kiesel, a portfolio manager for Pacific Investment Management Co., the world's biggest bond manager. "It's going to affect prime as well." Kiesel said he sold his Newport Beach, California, home for more than $1 million in May last year after the property appreciated more than 20 percent in two years. He believes delinquencies and defaults will rise, weighing down most of the housing market. California, with 3,384 foreclosures of higher-scale homes since December, is leading the nation, followed by Florida and New York, according to RealtyTrac. The MBA doesn't track foreclosure data by home value. ICEBERG Josh Rosner, managing director at investment research firm Graham Fisher & Co., says the growing numbers of foreclosures outside the subprime market is just the start. "To define the problem as a subprime problem is short-sighted," Rosner said. "It's really seeing the tip of the iceberg as the iceberg." Compounding the risk is the nature of homebuyers of higher-end homes, says Rosner. About 40 percent of homes bought last year were second homes or investment properties. Speculative buyers may be more at risk, he said. Standard & Poor's said on a conference call on Thursday that foreclosure rates are likely to surpass levels last seen during the 2001 recession. "That giant ATM you've been living in has just shut down," said David Wyss, chief economist at S&P in New York. "Consumers are in debt and we've been living beyond our means for some time." CDOs The latest foreclosure data also may spell trouble for Wall Street, where pools of bonds may be susceptible to nonperforming loans that underpin debt vehicles known as collateralized debt obligations. CDOs group debt based on credit quality and are similar to mutual funds in packaging securities to help diversify risk. In CDOs, the strongest debt is at the top of the capital structure, helping to smooth out any drag on performance from weaker debt, such as subprime loans. Just as more expensive homes are beginning to fall through the cracks, the fear is higher-rated bonds within CDO structures may be vulnerable. The declining performance of subprime loans have resulted in CDOs losing about $20 billion in market value, according to investment bank Lehman Brothers. UBS Securities said in a report last month that rising delinquencies may cause losses within some subprime mortgage bonds rated as high as the "A" category. FRAUD-FUELED At the Justice Center in Hackensack, New Jersey, on Friday, the wood-paneled room is filled with about 40 people and the auction is routine. The first property on the sales sheet lists a Korean homeowner with $509,000 of outstanding debt. There are no bidders. Deutsche Bank, holder of the busted loan, buys the property with a quick $100 bid. Sheriff McGuire calls the process "one of the most distasteful parts of my position." He places most of the blame on bankers who allowed questionable lending practices. "This might not have happened if not for these new type of loans," McGuire said, minutes before the auction. The loans also have helped millions of Americans purchase new homes, he concedes. "The banks took a chance on the future, and the homeowners took a chance so there's enough blame to go around," McGuire said. Still, "the banks and lenders have largely set them up for this downfall." Adding to the grief, mortgage scams and con artists trying to take advantage of distressed homeowners abound, boosting foreclosure rates, county workers said. "It's not the American Dream anymore," said Fran Napolitano, a county clerk in Hackensack. "It's 'who can I stab next.'" In Detroit's suburbs, hit hard by the U.S. auto industry downturn and financial troubles at General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co., the story strikes home each day for GreenPath's Guzek. "It's sad. It's just an awful feeling," she said. "You hope that you can come up with a financial plan to help people remain in their homes, but sometimes it's not the best thing for them." These days, her calendar of eight counseling sessions a day, 40 a week, remains full. Increasingly, she offers different advice than devising financial plans to save her clients' homes. "If they can't afford it, sometimes the best thing for them is to walk away," Guzek said. © Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around th

i sincerely hope the considerable funds the wonderfully endowed university contributed will not lead to more university(corporate) involvement. it's fine the way it is, even the frequent roughness around the edges.

just found a couple remaining sixers of sam adams double bock. not great but very passable.

shoot over to the cleveland bop stop for a live 'reading' of the spirituals. 3/28/2007 The Music Of Paul Ferguson: A Spiritual Weekend Jazz Treat **The Wonderful Music of the CJO's Paul Fergusonon Friday, April 6 and Saturday, April 7 at the Bop Stop, 8:00pm.** The Next CJO Bop Stop Series Concert; including jazz charts heavily influenced by sacred and spiritual music. Perfect for Easter weekend. As many of you know, Paul is not only our lead trombonist, but one of the finest jazz composers and arrangers in the country. Paul will be leading the CJO on April 6 and 7. We'll be performing Paul's compositions and arrangements, including a second set featuring Paul's spiritually-influenced jazz charts based on traditional sacred music. This is a special jazz treat on Easter weekend! Guest vocalists during this weekend will be Barbara Knight and Helen Welch. We'll also be featuring Paul's wife Kay Ferguson on flute in the second set each evening. Mary Kay is an outstanding flutist and will be an intriguing addition to the concert for the spiritually-influenced jazz charts in the second set. Barbara and Helen have both recorded their own CDs with the CJO and each regularly appear with the band. Mary Kay Ferguson is founder and flutist with Panoramicos, Cleveland's new Chamber Music Collaborative, ("Best of North America"- Grammophone Magazine) Principal Flutist with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, with which she has been a featured soloist at Severance Hall. She plays flute and piccolo in the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, a Grammy Award-winning New Music Ensemble, as well as in Red{an orchestra}, the Akron Symphony, Lyric Opera ,Cleveland Ballet, Playhouse Square Orchestra, and the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra. She has perfomed with the Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Opera, and the Toledo Symphony. She was a prize winner in the National Flute Association's Piccolo Artist Competition, and the Tuesday Musical Club Competition. Ferguson teaches privately at the University of Akron, the Western Reserve Acadamy, and her home studio. She coaches chamber music at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Currently she serves as Chair of the Piccolo Committee for the NFA. Tickets are $30 and are available online here or by calling the CJO at 440-942-9525 and selecting option 3. Complimentary valet parking is available at the Bop Stop. Owners Anita Nonneman and Ron Busch provide this service for you and ask only thatyou tip the valet staff. Plenty of free street parking is also available. Doors open at 7:00pm and will be locked until that time. An appetizer and light dinner menu is available, as always, along with complete bar service. As with all CJO concerts, this will be one from which you will emergesaying to yourself,"Am I glad I came to this concert!" You'll not hear the likes of this anywhere else.

By: Akhila Kolisetty Posted: 3/28/07 By Akhila Kolisetty The Daily Northwestern After 57 years in Annie May Swift Hall, Northwestern's student-run radio station, WNUR, will begin airing from its new studios in John J. Louis Hall today at 2 p.m. WNUR's relocation is the result of construction at Annie May Swift, which was built in 1895. Although WNUR paid a small portion of the costs, most of the funding for the construction of the new studios and its high-tech equipment came from the university, said Medill senior Anthony Walters, general manager of WNUR. "Louis Hall was the obvious choice because it also houses facilities for the School of Communication and the (Radio, Television, and Film) department," Walters said. "We are very happy we made this decision." Communication junior Jennie Keohane, public affairs director for WNUR, said the new location would make for "an awesome opportunity for better broadcasting." The new facilities offer many improvements over the radio station's old studios, Walters said. "The production studios, where the (live) bands play, used to be about 15 by 12 feet in Annie May Swift," Walters said. "But the new studios are about eight or nine times the size of the old ones. ... This is all state-of-the-art equipment and it's very, very cool," The radio station also will be improving much of its equipment, said Peter Debelak, WNUR's rock music director. "We're getting new computers and more microphones," said Debelak, a Music senior. "There's also a new digital board to improve digital transmitting." There are a few minor drawbacks to the new facilities, Walters said. In Annie May Swift Hall, WNUR had its own conference room, but in the new studios, the conference room is shared with other groups, Walters said. "The one thing I don't like is that the new studios are not a separate part of Louis Hall, but (are) too integrated with the rest of the building," Debelak said. "But overall it is a much nicer building." Reach Akhila Kolisetty at a-kolisetty@northwestern.edu. © Copyright 2007 The Daily Northwestern

in the 70's i bought tons of ecm. none for ten years. the ecm american vinyl pressings(as a group) are the worst for durability of any label i have owned. they tend warpy as well.

mehldau is far better at incorporating, when he chooses too, bill's ideas into his playing than anyone i have heard. i choose to think of it as respect rather than copying.

his 'open to love' blew my mind the first time i heard it, and still does. and there is so much more. what about his jaco group?

He did, and does. Unfortunately hundreds of tapes were lost in the aforementioned fire - and how many versions of "Ida Lupino" do you think the trio(s) did? Lots... and i love every one i've heard.

milt jackson at the museum of modern art one of the most poorly recorded efforts in jazz history.

remember those awesome voiced announcers those big stations had?

mr. baker and mr. getz were great together, some of my favorite music.

EKE BBB mentioned that one a while ago F thanks

True enough. And now that pitch counts are all the rage, it's a small wonder more games aren't lost by an over used bullpen on top of that. too, some umpires on certain days have impossible strike zones, unless you are clemens or pedro or glavin or a few others. on certain days certain pitchers couldnt get a strike called if they hand carried the ball across the plate.

are they on the web?------my kind of music! i love my impulse lp from the early 60's-the college concert with red allen(red's last, i think) and pee wee russell, charlie haden, steve kuhn, and marty morell. cant remember what college, though. i greatly enjoyed red's vocals, too.

ferris fain granny hamner mudcat grant hopefully there is a female athlete somewhere with the nickname 'rip.'

we are so very very grateful for those we still have. when wosu-fm did away with most of their onair personalities and went with a satellite service top 50 classical format, announcers with voices and styles as familiar as members of one's own family were no longer heard, and are still missed years later.

all that pitching scouts look at now is that damn speed gun. you dont have to throw hard to be a great pitcher.