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居然有人为巴老这一世界首富举行慈善音乐会 --- 披头士作品夏威夷四弦琴演奏会，巴老最小的儿子也参与其中，并唱上一曲‘你从不给钱我’，颇有意味；买回股票；另一项1.5亿12%回报保证债券投资；购入油砂谣言等...
Published Sunday February 15, 2009
Warren Watch: Ukuleles on the way to Girls Inc.
BY STEVE JORDON
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER Roger Greenawalt and David Barratt organized a 14-hour benefit concert for Warren Buffett that will end with girls playing ukuleles in Omaha. 
Just because a benefit was held for Warren Buffett doesn't mean the billionaire plans to keep the money. He will use the proceeds to buy ukuleles for members of Girls Inc. in Omaha.
A benefit for the nation's richest man? Ukuleles? You could call Greenawalt and Barratt "performance philanthropists" because their innovative projects typically help good causes. In this case, they were making videos of people in their Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, discussing the recession. Somehow they hit upon the idea of giving money to Buffett. "We're useless with money," Barratt said from Brooklyn. "We figured it would be more effective if we gave the money to him." They rounded up 67 singers, 37 musicians, a Yoko Ono impersonator and scheduled a concert for Dec. 7 at the Spike Bar, planning to perform all 185 Beatles compositions with ukulele accompaniment. Greenawalt plays the ukulele, and the pair knew Buffett does, too. One of their videos shows Greenawalt singing his original composition, "The Oracle of Omaha": He is ethically without a flaw, Has never knowingly broke the law. We look up in awe Upon the Oracle of Omaha. Warren Buffett's son Peter heard about the concert and told his father, and both thought it would be "hilarious," Barratt said. At the concert Peter sang "You Never Give Me Your Money," a 1969 Beatles tune with an ironically appropriate title. After the concert the two organizers stuffed the day's contributions ("hundreds of dollars") into a brown paper sack. Warren Buffett had invited them to breakfast in Washington, D.C., in January. There they discussed the economy, capitalism and ukuleles, including Buffett's use of the instrument during his dating days. He waxed poetic on the advantages of the small, affordable strummed instrument. The resulting video ended up on ukulelia.com, an Internet Web site devoted to you-know-what, and other Web sites, including boingboing.net. Ukulele enthusiast Gary A. Peare, who works for a brand design company in San Francisco, posted the videos on the ukulele Web site. He has a Buffett connection, too, arranging in 2006 for Dairy Queen to give Buffett a custom-made ukulele with the ice cream chain's trademark "swirl" on top. After a casino bought that ukulele in a charity auction, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. subsidiary Dairy Queen made a second one for Buffett's own collection. After the Washington breakfast, the sack of bills and coins landed on a table in front of Buffett. "This is very suspicious," he said, but explained what he planned to do: use the money to buy ukuleles for members of Girls Inc. in Omaha. "I would guess that many dozens of girls will get entranced into taking up the uke," Buffett said. "I will go out and give them a lesson, after which fewer will be entranced. We will have a lot of fun with this." Roberta Wilhelm, executive director of the program, which empowers girls to pursue their dreams, said she is ready for the ukulele invasion. "I think it's going to happen," she said, as part of the club's music program. "I'm sure the girls are going to be lined up to get the lesson." 'Sweet Deals' Dairy Queen is adding "Sweet Deals" to its selections after testing the discounted food items in Lexington, Ky., according to that city's Herald Leader newspaper. Customers can mix and match burgers, hot dogs, chicken wraps, french fries, onion rings, a side salad, beverages and desserts in 20,000 possible combinations. Stock buyback? Some investors think Buffett may consider buying Berkshire stock because of comments last month in a PBS interview. If he does, he would make a public announcement of the purchase price, he said, adding: "I think if your stock is undervalued, significantly undervalued, management should look at that as an alternative to every other activity. . . . I'm not opposed to buying back stock." Bubblicious yield The Hackensack (N.J.) Record reports that Berkshire and Davis Selected Advisers LP have each bought half of the $300 million in five-year bonds issued by Sealed Air Corp., maker of Bubble Wrap and other packaging materials. The notes are to pay 12 percent a year. Sealed Air said it would use the money for debt obligations. The company also owes money under a settlement in an asbestos lawsuit, stemming from its earlier purchase of another packaging materials business. Oil sands rumor Canwest News Service reports a rumor that Berkshire is interested in buying part of Nexen Inc., a Calgary, Canada, company that owns property bearing "oil sands," a mixture of dirt and petroleum that under some circumstances can be converted into fuel. Buffett has visited some oil sands projects in Canada, but David Sokol of Omaha, who heads Berkshire's MidAmerican Energy Holdings division, has said the company isn't interested in investing in oil sands development. | 
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