October
6Warren Buffet the Tunesmith
I attended a party last weekend that provided further evidence of the economic squeeze: The entertainment budget apparently was so lean that the main act was Warren Buffett strumming his ukulele.And Buffett, 78, was pretty good (though not exactly ready for Broadway). Buffett turned up at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills to give an assist to his son, Peter, who has a budding music career and an excellent new album, Imaginary Kingdom.
Peter’s career isn’t so imaginary since Dad gave him a billion bucks last year – a donation that turned him from a musician into a philanthropist-musician with a focus on Africa.
I had a moment to ask Warren whether, given his personal interest in the ukulele, he planned any investments in the music industry. He nodded sagely (that’s the way billionaires nod) and replied: “I don’t really understand the music industry.”
I guess that’s why he put a few billion last week into Goldman Sachs. I told him, “I didn’t really understand Goldman Sachs”, but that didn’t seem to worry him.
I made a second visit to the Paley Center last week to help pay homage to that television legend, Leonard Goldberg. Though Goldberg’s big hits (“Marcus Welby,” “Charlie’s Angels,” “Brian’s Song”) are part of TV’s past, his aura is still such to attract the likes of Sumner Redstone, Les Moonves, Michael Eisner, Harry Sloan and other major players to the event.
I posed the inevitable question: The memorable shows of Goldberg, and his late partner, Aaron Spelling, bore the imprint of their independent company. But could such idiosyncratic productions emerge in today’s TV environment, when every decision is a network decision?
Goldberg, as savvy and sharp as ever, said the creative process today is at once too clogged and too corporate. Michael Eisner disagreed, citing the remarkable diversity offered across today’s TV landscape.
Of course, Eisner’s efforts are mostly focused today on developing material for the web. In that business he can afford to be free-wheeling.
Photo L-R Peter Buffet, Warren Buffet, musician Akon.
Subscribe to Peter Bart's Blog Feed
Mr. Buffet is a modern day pirate who buys companies to sell of their assets. Destruction follows in his wake. He is not unlike Kirk Kerkorian who bought, then destroyed MGM. Ours is a business about creating, not destroying.
Posted by: Arye (Leslie) Michael Bender | 10/8/2008 9:50:52 AM