Silence And Utopia
1 hour ago
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
How Wilco's Jeff Tweedy became a great American songwriter
But Tweedy's devotion to his craft was such that after four Uncle Tupelo albums and two Wilco discs -- despite crippling migraines and an addiction to pain pills -- he had a mid-career blossoming unlike any other in American popular music. Go ahead, try and name another songwriter who started getting better with his seventh album.
Wilco's latest, "The Whole Love," is out today. It's the band's eighth proper album, and the first to be self-released on Wilco's new dBpm label. And while Tweedy took exception to this characterization in our discussion last week, it's the band's most challenging and thrilling effort since "A Ghost Is Born," an arty and accessible album at once familiar yet full of new ground and fascinating left turns.
Interview
BBC financial expert Alessio Rastani: 'I'm an attention seeker not a trader'
The interview contained such gems as "Governments don't rule the world, Goldman Sachs rules the world [and] Goldman Sachs does not care about the rescue package."
But on Tuesday night the BBC was left facing questions about just how qualified Mr Rastani is to speak about the markets.
In the interview Mr Rastani described himself as an independent trader. Elsewhere he claims he's an "investment speaker". Instead of operating from a plush office in Canary Wharf Mr Rastani works and lives with his partner Anita Eader in a £200,000 semi in Bexleyheath, south London. The house, complete with a mortgage from Royal Bank of Scotland, belongs to her not him.
He is a business owner, a 99pc shareholder in public speaking venture Santoro Projects. Its most recent accounts show cash in the bank of £985. After four years trading net assets are £10,048 - in the red.
How a man who has never been authorised by the Financial Services Authority and has no discernible history working for a City institution ended up being interviewed by the BBC remains a mystery.
The incongruity led to some commentators speculating Mr Rastani was a professional hoaxer. The BBC denied the allegation: "We've carried out detailed investigations and can't find any evidence to suggest that the interview with Alessio Rastani was a hoax."
However, the BBC declined to comment on what checks, if any, it had done prior to the interview.
Mr Rastani was a little more forthcoming.
"They approached me," he told The Telegraph. "I'm an attention seeker. That is the main reason I speak. That is the reason I agreed to go on the BBC. Trading is a like a hobby. It is not a business. I am a talker. I talk a lot. I love the whole idea of public speaking."
So he's more of a talker than a trader. A man who doesn't own the house he lives in, but can sum up the financial crisis in just three minutes – a knack that escapes many financial commentators.
"I agreed to go on because I'm attention seeker," he said on Tuesday. "But I meant every word I said."
Jonathan Russell @'The Telegraph'
The incongruity led to some commentators speculating Mr Rastani was a professional hoaxer. The BBC denied the allegation: "We've carried out detailed investigations and can't find any evidence to suggest that the interview with Alessio Rastani was a hoax."
However, the BBC declined to comment on what checks, if any, it had done prior to the interview.
Mr Rastani was a little more forthcoming.
"They approached me," he told The Telegraph. "I'm an attention seeker. That is the main reason I speak. That is the reason I agreed to go on the BBC. Trading is a like a hobby. It is not a business. I am a talker. I talk a lot. I love the whole idea of public speaking."
So he's more of a talker than a trader. A man who doesn't own the house he lives in, but can sum up the financial crisis in just three minutes – a knack that escapes many financial commentators.
"I agreed to go on because I'm attention seeker," he said on Tuesday. "But I meant every word I said."
Jonathan Russell @'The Telegraph'
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