Springsteen returns to the "Streets of Philadelphia".

“From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen,” the first major exhibition about the legendary rock and roller that was originally assembled for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland,  is now in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center until Sept 3, 2012. 

Springsteen himself explains why there should be an exhibit of his work at the National Constitution Center in the opening quote of the exhibit - "I try to chart the distance between American ideals and American reality. That's how my music is laid out."

The guitar he played from 1968-1971

The Stone Pony was one of the first clubs Springsteen played

The handwritten lyrics of Glory Days

The SteelMill was one of the predecessors to E Street. The name reflects  his interest, even then,  in the working class. 

A sign to promote his concert for former Democratic Presidential Candidate George  McGovern

A typical sign brought by fans to request songs

The 1960 corvette, still registered, that Springsteen bought with  the proceeds of "Born to Run". 

Somehow I can picture Springsteen calling his act Springsteen and his Band of Elves

The medal awarded him at the Kennedy Center Honors

Earlier sartorial choices indicate that Springsteen's taste has improved

Before the E Street band, the band was called the Castiles, after the  soap.

The clothes he wore for the album cover of "Born in the USA". 

Jim Henke, who originally put together the exhibit for the Rock and Roll  Hall of Fame, and Frank Stefanko, who  photographed the early album covers

The exhibit underscores that our patriotic troubadour was a pack rat, but will thrill even the most casual of Springsteen’s fans.  Visitors are greeted at the entrance by his 1960 Corvette, which he bought with the money from "Born to Run". It includes 150 items that range from the Fender Esquire guitar featured on the cover of the “Born to Run” album to his hand written lyrics (complete with a flourish on his T’s) of “Glory Days” to his original audition tapes for Columbia Records. Springsteen, who has won 20 Grammies, 2 Golden Globes, and one Oscar, was very involved in the selection of items such as his writing desk and the suit that he wore to the Obama nomination. 

Philadelphia is the natural home for a Springsteen retrospective. Bolstered by the constant plugging of WYSP’s Ed Shockey and his sold out appearances at the local Main Point and Tower Theater, 50% of the sales for his sophomore album, “The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle, came from the Philadelphia area. 

CNBC's Bartiromo: Banks Are Not Lending Because They Can't Lie

CNBC's star anchor Maria Bartiromo, the "Money Honey" was the featured speaker this morning at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce Economic Outlook 2012 breakfast. Her delivery of a canned speech made it clear that the Money Honey did not want to be in Philadelphia this morning, but only came due to pressure from NBC's new owners, specifically Comcast's Executive Vice President David Cohen. (So much for Comcast's promise not to interfere with the news division.)

Being in Philadelphia, she warmed up the audience by mentioning that her family went to Penn. Interestingly, she stayed mum about having been appointed to the Wharton Business School Leadership Advisory Board by the former CEO of Citigroup's wealth management division, Todd Thomson, who was fired by Citigroup over their alleged affair.

Due to the tremendous amount of advertising dollars that the World Economic Forum drops on CNBC, she must have felt obligated to say the word Davos. However, she did not offer any fresh insights from the conference. As one breakfast attended said, "She did not have to go to Davos to give that speech."

According to Bartiromo, there is a reason that banks are not lending and it is not the bad economy. "One high level bank executive told me his bank is not lending money now because they can no longer lie on the loan documents," she said. "People have to have the financial wherewithal to buy."

She believes that the economy has started to turn around. "When I interviewed JP Morgan CEO Jamie Morgan, he said that housing has hit bottom, but will be bumping around the bottom for awhile."

Bartiromo is a big proponent of mobile technology. "There are 1 billion personal computers in the world today while there are 4 billion mobile devices. Only 400 million of those are smart phones," she said, "Many people do not yet know the potential of their phones. In Korea, they can pay for everything, board planes with their phones."

Internationally, she is concerned about the drop in China's growth rate from 11% to 8%. March 22 is the next potential default date for Greece. Although Greece is a small European country, a default would have a tremendous psychological impact on the market.

With the tremendous growth in the world's population, she is pushing commodities and mining stocks. "Demand for iron ore, gold, copper, and steel are very strong," she said.

She ended with her thoughts on education. "In America, children attend school five hours a day, five days a week when you exclude gym and lunch," said Bartiromo. "In the rest of the world, children go to school 10 hours a day, six days a week."

One of the panelists, the new president of Tasty Baking Company Paul Ridder, is also concerned about the small pool of educated workers. "With the unemployment rate over 8%, you would think that it would be easy for us to find skilled electricians and other workers. It is not," he said.

While many criticize the banks for not lending, Ridder defended the banks. "Banks are not venture capitalists. They must lend to solid businesses," he said.

Dan Calista, founder and CEO of health industry management consulting firm Vynamic, believes that for Philadelphia to grow as a business center "it can not be the murder capital of the world" and must improve conditions at Philadelphia International Airport.

The Flyers and Their Beautiful Wives at Charity Fashion Show

The Flyers Wives held their inaugural fashion show on Wednesday night to benefit Comcast-Spectacor charities, which supports worthwhile local charities such as Stepping Stone Scholars and the animal rescue organization Paws. The owner of the local Nicole Miller boutiques, Mary Dougherty, organized the fashion show. Chris Pronger, Flyer's team captain, wasn't there because he is recovering from a concussion. His wife, Lauren Pronger, said, "I came up with the idea of a fashion show so that the wives could do something away from the game and be women."

Mrs. Pronger did a great job. A good time was had by all while substantial money was raised for charity. Player Braydon Coburn laughed at finding himself at a fashion show. "My wife picks out all my clothes. Without her, I would be naked," said Coburn.

Flyer's Cheerleaders

Lauren Pronger, wife of Flyer's Captain Chris Pronger

My favorite Flyer Matt Carle with his teammate 

Jeweler Steve Lagos, who donated jewelry to the event, and Comcast-Spectacor  executive  Fred  Shabel

Flyer's wives

Flyer's General Manager Paul Holmgren and wife Doreen

Flyer Braydon Coburn

A bearded Flyer Maxine Talbot modeling a cruiser that was up from auction

Flyer Danny Briere

Flyer Danny Briere

Flyer Jamomir Jagr

Flyer Andreas Lilja

Flyer's wives Nadine Coburn and Lauren Pronger

Mr.and Mrs. Braydon Coburn of the Flyers

Flyers seated in the first row waiting for the fashion show to begin

Flyer Scott Hartnell

 

Flyer Jaromir Jagr

Flyer Andreas Lilja

The team eagerly waiting the fashion show 

Laura Goldman and Lauren Pronger, wife of team captain  Chris Pronger

Penn State Trustee Lubert: "It's A Disaster"

The shock of the Penn State pedophilia scandal has been bad enough, but almost equally distressing is the ineptitude of the response from all the parties involved. When Sandusky, Paterno, McQueary, and Erickson speak, the situation becomes more appalling. In recent weeks, the actions of Penn State trustee Ira Lubert have been second guessed by the New York Times, USA Today, and Yahoo.

When I ran into Lubert, wearing jeans and a sweat shirt, peacefully watching a football game at Schlessinger's Deli, I could not resist asking him some questions. I have known Lubert for over 20 years. I can say that during that time he has always been fair and decent to me. For a guy of his immense wealth, he has always been very approachable and low maintenance. 

 He said, "The whole Penn State situation is a disaster. I was on a conference yesterday morning from 9am to noon. I was on two conferences calls today, 9 in the morning and 5pm. I will be at Penn State starting Wednesday of this week for three days."

Since the replacement to football coach Joe Paterno had been chosen, I wondered why he was still working hard. "I am on the executive committee," he explained. He then joked, "I am making so much money for all this hard work." Lubert is, of course, a volunteer. "The job is alot harder than it looks from the outside," he continued. 

His friend, builder Jeffery Orleans chimed in, "Ira bleeds Penn State." Lubert was a star wrestler at Penn State and is now rumored to contribute substantially to the salaries of both the wrestling and football coaches.  There is no doubt that his incredible salesmanship helped the troubled football program land a coach. 

I have no reason to doubt his loyalty to the Nittany Lions. I also dispute the contention that his actions were a power play. He already has enough power. Lubert, who is an ardent Republican, is about to open a money printing casino in Valley Forge. He also has been very generous to Philadelphia institutions such as sponsoring the National Constitution Center's Liberty Medal, which has been awarded to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former Secretary of Defense Bob Gates. However, Lubert-Adler is the target of several unhappy investor lawsuits. 

Naturally, I wondered why Penn State did not consult with public relations professionals before the media maelstrom. Lubert said, "I do not see any advantage in talking to the media." He apparently miscalculated that the media would want to talk to him. 

He stood by his decision of not using a staffing firm to find hire Bill O'Brien as replacement football coach. "The member of the committee had vast experience in hiring people." said Lubert. Maybe, he should have checked with his own employees before considering himself an expert on hiring. 

Former employees have complained that he is a tough boss.For the record, I have found no evidence that Lubert defrauded investors. Some of his recent real estate investments are underwater or bankrupt because they were made at the top of the market while Lubert earned substantial fees to make these bad investments. 

I was not able to get an answer to the most important question of all- Why didn't the Penn State trustees react quicker to the scandal and fire Paterno and complete bar access to Sandusky? 

Zoe Strauss At The Opening of Her Photo Exhibit at the Phila. Museum of Art

Zoe with her former intern, who flew in especially for the  opening

Zoe with Albert in front of her photo of Albert

It is no accident that the woman in the background is laughing. The opening was rip roaring fun.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art rocked last night during the opening of Zoe Strauss's gripping photo exhibit. More than 2000 people came to gape, gawk, and dance the night away. It was totally meta to take pictures of a photographer at her opening. My favorite pictures were "Alzheimer's," "Daddy Tattoo, a portrait of an Amy Winehouse lookalike, and "Tattooed Penises". Alfred said it was "touching" to see his picture in an art museum.

In another totally meta picture, this is the Honickmans of Pepsi Cola Bottling in the gallery named after them. They also were kind enough to provide free soda and water for the thirsty partiers.