'Everyone'
Last Friday I
got in my car in Asheville, NC and drove (with an overnight stop) to Matawan,
NJ – a town that sort of bridges the landscape from Central New Jersey to the
Jersey Shore. There resides Dr. Thomas
Bruno, Chiropractor. But my visit was
not professional. Tommy is also a
wonderfully talented drummer. Saturday
evening Tom and I were joined by Fred Stancampiano, co-owner of Al Richards
Chocolates in Bayonne, NJ (Mmmm…good stuff and available through their
website!). But, much as I like Fred’s
chocolates, he also, as you may have guessed by now, is a great musician (guitar).
Tommy, Freddy
and I played together in a group called “Everyone.” Based on the name, you may guess it was a
product of the late 1960’s - 1970’s and, you’d be right. Rounding out the group was the late Dr. Tom
Davis, professor of philosophy at State University – New York at New Paltz (bass)
and Frank (Puggy) DeRosa, who is well known for his one-man Neil Diamond
Tribute shows in NJ. There is a ton to write about ‘Everyone’ but
that’s for another day.
At least 7
years ago I wrote a song called “I Just Wanted To Make You Love Me Again. And,
last Saturday, Tommy, Freddy and I got together to record it in Tommy’s
world-class basement recording studio.
In just 4-hours we recorded and mixed the song. The session just flowed.
We were all really thrilled with the way the 2:35 min tune came out. But the beautiful thing about the recording
session was that we worked together as a band for the first time in quite a
while. It was totally collaborative and
the finished product reflects that spirit - versus a songwriter who hired
musicians to record his song. It was special!
After staying
over at Tommy’s I drove to Hastings-on-Hudson (just north of New York City) where my son Kevin and his had family
moved last summer. While simply visiting
the Kevin Felix brood is always great, this time my older son Brian and his
family were there as well. So, on
Sunday, my entire immediate family was together: Kevin, Marissa, Ben, Edie, Brian,
Marissa, Sean, and Gavin! Yup, 4
grandchildren!! We had a great time and paid
a visit to Untermeyer Gardens in nearby Yonkers,
which, if you’re in the area, is definitely a cool place check out.
Industry Band (searching for a name!)
From Hastings I
drove to Boston where, this past Monday night, some of us real estate types got
down and played a rocking music set at a party hosted by a group of real estate
investment management firms. The as yet
unnamed ‘band’ is made up of Beth Thomas, Harvard Management (vocals), Fred
Gortner, Paladin Realty Partners (guitar), Scott Arden, Hodes Weill (drums),
Ken Munkacy, GID Development (guitar) and me (keyboards and vocals). Key in the arrangements was our manager, Ryan
Krauch (Mesa West Capital) - anyone know
an industry bass player?
Our set list
included Feelin’ Allright, Goin’ Down The Road Feelin’ Bad, You Can’t Always
Get What You Want, Mustang Sally and a few others. The
general rule playing music is that if the audience is having fun (i.e. smiling,
singing along and dancing) it’s a good night.
Well, it was a great night!
 |
| (L-R: Me, Fred Gortner, Scott Arden, Beth Thomas, Ken Muhkacy) |
While in Boston
I also had the chance listen in to and engage in real estate conversations such as, “Where the heck are we in
the cycle?” For me, the answer is
simple: we don’t know – at least we
don’t know for sure. But when enough
people start talking about whether things are changing, it means they are
changing and the question becomes: ‘Now what do we do?’
Some of what’s
going on relates to crazy prices being paid for properties. Other factors may include demand for space
and changing demographic characteristics (have you been in any conversation
lately where the word ‘millennial’ hasn’t been mentioned?)
And, while
there is still a lot of money being raised (which is no small task these days), some institutional investors are starting to take a more deliberate
approach to writing checks. Some of this is due to the 'Denominator Effect.' Simply stated, a pension fund has allocations to different asset classes. When one underperforms, say stocks, and real estate performs well that combination throws their asset allocation model out of whack causing the fund to consider sitting on the sidelines for a while until things are more in balance.
One somewhat
reliable historic indicator of where we are in any cycle is the hiring
landscape. For some time, employers have
been taking longer and longer to make hiring decisions. Perhaps, some real estate investment managers are thinking about
what happened in the last down cycle when certain growth related jobs –
acquisitions, development, etc. were eliminated as things dramatically slowed
down. But, pension funds and other
institutional investors and consultants scolded (and sometimes penalized) those firms saying,
“When things were going gangbusters you staffed up like crazy, now, when things
slow down you’re laying people off. We don’t like that type of behavior.” So, maybe now, there’s a more conservative
approach to staffing. Just maybe.
There are other
indicators as well but the big challenge is that no one really knows exactly
what’s happening, just that something is happening.
Now, looking
forward to next week when, amongst other things I’ll be
attending the 14th iGlobalForum Real Estate Private Equity Summit
(March 15/16) at The Pierre Hotel in NYC before hitting the road on Thursday to drive back to Asheville.
Keith Emerson
Last night the news surfaced that Keith Emerson has died. Keith was the Emerson in the band Emerson,
Lake and Palmer. Previously he had been the keyboard player in The Nice. He was a keyboard master and a wild
performer. I got to see ELP as they
became known at the Saratoga (NY) Performing Arts Center and it was an
incredible show. The energy that came
off that stage was amazing.
It
was reported by TMZ that that Keith was found in his California flat with a
self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.
It appears to have been suicide.
How sad. He’d reportedly been suffering from depression
over a degenerative nerve issue in one hand that had sharply curtailed his
ability to play.
All of a
sudden, we’re losing too many music heroes of my generation. It’s sad, very sad indeed.
**
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In closing, I
hope things are going well for you and that you’re taking time out to do
non-business things and spending time with people that are important in your
life: Life can change in the blink of an eye – don’t miss out on opportunities
to create memories.
