Alan N. Braverman is the senior executive vice president, secretary and general counsel of The Walt Disney Company.^[1]

Career[link]

Braverman was promoted to executive vice president and general counsel, ABC, Inc., in May 2000 by Robert A. Iger, president of The Walt Disney Company, and was named executive vice president and general counsel of The Walt Disney Company in January, 2003.^[2] In his role, Braverman oversees the legal affairs of Disney, worldwide.

Prior to his long tenure at ABC, Inc., Braverman worked at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, where he started in 1976. He was made a partner in 1983, specializing in commercial and administrative litigation.^[3] Braverman began his career as a law clerk to the Honorable Thomas W. Pomeroy, Jr., Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Braverman Had the honor of giving the Commencement Speech at his alma mater, Duquesne University School of Law, in June 2009.

Education[link]

Braverman is a native of Boston, Massachusetts, and received a B.A. degree from Brandeis University in 1969. In 1975, he received a J.D. degree summa cum laude from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where he was editor-in-chief of the Law Review.

Family[link]

His Great Nephew hopes to follow in his footsteps, and has also begun studying law.

References[link]

1. ^ ValueWiki:DIS#Leadership
2. ^ http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/bios/alan_braverman.html Corporate Bio
3. ^ ABC Medianet

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James Cotton
James Cotton 2007
Background information
Born	(1935-07-01) July 1, 1935 (age 76) Tunica, Mississippi, United States
Genres	Blues
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Vocals, harmonica, drums
Years active	1953–present
Labels	Buddah Records Alligator Records Telarc International
Associated acts	Muddy Waters Howlin' Wolf Matt Murphy
Website	Official website

In Delray Beach, Florida

James Cotton (born July 1, 1935, Tunica, Mississippi, United States)^[1] is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who has performed and recorded with many of the great blues artists of his time as well as with his own band.

Career[link]

Cotton became interested in music when he first heard Sonny Boy Williamson II on the radio. He left home with his uncle and moved to West Helena, Arkansas, finding Williamson there. For many years Cotton claimed that he told Williamson that he was an orphan, and that Williamson took him in and raised him; a story he admitted in recent years is not true. Williamson did however mentor Cotton during his early years.^[2] When Williamson left the south to live with his estranged wife in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he left his band in Cotton's hands. Cotton was quoted as saying, "He just gave it to me. But I couldn't hold it together 'cause I was too young and crazy in those days an' everybody in the band was grown men, so much older than me."

Cotton performing in 2008

Although he played drums early in his career, Cotton is famous for his work on the harmonica.

Cotton began his professional career playing the blues harp in Howlin' Wolf's band in the early 1950s.^[2] He made his first recordings as a solo artist for the Sun Records label in Memphis, Tennessee in 1953. Cotton began to work with the Muddy Waters Band around 1955.^[2] He performed songs such as "Got My Mojo Working" and "She's Nineteen Years Old", although he did not appear on the original recordings; long-time Muddy Waters harmonica player Little Walter was utilized on most of Muddy's recording sessions in the 1950s. Cotton's first recording session with Waters took place in June 1957, and he would alternate with Little Walter on Muddy's recording sessions until the end of the decade, and thereafter until he left to form his own band. In 1965 he formed the Jimmy Cotton Blues Quartet, utilizing Otis Spann on piano to record between gigs with Muddy Waters' band. Their performances were captured by producer Samuel Charters on volume two of the Vanguard recording Chicago/The Blues/Today!. After leaving Muddy's band in 1966, Cotton toured with Janis Joplin while pursuing a solo career.^[2] He formed the James Cotton Blues Band in 1967. They mainly performed their own arrangements of popular blues and R&B material from the 1950s and 1960s. Two albums were recorded live in Montreal that year.

James Cotton at Jeff Healey's blues nightclub in Toronto

In the 1960s, Cotton formed a blues band in the tradition of Bobby Bland. Four tracks that featured the big band horn sound and traditional songs were captured on the album Two Sides of the Blue.

In the 1970s, Cotton recorded several albums with Buddah Records. Cotton played harmonica on Muddy Waters' Grammy Award winning 1977 album Hard Again, produced by Johnny Winter. The James Cotton Blues Band received a Grammy nomination in 1984 for Live From Chicago: Mr. Superharp Himself!, and a second for his 1987 release, Take Me Back. He finally was awarded a Grammy for Deep in the Blues in 1996 for Best Traditional Blues Album.^[3]

Cotton appeared on the cover of Living Blues magazine in 1987 in the July/August issue (#76).^[4] He was featured in the same publication's 40th anniversary issue, released in 2010 in August/September.

Cotton battled throat cancer in the mid-1990s, and his last recorded vocal performance was on 2000's Fire Down Under the Hill, but he continued to tour, utilizing singers or his backing band members as vocalists. Cotton's latest studio album, Giant, is scheduled for release on Alligator Records in late September 2010.^[5]

On March 10, 2008, Cotton and Ben Harper inducted Little Walter into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They performed "Juke" and "My Babe" together at the induction ceremony which was broadcast nationwide on VH1 Classic. On August 30, 2010, Cotton was the special guest on Larry Monroe's farewell broadcast of Blue Monday which he hosted on KUT in Austin, Texas for nearly 30 years.^[6]

Musical company[link]

Cotton has worked with artists including:-

Selected discography[link]

• Chicago/The Blues/Today! vol. 2
• 1966 Cut You Loose! (Vanguard)
• 1967 Cotton in Your Ears (Verve)
• 1970 Taking Care of Business (Capitol)
• 1974 100% Cotton (Buddah; w/ Mat "Guitar" Murphy)
• 1976 Live & On the Move (Buddah)
• 1978 High Energy (Buddah)
• 1984 High Compression (Alligator)
• 1986 Live from Chicago Mr. Superharp Himself (Alligator)
• 1987 Take Me Back (Blind Pig; reissued on vinyl 2009)
• 1988 Live at Antone's (Antone's)
• 1990 Harp Attack! (Alligator; w/ Carey Bell, Junior Wells, and Billy Branch)
• 1991 Mighty Long Time (Antone's)
• 1994 3 Harp Boogie (Tomato)
• 1994 Living the Blues (Verve)
• 1995 Two Sides of the Blues
• 1996 Deep in the Blues (Verve)
• 1998 Seems Like Yesterday (Justin Time)
• 1998 Late Night Blues: Live at the Penelope Café 1967 (Justin Time)
• 1999 Best of the Vanguard Years (Vanguard)
• 1999 Superharps (Telarc; w/ Charlie Musselwhite, Sugar Ray Norcia, and Billy Branch)
• 2000 Fire Down Under the Hill (Telarc)
• 2002 35th Anniversary Jam (Telarc)
• 2004 Baby, Don't You Tear My Clothes (Telarc)
• 2007 Breakin' it Up, Breakin' it Down (Legacy; with Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter)
• 2010 Giant (Alligator)

See also[link]

• Chicago Blues Festival

References[link]

External links[link]

• Allmusic
• James Cotton discography from Music City
• His official website
• Review of Breakin' It Up Breakin' It Down CD on Allmusic.com
• Hondarribia blues festival
• PBS American Roots Music Oral History

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Max Keiser
Max Keiser in a London taxi
Born	Timothy Maxwell Keiser (1960-01-23) January 23, 1960 (age 52) New Rochelle, New York
Education	NYU
Occupation	Journalist
Notable credit(s)	Hollywood Stock Exchange, People & Power, The Oracle with Max Keiser, Karmabanque
Relatives	German and Scottish Ancestry, Hugh Maxwell, V 1777-1860
Website
http://maxkeiser.com

Timothy Maxwell "Max" Keiser (born January 23, 1960) is an American broadcaster and film-maker. He hosts Keiser Report, a financial program broadcast on RT (formerly Russia Today).^[1] Keiser also anchors On the Edge, a program of news and analysis hosted by Iran's Press TV.^[2] He hosted the New Year's Eve special, The Keiser's Business Guide to 2010 for BBC Radio 5 Live.^[3] Keiser presented a season of The Oracle with Max Keiser on BBC World News. Previously he produced and appeared regularly in the TV series People & Power on the Al-Jazeera English network. He also presents a weekly show about finance and markets on London's Resonance FM, as well as writing for The Huffington Post.^[4]

In addition to his broadcasting work Keiser is known for his invention of "Virtual Specialist Technology", a software system used by the Hollywood Stock Exchange.

Early career[link]

Keiser has been involved with markets and finance for 25 years. He started his career as a stock broker on Wall Street after graduating from New York University.

Hollywood Stock Exchange[link]

Keiser is the creator, co-founder and former CEO of HSX Holdings/Hollywood Stock Exchange, later sold to Cantor Fitzgerald.^[5] Alongside Michael R. Burns, he co-created the Hollywood Stock Exchange, ^[6] which allows traders to exchange virtual securities, such as "MovieStocks" and "StarBonds", with convertible virtual currency, the Hollywood Dollar.

Keiser is also the co-founder of HSX films, which went on to make almost a dozen films including Mixed Signals, Six-String Samurai, Dancer, Texas Pop. 81 and Girl. The company was bought by Ignite Entertainment/Lionsgate.

Broadcasting career[link]

Keiser presented Rumble at the Box Office^[7] for NBC's Access Hollywood. He also produced and hosted the weekly talk show Buy, Sell, Hold for CBS radio's KLSX in Los Angeles. Currently, he presents The Truth About Markets on Resonance 104.4 FM in London and on RDU 98.5 in Christchurch, New Zealand.

[edit] People & Power

Keiser produced ten short documentary films covering aspects of financial markets for Al Jazeera's series People & Power.^[8] The films include Rigged Markets,^[9] Money Geyser,^[10] Death of the Dollar,^[11] Peaked,^[12] Extraordinary Antics,^[13] Savers vs Speculators,^[14] Banking On It,^[15] Private Finance or Public Swindle?^[16] and Focus on Locusts.^[17]

[edit] The Oracle with Max Keiser

A pilot episode was produced for Al-Jazeera English titled The Oracle. This was developed into a series for BBC World News.^[18] The series first aired on 9 January 2009 and ran for ten episodes. It explored financial current affairs from the perspective of prediction markets. It was intended to be a humorous take on financial news before it happens.

[edit] On The Edge

A weekly financial commentary show which started in 2009 and is broadcast on Press TV, featuring interviews with well known alternative economists.^[19]

[edit] The Keiser Report

Since September 2009, Keiser has hosted The Keiser Report with financial news and analysis, on the RT network. The 30-minute program is produced three times a week. Stacy Herbert is the co-host and banters with Max on headlines and commentary.^[20]

An episode broadcast in September 2011 featured an interview with comedienne Rosanne Barr who stated that her solution to the financial crisis was to "bring back the guillotine".^[21]

Financial punditry[link]

Keiser has appeared as a financial pundit on a number of news networks. Keiser called for a "fatwā" against Hank Paulson^[22] on Al Jazeera in response to the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In a later broadcast Keiser said "Paulson stinks".^[23] Keiser has advised investors to buy silver bullion and physical silver, promoting the metal as a store of value.

Activism[link]

Karmabanque[link]

Keiser founded the hedge fund Karmabanque, which sought to profit from any decline in equity-value of companies that are susceptible to boycott from environmental groups.^[24] The hedge fund's progress was followed monthly in The Ecologist magazine.^[25] Its targets included Coca-Cola^[26] and McDonald's.

The Karmabanque hedge fund project was designed to simultaneously short-sell companies while funnelling profits into environmental and ethical-business pressure groups which further act to drive down the price. Describing the project Keiser stated, "The Internet allows people, activists, from all over the world to gather, or swarm, and hit a company where it hurts most - in their stock price".^[27]

Extraordinary Antics[link]

In the Al-Jazeera short film Extraordinary Antics,^[28] Keiser travelled to Milan and Venice to find out how CIA station chief Robert Seldon Lady and his fellow CIA agents spent $500,000 on a procedure known as extraordinary rendition - a practice which is illegal and caused an Egyptian citizen, who had been granted asylum in Italy, to be abducted in order to face torture in Cairo.

The CIA was prosecuted for the case and Mr. Lady was found guilty in a Milan court. He was sentenced on 9 November 2009 to nine years in prison according to the Guardian.^{[citation needed]} This verdict was upheld on appeal. The US refuses to extradite Mr. Lady to Italy.^[29]

Crash JP Morgan - buy silver[link]

Max Keiser has labeled JPMorgan "the biggest financial terrorist on Wall St" in relation to their alleged manipulation of the price of silver.^[30] Keiser started a campaign called "Crash JP Morgan - buy silver",^[31][32][33] whereby people buy silver, thus raising its price and leaving JPMorgan with a huge short position to cover, the margin of which are collateralized by JPMorgan's own stock price, bankrupting itself. Based on the collateralization of silver by the price of its shares and his allegation that JPMorgan's position is an overwhelmingly large naked short position, Keiser predicted that the a per-ounce silver price exceeding JPMorgan's stock price will not only crash JPMorgan but unsettle the underpinnings of the dollar, which he claims are essentially confetti.

Adweek magazine described Keiser as "the most visible character in an underground movement that has spurred hundreds of blog posts and videos, and played some small part in driving up the price of precious metals".^[34] However, Keiser's prediction that JPMorgan would go bust if silver hit 47 dollars has failed to materialise, drawing criticism from the financial community.

Criticism[link]

• The Guardian newspaper, in an item titled "Mad Max", described Keiser's Karmabanque hedge fund as a "fantastical scheme" and accused him of trying to exist "beyond the normal forces and controls of society".^[35]

• Keiser drew criticism at the 2000 ShowBiz Expo in Las Vegas when he said of media content that "Everything is inescapably going to a price point called free". In response Kevin Tsujihara, executive V.P. of New Media at Warner Bros., commented that "Piracy.com" will be the victor if superior content is available on sites supported by advertisements.^[36]

• In 2005 Steven Milloy, the "Junk Science" commentator, demanded that Keiser be removed from the panel of the Triple Bottom Line Investing conference, where he was scheduled to appear. Milloy accused Keiser of making threats against his organization^[37] and petitioned sponsors Calvert Investments and KLD Research & Analytics to withdraw from the project.^[38] Robert Rubenstein, founder of conference organiser Brooklyn Bridge, stated that Keiser's comments "do not constitute a threat to person or property and are not related to the conference or the content that will be presented there".

• Referring to Keiser's Karmabanque project, a spokeswoman for Ryanair said, "Since they put Ryanair on their list our share price has gone up by 10%. We are always delighted to be part of a list which includes Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Wal-Mart".^[39] However, on the same day The Hindu published an article in which Howard Millar, Ryanair deputy chief executive, admitted that his company may be vulnerable to environmental pressure groups, stating, "I am concerned that there is a continuing media campaign and the concern is that people might say 'maybe I will not fly on holiday and maybe I will make a different choice'".^[40]

See also[link]

Biography portal

• Error account - a term often mentioned by Max Keiser
• Central bank or Reserve bank
• Gold standard - where paper currency is backed up by the value of gold
• Hollywood Accounting

References[link]

External links[link]

• MaxKeiser.com Max Keiser's website
• chaostheorien.de Interview with Max Keiser at chaostheorien.de