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Harman International Industries, Inc has agreed to be acquired by Goldman Sachs Capital Partners (GSCP) and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) for a price of $120 per share (a total near $8 billion). The share price represents what <I>Bloomberg.com</I> characterized as a 17% premium over its price one day earlier. The company's stock had been increasing in value, having risen by about 2.6% since the beginning of 2007, but beginning April 18, the stock began to surge, "indicating some investors anticipated the buyout," according to <I>Bloomberg</I>. John Rogers, a Citigroup analyst, had predicted in February that Harman was choice for acquisition, estimating that private equity buyers could pay a premium of 20% over its share price and still see annual returns of 20%.

According to Huckleberry, it's a good ear scratch.

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"A linkworthy piece of musical-cultural criticism," writes John Marks. I agree. Now if John Derbyshire had merely said <I>Saturday Night Fever</I> was the greatest movie ever, I'd have agreed to disagree. His passionate and specific arguments, however, have convinced me to see it again with an open mind.

Joshua Ferris ponders the absence of work in literature. We spend most of our lives doing it, but it's MIA on the pages&mdash;unless you're a soldier, whaler, or private eye.

I really like this animated short. I don't know who produced it, but he or she tells a nice story in just over two minutes.

In an article titled, "This Boot Was Made for Jazzin'," found in our April 2007 issue, Thomas Conrad tells us that today's most important European jazz musicians are coming from Italy. It was in that article that I was introduced to the young wonders, saxophonist Francesco Cafiso (18), and pianists, Giovanni Guidi (22) and Alessandro Lanzoni (15). These young men live within a musical landscape nurtured by guys like Gianni Basso (75) and Renato Sellani (81), who, according to Conrad, are "sounding better than ever." I'm not quite sure why, but it thrills me to know that such language, art, and life are being shared between people separated by so many years. Perhaps I see it as some evidence that time is only time. And what does that mean to me? Again, I don't know.