Hedge-Fund Rockers Tap Inner Jagger to Help Disabled Children

Date: Thursday, October 18, 2007
Author: HedgeCo.Net

Bloomberg- Last month, at a basement bar in a New York Cajun restaurant, Chris Heasman of Lazard Asset Management and about 20 other hedge-fund executives dressed down in jeans and T-shirts spent the night belting out songs by the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead and U2.

Some blasted guitars, while others played drums or keyboards on standards like ``Gimme Shelter'' and ``Sympathy for the Devil'' for an appreciative crowd of financial wizards.

They weren't just unwinding from a hectic day of managing money for some of America's wealthiest people. They were members of amateur rock bonds competing for spots in tonight's fundraising concert at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill to help disabled children in poor countries get corrective surgery or prosthetic limbs.

``It's a nice diversion from the day-to-day grind,'' said Subscribers lead singer Timothy Wheeler, a commercial bankruptcy lawyer at Lowenstein Sandler in Roseland, New Jersey, whose clients include hedge funds. ``It's great to get together with the gang and play music.''

More than 25 hedge-fund bands asked to play at the fourth annual ``Rocktoberfest.'' Seven bands and a dozen acoustic performers were finally chosen to perform at the event, which hopes to raise $350,000 for the nonprofit group A Leg to Stand On.