Lou Reed, the lead singer of the seminal Warhol-backed band Velvet Underground and noted ape-like jerk, was always admired for his artistic integrity. (Or maybe, he wasn't!) At any rate, he isn't! He's 65, avaricious and willing to go sneer, strut and sing for the highest bidder. Yesterday, Reed performed for an assemblage of stressed out French bankers from the firm Carmignac Gestion in a Parisian theater. As per the Reuters report: "many arrived at the concert fresh from a day in the office grappling with a dramatic slump in European stock markets. Several bankers could be seen typing into their Blackberries and poring over data before Reed took to the stage." Reed supposedly told them, "I love Paris!" According to a Carmignac exectutive though, he should have yelled "I love Money." In the exec's delightful Parisian way, he described the interaction thusly: "We offered him some money and he came." But what's the saddest part of this story? It's certainly not Lou Reed!

In a separate Reuters story, Carmignac announced it would be closing its technology fund on March 31st, putting, no doubt, any number of those harried Blackberry-checking "Kiss the boot of shiny shiny leather"-singing money managers out of work. Talk about walking on the fired side!