3 posts tagged “timo rivetti”
Flashback to 1986 and Timo was living life in his hectic late twenties in the fast-paced London music business as manager of chart-topping British boy band Curiosity Killed the Cat.
A chance encounter with king of pop art, Andy Warhol's artistic entourage led to Timo and the band hopping on a plane and flying over to New York to film Curiosity's new single, Misfit, in a music video at the famed Factory.
It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that could be put down to boundless, youthful tenacity and being in the right place at the right time. For Warhol, this was his last music video production before he passed on to the great and unlimited canvas above.
Amongst a handful of signed memorabilia from this brief time at the Factory, Timo held on to a Warhol signed, folded ten pound note, tucked into his wallet for almost two decades. He finally agreed to let me frame it and hang it in the downstairs loo after admitting the secret content of his wallet to a Warhol art collector!
Not one to dwell too much on the past, and partly because life took him on a far different course from the music world of the eighties, a visit to the new Warhol Live exhibit at the stunning De Young Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park was more out of curiosity to see if the band of the same name had, in fact, made a mark within the great display of Warhol's work within the music industry.
The exhibition is striking in that Warhol's legacy is every bit as astonishing today as it was in the mid to latter decades of the last century. And if you hurry on down to the De Young before April 5, you can also catch the equally gorgeous sight of the extraordinary gowns of the late and great Yves Saint Laurent.
The De Young is open Tuesday through Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Fridays until 8:45 p.m. Add a $10 special exhibition fee (good for both the Warhol & Yves Saint Laurent shows) to the following admission prices: Adults $10, Seniors 65 and over $7, Youths 13-17 $6, College Students with ID $6, Children 12 and under FREE. Admission tickets to the de Young may be used on the same day for free entrance to the Legion of Honor. First Tuesday of each month is FREE. Though special exhibition fees still apply.
Every cloud has a silver lining. Not least the current drop in housing values here in Sonoma County. For more than 19,000 homeowners throughout the county will be seeing a significant drop in their annual property tax bill this year.
Reflecting the declining home values of those who predominantly bought their home at the peak in the past few years, county appraisers have been busy reviewing values and making the relevant assessments on homes bought between January 2004 and September 2007.
According to regional news and real estate reports, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Windsor and Southeast Santa Rosa have been worst hit with declining values during that time period.
Additional homeowners may receive property tax reductions next year, if the current conditions prevail, creating "a significant impact on county budgeting," says Timo Rivetti, of RE/MAX Marina Realty, Petaluma. "This is another indicator that home prices in the Petaluma area represent a great deal for new buyers and for those who wish to upgrade, with annual property tax levels not as imposing as they have been in the past."
Just when harried real estate agents in the Petaluma area are gradually adjusting to a market moving at what feels like a proverbial snail's pace, there are new plans afoot to make it even less attractive for sellers to put their homes on the market.
A proposal to upgrade existing homes with "Pay As You Save" installation of the latest water saving devices before they are sold, is set to ignite a mass protest at Petaluma City Hall's upcoming council meeting, this September 10th.
The point of sale provision, if approved, would require that all city homes for sale be inspected through Petaluma's "Water-wise House Calls" program, with a trained technician evaluating use and efficiency of all household appliances and landscaping.
In short, prior to the sale of the home, any inefficient water equipment or appliances such as toilets would have to be replaced or upgraded at the owner's expense.
Petaluma's approach may be to offer rebates to local homeowners as an incentive to upgrade old water fixtures and ultimately ramp up an already in place, city-wide water use reduction campaign. This might, at least, balance the finances somewhat for the average seller.
All good in theory and certainly an outstanding move for environmental resources, but nevertheless another costly aspect of a home sale in these tenuous times.
Our resident realtor, Timo will be one of the local Petaluma market's leading broker/agents at City Hall on Monday. More to follow......
