'Museums on Us' this Weekend - October 5 and 6

In case you didn't know, through Bank of America's Museums on Us program, bank cardholders can visit more than 150 museums nationwide for free during the first full weekend of each month, including five Charlotte museums. The next opportunity is this Saturday and Sunday, October 5 and 6.

The Mint Museum Uptown. Credit: Facebook

Below is the list of participating Charlotte museums:

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, 420 S. Tryon St., 704-353-9200, bechtler.org.

Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, 551 S. Tryon St., 704-547-3700, ganttcenter.org.

Levine Museum of the New South, 200 E. Seventh St., 704-333-1887, museumofthenewsouth.org.

The Mint Museum Randolph, 2730 Randolph Rd., 704-337-2000, mintmuseum.org.

The Mint Museum Uptown, 500 S. Tryon St., 704-337-2000, mintmuseum.org.

All you have to do is show your Bank of America or Merrill Lynch card and photo ID at the admissions counter at any of the participating museums to be admitted for free. It would also be convenient for you to visit more than one of the museums during an outing because four of the five venues are located within walking distance of each other in Uptown (all except for the Mint Randolph location).

Harvey B. Gantt Center. Credit: Facebook

For more details on Museums on Us, visit museums.bankofamerica.com.

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Bank of America Experimenting with Mobile-Wallet Technology in New Pilot Program

It's scary sometimes to think about how much we use our mobile phones. In fact, one day soon we should start calling them something else because the phone--in terms of actually talking on the device--is becoming less and less of what we use them for. In addition to all of the texting, web browsing, social networking, picture taking and uploading, video recording, etc. you use your smartphones for, the money is in, well, the money. I'm sure you use your phone to check your bank accounts and maybe even make payments or online purchases through the mobile web, but Bank of America is seeking to up the ante in the global market of mobile payments that's estimated to be more than $170 billion.

BofA has launched a pilot program that it's testing out only in Charlotte, in which a customer can pay at a store register by simply scanning an image with a smartphone. So, basically, instead of swiping your debit/credit card at a register (as if that's too difficult), you would have the clerk scan your phone, which you likely would be holding in your hand anyway (oh no, but that would mean you wouldn't be able to rudely talk on your phone while in the checkout line).

Bank of America has partnered with a Wellesley, Massachusetts-based startup company called Paydiant, which specializes in mobile-wallet technology. Only BofA employees are participating in the three-month trial period, and five Charlotte merchants/retailers are being used. You can read more about the pilot program in this Reuters article.

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Job Fair June 7 for Charlotte-Area Military Veterans

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and RecruitMilitary are presenting the Hiring Our Heroes veteran job fair and opportunity expo on Thursday, June 7, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Charlotte Motor Speedway (in the ballroom of The Speedway Club, 5555 Concord Parkway South, Concord). This is a free event for military veterans, including personnel who are transitioning from active duty to civilian life, veterans who already have civilian work experience, members of the National Guard and reserves, and their spouses.

So far, 46 exhibitors and hiring companies have signed on to participate, including Verizon Communications, Bank of America / Merrill Lynch, Kellogg, Chiquita Brands, The Home Depot, Wells Fargo, Convergys, Ettain Group, State Farm, Lash Group, Oracle, and many more. Click here for more details and to register to attend. You can also see what people are saying about RecruitMilitary, the military-to-civilian recruiting firm putting on this job fair, by visiting their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/recruitmilitary.

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Cam Newton's 'Night Out' in New Under Armour Commercial

If you weren't quite convinced of Cam Newton's star power during his record-breaking rookie season with the Carolina Panthers, this new commercial by Under Armour should finally make you a believer. It's becoming clear that the sportswear and apparel company plans on making the NFL Rookie of the Year the face of its brand. Why wouldn't you, with a 22-year-old, who's built like he was created in a video game, has Hollywood looks, and, most importantly, became the first quarterback in NFL history to pass for at least 4,000 yards (4,051 to be exact) and rush for at least 500 yards (706) in a single season.

The title of the 60-second spot is "Cam's Night Out." It was filmed at Bank of America Stadium--see, when you're a star, the camera and production crews come to you--as you can tell by the Panther-blue stadium seats. Starring in the commercial with Cam is crazy producer/live beat-maker AraabMuzik. Why? Because the football field/stadium is Cam's club, and Araab is his DJ. It's a creative concept they have going in the commercial. But who knows, it could be truer than you think. Cam is hardly ever spotted at nightclubs in Charlotte, unlike many of the city's other young, rich, professional athletes. It's nothing wrong with popping mad bottles at the likes of Butter and Suite when you make more in a week than most of us make in a year.

But staying out of the nightclub and staying in the weight room and on the field seems to be working pretty well so far for Cam. And it's got him starring in one of the coolest athlete commercials I've seen in awhile, which, reportedly, is the first time Under Armour has created a campaign centered on a single athlete.

You see Cam perform some ridiculously athletic moves. It trips me out how he dribbles a football like it's a basketball, which you've probably seen him do on occasion. He ends the commercial with his signature touchdown celebration move--the Superman pose, which we hope we see a lot of next fall.

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Money Shot—Charlotte Chamber’s Economic Outlook Conference

The Charlotte Chamber held its annual Economic Outlook Conference yesterday at Charlotte Convention Center. You can read The Charlotte Observer article, "CEOs see slow economic growth in 2012," to learn what executives from five of the country's largest businesses and the Federal Reserve had to say about the economy. I just wanted to share one of the Observer's photos here because it shows how much money was in the room yesterday, which you can see from the six esteemed gentlemen on the stage (each of the corporations they represent are either headquartered in Charlotte or have a large presence here). There were also numerous CEOs, presidents, and other top executives in attendance.

Pictured from left to right: Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond; David Carroll, senior executive vice president of Wealth, Brokerage and Retirement Services for Wells Fargo; Brian T. Moynihan, president and CEO of Bank of America; Dan DiMicco, chairman and CEO of Nucor; Christopher Kearney, chairman and CEO of SPX; and Jim Rogers, chairman and CEO of Duke Energy. Photo by Jeff Willhelm/The Charlotte Observer. Click here to see full gallery.

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Verizon Commercial Spotlights Charlotte, Energy

I saw a cool new TV commercial tonight in which Charlotte, specifically its Uptown buildings, is the star. Verizon has rolled out a national campaign to promote how its "network of technology, people, and ideas" is benefiting businesses and communities. In the commercial featuring Charlotte, it highlights how the city is using "Verizon technology to inspire businesses to conserve energy and monitor costs, making communities greener."

The creative premise of the commercial shows a series of Uptown buildings being honored as employee of the month inside their respective offices. Those include the new UNC Charlotte Center City Building and NASCAR Hall of Fame, among others. Watch the video below.

If you visit the Verizon website dedicated to this campaign, verizon.com/plus, and click on the "Energy" tab, it takes you to several resources, including white papers and case studies on smart grid and cloud technology. There's also a link to Envision Charlotte, an initiative led by Duke Energy's Smart Energy Now program that uses digital grid technologies to display real-time energy data throughout Uptown, to create awareness and encourage behavioral change. The goal of this initiative is to cut energy use in Uptown by up to 20 percent by 2016. Several major corporations and organizations have partnered with Duke Energy on this, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Verizon, Mecklenburg County, the City of Charlotte, and others.

Plans for Envision Charlotte have been in the works for the past year, and the campaign officially kicked off last Friday (click here to read The Charlotte Observer article). Below is a video from last year, in which former President Bill Clinton announces Envision Charlotte at the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting. He's joined on stage by Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers, Cisco CEO John Chambers, Mayor Anthony Foxx, and Charlotte Center City Partners President Michael Smith.

All of this strengthens the momentum Charlotte has been building over the last few years to grow its energy sector. Several local leaders want the city to be known as an energy hub as much as it is known for banking, and the motivation behind energy is propelled by the possibility of job creation, in addition to environmental sustainability.

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What's up with Occupy Charlotte?

I've been following the national news coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement over the last three weeks or so. And as the rallies and protests spread from New York to other major cities like Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles, so did the national media's inclusion of those cities in its coverage. But I hadn't been hearing any mention of Charlotte. Surely the citizens of this country's second largest banking city would get involved, right?

Well, the Occupy Charlotte movement appears to have been quietly building momentum for about two weeks, and this past week and this weekend made its biggest showing yet. An estimated 500 protesters gathered in Uptown Saturday and marched from the old City Hall on East Trade Street to the Bank of America headquarters on Tryon Street. Some even slept outside overnight to continue the rally today. So Charlotte's efforts finally got mentioned in news stories by The Wall Street Journal, ABC News, and others over the last 24 hours.

Supporters of Occupy Charlotte gathered in Uptown Saturday. Photo by Enid Valu.

Occupy Charlotte protesters reportedly will also march to the Charlotte City Council meeting Monday. So you'll likely see a lot more local coverage in coming days.

Like many of you, I'm curious to see how this movement progresses nationally and what the overall objectives are. I know the participants are largely rallying against the corporate greed that has ruined this economy, but Occupy Wall Street--and the groups that have spun-off--have been criticized for not having a conventional leader nor a clear organizational structure.

As for Charlotte, I'm a little skeptical about the impact the movement will have here because this city does not have a strong history of successful grassroots organization in the name of protests. This has long been a buttoned-up town. And despite what many across the country might say about the evils of the financial industry, the big banks--Bank of America and Wachovia-turned-Wells-Fargo--have done a lot of great things for this city. You don't want to bite the hand that feeds you, but at the same time a lot of people are already starving (and have lost their jobs and homes) because of some of the greedy and shady practices banks and other big corporations engaged in for years.

Keep up with the Occupy Charlotte movement at these links:

• OccupyCharlotte.org
• Occupy Charlotte on Facebook (there are a few pages set up but this one has the most fans)
• Twitter @OccupyCLT
• #OccupyCharlotte hashtag

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'Museums on Us' this Weekend

I think a lot of people are unaware of Bank of America's great Museums on Us program. Here's how it works: By presenting your Bank of America or Merrill Lynch debit or credit card, you're admitted for free into more than 150 participating museums nationwide during the first full weekend of every month. So the next one is this Saturday and Sunday, August 6 and 7.

There are six museums in Charlotte where you'll be admitted for free (each one below links to that museum's website):

• Bechtler Museum of Modern Art
• Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture
• Levine Museum of the New South
• Mint Museum Randolph
• Mint Museum Uptown
• NASCAR Hall of Fame

All of these museums, except for the Mint Museum Randolph, are in Uptown so you can easily visit more than one of them in an afternoon. Make a day of it! Charlotte has such a rich offering of museums and cultural arts venues, and more people should visit them. If you're a BofA customer, take advantage of this free weekend and go see Niki de Saint Phalle: Creation of a New Mythology at Bechtler; Live and In Stereo(type) at Gantt; COURAGE at Levine Museum; Attitude and Alchemy: The Metalwork of Gary Lee Noffke at Mint Uptown; and The Great Hall at NASCAR HOF.

The remaining Museums on Us weekends for 2011 are: September 3 and 4, October 1 and 2, November 5 and 6, and December 3 and 4. For more details, visit museums.bankofamerica.com.

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'Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers' Keeps Telling Charlotte's Story

I always say that eight out of 10 people I meet in Charlotte aren't from here. I can't say that my 80 percent theory is scientific, but I'm sure you would agree that Charlotte has a lot of newcomers and transplants. I've lived here for almost six years now and because of the work I do I've gotten to know the city really well. But it's easy to get caught up in the present and future and not know much about a place's history. There's no better way to learn Charlotte's story than by visiting the Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers exhibit at Levine Museum of the New South. The award-winning exhibit that debuted in 2001 has just been renovated and updated to reflect the past decade.

Levine Museum tells the history of the New South, which is defined as the period from the end of the Civil War (1865) to today. Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers is its permanent exhibit, located on the first floor, so if you've ever visited the museum you've likely journeyed through it. It's a large exhibit that literally guides you through Charlotte's history from when cotton fields dominated the landscape in the late 1800s and early 1900s to how the economy changed that eventually led to the businesses that built the skyscrapers we see in Uptown today. Or as the museum folks say, it goes from "farm to factory to finance." And along the way, you experience cool artifacts and features such as equipment from a cotton mill, a replica of an old Belk department store, a lunch counter that tells the story of Civil Rights Movement-era sit-ins, the history of integrating schools, the plight of factory workers, how Duke Energy became the largest utility company in the country, and more.

Levine Museum has been celebrating its 20th anniversary since the beginning of the year, and things ramped up this week with an elaborate and festive gala, "Taste of Time," on Thursday that drew hundreds of people, including some of the city's most prominent figures. This week also saw the reopening of Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers, which underwent a three-month renovation. It now contains an additional 750 feet of gallery space, primarily comprised of the new end section, titled "Whirlwind of Growth, 1970s-2010s." In this section, which largely reflects the changes Charlotte has experienced since 2001, you see how the big banks got bigger--Bank of America and Wachovia--and how the latter was acquired by Wells Fargo. You also see how Charlotte has become one of the South's most diverse cities.

A replica of the Bank of America Corporate Center stands tall in Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers.

The exhibit also now features many new interactive components with touchscreen technology. There's the "Remix History" feature, where you can play with digital graphics on flatscreens to manipulate historic photos (it reminds of how the folks at CNN slide things around on their big screens when telling the news). There's also "Picture Yourself in History," where you sit in front of a green screen and have your picture taken to place yourself into an historic moment. The computer allows you to email the photo to yourself so you can have a keepsake (look for these to pop up on people's Facebook pages).

But before you get to all of the cool new stuff at the end of the exhibit, you get to experience a new 10-minute intro film. Sitting in the theater at the entrance to the exhibit, you can watch a video that I guarantee will tell you some stuff about Charlotte you never knew. But you'll likely recognize the names of the voices narrating the film--former Bank of America chief Hugh McColl, NASCAR pioneer Humpy Wheeler, and radio personality Ramona Holloway.

On Tuesday I attended a media tour for the reopening of Cotton Fields to Skyscrapers. Below is a few minutes of video I captured that showcases the new section at the end. Levine Museum historian Tom Hanchett points out some of the new features; then I wander off a little on my own.

You should make sure to check it out for yourself, which you can do tomorrow (Sunday, May 1) during the museum's 20th Anniversary Community Celebration. The free event takes place 12-5 p.m. and you'll be treated to exhibit tours, music and dance performances, multimedia art, photography, family activities, and birthday cake. Levine Museum of the New South, 200 E. Seventh St., 704-333-1887, www.museumofthenewsouth.org.

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A Tale of Two Stories: Fight at Butler vs. East Meck Game Friday; Announcement of Project LIFT to Aid West Charlotte Monday

If you ever wanted to understand the complexities that make up the public school system today, just look at the two largest headlines coming out of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools right now. And perhaps the way in which we share these stories says more about us than the events.

On Friday night, a fight broke out at the Butler High School versus East Mecklenburg High School basketball game. Allegedly, two parents and their daughter attacked a school resource officer, who is paid to keep the peace at events such as this. A camera crew from WCNC NewsChannel 36 (Charlotte's NBC affiliate) was at the game recording footage for the night's sports coverage, and ended up getting the entire brawl on tape. The video, which is embedded below, has gone viral, popping up on websites and newscasts across the country for the last three days.

Fast forward to Monday morning, and a group of Charlotte business and philanthropic leaders, known as the CMS Investment Study Group, unveiled a five-year, $55 million plan to help improve performance at West Charlotte High School and the seven elementary and middle schools that feed into it. West Charlotte High has a 51 percent graduation rate. Repeat: Almost half of West Charlotte's students aren't graduating. Titled Project L.I.F.T. (Leadership and Investment For Transformation), this new effort will "focus on enhanced teacher and school leadership quality, more time spent on task (including extended day, out of school time, and pre-kindergarten programs), access to technology, and policy changes that will allow school leadership more freedom." A news video of the announcement is embedded below as well. Click here to read the press release announcing Project L.I.F.T.

It's a tale of two stories. One gave Charlotte a black eye. The other gave Charlotte one more reason to be admired by other cities. I wonder if Monday's story will spread like wild fire across the Internet like Friday's did. Probably not. Instead of people not wanting to look away from the train wreck, I hope the community will soon take seriously this collision course we're on with a future filled with large, uneducated segments of the population. Like the behavior in the fight video, it starts at home.

Hats off to the Charlotte corporations and foundations that have already made hefty pledges to Project L.I.F.T., totaling $40.5 million so far:

• Belk Foundation: $1 million
• Foundation For The Carolinas: $2 million
• Wells Fargo Foundation: $2.5 million
• Duke Energy Foundation: $5 million
• Bank of America Charitable Foundation: $10 million
• C.D. Spangler Foundation: $10 million
• The Leon Levine Foundation: $10 million

Click here if you would like to contribute to the cause.

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Mark Martin Is a Hip-Hop Head

I just saw the coolest thing a few minutes ago. I was watching Jim Rome Is Burning on ESPN, and Carl Edwards was serving as the correspondent at the end of the show. Edwards was walking around interviewing other NASCAR drivers at Charlotte Motor Speedway, getting ready for this weekend's Bank of America 500. When he's talking to Mark Martin he says, "Mark has a diverse taste in music. What are you listening to right now?" Mark replies, "Gucci Mane's got a new album out, so I'm listening to that."

Yes, the 51-year-old, who's currently the oldest driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, is a hip-hop head. Can you imagine him speeding down the racetrack with "Gucci Time" blaring out the windows? Martin said he's also playing Eminem's latest album.

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Charlotte NC Fashion Week Underway

The third annual Charlotte NC Fashion Week (CNCFW) kicked off yesterday with workshops in the afternoon, a reception in the evening, and a fashion show at night. The all-day schedule continues today and tomorrow at Bank of America's Founders Hall and Urban Garden.

I attended Thursday's reception and fashion show, and my first impression was a good one as I stepped inside the Urban Garden for the first time. I had read about the building's construction and had passed it several times since it opened a few months ago, but this was my first time inside. It's a beautiful space and great venue for the fashion show and just about any other special event.

The crowd last night was a little light, I'm guessing about 150 people, but that's not surprising for a Thursday. I'm sure Friday and Saturday's crowds will be much larger. Even still, the fashion show last night was enjoyable. The DJ (and servers carrying drinks) kept us entertained until the fashion show began about 8:30 p.m. CNCFW Director Anthony Simons greeted the audience and shared his vision for the event. He then introduced host Debra Kennedy, who did a great job hosting the show--she's very charming and witty.

Since last night was Boutique Night, the models wore designs sold at several local boutiques, including: O1NE Boutique, Moonkee’s, Fresh Boutique, Ivey & Leo, L.A. East, Reign Fine Apparel, Banana Republic, and Scarlett Plus Boutique.

Courtnee Mason was among the models at last night's CNCFW event. Photo courtesy of QcityMetro.com.

O1NE, whose apparel was very urban/street/skateboarder-like, was my favorite. They featured the most male models of the night, and the dudes wore items that I would actually wear (that doesn't happen much for me at fashion shows). O1NE's female models wore sporty dresses and jeans that I wouldn't mind seeing my chick wearing. L.A. East had by far the most models in the show, and their presentation was very Hollywood chic, like you would see worn on The Hills. Scarlett Plus got the most applause of the night as patrons cheered every time one of their plus-size models proudly strutted down the catwalk.

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New York Times Reviews 'Banktown' and City

In the Sunday edition of The New York Times, the venerable newspaper reviews Banktown: The Rise and Struggles of Charlotte's Big Banks, a book released this month that was written by The Charlotte Observer reporter Rick Rothacker. The Times review is quite lengthy and you realize it's as much a book review as it is a business article and that this book is as much about Charlotte as it is New York. It was, after all, Charlotte that was home to two of the country's biggest banks, becoming an unlikely financial district that puzzled New Yorkers.

As is evident by the review, titled "Big Banking, Southern Style," the book contains a lot of what we in Charlotte have known for quite a while, such as how Bank of America and Wachovia's Tryon Street rivalry built their balance sheets while simultaneously building this city. And then there's the ugly reminders:

“Bank of America and Wells Fargo remain formidable corporate players in the city,” Mr. Rothacker says, and Charlotte also possesses a range of other financial firms. But it remains to be seen, he says, “whether or not the city can replace the salaries of high-paying bank jobs” that it has lost.

The Times review goes on to say that Banktown reveals a lot of details from court documents and securities filings, as well as provides great insight from Hugh McColl. But in the most stinging line of the review it states:

The “Banktown” saga has all the elements of a compelling tale of high finance. Unfortunately, the writing fails to rise to the drama of the occasion.

Banktown is available at many major bookstores and at Amazon.com.

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'Wachovia's Drug Habit' Revealed in Magazine

You've been hearing a lot lately about how increasingly deadly and powerful Mexican gangs and drug cartels are becoming, and how they're impacting the U.S. border. Well, in the August issue of Bloomberg Markets magazine, it reveals how over a three-year period Wachovia was used by drug cartels to launder money. Several U.S. banks are implicated, but Charlotte-based Wachovia, which is now own by Wells Fargo, sits atop the heap. It's reported that Wachovia handled $378 billion (yes, billion) in illegal funds for Mexican-currency-exchange houses from 2004 to 2007. And that's said to be the largest violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, an anti-money-laundering law, in U.S. history.

Also playing a role is Charlotte-based Bank of America. This is depicted in a scene during an incident in 2006 when law enforcement search a jet at an airport in Mexico: They found 128 black suitcases, packed with 5.7 tons of cocaine, valued at $100 million. The stash was supposed to have been delivered from Caracas to drug traffickers in Toluca, near Mexico City, Mexican prosecutors later found. Law enforcement officials also discovered something else. The smugglers had bought the DC-9 with laundered funds they transferred through two of the biggest banks in the U.S.: Wachovia Corp. and Bank of America Corp.

The article says that Wachovia, which federal prosecutors charged, ignored signs that drug cartels were funneling money through its banks. It also goes on to state that since 2006, more than 22,000 people have been killed in drug-related battles that have occurred mostly along the 2,000-mile border that Mexico shares with the U.S.

Read more about the Bloomberg article by clicking here.

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3 of Top 10 Hiring Companies Have Base Operations in Charlotte

An MSNBC/Forbes.com article reveals the top 10 companies that are currently listing the most job openings nationwide. Three of them have strong ties to the Charlotte area: second-ranked Lowe's is headquartered in nearby Mooresville, sixth-ranked Bank of America is headquartered here, and tenth-ranked Wells Fargo considers Charlotte its East Coast banking hub after acquiring Wachovia. Click here to read the full story.

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Soccer Fan Gets Mollywhopped

You probably thought you wouldn't see any tackling at Bank of America Stadium until the Carolina Panthers preseason starts in August. Well, as you probably are aware, there was an international soccer match played here Wednesday. About 65,000 fans filled Bank of America Stadium to watch Mexico vs. Iceland.

One fan got a little too amped up and decided to run onto the field. A security guy tackled him in a way that's going to make us really miss Julius Peppers. See the YouTube clip below.

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Maybe BofA Should Use TheLadders

Over the past 24 hours, and particularly this morning, news of Bank of America's search for a CEO to replace the retiring Ken Lewis has been dominating business news websites and the blogosphere. Apparently the job isn't very appealing to some of the top-notch executives who BofA is going after. Maybe they should use TheLadders for their job search ("$100k+ jobs for $100k+ people"). Ranging from speculation to confirmed reports, the latest news suggests that when BofA announces its new CEO, which is expected to come next week, that man (wouldn't you be surprised if it was a woman?) likely won't already be living here in Charlotte and probably won't be required to move here. That in itself has opened the door to a whole new realm of speculation.


I've selected a few news and blog links below.

Bank of America’s Next Chief May Be Based in New York. Bloomberg

BofA CEO may be based outside Charlotte. Reuters

Bank of America's next chief could be based in the Big Apple. Daily Finance (AOL)

Nobody Wants To Lead Bank Of America. DealBreaker

The Dowager City: Next BofA Chief May Quit Charlotte. DealBreaker

BNY Mellon CEO Kelly Tells BofA: No, Thanks. The Wall Street Journal

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The Chase for Danica

Several sports news outlets, including ESPN and Sports Illustrated, have reported over the last couple of days that IndyCar Series star Danica Patrick has been meeting with Charlotte-area based NASCAR teams. Team owners Rick Hendrick and Micheal Waltrip have confirmed meeting with Patrick, who would be highly coveted because of the lucrative sponsorships and endorsement deals she brings to a sport that is fueled by corporate dollars. Hendrick, who usually gets the drivers he wants, says he would like to place Patrick in the JR Motorsports team that is co-owned by him and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

It's been widely speculated that she will race part-time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2010, around her IndyCar season. The IndyCar season ends this weekend, and if I was a betting man I'd say we'll see her in Charlotte next week leading up to next weekend's NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. It makes perfect sense because that race is considered a homecoming for many of the NASCAR drivers who live in the area, which means they would be on hand to try to woo her to their respective teams. Patrick, who finished third in this year's Indianapolis 500, would be a huge spectator draw at NASCAR races.

Oh, and in case you forgot, she models too.

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Hugh McColl Always Seems to Know What He's Talking About

There was so much national media coverage of Bank of America's shareholders meeting last week in Charlotte, you would've thought the meeting wasn't an annual occurrence. But, of course, the economy--and the state of banks specifically--isn't where it was a year ago and people's concerns are at an all-time high. As you know, Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis was stripped of his chairman title at the meeting, which was said to have drawn 2,200 shareholders inside Belk Theater at the start of the contentious, four-hour session.

Offering an interesting perspective on the day's event and insight into what's to come was former BofA CEO/chairman Hugh McColl, who is credited for creating the blueprint for the behemoth the bank is today, before retiring in 2001 and being succeeded by Lewis. In this video below, Bloomberg News interviews McColl outside of the shareholders meeting. Even though he dodges a few questions, I like how McColl always speaks so matter-of-factly.



We can expect another storm to brew later this week. The results of the federal government's "stress tests" of 19 U.S. banks are scheduled to be released Thursday.

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BofA Is Officially Number One

According to a new study by SNL Financial, Bank of America is now the largest U.S. bank, ranked by assets. The Charlotte-based bank has total assets of almost $2.5 trillion. Before the recent acquisition of Merrill Lynch, BofA would have been ranked third. Even though the Merrill Lynch deal has proved to be an ongoing headache as New York's attorney general has led an investigation into the massive executive bonuses ML dished out, at least we can take pleasure in knowing we're number one. Take that New York! And Ken Lewis has won...for now.

BofA knocked off former number one JPMorgan Chase (New York), which is now second on the list with $2.17 trillion in assets. Citigroup (New York) is third with $1.9 trillion; Wells Fargo (San Francisco), which acquired Wachovia at the end of the year, is fourth with $1.3 trillion; and HSBC (Mettawa, Ill.) rounds out the top five with $467 billion.

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