I arrived home from the Podcast and New Media expo at 12:30am on Monday and have been slowly recovering from another good trip. After missing the first expo in 2005, I’m glad that I’ve had the opportunity to be at the last two. This is going to be quite a write-up, so stick with me… ?
THE NEWS
The weekend started off with the long flight out to Ontario, CA on Thursday (which included a Cheney-delayed flight out of Las Vegas), then off to the bar at the Marriott for dinner with several friends from the “Bucket Brigade.” Being more of a listener than a talker in groups of people, I often have to prep myself to break out my shell and step into conversations. Dinner would prove to be the opportunity to warm up, if you will.
At the end of the dinner, I
got a phone call from my wife. My mother was in the hospital following what Becca described as a mild heart attack. Game over. My mind was no longer on new media or into engaging people in conversation. It was on family. Fortunately, my sister was already about to walk out the door from her place in Omaha to make the drive to Wisconsin because of a cousin’s wedding. My mom was covered, and I was encouraged to stay in California. She got out of the hospital on Saturday afternoon, and appears to be doing well.
I’ve developed great friendships with many people in new media. That connection was even more evident to me this weekend. Thanks to the power of Twitter, I shared the news with many of these friends. For all of you that offered your support, condolences, prayers, and genuine concern about my mother this weekend, I appreciate it more than you know. Thank you.
IN-DEPTH CONVERSATIONS
This year was different from last for a variety of other reasons as well. Of course, this time around I had already met many face to face from last year, which made for a different feel. As a result, the expo was less about meeting a ton of new people, but rather about having serious conversations with a small number of people. I had some great conversations around the value and the need to measure listener engagement. The Association of Downloadable Media was a great start down this road, and I was VERY happy to see the value that the organization wants to place on listener engagement. Big thanks to folks like Chris MacDonald from Wizzard Media for a great conversation on the opening day about this.
I was also fortunate enough to sit down for a short time with Matthew Ebel and Jimmy Golding to chat about making money as an independent musician: Matthew being the trailblazer, Jimmy being the student. A lot of great things came out of this conversation, including a realization of just how important it is for a musician to get their feet into the revenue streams of the corporate world.
HIGHLIGHTS
Of 
course, the best thing about events like this is just enjoying the company of other great people. Despite my mind being in another place and not being as much of a conversationalist as a result, I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with all my friends. You already saw the fun of the plane ride home in the last post. The Hey Homefries Breakfast at the Spire on Saturday morning was one of those great times. A ton a great people including Mr. Ebel (who I hung around with WAY more than I had anticipated this weekend), CC Chapman, Dave Delaney, Julian Smith, Lynette Young, Pistachio, JennF etc. etc. etc. I could go on, but I know I’d forget many. Thanks CC for breakfast and a great start to the day.
I got a chance to meet and befriend Laura Fitton (aka Pistachio) for the first time this weekend. Laura is a truly wonderful, intelligent, fun, caring, 
and firmly grounded woman. All things I greatly admire. Plus, her smile could brighten even the darkest rooms. Although she’s relatively new to the podcasting and new media space, she knows her stuff. One of the best times I had at the expo was the few hours I spent with her and PW Fenton down at the Marriott Bar on Saturday afternoon. PDub is also a wonderful guy, and someone I have admired in this space for a LONG time. It was definatly a hightlight to finally meet him. I won’t soon forget those few causal hours of conversation, nor this picture after PDub said he was going to go powder his nose. Thank you Laura and PDub for a wonderful few hours.
The thing I most anticipated at this year’s expo was the 
concert. Jimmy Golding, Whitney Steele, Jimmy Bratcher, Matthew Ebel, and Lee Coulter were booked to play a half hour of music each on Saturday night. Being the music lover I am, I was excited. Being a big fan of most of these artists, even better. Jimmy Golding played a great set with Geoff Smith backing him up. Jimmy Bratcher showed the crowd that the blues does indeed rock (although I wish the house mix was better), Matthew played a great solo set, and LeeCoulter made all the women swoon. Whitney Steele, on the other hand, absolutely blew everyone away. This was the first time I got to see Whitney with a full band. Unhindered by her guitar, her performance was incredible. She’s an awesome performer and vocalist, not to mention a total sweetheart. I hope the show gets her some well-deserved promotion and visibility.
One last and certainly not least in the train of highlights was the spontaneous recording of Accident Mash #4 with CC Chapman and Ewan Spence poolside late Sunday night. After the Wizzard Media party was dissolved early, a bunch of us headed back to the Marriott Bar. After a few drinks, Ewan Spence got the idea, 
and out to the patio we went. We gathered around Ebel, Whitney Steele, Geoff Smith, Slau, Brother Love, and Jimmy Golding who each did spontaneous live songs. Completely unplanned, completely live, and absolutely incredible. While we were hushed by hotel security several times for being too loud at 2am, we managed to finish up the show without incident. The whole thing was one of those events that none of us will forget, and one that those that missed it very jealous.
THANK YOU
I’m so thankful for all the friendships that I got a chance to bond and strengthen this weekend. While I was off-center and not the most talkative most of the weekend, I appreciate the support of all these incredible friends. YOU are the reason new media works, and I can’t say thank you enough for your part in it.
My pictures from the Expo.
Another big thing today was that I finally got a chance to re-record an interview with the beautiful and talented Laura Clapp. We did an interview some 18 months ago, only to find out that it never recorded. I have been anxious to get back with her to feature her on Looking Out The Window. We finally made it happen today. She has a brand new live album out called “Leaving NashVegas”, and my copy arrived in the mail as we were recording the interview. Look for the show with Laura to roll out on Looking Out The Window in the next month.
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