Day 2-Trade show and first music

In his song, the Pretender, Jackson Browne said "locked between the longing for love and the struggle for the legal tender". That's how the groups must feel who play for the corporate events. When they play a SxSW showcase, they theoretically get their fans. But when they do a corporate event, they get paid quite nicely. However, as many people are talking as are listening.

Last night we went to the SAY: event at the Speakeasy on Congress. Nice of them to have a VIP line. However the non-VIP line was shorter and moved faster.

They did give us three drink tix on the way in. Saw two bands, Mister Loveless and Quiet Life. Mister Loveless played on the roof. Dale had enough good sense to have us bring along ear plugs. As a budding audio engineer, he understands protecting his ears as valuable assets. I would probably hear better today out of my left ear had I paid attention to this early on. Mister Loveless was loud, and pretty good. Kind of punk pop. Thirty years ago they would have been called punk, but today, they sound like a lot of pop groups.

Quiet Life played on the main downstairs stage. A little country, a little blues and a little rock, with some Allman Bros. feel. Very nice tunes, three guitars, some great riffs, very melodic. Would go see them in a bar any time.

Earlier in the day we went to the SxSW trade show floor. Lots of interesting things there, both internet, emphasis on social and music. Dale's number one booth, a guy selling a home or small label vinyl production kit. Seemed pretty sophisticated. About 5 grand. I will try to get the name for a later posting.

Dinner last night was at Wink. Went there last year and both times it was very good. Highly recommended if you can get in. Pricey though. Had a stimulating dinner conversation with Dale, Eric Picard and Tony Incalcatera. Talked about a lot of things, including a very interesting tangent on how the mind works. Different kinds of memory, etc. Nice time.

First full day of music today. Looking forward. Check back for more on the music at SxSW.

Traveling to Austin

Getting here:

Had read lots about the merger between UAL and Continental but got to see it first hand traveling on Sunday. They are REALLY screwed up. Apparently the new United is using the Continental computer system. That means, unknown to us, our United FF numbers are not the ones any more, we have to use the Continental ones. My son Dale does not have a Continental account. You'd think they would have just ported it over!

They could find neither one of our reservations in the system on check in. They wanted us to get in the line of all the people who were having trouble, but that was the horrible line we did not want to do, so we stood there and kept asking for more help. Finally found the reservations, but then tried to charge us for our bags. I tried to explain that I have Gold status. But it's not in their system, even though I can see it when I log in. Then they figured out that I had been upgraded. Result, no charges on the bags. A lot of stress and anguish to even get to the plane. You would think that with over a year to work on this, their systems would have been a higher priority. Not impressed at all.

On the plane, I sat next to Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus. Nice guy. He now splits his time between his foundation and being a VC.

Got to Austin and our friend Steve Sarner from Tagged.com had a car service pick us up. Things were rapidly improving at this point. Thanks, Steve!

Checked into the Omni and headed out for dinner at the Parkside. Great food. One of the things about Austin is the mac and cheese at almost every restaurant. We intend to try them all as side dishes.

SxSW bound!

Heading out to SxSW on Sunday morning. My son Dale Smith is traveling with me. We are looking forward to a solid week of music. We'll also be visiting the Interactive trade show and maybe stop by a few panels. There's some business to do, a few parties that we MUST attend, some barbecue to consume and lots more. Staying at the Omni which is only a block away from 6th street and the center of the action.

Managed to snag a United Airlines non stop so we'll be there for dinner on Sunday. And maybe a set or two at one of the parties or open events.

We are so looking forward to this.

Stay tuned. I hope to blog daily. Just as I did last year.

DLS