After nearly ten years of working on this thing we call the “information super-highway”, I finally got a chance to go to one of the pre-eminent conference events in the industry–South by Southwest.
I gotta say, too much build up is a bad thing. I call it the “Forest Gump” effect. Or the “Sixth Sense” effect. Or a more contemporary example, “The Prestige” effect. With all three of those movies, there was so much build-up–you know, “This-is-the-best-movie-ever-and-I-bought-a-copy-of-the-DVD-so-I-can-watch-it-over-and-over” kind of thing–that it never lives up to it. I guess after attending some pretty innovative and informative conferences over my career (UIE is great, btw), I was expecting more. There were a few really great sessions, but too many panels-without-any-direction sessions. Perhaps next year’s SXSW will switch up the format a bit. For more on the conference, check out my friend Paul’s blog.
On the plus side, there was some good swag I picked up–a few Google shirts, a Firefox shirt and hat, and a shirt from Lucky Oliver (which, btw, seems to have a pretty good selection of low-cost, high-quality stock images).
, is his best yet–he’s brought the blues influence of his musical background to the foreground, much to the improvement of his songwriting and musicianship. My wife and I first saw him at Deer Valley in Park City, Utah–pre-Grammy-winning and on the rise as a major musical talent. It’s nice to see that he continues to grow and entertain–he has a long career ahead of him. 
