Hello everyone out there, I wanted to leave a last minute update on the finally resolved issues with Planning Portland.

I spent a good deal of time trying to work something out with the folks at McMenamin’s. After many trials and tribulations, I thought I had reached a final selection for Portland. Lo and behold, as of today I got a call from the General Manager alerting me that we COULD NOT do the event there because the “higher ups” were concerned.

Apparently, they somehow reached the conclusion that a Beercast was a discussion about Beer - WTF? OK, let’s leave the name out for a moment. You would assume that my e-mails to them which describe it as a reality talk show and the mention that we discuss numerous topics, NOT TO MENTION THE ARCHIVE OF SHOWS that it was pretty obvious that 1) we didn’t talk about beer and 2) that there’s no way you could get enough people to sit around long enough to talk solely on beer.

Quite dejected, I worked with Alex from EventLab and we got a new place and now it’s all about proving to McMenamins that holding on to old and fading thought/marketing practices just WON’T WORK ANYMORE.

It amazes me still that a bar would turn down 20 folks coming down to their venue on one of their slower nights, to drink for a few hours! Indeed I had those outlandish demands of access to a *gasp* power outlet and permission to sit in the corner. I’ll know better for next time and where I won’t be doing events as well.

For those interested in having a great night, you can find us here partying with people that do get it:

Goose Hollow Inn
1927 SW Jefferson
Portland, OR 97201
(503) 228-7010

CF Folks, I’d definitely like to see you all out there and talk some shop!

I had a great time meeting many bloggers last night that came and drank the night away while we had the Seattle Beercast. In total there was something like 12 people involved and we provided the bar with about 85% of its business for the night. Who wouldn’t want the tour to blast through their bar?

Portland is next on the tour and I’ll be leaving tomorrow night to head up to the general vicinity. I’ve been working with the McMenamin’s group to arrange this event so let’s make it successful. For those that would like to come along, here’s the information:

Ringler’s Pub
1332 W. Burnside
Portland, OR 97209
(503) 225-0627

[update] McMenamin’s totally don’t get it and they cancelled on me a day before the event. I’ve made new arrangements here:

Goose Hollow Inn
1927 SW Jefferson
Portland, OR 97201
(503) 228-7010

Starts around 7:30 PM.

For those interested in directly downloading the Beercast, here are the links:

• Jan 23, Table 1, Topic #19

• Jan 23, Table 1, Topic #20

• Jan 23, Table 1, Topic #21

• Jan 23, Table 1, Topic #22

• Jan 23, Table 2, Topic #20

• Jan 23, Table 2, Topic #25

• Jan 23, Table 2, Topic #26

• Jan 23, Table 3, Topic #19

• Jan 23, Table 3, Topic #23

• Jan 23, Table 3, Topic #24

Sorry for all the delays and confusions, folks. Planning something while abroad is really difficult.

In any event, I’ve met with the General Manager for this bar and he welcomes us to do the show. Here’s the details:

Belltown Pub
2322 1st Ave.
Seattle, WA
(206) 728-4311

Setup Time: 6:30 PM
Start Time: 7:30 PM

OK, the Beercasting America tour is coming to Seattle this Sunday night (the 23rd). Here’s the details:

Belltown Pub
2322 1st Ave.
Seattle, WA
(206) 728-4311

Six Arms
300 E. Pike St. Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 223-1698

Setup starts at 6:30pm and we’ll get started at 7.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call me: 973 204-5499.

If you are looking for something to do in Seattle, check out what is mentioned for Summit Attendees. Of course, you should still attend the Beercast!

See you there!

I wanted to send a quick thank you out to all the great people that participated in last night’s Beercast. It’s hard to name them all since there was about 16 or 18 people in total that participated in one form or another.

Once again, the viral nature of Beercasting took over the entire bar and we were getting people from inside and outside coming in to chat. We started our 4 base topics but added about 5 new ones to the end.

I’m heading back to New York now through some ugly snow storm but the audio will get processed and published by Friday if all goes well. Thanks again!

Well, I’ve made it here successfully and landed on the steps of Felix just in time. I caught the owner on the way out and he was pretty happy to have us coming down so Felix looks like the join. Here’s the details:

Felix
2406 18th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009
Phone: 202-483-3549
Metro: Woodley Park-Zoo/ Adams Morgan (Red Line)

Setup starts at 7:30 PM or so and the show gets cranking at about 8-8:30 PM. Topics for tomorrow will include:

Who Makes The Better Lover (8)

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that everyone here’s had sex at least once (if not that’s an even more fun conversation). For those seasoned pros, there’s been situations that you remember fondly and some you wish you could forget. Looking back (and maybe forward), who makes the best lover:

• Someone older than you?
• Someone (significantly) younger than you?
• Someone the same age?
• A virgin?

A Little OCD Goes A Long Way (9)

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a pretty serious problem for those that are plagued by it. That being said, it seems that most of us have it in one way or another. Sometimes it’s called a Pet Peeve or “Just My Thing” but the point is that in some way shape or form we have to “correct” the situation.

• What situation do you feel compelled to “straighten things out”
• What OCD annoys you the most?
• Is there an obsession you think that’s good ;) ?

Damn, Look At That.. Oh No! (10)

They say you should never judge a book by its cover, but sometimes the tempation is too great. Everyone’s been in that situation before where they see some trait or characteristic of someone from afar and automatically assume it’s all good. Of course, once up close the truth hurts.

• What trait grabs your attention first?
• What trait have you found to be the most unreliable?
• Share a story when your look outran your leap

Rumble Strips Really Work (11)

At some point in a driver’s driving career, they’ll come across a ride where they are just utterly exhausted and can’t help but do the chin-drop thing. Thousands of accidents a year are related to driver’s falling asleep behind the wheel. Now, Virigina is taking matters into its own hands and issuing Driving While Drowsy (DWD) summons.

• When you’re dog tired, how do you try to keep yourself up?
• Have you ever been in an accident from falling asleep at the wheel?
• Do you think this type of law is total bullshit?

The Beercasting America Tour is making an early departure for the DC area to get things in order. It’s harder than it seems trying to coordinate an event in a far off land (ok, not that far off) while on the road taking care of business.

In any event, we’re close to locking down with Felix Lounge in the Adams Morgan area of DC. I’ll have an update here as soon as it’s official.

For anyone that would like to come and is local to the area, send an e-mail to tour AT beercasting.com or call me at 973-204-5499.

Well, it’s been a long week here at base camp. After getting back from Worcester I had all sorts of issues from traffic to computer woes. My new HDD arrived finally (damn UPS for holding it an extra week) which consumed all of yesterday and some of today (and still isn’t done yet).

To top that off, we had the first Beercasting casuality. It seems that one of the MP3 players has succumb to drowning after a beer-based tidal wave took over the host table. I wish I could say this was unexpected, but realistically things like this are going to happen. You can add zip lock bags the list of materials I’ll be packing with my bag.

In any event, the Worcester gang was really cool and I have to send out thanks once again to WhizSpark for hosting me and helping me coordinate out there. We’re already working on establishing Beercasting more permanently in the town.

In total, there are 14 unique conversations that you can download. I don’t know if that’s a record or not, but I don’t know anyone else putting out that many per week :). If not, I’ll have it beat in a few weeks when we get 2 and 3 cities running simultaneously.

Here’s a link to the Worcester Beercasting Squad’s Home. I’ll post individual links soon.

Last week, I spent an hour on the phone with Alex Williams, Eric Rice, and Michael Geoghegan for a Corante EventLab Podcast. We were busy discussing some of the real-world issues relating to Podcasting and the growth of the medium.

The conversation goes on for about an hour, but it’s quite insightful for anyone that’s trying to get a handle on things and wants to hear from many different quadrants in one shot. During the show, I eluded to 3 phases of Podcasting that I think will come to notice for all that are entering the space.

Phase 1: Content

Perhaps the first thing someone considering Podcasting is forced to resolve is WHAT their Podcast will be like. There are many skills that have to be developed that support the development of original content. On top of that, a minimal degree of speaking behavior needs to be learned just to guarantee audible, intelligible results for the listener.

Phase 2: Creation

Assuming the Podcaster-to-be has resolved that they are comfortable with the material they want to present, the natural next step is exactly how to create that. Unfortunately, most of us are not audio engineers and we’re going to have to acquire some basic understanding of not just how sound works but also how it is captured and stored. This extends down to the selection of the appropriate equipment for the available budget and learning how to juggle while on the air.

Phase 3: Composition

Once the actual content has been produced and you’re ready to publish, several steps are likely to be performed before finally realeasing the Podcast. There’s production-related tasks like editing the sound, cleaning up the audio, and stitching in effects, etc. On the techical side, there’s ID3 tags to mange, files to export and upload, and RSS to deal with.

We’ll be doing more Podcasts to explore how other podcasters are dealing with these issues. Stay tuned.

Last week, I spent an hour on the phone with Alex Williams, Eric Rice, and Michael Geoghegan discussing some of the real-worl issues relating to Podcasting and the growth of the medium.

The conversation goes on for about an hour, but it’s quite insightful for anyone that’s trying to get a handle on things and wants to hear from many different quadrants in one shot. During the show, I eluded to 3 phases of Podcasting that I think will come to notice for all that are entering the space.

Phase 1: Content

Perhaps the first thing someone considering Podcasting is forced to resolve is WHAT their Podcast will be like. There are many skills that have to be developed that support the development of original content. On top of that, a minimal degree of speaking behavior needs to be learned just to guarantee audible, intelligible results for the listener.

Phase 2: Creation

Assuming the Podcaster-to-be has resolved that they are comfortable with the material they want to present, the natural next step is exactly how to create that. Unfortunately, most of us are not audio engineers and we’re going to have to acquire some basic understanding of not just how sound works but also how it is captured and stored. This extends down to the selection of the appropriate equipment for the available budget.