by Sooz on February 7, 2003
Wednesday, February 12th @ 7pm, Caveau, Prudential Center, Boston
Mark James is hosting the third Bostonia gathering at Caveau, a wine bistro that is part of the Marche Movenpick compex at the Prudential Center in Boston. The event takes place Wednesday, February 12th at 7pm. I met a lot of interesting people at the previous two events. There is no cost to attend the event. Everyone pays for their own food and drink.
Bostonia is a network at Ryze, a business networking website founded by Adrian Scott. You don’t need to be a Ryze member to attend Bostonia events; but it’s free to join. The Bostonia Network has over 100 members. If you plan to be at the event but aren’t a Ryze member, let me know you’ll be there. Otherwise, RSVP on the event info page. You can view my page at Ryze but you’ll need to be logged in as a member to see most of the tidbits including guestbook entries.
(Note: This event is an individual Bostonia Network event, and is not officially sponsored by Ryze)
by Sooz on February 5, 2003
I mentioned a couple weeks ago that Bruce Springsteen and Patty Scialfa were expected to perform at a benefit concert for Doubletake Magazine at the Somerville Theater. DoubleTake is a magazine about the documentary film world and had stopped its operations due to financial problems. The Boston Herald reported tickets would cost $1,000 and $5,000. A few days later, Bruce was reported to have been cranky that news about the show being was leaked to the press by DoubleTake before anything was official. He was apparently also irritated about the high ticket price.
The show is now back on and is listed on DoubleTake’s website. Bruce and Patty will perform at two “intimate concerts” for approximately 900 people on February 19th and 20th. Ticket prices dropped considerably, too. “Tickets will cost $100 and $500. There will be a limited number of tickets available directly from DoubleTake. The price of these seats will start at $1,000 and include a pre-show reception attended by Dr. Robert Coles, Springsteen and other prominent DoubleTake supporters.” Tickets go on sale today, February 5th at 11am.
I wonder how fast tickets will sell out. Thirty seconds? A minute?
by Sooz on February 4, 2003
During the days and nights of March 7-11, hundreds of web professionals and hobbyists converge in Austin, TX for the South by Southwest Interactive Festival. The festival includes panels, a trade show and evening parties. This will be my third year attending. It’s always a mix of fun, learning and inspiration.
Independents Day (a project I help organize) will be co-hosting three panels with Derek Powazek, John (Halcyon) Styn and Jeffrey Zeldman during the festival. ID has been quiet lately but interesting things are stirring and we should have some new things in the works later this year.
Why you need to be there
The South by Southwest Interactive Festival’s website lists several good tidbits regarding who should attend and why. Their list focuses on people who work in technology or Internet related careers; but the festival is also great for people with personal websites and labor of love web projects. People who attend the South by Southwest Interactive festival are passionate about the work they do professionally and personally on the Internet and the web. If you’re a freelancer, free agent or consultant, SXSW is presenting the second Freelancer Forum on Monday, March 10th, hosted by Pableaux Johnson.
The costs, getting there, etc.
If you think that this conference is too expensive to get to from Boston, think again! The entire conference, which includes a diverse collection of panels and parties, costs $250 for the entire four days plus hotel and airfare. I’ve been looking into airfares out of Boston, Providence and Manchester. It looks like Hotwire(.com) has the best deals. If you’re OK with not knowing what time you’re departing until after the ticket is purchased Hotwire is an excellent option. Last time I checked they had fares for $240 roundtrip from Boston to Austin. You can also save on hotel costs when you book through the festival. If you’re a bargain fare shopper and you don’t stay at The Ritz, you can probably keep the trip under $850. If your job involves technology, the web or Internet, your boss should absolutely pay for this trip! If you need ideas to help inspire them to make that decision, let me know. If you are a freelancer, free agent or consultant and you attend the festival, be sure to save all your receipts so you can write off the trip as a business expense at the end of the year.
See you there?
If you’ll be there or just thinking about it, let me know. It would be nice to see more people from New England there. Local Boston guy Ravi Jain is up for a SXSW award for his Three Abreast web sitcom!
Never been to Austin and/or SXSW?
Check out SXSW Blog, a community for South by Southwest Interactive participants. If you’ve never been to Austin before, visit Denise Czaja’s “Guide to Austin.”
by Sooz on February 1, 2003
by Sooz on February 1, 2003
Photo #1: Vin, his Netezza coworker Sonia and her husband Mike.
Photo #2: It looks like the Celtics have a new mascot. What’s his name?
Photo #3: The beverage menu for the Premium Club. Would you like a bottle of Dom with that burger?
Photo #4: The Celtics were losing by fifty points with five minutes left in the game.
Last night Michael and I attended the equally hilarious and sad Boston Celtics basketball game versus the Detroit Pistons at the Fleetcenter. I’m mostly a sports fan by osmosis (via Michael); but attending Celtics game are usually a lot of fun. Michael’s dad has season tickets and I sometimes go when there’s an extra ticket available. Last night we had really great seats in the “premium” area (thanks to Vin, Michael’s dad!) which meant a comfier seat, cup holder, waitress and access to the premium club restaurant. It’s too bad that the one game of the year that we had great seats was also the game that would go down in Celtics history as their worst loss. It was comical seeing the fans turn on the Celtics and start to loudly cheer whenever the Pistons scored in the fourth quarter. And despite the Celtics’ mega loss, we had a lot of fun.
