DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

The first thing I have to say about Macworld Expo is that Caltrans can lick my buttocks. They closed a lane on highway 101 but didn’t actually do any work on the road as far as I could see. I would have asked a member of the crew what they were repairing except that there weren’t any crew members present when we finally got to the so-called “construction area” after 40 minutes of bumper-to-bumper traffic. That’s your tax dollars at work, or mine anyway.

Nine years ago I worked a booth at Macworld. The show seemed huge. Both halls of Moscone were filled, and it seemed that every Macintosh software maker had a presence. My employer wasn’t selling Mac software at all; the fact that we were there is a testament to the buzz surrounding the Expo.

In the intervening years, the show floor seemed to shrink. Curtained partitions hanging just beyond the last row of booths couldn’t mask the fact that the room’s walls were pretty far away. Neither could the 1000 square feet of “user group area” tables and chairs, right on the show floor.

This year, for the first time that I’ve seen, the entire expo was packed into one exhibition hall. And Apple’s demo area was huge, disguising the fact that dozens of Expo regulars declined to participate this year. If the show gets any smaller they can just hold it in my basement, and save me the hourlong drive.

I saw two exciting and unexpected things at the show, and neither had anything to do with Apple. One was at the Nikon booth. I regularly check out Nikon’s newest digital cameras, in hopes of upgrading my old Coolpix. I was getting hot about the D70, which appears to have won most of the awards there are to win, until the sales rep showed me the Coolpix 8800 — 10x optical zoom, 8 megapixel, vibration reduction, hotshoe, and an LCD that flips out and rotates (enabling the user to preview shots even when the camera is held overhead). Just so you know, I do have a birthday coming up.

The other exciting thing I saw was the Spin Doctors. This was like running into an old friend at the airport — you never expect it to happen. I sure didn’t expect to see the Spin Doctors, who last I heard broke up six or eight years ago. What would they be doing on a tiny stage in a corner of Macworld Expo, playing V-drums and MIDI guitars? I would have expected them to have a schedule conflict — as the house band in the “Where are they now?” file.

Their breakout album was huge: Pocket Full of Kryptonite sold something like 8 million copies. Everybody knows those songs. I haven’t played the album in years but I could sing every word.

Aaron Comess was fun to watch; he is a phenomenal drummer. I remember reading an interview with him about his technique. His teacher didn’t let him touch a drum kit for the first two years, so as not to distract him from good stick control on the snare drum.

As a result, he has a very light touch, even on the kick drum. It was a good lesson for me (i.e. “let the amplifier do the work”).

I couldn’t help but think that Macworld Expo is a pretty lame gig for a big rock band. The crowd of nerds and journalists was underwhelmed — like me, more interested in documenting the event than participating in it. Check out how many cameras were being aimed at the band. Add two more: mine, and the one held by the guy next to me who was shooting a movie of the whole thing. (Pirated concert MPEG at 160x140 resolution and 8-bit, 12 kHz sound!)

I admire the band for continuing to play music professionally, as that’s something I wanted but failed to do. Still, I think after headlining big shows and getting tons of radio play and selling millions of records, it’s gotta be a downer to land a gig at the Cincinnati Chili Festival.