First, I’m not sure I ought to be allowed into California. Well, truth be told, I’m not sure I ever want to leave California. Of course, I say the same thing every time I come here, but that doesn’t make it any less true. It’s nice here. You know the old saying, “the weather is here, wish you were beautiful”, well here it applies in full.
64 degrees, breezy with full sunshine with some light wispy clouds. Ahhh.
Newport is set up a little differently from most — first, it’s big. I mean, surprisingly big. This is probably the largest of the regional shows I’ve been to, second only to RMAF (and CES, but that’s a trade show). It takes up two happily adjacent hotels, the Hilton and the Atrium. Attendance is about what you’d expect for a top-flight show — that is, heavy. Which is good!
The audio press is here in force, too. Positive Feedback, Stereophile, The Absolute Sound, The Audio Beat, Soundstage, Enjoy the Music — all the big names are here, plus a few of the not-so-big names. Pretty impressive!
I managed to get to a few rooms today, maybe about 6 or so. Which means tomorrow is going to be chock full. I took about 8GB worth of photos today alone, which then need to be weeded through and edited for public consumption … busy, busy.
But still, time for fun. Osso bucco melting off the bone and into a mushroom risotto and some fine wine. The inner chef is happy little glutton right now.
Tomorrow, Peter Breuninger of AVShowrooms is going to show me how video ought to be done, which should be fun. And I need to jam 30 or so rooms in somehow. Before noon.
Stay tuned, there’s much more to come.
Reminds me of the Carly Simon song, “Anticipa-a-tion”.