Last week my father and I packed up and drove into the city to go to the Taping of the 50th Episode of Diggnation, at the Beach Chalet in San Francisco.
As we walked in we ran into Kevin Rose has he was heading off to get ready. We wandered over to the bar and my dad had a California Kind Ale and I got a Riptide Red Ale. Of course I ended up with the better of the brews. We then moved where we could watch the activity.
It’s amazing how 100 people seems like a lot more (there had to of been more then that there). Looking around I saw a huge mix of humanity with some older and a couple kids, but mainly it seemed to be men and women around 20′s & 30′s. There was the business man with the jacket left in the car (or seat back) the motorcycle guy with the shaved head and long braids (interesting combo), and more then a few “company” shirts there. At one point I was going to keep track of the sponsors shirts… since they where in force. But after noticing that very few Digg employees actually stood out, I moved on. I was actually pleasantly surprised at the number of DIGGNATION t-shirts. I had seen them for sale, but wasn’t sure how many would actually buy them. (later I wish I had been a couple foot taller as this 6’8″ guy reached up and snagged one that was thrown where I was standing).
As the show got started I soon realized that I was going to have to deal with being there for the ambiance. It was noisy. That room was defiantly over limits and very crowded by the time the taping started at 8pm. Alex and Kevin had both been very nice and had been answering questions, signing shit (slightly embarrassed) and bullshiting while enjoying what brew they could.
The taping started and where my dad & I was finally able to sit (like i said VERY crowded) was at the bar… and the taping was going on through a thick crowd of talking people. I was actually amazed at how clear they where when I watched the podcast tonight (yes it was busy). The topics where varied, which was great as my dad hadn’t gotten to watch too much. As the taping went along, time went pretty damn fast and soon it was getting to the end. Not knowing that, and figuring that they had MUCH longer to go I had moved with my dad hanging back to the center where the sweet spot for the speakers happened to be. Watching offstage while Kevin reacted to his coworkers and employees gave him a hard time, telling jokes and then rooting on the people bringing in shots was hilarious. Besides the fact I missed the free shirt because of the tower in front of me… the whole time was great. By the end of the evening I had 4 of those excellent Riptide Reds, a plate of their great Garlic Fries (really… I’ll go there again just to have some more some time) and the atmosphere was electric.
After the taping Alex with the weak bowels ran off and Kevin slowly made his way through, only stopping to say hello here and there. I got to BS with him for a few minutes (offering to arrange a wine tasting in the Napa Valley for him, which I’m sure he forgot about) and then as he moved on I turned just in time to find Alex talking to a couple lovelies… And the only question I asked him? “With all that flying he has to do who does he fly?” I had assumed Southwest with as much as he’s flown, but Shuttle by United seemed the winner as he’s “in the Platinum club can I believe it, (he’s) flown 500 times last year.” I just have to say damn! There has to be enough frequent flier miles for a England Trip soon. I can’t wait to hear about that.
Well I’ve spammed enough, let me close off with the podcast below. Click and enjoy, it’s VERY entertaining.
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Or if you want to download it, click here for your choice of files.
Note: After reading this I realized one, don’t drink and then decide to post late at night… lot’s of errors. Secondly I realize this was more getting the over all picture of what was going on there. I purposely tried not to listen into the deal makers talking, or what the gossip was that people couldn’t stop talking about while the taping was going on. The event was for the taping/// so that’s why I was there. I noticed that over all Kevin and Alex seemed light drinkers, the girls loved getting their “shirts” signed by both of them, and the beer was good. But isn’t that what Diggnation is? Good brew and conversation?
Tags: Event, Interesting, Local, podcast, Review
