BlogWorld 2011 ditches Vegas for Los Angeles, in the smartest move possible

by Bill Palmer

BlogWorld & New Media Expo is leaving Las Vegas this year in favor of setting up shop in Los Angeles as well as New York City. And while I’m biased in multiple ways, I believe that this is the best move the event could ever have made.

First, a few disclaimers: I live in Los Angeles and love it. I also love New York City, as long as I don’t have to go there in the winter. I’ve never been a fan of Las Vegas, and you won’t catch me there except when my work requires it. And my publication Beatweek has had a media partnership with BlogWorld & New Media Expo as well as its previous pre-merger incarnations, going back several years.

Even with all that said, I believe I can be objective when it comes to the current and former location of this event. Having attended BlogWorld in Las Vegas in past years, I can say the fact that it was out in the desert never took anything away from it – when you’re sitting in a keynote room or working the exhibit hall, it doesn’t matter which city happens to be outside the building. But that city didn’t add anything to BlogWorld, either. Las Vegas is an isolated tourist destination which offers nothing but tourist related accommodations. I’ve long suspected that most conferences set up shop in Vegas for the simple reason that cubicle-dwellers who are having their trip paid by their corporate employer are really just using the conference as a vacation anyway, and if it’s in a party town like Vegas, the cubicle-dwellers are more likely to push their bosses to let them attend. For them, half heartedly participating in a conference is just the price they have to pay in exchange for getting to partake in Vegas debauchery on a comped weekend trip.

That is never what BlogWorld, or the industry it’s focused on, has been about. Sure, there are plenty of people attending BlogWorld who come from corporations, but they’re largely there because they view social media as an initiative for their company and they actually want to be there. I don’t believe I’ve ever encountered an attendee at BlogWorld or any of its previous incarnations (New Media Expo, Podcast Expo, etc) who didn’t actually want to be there. And most BlogWorld attendees are bloggers, podcasters, publishers, independent video producers, you name it, who are there because new media is their lifeblood. An event geared toward and consisting of people who focus on communications, entertainment, and interaction deserves to be held in an environment which fosters all of the above. What better place for BlogWorld to be held, then, than in a place like Los Angeles, which is a mecca for the entertainment industry, news industry, and communications industry. And of course the exact same thing can be said about New York City, which will be the home of the May 2011 BlogWorld incarnation.

Those new media participants who actually enjoyed trekking out to the land of debauchery known as Las Vegas each year for BlogWorld shouldn’t worry. Trust me, Los Angeles has plenty of debauchery as well. But LA also has an environment that’s appropriate for an event that’s all about communicating, which is why I can’t wait to see what comes of the LA incarnation of BlogWorld & New Media Expo this November.

Carlos Santana: the 2011 Beatweek interview

by Bill Palmer

“I’m still relevant right now,” says Carlos Santana with a laugh as he heads into 2011 with a successful new record entitled Guitar Heaven which would be his comeback album if not for the fact that he’s had hits in each of the past five decades and has never really gone away. The twenty-first century sees the living legend with a guitar in one hand and now an iPad in the other, as he prepares to kick off a career-spanning Las Vegas residency this month.

Carlos Santana first appeared on the cover of Beatweek Magazine back in 2009. Now, as 2011 arrives, one of my favorite musicians – and interview subjects – of all time checks back in with us for a return engagement.

The last time we spoke was about a year and a half ago. You were between projects and I asked you what you might do next, and the first thing you said is I think I would like to work with Yo-Yo Ma. Now here he is on the first single of your new album Guitar Heaven. Did you know back then that this was going to happen?

Like you, my body responds to when I need a certain nutrient. For example sometimes, like a pregnant woman, you just crave pickle juice and ice cream, or you crave walnuts or you crave an apple. Your body tells you when you need greens or spinach or broccoli or brown rice. All the sudden you can’t get that out of your mind for some reason. And it’s no different than longing to share with Yo-Yo Ma or Andrea Bocelli or musicians like that. I’d like to do something with Sting. I’d like to do something with Prince. Something that is completely different than anything that they’ve done or that I’ve done. I don’t want to play Sting music or Santana music. I don’t want to play Prince music or Santana music. I want to create something more different, reminiscent of Marvin Gaye or Miles.

I’m into mixing it up. And I’m not afraid to, because all my life, if I can remember, I love variety of colors and moods and textures. You can’t tie me down to just playing Mexican music. It’s not gonna happen. Whatever that is, because at this point Mexican music is polkas, waltzes, and pre-Columbian music. So yes, to answer your question, I longed to share with Yo-Yo Ma, and by the grace of God, the opportunity presented itself to do something which is with India.Arie and doing a George Harrison song called While My Guitar Gently Weeps. It’s spectacular. I’m grateful to God that he put that thing in my conscious to do.

Olivia Harrison had some very nice things to say about your version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Did you tell her beforehand that you were going to do that?

We just sent the song after we did it, and we said you know, I’d like some feedback, I need to know your blessing or if you want me to stop and decease or whatever (laughs). She was very gracious. She said that as soon as she heard it, of course, she jumped with joy and she was crying at the same time. And that to me is all I need as far as validation from someone who was so close to my brother George Harrison that of course she’s not gonna lie to me. If she liked it, I know that he likes it also.

This album is different for you in that you chose songs that were already great instead of new ones. In this case did you choose the songs first, or did you change the singers first? What was the order in which this came to you?

The order came from Clive Davis’ mind. He saw Rolling Stone and another magazine, and he saw the greatest songs, top one hundred best songs ever, rock and roll songs, top guitar players. So he just said hey, why don’t we put chocolate and peanut butter together, you know? And I was like, I don’t know if I want to do that. So once he convinced me, the third time that he tried he convinced me, he picked seven and I picked seven. Then once we picked out the songs, we recorded them first and then we said you know, Joe Cocker would be great in this song and India.Arie will be great here. Rob Thomas actually, I went to a concert, and I was playing him Sunshine of your Love without a singer, and he goes “Hey.” So all the sudden, because he’s very close to Matt Serletic anyway, he decided why don’t we jump on it.

I think the whole thing about this CD is the word is trusting and accepting that God, the universe, whatever you want to call it, it has something to offer you. This is a gift for me. And the gift of Guitar Heaven for me was it taught me not to be such a nervous nelly and to trust that I have the capacity with the band and the producers and Clive to take these songs into a new place and make them completely new, totally familiar, with grace, with integrity, with honesty, with sincerity, with trueness, and genuineness.

Damn. I can’t believe I just said all that, man (laughs).

Speaking of Rob Thomas, the last time you worked together it was lightning in a bottle. It was one of the biggest hits of both of your careers. Did you guys have to think twice about, hey, if we do this again, whatever we do is gonna get compared to Smooth?

First, Bill, I want to say something. Rob Thomas and I, we should probably do a song called “Lightning in a Bottle” because you’re like the 777th person who actually alluded to that statement. Rob Thomas and Santana is capturing lightning in a bottle. That’s the song to be created right there, and I thank you for it.

Second, no, we don’t think like that. Rob Thomas and I, we don’t wake up to think what other people think. That would be disaster, you know? You follow your heart. Any artist who starts to create something, and you think hmm, I wonder what the people are gonna think, it’s already dead in the water. You can’t think like that. If you think like that you’re not an artist, and pretty much you’re a calculator or schemer. And that’s not gonna go very far. That’s not art. That’s gambling. There’s a lot of chance and fortune. Those are fool’s goals. And then there’s God’s grace.

You’ve reinterpreted all these rock songs and they still sound like rock songs, except Black In Black which you’ve turned into more of a hip hop song. Where did that idea come from?

Yours truly. I always felt that Whole Lotta Love and Black In Black can go into, here it goes, 2.. 3.. 4.. [scatting the opening riff]. So that’s how I think. Because that music is very vibrant. Think about rap when it’s really, really hit hard, it has a vibrancy that I love. Like Chuck Berry at his peak, or Little Richard at his peak. So what I look for in these songs more than anything is the frequency or vibrancy. I want it to be extremely effervescent and really vibrant. Even the ballads, Little Wing or Guitar Gently Weeps, as my friend Bill Graham would say, there’s chutzpah in it. It’s not wishy washy, you know? Not one song on this Guitar Heaven album is easy listening music, background music, like bathtub jazz. Not one song.

When you first started jamming on these, did it have that aggression right away, or did you have to get over yourself?

Once I got past myself then I had to motivate the musicians in the studio, and it only took one time for me to say it: with all respect, let’s not play this stuff like LA or New York studio session musicians. Let’s not play it like that at all, because these songs were not written with that kind of energy. These songs were written like a mangy junkyard dog. This is not a pedigree. This is not a poodle that you want a little speck to land on. This is a mother, mmm, energy. That’s what I want.

I stopped the session and I told them this is how we’re gonna play it. We’re gonna be a bunch of MF’ers who are roaring lions and we’re gonna attack. I only said it once. And everybody thanked me for it. They said you know, we really thank you for saying that. We don’t want you to think that you insulted us or you demeaned us. You just put fire under our butt, and we love playing with this kind of energy. We just needed a direction.

Last time we spoke, you had mentioned that you had just gotten an iPhone and I think it was your first cellphone. You had said that before that, you were using smoke signals to communicate. Now that you’ve had some time, is the whole digital thing getting more normal for you?

It has become really normal. I have a lot more access to the things that I love to do, which is art, whether it’s Picasso, Dali, or Miles or Coltrane. I have an iPad and I got it as soon as it came out, and because of the iPad I watch hardly next to zero TV. Because there’s the same energy of fear and vulgarity and crassness, only from different people. So I’d rather play with my iPad. If I’m gonna watch TV, I only watch sports, like tennis or basketball or football. Other than that, I really don’t need anything from television at this point. Because people who manipulate every channel, cable or satellite, they treat people like the lowest denominator of intelligence. They might as well just puke in front of the camera and laugh at you because you’re watching. So because of the iPad, I choose a lot more consciousness, a lot more integrity, a lot more elegance, a lot more excellence. It’s there.

I love being sixty-three, and I wet my finger and put it on the pulse of my wristband, and I’m in touch. Some hippies, they’re back over there. I’m very current. I don’t necessarily listen to everything that’s on the radio, but I’ll say it like this: I’m still relevant right now (laughs). I’m not a yesterday guy. I’m not a mañana guy, and I’m not a yesterday guy. I’m right now, this instant, can I touch my heart, can I touch your heart? And if I can motivate you to in a gentle way, as an invitation for you to accept that you’re significant and meaningful, that you matter and you can make a difference in the world, that’s the ultimate goal. Whether it’s Bob Marley or John Coltrane, that’s the ultimate goal, to utilize music in the media and this interview for. We remind people that everyone is significant, meaningful, that everyone matters and everyone can make a difference in the world. Stop saying my little opinion, my little two cents, and just my little this. There ain’t nothing little about you, except your perception of yourself. And that’s not arrogance. That’s claiming that you are alive and you can create miracles like Jesus. It ain’t just Jesus. Jesus kept telling us, you will be doing things that I won’t be able to do. Jesus didn’t create the Golden Gate. Although we’re all one, he was very clear that you, Bill Palmer, are capable of touching people’s consciousness with this interview. Because you’re one hand and I’m the other. The questions that you ask me allow me to invite people to say, look beyond Guitar Heaven. Just look at your life in the mirror and say, right or wrong, Carlos went after it. Can you go after it with the same zest and the same passion?

I know you just put Guitar Heaven out the door. But can you see yourself doing a Guitar Heaven II in the same form, or do you now need to go on a different path?

Those are questions that I think are up in the air because they depend a lot on the mind and the heart of Clive Davis. If he convinces his superiors that we can do it again in a different form, and I believe it’s successful enough to warrant so. But we don’t want to do a thing just because it’s successful. We want to break new ground. So my answer to you would be it’s up in the air. I have willingness and passion, and with that I can just about do anything and everything.

Santana.com • iTunes • Las Vegas 2011 Santana residency dates

CSI Season Finale to make for bizarre ending to transitional season

CSI as we knew it died along with Warrick in the year before last’s season finale, as the show has spent much of the past two seasons feeling like a spinoff of its former self. Warrick was the middle of three core cast departures in rapid succession, and now the show has become as much about the continued struggles of Catherine to grow into the main supervisor role and the strange understated adventures of fifty year old rookie Ray Langston is anything else. As much mystery as the show’s writers have attempted to pile onto the Langston character, the real mysteries are more along the lines of why they’ve got such a talented actor as Laurence Fishburne playing the character so blankly, and equally as puzzlingly, why they didn’t just write the Langston character as the new boss instead of being an overachieving freshman. Other mysteries include why Sara Sidle has returned for most of this season after running off to the jungle to marry equally departed Gil Grissom, an about-face the writers haven’t even tried to explain with anything beyond glancing blows. So as this second consecutive head-scratcher of a transitional season comes to an end next week, the latest recurring villain known as Dr. Jekyll takes on a bigger focus than he otherwise might have, as the cast’s continued struggle to find its new balance has created a vacuum for the bad guy to fill.

Don’t read any further if you haven’t seen last night’s episode entitled Dr. Who…

More misdirection about Langston, as an outsider claims he has evidence that it was Langston himself, and not merely Langston’s colleague, who was the angel of death. Langston still refuses to take a DNA test, but that appears to be just another red herring. And we learn that Langston has become completely obsessed with identifying Dr. Jekyll, to the point that his house has become one of those mad raving lunatic abodes with its walls covered with the kind of clippings and maps and notes that the CSI’s usually uncover when raiding the house of a serial killer. But we learn from surveillance video that the killer is actually not Langston but an unidentified middle aged white guy with black hair who is apparently connected to the same serial killer that Langston had his class interacting with back when he was still a professor. And according to the promo, the resulting cat and mouse game is one that “one CSI will lose” – and we see an unidentified middle aged white guy with black hair in a CSI vest getting shot as the words are being spoken. They can’t really be dumb enough to kill off another cast member, can they? Our guess is that some CSI who’s never previously appeared on the show turns out to be Dr. Jekyll, perhaps even with the kind of dissociative identity disorder that keeps him from even knowing he’s the killer. But that’s just a guess.

The only thing we know for sure is that CSI’s writers have a surprisingly dark view on the world, even for a show that nearly always starts off with a murder. For all we know, they’ll do something insane like bring Grissom back and have him turn out to be the killer. It would leave the show’s fans unsure whether to vomit or just roll their eyes, but after all, this is the show that killed off Warrick Brown, a move that they’ll never, ever be able to justify no matter what was going on in actor Gary Dourdan’s life. Here’s hoping the writers can avoid giving us two idiot season finales in two years and have instead decided to wrap up the mystery shroud that’s hung around Langston for as long as he’s been on the show in a tidy way that will allow the character to move on so that Laurence Fishburne can finally do something with the character beyond being a brilliant yet gunshy rookie who perpetually looks like he just saw a ghost and doesn’t know what to think of it.

So who got shot in that promo? We don’t even want to know. But we have the sinking feeling that while we’ll know his identity by this time next week, we may not know whether he survives until September. And those expecting to see Dr. Jekyll revealed, caught, and wrapped up next week might be setting their hopes too high as well. After all, CSI has to give us something to scratch our heads over until the fall season premiere.

SPOILER: the details of what happened in the CSI season finale are all right here.

Carlos Santana to play Summerfest

Carlos Santana will be headlining this year’s Summerfest in Milwaukee on July 1st as part of the nation’s largest annual music festival. The performance will come amidst Santana’s 2010 Universal Tone Tour, along with his ongoing Hard Rock residency at The Joint in Las Vegas.

Santana spoke with Beatweek Magazine last year about his Vegas residency: “I’m having fun hanging around with me no matter where I am now. So it could be Las Vegas, a parking lot, I mean I’ve seen Bob Marley, he played in front of Tower Records in San Francisco, same thing with Traffic. So I said damn, you know, if they can play in the streets.”

Carlos also told Beatweek about his experiences as a new iPhone user, why he launched a Santana iPhone app, maintaining the energy level of his live shows, and why he feels younger now than he did when he performed at the original Woodstock, because “I’m not with fear.”

Beatweek’s full interview with Carlos Santana can be found here in full.

New Dave Matthews + Tim Reynolds

The latest official live concert release from Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, this one descriptively titled Live in Las Vegas, is now available for pre-order on CD and is also available in MP3 download format.

The two-CD set includes live acoustic guitar renditions of recent Dave Matthews solo track Eh Hee, several songs from the latest Dave Matthews Band album Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King, a heaping of DMB classics, and a cover of Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir.

Learn more at DaveMatthewsBand.com

CES 2010 preview

And we’re off to the races. Barely a week into 2010, and it’s already time for the first major conference that relates to the iPhone and iPod universe. While CES is a massive event spread over several exhibit halls, and the vast majority of it doesn’t have much to do with said iPhone and iPod universe, iProng will be in Las Vegas with bells on once again this week in order to provide you with first hand coverage of all of the iPhone and iPod related products that make their debut at the event.

This year’s CES will likely offer more in that department than in previous years. While the number of worthwhile products for iPhone or iPod that debuted at CES last year could literally be counted on two or maybe three fingers, that total should easily reach double digits this year thanks to the inclusion of a couple dozen new iPhone/iPod related exhibitors. While rumors of Apple’s participation this year turned out to be unfounded, and claims of unifying the iPhone/iPod exhibitors into a single pavilion have turned out to be overblown (I think half of our iPhone and iPod related appointments are scheduled to take place away from that pavilion, with various vendors choosing to park themselves far away from the pavilion for reasons that only they know), the good news is that the “off the record” sneak peeks we’ve been sent suggest that there will indeed be something to write home about. Our CES 2010 coverage, including our “Best of Show” winners, will be included in the January 12th issue of iProng Magazine – and when the event kicks off on January 7th you can follow along with us for up to the minute updates on iProng.com and on our Twitter feed. While Macworld 2010 in February is likely to produce far more new products for iPhone and iPod users, CES in January should at least tide you over in the mean time.