As the presentations were beginning, I glanced at my watch and
realized I was almost late for dinner with HRH Crown Prince Henri of
Luxemburg. Over at the Marriott Marquis the cocktail hour was still
underway. A full afternoon of panels and presentations from
companies in Luxumburg doing new media/tech. biz had already
informed guests. Those companies were the National Media &
Communications Development Agency (www.mediaport.lu), the
satellite communications company SES-Astra (www.astra.lu)
(footprint of 74 million European households), the largest European
entertainment and radio-TV broadcaster CLT-UFA, the Web design
and services company Incotech (www.incotech.lu), the SEC group of
telecommunications companies (www.sec.lu), the digital media firm
Cybea and the multimedia translation company Euroscript
(www.euroscript.lu).
At the cocktail reception I met Romit Leora, Gabrielle Riera, Susan
Steier (an attorney and board member of NYSIA) and saw William
Lopez of Qwest. Thomas Klinkowstein, president of Media Arts, and
I chatted for a while about who we think are the most interesting
people in the industry (Red Burns, Jaron Lanier). He told me about
the three women astronauts he knows, how he helped Laurie
Anderson get going in Europe, and about some of the shows he did as
a performance artist. Robert Hoffman, a famous Luxumbourg lawyer;
Anne Lux of Euroscript; Linda Gras, Deputy Commissioner, division
for int'l biz, NYC Commission for the UN, Consular Corps and
Protocol; Sal Venezia of Merrill Lynch; and Susan Livington at Brown
Brothers Harriman were also present to learn more about the business
opportunities for these two countries.
Stefan Chorus was snapping pictures of guests and HRH. Gilbert E.
McNeill, Executive Director of AmChamLux, was about to introduce
me to the "handsome prince" (as all the women I met thus far said),
when he politely told me I must put away my paper. No paper is to be
out in front of HRH. This was very confusing to me, as when I
RSVP'd I'd made a point that I was "press." But apparently I wasn't
invited as press, but simply as a new media person. The Prince didn't
want to meet press and, in fact, the NYTimes or the WSJ didn't get
invitations. And yet I spied a freelance reporter not far away. Hmmm.
I told Mr. McNeill that I certainly did not want to offend the Prince,
as I tucked my notepad into my pocketbook, but that he really
should've told me this was the case in his e-mails. So, now the big
moment. I met the Prince, who was tall, tan, elegantly attired and
graceful. He was also a good conversationalist. He asked if I knew
much about Luxumbourg, and I mentioned that I would love to learn
more about this country-the reason, really, that I was interested in
attending this event. So Prince Charming and the Little Prince went
away to meet more people, but not before Justin Model of the NYC
Economic Development Corporation asked HRH Prince Henri if he
was spending lots of money in New York. Alright, Justin! That's the
spirit. I tell ya, that guy is always working for the good of his State
and school--as he asked me if I sent in my donation to Skidmore, our
Alma Mater. Tillie Castellano of the NYCEDC joshed Justin a bit and
we moved into dinner.
While I sat througha HRH the Crown Prince Henri of Luxemburg's
speech, Kevin Bacon and the Bacon brothers were belting out
"Footloose" to the 1000 or so attendees for SmartMoney.com's big,
banner bash at Webster Hall. I stopped by near the tail end to find out
that Agency.com's band got mixed reviews -- Sam Huxley of Brand
Dialogue thought Modem Media's band was much better, while Marc
Frons, Editor-in-Chief of SmartMoney.com thought they were great!
In addition to meeting Eric Lob and several loopy partiers, I had a
chance to pal around with my old colleagues from Brand Dialogue:
Mike Potter and Peter Grasik (who's moved onto a new firm).
