Sometimes when you experience a particular sensation, you are instantly transported into another realm. Flashing colored lights, heavy bass sounds and darkened bars conjure up club days from the 70s and 80s. And the China Club was alive with fever at the Evoke party the opening night of the Streaming Media East conference on June 12. After gaining entrance past the tough security (i.e. the friendly Mark Dean of First Conferences), Jennifer Madrid and Edward Mastronardi of Merrill Lynch and I checked our soggy umbrellas and climbed the steps to the heart-pumping disco floor.
After seeing William Lopez, who told me he’s now with Ekaboo Studios (from Quest Communications), I chased down two strapping lads in colorful printed tops and shorts. Sebastian Baldwin and Rubin Walravin were in town from beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia, for the conference. Their company, ModernGroove.com, is a modern rights wholesaler. It consigns music from original artists, selling it at floating prices on the 'Net. This allows consumers to set the rates for their favorite music. Theirs was also the first company in Canada to receive development kits from Sony and to sell CDs with 20 to 30 hours of music for $50 – complete with wild graphics and visualizations. Down the bar, I met and chatted with Mark Austin and Tony Grey of Entera, while around the corner Todd Loewenstein and Russell Faber of Evoke, and Shelley Morrison of Real Networks were chatting. Michael Medwig was attempting to reach the sky, or at least the same height as his friend and colleague, 6-foot-plus- tall Sky Holden. These two chaps from Real told me Sky's not the only one that tall. His twin brother, Shadow, is equally as tall. As I was heading out, I caught up with Austin-ite Christopher Levy of NaviSite, and Chip Royce and Randy Levine of NaviSite (Andover and San Diego offices), and Willms Buhse of Digital World Services.
