On the party prowl
Who can figure Vegas? A sin city that has transformed itself into a "family destination." Such paradox. And this same strange sort of dichotomy played itself out on Tuesday night's Comdex party scene.
Over at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center, the techies were doing well by doing good -- at the traditional Chili Cook-off. This is one event that, even in this joint, manages to exude good clean fun.
Sponsored by software maker Micrografx, companies compete to cook up the year's best pot of chili, all to benefit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which, through a combination of technology, generosity, and sheer determination, has located more than 140 missing children since its founding in 1990.
Things got hot -- and not just because of the jalapenos. Former Dallas Cowboys QB Danny White and baseball great Steve Garvey signed autographs. And then ch-ch-ch-chili eating turned into a performance by Ch-ch-ch-Chakka Khan, Khan, Khan.
The scene wasn't as wholesome, however, over at The Beach, a juke joint, which hosted a party headlined by B.B. King. The blues is about bein' human -- basic, lowdown, unpretentiously human. And the crowd it attracted was just that: Bikini-clad waitresses slung lots of beer. Most of the males smoked lots of cigars. B.B. gave out signed replicas of Lucille, his guitar, ageless, like the guitar master himself.
But even amid B.B.'s infamous blues, there was hope -- that Comdex' Generation Next, which turned out big-time for this event, appreciates the blues. B.B., by the way, knows computers. We ran into him on a plane once -- plucking away on his very own IBM ThinkPad.
Some things never change. Waitresses at The Beach complained they'd never seen a crowd that tipped so poorly -- a perennial rap against the earnest techies who turn out for Comdex.
Question: What do Las Vegas and the high-tech biz have in common? Answer: Both were built on chips and silicone. (Quip comes courtesy of The Beach's likeable DJ.)
It was, no doubt, Comdex' most star-spangled night -- especially at the Hard Rock Cafe. That's where Computer Shopper, the tome of mail-order PC makers, held its 12th Annual Best Buy Awards. It raised a whopping $1 million for the Tomorrow's Children Fund, a charity aimed at helping children with cancer and rare blood and bone disorders.
And it did it with star power -- 100-megawatt star power. Diana Ross reigned supreme. And Sinbad, the comedian, sailed ahead of her. He's a funny man. He's a techie, too.
Sinbad riffed out these high-tech one liners: "Make sure the demo works even if the products don't. We don't come to Comdex for the truth." And ... "What's the difference between a computer salesperson and a car salesperson: One's outside."
Winner for most exclusive party goes to Panasonic and its parent Matsushita Electric. Matsushita America's new CEO, Yoshinori Kobe, and his top North American execs treated 30 reporters to a soft-sell about printers, displays, and DVD drives.
And the reporters gladly submitted to the talk-fest in return for what they got in return: Caviar, clams and fine, fine wine. And we do mean fine. Presiding was world famous master sommelier Barry Levin.
As for the wine -- vintage-priced at $35 a glass -- it flowed freely. Our own ZDTV producer John Gilles won a drawing that allowed him to taste a $1,200 bottle of 1961 Chateau Lafite Rothschild, supposedly the vintage of the century. Gilles' report on his $300 glass of wine: Very promising on the nose, but disappointing on the finish.
Speaking of the finish ... We gotta bring this report to an end, and get some sleep ahead of Wednesday night's ... party scene.
John Dodge, Shauna Sampson, John Gilles, Jim O'Brien, and Sean Silverthorne contributed to this report.