The First VTR

I had a little time to kill before my flight to LA today, so I was finally able to stroll through the early audio exhibit in the United concourse at SFO (on the way to gates 76-90). Lots of interesting historic items including this first videotape recorder. When Apmex showed this to television executives in 1956 they gave it a standing ovation. The exhibit is Dolby heavy - practically everything is on loan from Dolby Labs, including the Ampex. Ray Dolby was on the team that invented it - but well worth the 20 minute stroll.

Space Needle

Henry and I are in Seattle. Tomorrow we leave on the Geek Cruise for Alaska with my dad and brother. We visited Paul Allen's Experience Music Project and Sci Fi Museum today. Seeing the Sky Church at EMP brought back fond memories of The Screen Savers episode we taped here several years ago.

This is the view outside our hotel window. What is it about tall structures that attracts my eye? Don't answer that. The Space Needle at night is breathtaking, even if it's not as tall as the CN Tower.

Quicktime VR of The Screen Savers studio

Here's a Quicktime VR picture of the Screen Savers set from my point of view at home base. (You need Quicktime to view this. If I've coded this properly, Quicktime should load automatically, even if you haven't installed it yet. The movie itself is about 1.4 megs so it may take some time to download it. Click on the picture and drag your mouse to move around in it. You can look up and down, too.) Thanks to Alex Lindsay of dvGarage for taking the picture. You can read all about it on The Screen Savers web page. (NOTE 7 Oct 2007: I'm trying to figure out when this is. This is the second Screen Savers set - Patrick Norton is already co-hosting, you can see his skateboard behind home base. We're already moved to Studio B - making room for Tech Live I guess - but lots of pieces are still missing, including the LAN party set, the spiral staircase, and the audience risers. The "babe corral" isn't finished yet either. The control room is visible behind it. You can also still see the old Money Machine set behind the cameras. This must have been very early on with the new set.)

That's not my sweat baby

You may see a picture like this floating around the Internet. I just want you to know it's a fake. I wasn't there. I don't know who that woman is. It's not my sweat. I do want to point out that the hairpiece is holding up pretty well, however.

New pictures posted

I've been cleaning up my office - a yearly ritual - to get ready to work on the new books, and in the process found some old images I'd been planning to post for some time. They're tucked away in the Old Pix page. This is from our trip to Austin a couple of years ago. After the show we visited the County Line Barbecue where they treated us all to an amazing spread. Here are our former line producer, Russ Pitts, Patrick, Martin, and me dining. Things really are bigger in Texas! I've posted some other pictures, including my old 3rd class radio license. Even DJs used to have to have these. I remember taking the train to the FCC offices in New York to get mine in 1976. The rest of the images are on the Old Pix page. Click on the thumbnails for full sized images. When I get a chance I'll reorganize the navigation so it's easier to get to.