AI is very excited to be participating in Aspen Live this year! Host Jim Lewi has graciously invited us to take over the Saturday programming for what we have dubbed “Aspen Integrated“, where we will be curating conversation around the state of social media as it relates to opportunities/challenges in live entertainment, various sides of the music biz, venues, and more. We shall also enjoy shredding some mountain for three days with friends new and old.

If any winter sports equipment and apparel companies would like a beta test and evangelism of their killer new ski gear, please contact @n8thesk8 ME.

Thanks to detailed sustainability planning and multiple trash-sorting stations at last weekend’s Silver Lake Jubilee, the event successfully diverted 90 percent of trash produced at the event from landfills. According to Sustain LA, of the trash generated by dozens of vendors and more than 10,000 attendees, 3,600 pounds of waste was diverted to compost & recycling (over 2,000 pounds to compost alone) leaving 400 pounds of trash to landfill.

I spoke with Leslie van Keuren Campbell, founder of Sustain LA at the Jubilee and learned how her staff and volunteers help make local restaurants, events and street fairs more sustainable.

Originally posted May 25, 2011 at LAist.com.

Google took us further into the digital media future with some compelling announcements at the fourth annual Google I/O developers conference in San Francisco this week. Recent Google I/O keynotes seem silly in retrospect — both Google Wave and Buzz were epic busts. But this year Google narrowed its focuses to it’s strengths, namely the Android mobile operating system and the Chrome browser and operating system. The gist was this: Use Google’s web-based tools and applications, combine with seemingly infinite storage space in the cloud, and bulky hard drives and desktop PC’s will become mere artifacts of our technological evolution. A Google account combined with a device running Android or Chrome OS will be all you need to do [almost] anything.

The day one keynote (video) included the expected launch of Google’s cloud-based music locker. Google Music Beta, currently invite only, was launched without proper licensing from labels, publishers, and artists. In skirting questions regarding working with labels, Google consistently claimed it had big plans but couldn’t comment on the ongoing negotiations. The beta is a bit half-baked from a user perspective, essentially one must download a Music Manager application to upload mp3s from a computer to a cloud-based server, which then can be played via the web-based player at music.google.com or via the Google Music Android application. Google currently doesn’t offer any MP3s for purchase or download, however, a sampling of tracks from various genres are made available for new users to add to their collections and stream from the cloud. Amazon, which does have a web- and mobile-based mp3 downloads store, launched a cloud-streaming application earlier this year. Apple is rumored to have a cloud-streaming app in the works.

Google also expanded its Android Marketplace to include Books and Movies. Movies can be rented for streaming on the web and on some Android tablets (it was announced that it will soon be available on Google TVs as part of an upcoming full Android Marketplace integration). Movies can be rented via market.android.com/movies from $1.99 – $3.99. Google beat Netflix by about a day with this announcement, as Netflix began rolling out its streaming video service for Android devices on Thursday.

The opening-night afterparty was dubbed Infinite Playground and, as you can see in this video, included awesome inventions such as the Bicycle-Powered Merry-Go-Round in addition to the self-driving Google car and various robots. All enjoyed to a live soundtrack performed by Jane’s Addiction, DJs Mark Farina and Miguel Migs (watch video of all 3 sets).

The highlight of the Day Two keynote (video) was the launch announcement of the Google Chromebook. In June the Chromebook — a netbook with cloud-based applications built specifically for the enterprise and education — will hit the streets, with Samsung and Acer as partners. The Chromebooks will be available to businesses for $28 per user per month and to educational institutes for $20 per user per month.

The Chromebooks, with 11.6-inch (Acer) or 12.1-inch HD displays (Samsung), will be available to consumers from $349 for the Acer to $429 (WiFi only) and $499 (3G) for the Samsung.

Google I/O has become wildly popular thanks in great part to valuable giveaways in previous years (the Nexus One in 2010 and the Android G2 phone in 2009) and this year topped all in that department. Google I/O 2011 sold out in under an hour (early bird registration was $450 for the two-day event). All 5,000 attendees this year were given the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android tablet a month before it’s available in stores. (Disclaimer: I] shamelessly accepted this gift).

Both Android and Chrome are built on Open Source platforms which provides both developers and users more flexibility and control in customizing or optimizing devices using the operating systems. The I/O conference is not only a showcase for developers who have found ingenious ways to create applications, robots, cars, etc, that rely on Google tools in some form or fashion.

Originally posted at LAist on May 13, 2011

[See image gallery at andysternberg.com]
Click here to view Google I/O photo gallery on flickr.

“Welcome to Googlepalooza,” joked Perry Farrell, constantly making fun of the mostly male and very geeky crowd. “I don’t know what we got paid here – we did it just because, right?”

Between absorbing the latest trends as discussed by multiple panels we managed to interview a few executives from top online media companies.

In the video below, Ooyala’s Vice President of Biz Dev, Chris Wong, explains the importance of streaming video solutions providers, why most companies require DRM (digital rights management) to control copyright, and ponders the meteoric rise of Netflix and the potential impact of its competitors.

[display_podcast]
Click here to view on YouTube.

The Flaming Lips is coming to town this summer for two special nights at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Bouncing in on a tagline from the single “Do You Realize” — “Every One You Know Some Day Will Die” — the Lips’ wildly entertaining psycho-pop shenanigans will attempt to bury you on June 14th and 15th.

And there’s a bonus: On the 14th the band will play its [mainstream] breakthrough 1999 release “The Soft Bulletin” in its entirety and the following night will perform Pink Floyd’s breathtaking 1973 album “Dark Side of the Moon” from front to back.

Tickets for the performances go on sale this Friday at 2 p.m. (2-night package for $80) and Saturday at 2 p.m. (single nights at $40) and will sell out quickly. Hollywood Forever is a bring your own blanket, wine, and picnic kind of place. But be sure to leave no trace, for there are zombies.

The concert takes place on the cemetery’s Fairbanks Lawn. Gates are at 7 p.m., wickedly brilliant guitarist and songwriter Marnie Stern opens.

The Flaming Lips tweeted evidence this week that a live version of “The Soft Bulletin” is forthcoming, allegedly with bonus tracks.

In the last week of 2009 the band digitally released “The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side of the Moon.” The Flaming Lips’ 12th studio album (since 1986), “Embryonic,” was released in October 2009.

Tina Fey and Steve Martin yuck it up at a “Live Talks Los Angeles” conversation at Nokia Theatre Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Nokia Theatre was packed Tuesday night for a one-off chat and Q&A at which Steve Martin and Tina Fey expanded on highlights from her new book “Bossypants.” What was billed as a summit of two comic writers with recently released books was more of a casual three-way love fest between Martin, Fey and the audience, which laughed and applauded with near-absurd frequency.

Carolyn Kellogg’s in-depth review at Jacket Copy gets into detail:

Fey took the stage in a black dress that revealed her baby bump and high leopard-patterned heels. Martin asked if she was pregnant. “I’ve been told,” Fey answered, smoothing her hand over her belly, “that this is a hysterical pregnancy that comes from a desperate need to sell books.”

“Do the breasts go down?” Martin asked.

“I hope not,” Fey replied.

Later Fey would show off an ultrasound to Conan O’Brien (see video below). The discussion stuck to details disclosed in the book, many of which were previewed in a series of columns/excerpts Fey recently published in The New Yorker.

Martin, while hilarious, served as a very good interviewer, taking the audience on a sort of inquisition into Fey’s career from childhood in Philly, to Second City in Chicago, the fast rise to head writer at SNL, and 30 Rock.

What’s Fey trying to say with her book cover — a typical, glamor-mag-like Photoshopped headshot of the author, offset by a pair of hairy man-arms?

“It’s a confusing line that woman have to walk because you want to look good enough that they let you to stay in show business, but you don’t want to become carried away. I don’t really care, truly that much, about being ‘fancy.'”

The well-executed audience Q&A took on a very L.A. bend, with one attendee asking for advice for an aspiring comic writer. “Just get out there and do it as often as you can,” offered Martin. “Make work,” concurred Fey.

Another audience member inquired about Fey’s shoes. “It’s interesting that you ask,” interrupted Martin, segueing into a fantastical story about his supposedly 35-year-old pair of loafers.

The event was part of the Live Talks Los Angeles series, co-produced by KPCC and KCET.

This post was syndicated from LAist.com, where I am Associate Editor. A direct link to my LAist.com post index is at the top of my blog. This post was originally published here on April 21, 2011 at 10:40 a.m.

See my photos from past years at SXSW

The trip began with an amazing takeoff directly into the fading sun over the Pacific. This would be the last time the sun set before Daylight Savings time kicked in. Got in to Austin and met up with Jory, provider of a fine crash pad for the duration of my stay. Then began a serious of meetups, events, and parties: All Hat III, which was a priceless opportunity to visit with many of the folks I most admire in the interactive space who happen to share a passion and commitment to do-gooding.

Here’s a photo Geoff Livingston took of his partners at Zoetica Media. I was standing right next to them. No really. You won’t see me in any of my photos posted here (and I’m not sure who hijacked my camera and interviewed Jonathan Grubb of RVIPLounge – see at bottom). But as always happens, the aftermath of SXSW will carry on to Facebook and Twitter and into another season of opportunity and new connections.

I created a truly ridiculous agenda of all things I RSVP’d for or intended to go to. It’s included at the bottom of this post to give you a taste of just how extensively big corporations and smaller startups catered to SXSW Interactive attendees this year.

Among the highlights was the CNN Grill, which took over a restaurant two blocks from the convention center and turned it into a CNN Disneyland with free food and drink service throughout the afternoon and late night for industry folk and others lucky enough to have a pass.

That’s Percy von Lipinski in the video above. I was seated at his table on my first visit to #CNNGrill soon after he was presented with an award for CNN iReporter Original Reporting Award and naturally, had to stick my flip cam in his face.

I did not have a SXSW Interactive badge this year as I had in the past since I failed to apply as press by the deadline. I thought, maybe I could take a year off (ha!). But the other special badges, VIP treatment, and access I was offered for taking such menial steps as RSVP-ing via Eventbrite more than made up for it.

CNN — they must be made of money — ensured that everyone would be happy with their grill (at other times known as MAX’s Wine Dive). Everything on the prepared-to-order menu (food and drink) was gratis and there was WiFi and two power strips at every table. But even the service and hosts were gracious — imported from NYC via Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group — and there were live performances throughout the day. I showed up at the perfect time (according to my particular tastes) and caught a 40 minute or so acoustic set from Wisconsin-based awesomeband Locksley, and then a set from The Civil Wars (see video above), who barely managed to get away from me and onto the next before I could – natch – stick my flip cam in their faces. The CNN Grill was apparently first conceived for the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver. But man, what good buzz they built by hosting the mad swarms of geeks and mediaites at SXSW.

Video from the RVIPLounge below. I recommend checking out this one as well — from the inside (same night).

Click “show earlier events” and scroll up to view my March 13-17 agenda. Click on any event to expand details

That’s all I’ve got time for now with extra special thanks for making things happen to theMIX agency, SMC, Wine Library product and crew, The Force Agency (of which I’m now a card-carrying part of), Gowalla & Foursquare (I adore both equally but in comparison to the SXSW deluge of use checking in now feels relatively pointless), Nicole and all the great Summit Series rockers at dinner at Lambert’s. And as always, thank you Google for helping me to never get lost and for Android. Now I’m getting sentimental. Where’s my award already?

The Lightning in a Bottle festival returned Memorial Day weekend after a one-year hiatus bigger — and better — than before.

We’ve come to expect The Do Lab to only go big, bold, and beautiful in their multi-platform, lifestyle-agnostic, installations and event productions. We’ve been dazzled by The Do Lab-produced Lucent Dossier Experience, the Do Lab Tent at Coachella and Lucent L’Amour Valentine’s love-fest. But Lightning in a Bottle – in it’s ninth iteration – is the sum of all parts and yes, the sensory overload can be thrilling.

What began as a small family affair in the early 2000’s came of age during 3 years (2006-2008) at Live Oak in Santa Barbara County (see our photos and posts from past LIBs). This year the 3-day festival, at its new home at Oak Canyon Ranch near Irvine, featured a wider scope of programming — adding speakers, workshops, yoga and more in a zen-like “temple of consciousness” forested area adjacent to the campground.

Two DJ stages were offset by the main Lightning in a Bottle stage, which featured an eclectic mix of performers and musicians, from March Fourth Marching Band to the lo-fi post-rock stylings of The Album Leaf to the Eastern European-inspired acoustic sounds of Fishtank Ensemble to the booming beats of The Glitch Mob. All to be outdone by the sideshow shenanigans of Lucent Dossier and Vau de Vire on an adjacent stage between sets and the sight and sound of William Close and his monstrous Earth Harp.

True to The Do Lab’s roots as a radical arts collective, the grounds were transformed into a wonderland of installations and dozens of live art stations at which paintings were created for a silent auction benefiting Sonic Muze, a non-profit that helps provide art and music supplies for local schools in need. Most notable was the lack of trash visible throughout (a lack of meat as well). By providing multiple water stations (basically consisting of a hose with a filter and multiple spigots) and not allowing sales of bottled water, the festival avoided the oft-criticized wasteland of plastic bottles that is standard at most events. LIB chartered a new motto at its new location: “Leave it Better, Leave it Beautiful” a policy which included the planting of 32 native trees at the outset of the festival.

Video by Matthew F. Smith.

Video by Sander van Dijk.

All photos by Andy Sternberg

Originally posted at LAist.

I just went to set up an event and visited facebook.eventbrite.com, and this is what I found:

Missed connection? Bad match? Most likely a rushed launch resulting in too much confusion. At least they’ll email me. EMAIL ME! About as far as a Facebook relationship as one can get. But, c’mon! I’ve got an event to post and I’m gonna post it up now…