relevantswitch

::::the trumpets do blare:::: It's simply what trumpets do. . . I have returned triumphant from the strangest land in the world NEW YORK CITY, and it was officially my first time getting out of my car in that fabled land. Don't get me wrong I've driven from end to end before but never saw a reason to get out of the car. I am convinced of only one thing from my trip . . . If I ever go back I will not leave.
Thursday I arrived at JFK airport after rousing myself out of bed at the weeeeeeee hour of four and after dressing and packing myself into the car with my lovely silvereve taking over the driving duties we went. Independence air was a nice enough flight and I managed to land twenty minutes early to meet my ride who was twenty minutes early himself. (When a plan comes together. . . nothing better). We drove straight to the Auto Show at Javetts Center (dealer and factory day) and our setup was right next to the setup for our rivals' XM. hehehehehe Needless to say our setup rocked. . . Jose our Program director for faction and hard attack was maning the DJ booth and we had twenty or so temporary models hired from Encore (Thanks for the help ladies) strolling around handing out Swag and happiness. Jose (although in the rock industry for twelve years) was one of the most down to earth guys I think I've ever met, fun, exciting and totally cool. Our booth was loud and the crowd of mostly over 40's wasn't really into the music but I was. I tell you standing on my feet on those hard ass floors for ten hours a day was a little rough.
Thursday was going to be one of the least crowded days of the show so I decided it would be a perfect time to take in the show. The highlights are as follows:
1. One of the biggest draws of the show came from Chrysler. I was surprised by the outpouring of praise for their new 300 series vehicles but people openly compared them to Bently and Miebach <sp>
2. Ford has a few concept vehicles that turned some heads, they unveiled an Urban Assault Vehicle that I wouldn't kick out of my garage and had a decent crowd at the unveiling of the new Mustang Convertable ::yawn:: Their Saleene display is always a crowd pleaser but who really has three hundred grand liquid floating around in their pockets. I'll tell you who . . . old men with Viagra on IV drip and their the ones buying them.
3. Toyota showed off the transportation of the future. A lounge chair on four wheels with LED lights ringing around it. Apparently in the future there will be no carjackings, crime or accidents because a bark-o-lounger that goes eighty five miles an hour with only a plastic hair dryer bubble to protect the occupant just doesn't seem to fit in my version of the real world.
4. A strong display by Dodge for their new Charger. . .grrrr.. takes me back to the time when you could smell a nice car coming and couldn't smoke a cigarette for fear of blowing yourself up around them. They are pitching to the police force to replace the Impala as the prefered cruiser. Good luck with that.
5. The european market continued it's a-typical stance of showing off their cars with bright lights and expensive people but nothing really caught anyones eyes. Just more of the same.
6. One of the biggest buzz words around the show was Hybrid. Honda and Toyota showing off their duel energy vehicles with technical break downs and flow charts. They still didn't address the main concern that disposing of these vehicles or the parts creates a greater impact than is saved by driving them around for four years. One exec stated that the Hybrid phase is a launch point for the realization of hydrogen powered vehicles. When pressed for additional comment on when that was going to happen he laughed and asked if I had any grandchildren.
7. The only car at the show that really took my breath away came from Lexus. They where showing off a tri-exaust sports car that topped out at 504 horse power and reminded me of something you'd see in the next batman movies. The interior completly wrapped you and the steering and information clusters where all fully articulated. You could honestly put everything right where you needed it. . . .
I may think of a few more things that caught my eye but first I should tell a bit about what else went on in the old NY. After the show on the first night I checked into a trendy hotel with a capital T. (I know I didn't capitalize T, I'm lazy get over it) The flatotel is two blocks from the Avenue of America and needless to say it is in a prime spot..... rah rah rah. We went on a tour of our Studio's and I ran into tons of people. Queens of the Stone Age, Ant, fifteen of our dj's, Jose again and again totally cool, Saw Mr. Mathers and 50, and hung out with some of our morning show folks. It was one of the best experiences I've ever had. Seeing people who are used to being chased down the street, lounging around drinking coffee on the couch having a totally chill time. We went to Carmines on of the best family style Italian resturants in New York where we ate like pigs and drank like fish...... Grey Goose and Crandberry on the company's dime rah rah rah..... After the feast we headed to a blues club and spent a few more hours chilling then off to the Meat packing district. I think the place was called Hefers and Hoe's or Hoe's and Heffers either way it was a scary place. ::laughing::: The bartenders yell at you with bull horns and at one point on of them got up on the bar, set the bar on fire while standing on it and blew fire for about fifteen minutes. By this time I was a little over the edge and couldn't walk a straight line on an escalater. Somehow we managed to return to a nightclub two blocks away from the hotel. We had all reached to point of no real return so after a beer we called it a night.
Friday was the first day we where open to the public and with my hangover killed by some timely assistance from a croiussant I faced a day of pumping up the crowd and beating up the competition. The day was essentially a blur, everything hurt from my feet to the cores of my hips so when four o'clock rolled around and it was time to hang out with Jim Bruer I was not really feeling it and neither was my crew. We managed to make our way through it and again I was surprised at how relaxed and non-big headed one of our stars was. Bruer was totally cool, well at least to us but he did verbally beat up everyone that happened to walk by. The rest of my team had to fly back home and I was left to my own devices. I had a hundred dollar dinner, went up to my room and watched a deadwood marathon on HBO. . . I'm in the city that doesn't sleep on a Friday night and I'm watching fricken HBO..... grrrrr..... Guess I was really tired.....
Friday was my show so I pretty much locked myself in at eight a.m. and waided through the day until four. No problems as I made my way back home. I know so much excitement but nothing at all fun happening on the back half. I'll let you all know if anything else pops into my head but if anyone is up for a roadtrip in the next week, the show is still open and we could have a hell of a time.
Later,
RSM