The Tale of 2 Audio Shows: Part 1 : Axpona

There has now been 2 "proper" Axpona Shows, the first in Jacksonville Fl. in 2010 and the second, Atlanta 2011.
I know what you are thinking, what about the Axpona NYC in June 2011?

Well, the way I saw Axpona NYC was not to attend, enough said...

Jacksonville:
The positives:
1. The few people who attended seemed generally responsive and very positive to what HWS was presenting. I too was very pleased with the sound we were able to create in a "shoe box" of a room (more on that in a bit).
2. The hotel, though dirty and in need of a renovation, it's employees and especially, the cleaning and maid services were extremely nice, polite, respectful and a pleasure to deal with.
3. Jacksonville itself, although uncharacteristically cold, was still welcoming and of major importance, I was able to find very good vegetarian and vegan meal alternatives. Not all were memorable but, I didn't starve or get sick. I especially liked the the Mossfire Grill which had an amazing vegan burrito and awesome salsas. The Whole Foods, which is outside of Jacksonville, was brand new and it's employees were somewhat unsure of what they were offering Still, having the Whole Foods close was a big bonus.
4. Jason Victor Serinus: http://www.stereophile.com/axpona2010/high_water_high/index.html
Thanks, Jason.

Negatives:
1. When I arrived at the High Water Sound show room there were 2 doors to choose from. When I entered, I found 2 rooms. The first was very small as if, an entrance way to the second room which was a much larger and way more suitable room for an audio demo. Experience had taught me, before doing anything, I went looking for the Axpona people for some guidance. To my surprise, there were none, nobody, no booth, no table, no info, no Axpona, No show support on "set up day" I would have to say this is quite unusual, a bit perplexing and totally frustrating. I proceeded to the front desk and asked what was up with the 2 door room and the hotel manager told me, yes indeed, the room was considered a suite and both rooms were as one thus, HWS, cool. We proceeded to set the system up. During the course of set up, the plants I had ordered arrived and everything seemed to be in the groove. Once we got the system totally set, plants placed and the system fired up, we were rewarded with a sound though a bit warm but, extremely inviting with an immense sound stage.

This I thought was an awesome start.
After a short dinner break, we returned to tweak, fine tune and be ready for tomorrow, the first day of the show.
Unfortunately, this was not the case. We were told we were in the wrong room and that the small entrance way room was in fact, our show room. Needless to say, we were disappointed and a bit pissed off. If it would have been possible, there would have been some serious carnage but, of course, this satisfaction was not meant to be realized. We proceeded to tear down and move 5+ hours of work and then proceed to stuff everything into what seemed to be more a large closet than a proper demonstration room. I proceeded to ask my crew politely to all leave and I stayed up the entire night installing/tweaking and creating an acceptable High Water Sound experience in an all too small space. Luckily, I pulled it off.
2. Axpona represented to the exhibitors that the show would draw from a larger area and that we were to expect a large audience.
In reality, their projections of attendance was quite exaggerated, as were most of what we were led to believe about the show in general.
As mentioned in the positives, the few people who did happen to come into the HWS room seemed genuinely appreciative and very excited about what we were doing. That said, I could have read War and Peace during the empty spaces over the 3 days.

The disorganization, the basic lack of caring and sincerity, respect and support from Axpona to the exhibitors was utterly shameful. A month or so latter, I got a phone call from a very nice gentleman who asked me how I would rate my Axpona experience. Needless to say... @#%&&*^(()@@##$%

Pre Atlanta:

Now for the first time, Steve Davis (notice I have never mentioned Steve Davis at all in the Jacksonville's description since he was MIA for the entire show in regards to HWS) calls me and makes a weak apology for the way Jacksonville had played out. He said he wanted to make it up to me and offered me what he described as "one of the best rooms in the show" for Axpona Atlanta with a discounted rate. Being a moron, or shall I say, raised as a good Catholic boy, I took the bait and swallowed it whole even though it did go down with a fight and left a very bad taste.

Atlanta:

When we arrived in Atlanta, we were greeted by a similar hotel as Jacksonville. This meant the hotel was somewhat passed it's prime and was there simply to provide a basic service for a not so basic price.

Positives:

1. Once again, great people, enthusiastic, respectful and appreciative of their High Water Sound experience.
We, the HWS team were also very pleased with what we were able to create in "one of the best rooms in the show".
2. At the Atlanta Museum of Design, we saw a small but, really cool show of Italian motorcycles.
3. We did find wonderful restaurants just blocks from the hotel which offered good to awesome vegetarian /vegan meals.
Haveli Indian Restaurant and the exceptional Terrace in the Ellis Hotel. (this is where I will stay if I ever go back) are the standouts.
4. Stephen Mejias: http://www.stereophile.com/content/high-water-sound-all-important-tear-factor

Negatives:

1. Now to the "one of the best rooms in the show", I opened the door and found the room divided in two sections. One was a long rectangle running the length of the room, the other a foreshortened rectangle which held a kitchen/bar set up. Not what I would call a very promising "best room". After a long bit of cursing, we dropped the gear off and went for something to eat.
When we returned, we were instructed that in fact, it was not our room and our room was the one next door. OK, I have been through this before so, next door we go. This room was even stupider. Once again, a long rectangle running the length of the room but, now, we have another long rectangle running width wise forming an L. In this area, we found a bigger kitchen, 2 commercial Coke refrigeration units (the kind you find at a deli or supermarket), empty but, plugged in. Needless to say, HWS was not overflowing with love. With quite a bit of frustration and anger, we proceeded to set up the room, we blocked off the "Coke room" and tweak the system. Given the not so "one of the best rooms," we were able to, once again, create a totally unmistakable positive and highly musical and involving HWS experience.
2. Like Jacksonville, it seemed there were more exhibitors than actual attendees. We did find out there were 3 different annual functions, street fairs and festivals that same weekend which in Atlanta are the official start to spring. It would have seem prudent that a little research would have gone a long way with scheduling the show. Sunday, we had 3 people come to our room between 9 am and 1 pm!!!!!! At that point, we just packed the Atlanta experience in.
3. Typical of most of the shit hotels these audio events are held in, we could not get internet service in our rooms.
Saturday night, I went to use the hotel's computers to email Stephen Mijias the room particulars when Steve Davis showed up.
Steve asked how the show was going. Even though I had very different thoughts than the ones I responded with, I made sure Steve was well aware of another and yes, the second of 2 misrepresented rooms, lack of attendance and an overall negative Axpona experience.
Steve seemed to accept what I had to say and to apologize (once again) and gave me the stock answer which was, in both shows, the rooms were portrayed as described to him by the hotels. My answer was simple, if you are the show's organizer and you are taking our money, isn't it your responsibility to check every room personally to make sure what you are representing is correct?
Seems simple to me. Well, with a deer in the headlights expression and a Gomer Pyle smile, I knew the answer. Steve then went on to tell me about the upcoming NYC Axpona in which he proceeded to offer me a FREE room for all the problems I have had with the first 2 Axpona shows. I told Steve I would have to think on this one. Free isn't always free...

Axpona NYC

About a month before Axpona NYC Steve Davis called me. He said I hadn't signed up yet for my Axpona NYC room and that the rooms were going fast so, I better not delay. To further entice me, he said because of all my problems with the first 2 Axpona shows, he would give me the NYC room for half price. With that, Steve went on to say if I still wasn't satisfied with my experiece at Axpona NYC, for 2012s Axpona (also in NYC), Steve would give me a room for free. HMMMMMMMMM, seems like I heard that one before...
Needless to say, High Water Sound had nothing to do with Axpona NYC and from all reports, that was a very good thing.

Speaking of good things,
Part 2 of a Tale of 2 Audio Shows: The Capital AudioFest (Next Blog)