I had dinner at the Steamworks Brewing Company with Lee Edward Fodi this past evening. Lee is an incredibly talented children’s book author and illustrator and his amazing book, Kendra Kandlestar and the Box of Whispers, is one of my top ten favourite books. I highly recommend that you pick up a copy and read it. It makes a great gift from the tooth fairy! (hear a review on Just One More Book and hear an interview with Lee Edward Fodi).

Over dinner, Lee and I talked about Kendra Kandlestar and the Door to Unger (the highly anticipated sequel to Box of Whispers) which will be released in November 2007, public speaking, publishing and book promotion. An interview will be posted on the Just One More Book!! website, and I expect that I will do a number of interviews with Lee as he gears up for the November release.

You can follow progress on the new book on Lee’s blog.

I have been struggling to upload files from my hotel room in Vancouver. I have been on the phone with tech support on four occassions and they constantly point me to Internet Frog to do speed tests which typically come out indicating better than 2Mbps download rates and roughly 115Kbps upload rates. That still doesn’t explain why I’ve never exceeded 4Kbps, and typically achieve only 1Kbps, upload rates — even at midnight when the tech support team claims I am the only person actively using the service.

Can you imagine it taking over an hour to upload a 6Mb file on a dial-up connection?

TC Lions Pub may have the biggest beer pitchers in Canada. We had to cancel the second pitcher when we discovered that the server wasn’t kidding when he said “one gallon pitchers”.

There was a great crowd at last night’s Vancouver Podcast Meetup. I’ll see if I can remember names and URLs… Sean Carruthers (labrats.tv), Derek K. Miller (Penmachine and others), Jeffish (Swimming Upstream), Rebecca and John Bollwitt (RadioZoom and others), Professor and Doctor (Foreskin Radio), Fraser (Little Buzzers), Becky, James Clendenan, Dave (Vancouver’s Weekly Underground), and Johnny Johnny (Tiki Bar TV).

Congratulations (and thanks) to John and Rebecca, a Podcasting couple so dedicated to their passion that they spent their first wedding anniversary helping us polish off the pitcher.

By their very existence, Podcast meetups and Podcast conferences reinforce a sense of community among their participants.  PodCamp Toronto was no exception.  In fact, PodCamp Toronto had the greatest number of sessions on the concept of community of all conferences I have attended and followed.  That made leaving the event early to catch a flight to Vancouver much harder.

From the back seat of the taxi, I reflected on the weekend; the incredible people I connected and re-connected with, the amazing talent and creativity, and the new ideas to explore.  The willingness to share and support proves that we really are a community.

After a few minutes I realized that I could see the decay of Toronto’s once-thriving industrial area zipping past my window — the graffiti and decomposing buildings that line the Gardiner Expressway.  They were once the sign of a thriving economy and the industrial age.  Now they are the scars of neglect; waiting to be made into something new.

For the Podcast community to thrive in the long run, and to help silence our critics, we will need to take good care of our community. We must continue to share with and support each other, and work hard to prevent and repair any decay.

This is our community, let’s take care of it.

I have arrived in Vancouver — my first time here! It’s raining.

I have a beautiful waterfront view complete with Stanley Park and the site of sea planes taking off. However, it comes at a cost of $13.95/day for Internet access!!!

UPDATE 070226: Added photo

No matter the circumstances, any time there is a change in personnel in a band it can be stressful for both the band and its following. Just ask Van Halen.

At what seemed to be their sudden expressway to superstar status in the Podcast community, Uncle Seth parted ways with their guitar player, Jeff. Everything slowed down — the performances, the Podcasts and general buzz about the band. Tara, Jay and Chris took that time to reinvent themselves with two new members, Mike and Blake. They wrote new tunes, and reworked some of the old ones.

On Saturday night, at PodCamp Toronto, Uncle Seth took the stage at C’est What. They kicked off with To Be an Angel, a popular song that could ease everyone into the show. Then, they jumped right in with new material, an approach that Tara admitted she was incredibly stressed about.

I am pleased to report that — with all due respect to Jeff and the “old-sound” — Uncle Seth sounded better than ever. The have done a great job of developing a new sound (and instrumentation) while still being Uncle Seth. That’s no easy feat.

All this to say that Uncle Seth brought the house down on Saturday. They were tight, edgy and energetic and I can’t wait until they release their next CD!

Oh, I understand that David Lee Roth may be available to do some backup vocals.

Photo: Jay Moonah (how’d he do that???)

There are about 200 people packed into room 359 361 of the Rogers Communications Centre at Ryerson University for the opening remarks of PodCamp Toronto. The whole room dynamic changed when Leesa Barnes challenged eveyone to meet three people you have never met before — “someone you didn’t come here with, someone you didn’t sleep with”. For the next ten minutes, everyone busily moved about the room to break quota and exchange show bling.

There is a remote possibility that this event will be well documented. If you’re interested in following this event, you can follow the various live video streams (links on the schedule page), blogs and Podcasts.

Bob Goyetche and I arrived at our hotel a short time ago.  It was a great drive filled with planning our PodCamp presentations, editing presentation clips, listening to Podcasts and music, and blocking out the presentation program for Podcasters Across Borders.

We’ll be making the slow hobble (see Bob’s post) to the Imperial Public Library shortly.

I have launched yet another project. Steve Hardiman and I are collaborating to explore the Return On Influence, and the elements that make it such a powerful idea. While the website is somewhat embryonic, still, we officially posted our first entry this evening.

One of the many things that Podcasting has going for it is the number of people who are speaking in an authentic voice. Sonia Brock represents this group well.

Sonia produces a Podcast called A Storied Life, and the title couldn’t be more perfect. She tells the stories of her life in an intimate and heartfelt way. The stories are many and varied — the nightlife in New York’s lower-east side, a bad experience in a shopping mall, and her “Stitch-and-Bitch” knitting group. Sonia sings the blues and tells you about the death of her beloved cat. Sometimes she’ll disappear for a few weeks and return with a show in which she apologizes for becoming engrossed in an online first-person-shooter. Then she’ll tell you about her sewing projects and reflect on her experiences playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Sonia is celebrating her 70th birthday this week and our virtual friendship makes me feel as though I’m celebrating with her. Have a very happy birthday, Sonia, and thank you for demonstrating what authentic voice really means.