Ears On

I've been to CEDIA EXPOs in Dallas, New Orleans, a few in Indianapolis, and the last three in Denver. I'll never forget walking the mist-shrouded streets of the French Quarter, of course, and Indy is underrated. But by far the best venue has been Denver. The downtown area is set up with most major hotels within walking distance of both the convention center and amenities in and around the 16th Street Mall. For both work and play, Denver has been the ideal place to attend a convention, and I'm truly going to miss it. So...

Goodbye, convention center bear! You gave every arrival at the venue a surreal edge, a sense of palpable weirdness, that I always relished.

Goodbye, Sheraton, formerly Adam's Mark! Your Soviet-style brutalist concrete facade gave me a comfortable place to work and sleep just a five-minute walk from the convention center bear. Can't ask for better than that.

Goodbye, 16th Street Mall! Your car-free ambience and milling throngs never failed to pick up my mood, no matter how exhausted and footsore I was. When keeping dinner appointments at the many excellent restaurants just a block or two off the Mall, I'd walk up the Mall as far as possible. Every city should have something like this.

And the Mall offers free public transportation too! Take that, New York City.

Last but not least, goodbye, Pint's Pub! Your cask-conditioned ales and playlist of British folkie material kept me coming back. For me, listening to Martin Carthy and Fairport Convention while sipping your Dark Star and Lancer IPA and consuming fish & chips with grilled salmon was the ideal way to wind up the day. Perhaps I'll miss you most of all. After the Mall.

I never got a shot of the bear that totally satisfied me. Will I get another chance? Not next year, when CEDIA moves to Atlanta. Anyway: Denver, I love you.