Report From Denver

Well here I am in Denver wearing my To The Point producer hat. I’m with Warren Olney and co-producer Gary Scott, and we’re here to air To The Point shows live from Denver all week. We hit the ground running and have not yet had time to check out the new David Adjaye or Daniel Libeskind-designed art museums, or even the Denver downtown with its brick and glass new condo and apartment towers like those that have sprung up in renewed downtowns all over the country. So far my horizons extend as far as the walls of our cubicle inside a large white tent that is located between the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field (where Obama will speak on Thursday night).

Air Conditioning Ducts by Gary Scott

We have the plum spot, as you see, underneath some extremely large air conditioning ducts (see artful picture taken by Gary), so loud it feels like we are working in the engine of a ship. We are surrounded by the big guns of print journalism: the New York Times, Reuters etc. Next to our tent is CNN which is flaunting its power by taking over an entire brick building and painting uplifting political slogans as well as its own logo on the sides. We are all in what is referred to as the Hard Security zone and to get in you have to run a gauntlet of security. So once in you stay in and hang out with the herds of journalist and delegates come to participate in what is at once a highly formulaic, marketing bonanza coupled with a genuinely exciting, culturally momentous event. You can feel the buzz of excitement in the air, even among normally jaded media types. And since we spend most of our time in LA, out of the orbit of the East Coast press and political establishment, it is rather fun to rub shoulders with politicos and talking heads at the parties and Pepsi Center. Among those seen so far: Anderson Cooper, Al Sharpton, Kweisi Mfume, Donna Brazile, Chuck Todd, the REAL Charlie Wilson and KCRW’s own Harry Shearer, who guest-presented at a Jambalaya concert-party for New Orleans last night.

For more on the convention, listen to our To The Point shows, and to see our new video vignettes by Gary and I (in our first experience as videographers, working without mikes, so excuse the lack of good sound) go to the home page, kcrw.com.

Meanwhile, don't forget to listen to DnA Tuesday. It was taped last week and looks at two theaters in LA, one new (the SMC Performing Arts Center), the other renewed, the Mark Taper Forum; as well as at the impact of digital design on the process and sensibility of design in film and more, today. kcrw.com/dna.