Yahoo! Hack Day, with Beck — and special hacked video
First of all, suffice it to say that not blogging about Beck’s upcoming appearance at our first open Hack Day at Yahoo! was ABSOLUTELY KILLING ME. For various reasons, we had to keep it quiet. That being said, I was surprised that no one ever thought to look at my weekly top artists on last.fm for clues. While the speculation was in full swing, I was suddenly devouring my Beck back catalog in full public view. Amazing how all this transparency gets us nowhere sometimes.
I love Beck. On a trip to Hawaii once, back before everyone had an mp3 player, I managed to forget to bring any music along, so I found a record store and bought one CD: Odelay. It lasted me the whole trip — didn’t need anything else.
Of course, we worked our magic to get Beck because Beck is an awesome musician and artist, but we also knew that he was a hacker in his own right, and that was the greatest appeal (I got to spend a surprising an amount of time with him and his crew after the show, and Beck is a really down-to-earth guy — no rock star attitude whatsoever). Completely unbeknownst to us beforehand, Beck and his video guys hacked a special video for us that is as funny as it is clever. Check it out:
Thank you, Beck. You’re an awesome hacker.
(I’ll write more about this later, but the show at Yahoo! last night was one of the best rock shows I have seen, and I’ve been to quite a few.)
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Comments
Just a completely amazing event all told, Chad! I had such an incredible time, and Beck at the end of day was the best icing on the cake possible!
All I want to know is, how are you gonna top THAT? Truly epic weekend. You’re a super star, Chad Dickerson!
Great video and every note I can find from the hack day make me sorry I wasn’t there.
Then I go and read your quotes on CNET (via Reuters) — you are a web star.
All I want to know is where can I get the versions of Hell Yes–>Another one Bites the Dust–>Justin Timberlake’s Rock Me and Do you Believe –> Debra? Those we the best songs ever! The show was one of the best concerts that I have ever seen. Thanks for the good times!
[...] ends up being the mystery guest. He put on a great show. Check out this funny vid.
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[...] I’ll be participating and chairing a workshop at Web 2.0 called: The Next Internet Infrastructure Marc Canter, Broadband Mechanics, Chad Dickerson, Yahoo!, Jonathan Hare, Consilient, Jeff Barr Amazon Date: Tuesday, November 07 Time: 8:30am - 9:45am Location: Twin PeaksNow that social networking and video submission sites are proving to be big draws, what other ‘infrastructure’ will be needed to drive ‘the next generation Internet?’ Can we imagine a future where tags, ID systems and event databases are shared by all - and not owned by a single vendor? How ’bout pooling resources to create exciting new kinds of user interface controls or provide ubiquitous storage or grid computational power to all? [...]
[...] Via the PuppetVision Blog (!), I just learned that Beck and his puppets will be making what “may be their final public appearance on SNL” (according to puppeteer Rob Saunders, who I had the pleasure of meeting briefly backstage at Yahoo! Hack Day). If you’re wondering what in the world I’m talking about, be sure to check out the video from one of my prior posts. I don’t think a day has gone by at work that I haven’t said, “Doesn’t anybody work here? Where are the servers? Where are the techies to support this?” (you gotta watch the video to get it). [...]
[...] Sounds like everyone had a great time at Yahoo!’s Hack Day. About 400 people spent 24 hours on the Yahoo! campus of not just hacking (as expected), but also an unannounced 90 minute performance from Beck. See this post from Chad Dickerson, the Hack Day Blog, and this news story for more (in the latter it’s all referred to as “Computer coding savants fueled by pizza, beer and rock music”). [...]
Lucky you! The show looks amazing from all the pictures and a handful of videos I’ve seen. (Love the puppet video.) Please post more about the show when you can. :)