After a 'long' night sleep and a new beta version of Overloud TH1 quickly downloaded and checked from the FTP (Smart Controls finally working the way they should!!!! yeah!), I got this healthy breakfast: orange juice (5$!!!) and a cup of yogurt with fresh fruit and muesli.

Time to restore a bit from this high-calories breakfast, we picked up the car at the hotel parking and drove some 50 miles down to San Jose, California. There we ended up in a Guitar Center store and its staff was rather, ehr, happy to meet us!

Enlarge Map View

When you enter a Guitar Center you're faced with the 'reception' girl or guy ready to check your bags (it's nice to know that the world is such a little place and in some things Italy is not worse, is just ahead of time... at least there's something we can't be beaten at!); of course, the pure american-style "good morning!" or "how are you doing" are quickly left out once Brad almost spat out the magic line "We're reps"; what? at this early time in the morning, I get two people coming into the store and they're not here to buy but... to... sell!

Once our bags were checked, we quickly reached for the for the right department (Audio Pro? Computer Software? choose your fave) where we introduced ourselves (again, the same quick change of facial expression...) and waited quite a bit in order to grab the attention of the guy in charge of our department. Once we set up our computers we quickly introduced our product line and the feedback was overly enthusiastic. During numerous breaks which happened during my presentation I noticed how this store has plenty of real estate, but also plenty of mess, making really hard for people to really enjoy the buying experience. 

However, I am told that people comes to these stores already knowing what they want to get... well... I am not that sure about this, but even if it's true... well, a little more care in the display of products would have helped. I happily noticed that Overloud Breverb was is stock (2 pieces) and that at the front desk Fxpansion BFD2 had plenty of display space, together with a couple of expansion sets (I hope our own Imperial Drums BFD will end up there soon)...

Then, Brad drove me back to San Francisco and we visited the GC in downtown. There, the staff was way more busy but we succeeded again in getting the department manager attention... regarding TH1, Overloud's upcoming guitar effects suite, everybody so far seems to really dig the same features: CPU efficiency, ease of use, sound, the Smart Controls and the ever jaw-dropping 3D mic placement options... oh yeah... and the price...

Downtown S.F.
THE landscape!

The one 'man' band	The Piano Roll Wurlitzer

After a quick visit to the USS Pampanito submarine from World War II, we walked back to the hotel where I quickly crushed to bed under extreme jet-lag conditions... only to wake up at 9.30 pm as if it was morning...

I feel like I am in a better shape, what do you think?

 

Today I left my hometown in Italy heading to San Francisco.

I will stay in the US for 19 days, attending the AES Show here and traveling around to meet with some US dealers, both for ChocolateAudio and Overloud, the company I consult for.

I had a safe trip, even though heavy fog in Paris, delayed things a bit and I was forced to run through the Charles De Gaulle terminal in order to catch the flight to S.F.

From then on, apart from the run at CDG, it was all darkness for me... I almost slept during the whole trip, which is kinda good, given that S.F. is 9 hours behind and that the plane didn't have any kind of personal entertainment system!!!

In S.F. airport, immigration and customs were fast and easy, nice people, especially if compared to the attitude you find in NYC airports...

Got an illegal taxi ride to the hotel which is located next to the world famous Fisherman Wharf. The Taxi ride might have been illegal (rider not authorized to do service at airports), but it was safe and I even got a legal receipt, valid for tax deduction in Italy... now this is customer service! The talk of the town here is the financial crack in Wall Street... hitting heavily US economy... of course it's true... but during the 30 minutes ride to downtown, we passed by several construction sites...

Met with Brad, the great guy at Ilio we work with and made the visit plan for tomorrow. Had a chicken ceasar's salad (I am afraid I will have tons of those during my stay here) then back into the nice hotel room here.

For those curious (or brave enough), here's how I looked during this long day.

7.30 am, on the plane, in Malpensa waiting for the fog in Paris to give us a break	10 am, Paris - shaky... running to catch the plane	10 am, Paris - better wear sunglasses	2 pm, San Francisco my illegal taxi ride and my 'home safe, but tired' kind-of-expression