It seemed like a pipe dream at the time.
Dan Pulcrano was standing next to me at Stubb’s BBQ in Austin, Texas, watching one of the countless live music events during the South by Southwest conference in March, and he briefly mentioned his plan to bring something similar to Silicon Valley.
It turns out that it was far more than wishful thinking.
The fruition of that dream is the inaugural C2SV — Creative Convergence Silicon Valley — the combination music festival and technology conference that will take over downtown San Jose for four days, Sept. 26-29.
“The idea is to activate this city,” says Pulcrano, the C2SV organizer who also runs San Jose’s weekly Metro newspaper.
The music will take place at 12 downtown venues and feature more than 70 acts, including such acclaimed bands as the Thee Oh Sees, the Limousines, the Coup and Social Studies. The biggest name on the bill is Iggy Pop and the Stooges, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band that features Silicon Valley’s own James Williamson on guitar. The group’s concert, set for Sept. 28 at St. James Park, is certainly one of C2SV’s biggest selling points.
“People can’t believe that Iggy Pop is going to finish his world tour here,” Pulcrano says.
On the technology side, C2SV will feature such notables as author and Yahoo board Chairman Maynard Webb, influential digital journalist Robert Scoble (aka “Scobleizer”), video game inventor Nolan Bushnell, “Breakpoint” author Jeff Stibel, former Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson and many more. It’s a diversely appealing lineup of speakers and presenters, which should appeal to the cutting-edge Silicon Valley crowd as well as those simply interested in learning more about the future of technology.
“What is happening right now, centered in the Bay Area, is mind-boggling,” Pulcrano says. “It’s happening so fast that we don’t even see it. We are just going into warp speed right now. And we are just going about our business — we are drinking our espresso and going to work every day. But the world is changing really fast — and this is a chance for people to find out about this.”
As SXSW and other like-minded festivals have proved, there is much synergy between music and the high-tech world. That’s the heart and soul of the whole “Creative Convergence Silicon Valley” concept.
Pulcrano hopes that the festival jump-starts San Jose’s live music scene, which he says “needs a kick in the pants.”
And, really, who better to deliver it than Iggy Pop? Fortunately, he’ll have help with that endeavor. Here are six other can’t-miss shows for the inaugural C2SV festival:
Read Jim Harrington’s Concert Blog at http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/category/concerts. Follow him at Twitter.com/jimthecritic.
C2SV Technology Conference and Music Festival
Featuring: Iggy Pop and the Stooges and more than
70 other acts
When: Sept. 26-29
Where: Various venues
in downtown San Jose
Tickets: Packages range from $35 to $475;
http://c2sv.com