Slate Superfest West
October 15, 2014
On Sunday, Oct. 5th, Slate.com, the online magazine, did something unprecedented. They brought 7 stars from three of their podcasts to San Francisco for the first Slate Superfest. Mike Pesca, of The Gist, Steven Metcalfe, Julia Turner and Dana Stevens from the Culture Gabfest, and David Plotz, Emily Bazilon and John Dickerson from the Political Gabfest. My younger daughter and I never miss either podcast, and when we heard they were coming to town, we jumped on two tickets. The Embassy Ballroom sold out in a day (San Franciscans would quickly figure out the Embassy Ballroom is the former Embassy Theater, which showed first-run films for 50 years).
Pesca was the host. The unvarying format of Slate podcasts (which was, by coincidence, the same format I used for my pre-iPod podcasts in 1998-99) is three panelists and three topics. For the Superfest, each panel consisted of four panelists, two from each podcast. It is easy to see why the format normally calls for three panelists; with four, someone inevitably gets short shrift. Still, watching the taping from the balcony was great fun, despite the dripping-sweat heat. Like many SF venues, the Embassy has never bothered with air conditioning because in SF, "nature provides the air conditioning," except when it doesn't. I wish I had a dime for every Sunday matinee of the SF Ballet I sweated through.
In any case, the panelists were lively (although, not surprisingly, the Political Gabfest people steamrollered the more refined Culture Gabfeasters) and so was the crowd. If you are not listening to Slate podcasts, you should be. And if they come to your town, go see the circus. You'll be glad you did.
Mike Pesca at the podium, joined by David Plotz, John Dickerson, Steven Metacalf and Julia Turner
In case we forgot where we were, this was projected onto the ground outside the Embassy Ballroom after the Slate Superfest West.