Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Asphalt Orchestra opened the 1st session and played up and through the aisles to the stage. So many people weren't expecting to hear Frank Zappa's "Zombie Woof" at 2:30pm. Yuri Yamashita is a force to be reckoned with.
We met Halla Tomasdottir (Icelandic Financial Analyst). She liked our band.
Ted Turner was there. He's a lot funnier than I would've thought.
At dinner, Nancy Pelosi gave a few words of wisdom. Arianna Huffington spoke about the importance of beauty sleep. Immediately after, Angelique Kidjo led everyone in the dinning hall in a dance party.
The first ladies of Africa were present and spoke together. Madame Callista Mutharika (Malawi) + Sia Nyama Koroma (Sierra Leone) have my respect. They're fighting to get health care (and clean water among other things) for their people. Because of this, women, men and children call them both "mother".
One of the biggest highlights of the evening was giving Sally Field a "Wake Up, It's Today!" 2011 Calendar + Coloring Book. I told her that she was awesome and she smiled. I went back to my seat at the table across from hers, ate some fish and drank champagne with my band mates.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Heather Knight, a roboticist from NY, gave a demonstration of a robot and the idea of socializing them. One of the cuter moments of the conference, indeed. Her robot, named Data, presented a stand up routine.
Hillary Clinton was a special guest speaker in an afternoon session. This was a very wild moment for me.
Chef Paula Deen encouraged woman (and men!) that it's never to late to take charge of your life. You don't have to be a size 6... or to be a beautiful blonde to do great things. (I'm so glad. Thank you, Paula.) I learned that she and her husband are from/live in Savannah, GA. It's a small world after all.
Most of all, I like being reminded that women seem to stick together for the sake of women and for the sake of sisterhood. I was very fortunate to be a fly on the wall for most of this conference. I was even more fortunate to get the grand opportunity to play this TED Women's conference.
And the food was great.
Click HERE for some live action shots.
It was all SO GREAT. Talk to me about it. See you soon.
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Thank you, Bill Bragan/Lincoln Center, Ken Thomson, Jessica Shmitz, Bang On A Can, and TED Women for having us.
