Columnists

Industry rocks the night away

By John Dodge, Editor in Chief -- EDN, 10/13/2005

Music has long been a release for many working in the high-pressure electronics and IT industries. In the '80s, Borland founder Philippe Kahn held jams at the once-huge, now-defunct Comdex computer conference (Link 1). The music was so-so, but anyone could play, showing that people working 60 hours a week did have lives. The music is better at the Demo conference, where innovators get to show off new products and ideas to a crowd of influencers and investors (Link 2). Long-time Wall Street Journal high-tech reporter Don Clark always makes Neil Young proud at this gathering of high tech's glitterati. One year, Shawn Colvin showed up.

The electronics industry now has dozens if not hundreds of bands and musicians to call its own. One noteworthy troupe is Full Disclosure, whose members include rivals from Cadence and Synopsys, along with Gartner Dataquest analyst Gary Smith, who tracks the EDA industry. Full Disclosure plays rhythm and blues and is in its glory every year at DAC.

Another electronics-industry band, Spurious Freedom (picture), aspires to play fundraisers for charities. Formed in 2003, Spurious Freedom takes its name from "spurious-free dynamic range"—a key specification in ADCs. Fame may not be the band's forte, but it hasn't entirely managed to avoid the spotlight. Spurious Freedom was scheduled to compete Oct 7 and 8 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's annual Battle of the Corporate Bands in Cleveland after winning a regional contest in Los Angeles on July 9. The band specializes in '70s and '80s rock tunes. (Click here  for an MP3 file of Spurious Freedom covering a Doobie Brothers tune.)

The band's first show celebrated 100 days of success regarding a bone-marrow transplant for bass guitarist Shawn Eubanks' daughter, who is battling leukemia. These six middle-aged minstrels and one sound engineer hail—or hailed—from Texas Instruments' Analog Division. All engineers, they include guitarist Michael Lanz, vocalist Thomas Armendarez, keyboardist Michael Ashton, drummer Tony Zizzo, rhythm guitarist Lon Mitchell, sound engineer Lenard Milholland, and guitarist Eubanks.

The electronics industry has lately been no stranger to good causes. Another example is a joint campaign by Xilinx, Linear Technologies, and Summit Microelectronics to become a "Colon Cancer Free Zone." The trio is collaborating with the American Cancer Society to encourage colon-cancer screening. And now we have the tragic destruction of the Gulf Coast and New Orleans. I'd love to hear what the electronics industry is doing to help victims in those areas. Write me at john.dodge@reedbusiness.com.