Stomping With Sun

4:10 PM -- So there I was, bleary-eyed in the front row of Sun/StorageTek's user Forum at 8 a.m. today (why does corporate America get out of bed so early?) when I was rudely awakened from my semi-slumbers.

Instead of being treated to the keynote musings of Anil Gadre, Sun's chief marketing officer, a group of young people burst onto the stage brandishing various brushes, buckets, and the like. This apparently was an homage to Stomp, or as it's known in theater-land, "the international percussion sensation."

I'll confess to thinking that young people these days spend all their time slobbering over XBoxes or getting high on ringtones or something. Not this lot. It was one feat of agility and manual dexterity after another, accompanied to the beat of, well, whatever they could get their hands on.

Curmudgeon that I am, I was glad when this frenzy of household equipment and plastic piping finally abated (it was not even 9 a.m., and my head was now banging). Gadre then emerged on stage and made some quip about what he could do with all the unused PVC tubing in his garage.

Yeah right. Buddy, I will be the first person to sign up for next year's Forum if that's the case.Now, as a public service, if there is anyone out there in storageland who fancies an alternative career as a dancer/bucket basher, the Stomp show is holding auditions in New York Nov. 14.

May see you there, Anil. I will be the one holding the earplugs.

James Rogers, Senior Editor, Byte&Switch