In this video, some sights and sounds and Lucas Gonze explaining XSPF to a new podcaster

The first Podcast and Videoblog Roadshow kicked off in Honolulu, HI, where we sat down with local podcasters and videobloggers for an evening of conversation, food, and general good vibes.

As destinations go, it's tough to find a more picture perfect place than Hawaii to show the power of video. In fact, simply walking down the beach, you see the video cameras in force, as tourists from around the world (and especially Japan), capture the memories of their vacation.

I learned quite a bit about the islands, the state of tourism, and how local podcasters use the isolation of being six hours away from anything to their advantage.

Ryan Ozawa, of the HawaiiUP podcast, covers local issues and plays 'pod-safe' music from local artists. I also had the good fortune to chat with Eric Lagrimas, who provides the music for HawaiiUP's theme song. He was in the Ala Moana shopping center checking out sales at one of the few retail stores that sells his CD, which is on the Quiet Storm label.

Some local podcasts get the word out about getting involved in local politics, such as Peter Kay's Vote Hawaii podcast. Download the issues of the day before you go for a run on the beach: All politics is local.

It's not all island-esque, however. Two others from the islands provide a popular technology podcast and a web-based playlist service.

Todd Cochrane, host of popular Geek News Central and author of Podcasting: Do It Yourself Guide, walks and talks IT from his home in Honolulu.

Lucas Gonze, advocate of the open source playlist format XSPF (recently adopted by Yahoo!), has been at the helm of the web-based playlist site Webjay.

Both sites are known on the mainland U.S. and beyond. Proof that you can work from anywhere.

Finally, I was able to spend some time the next day with the folks from Barefeet Studios, a dual-city consultancy (Honolulu and Sante Fe, NM), who weren't able to join us for the roadshow dinner at Jackie Chan's only U.S. restaurant, Jackie's Kitchen.

Links: Flickr photos tagged with 'podcastroadshow'
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