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  • John Pope

    Lead Editor/Moderator

    36 Posts

    About

    John Pope, a.k.a. JohnP@Dell, has been involved with social media since 2006 and computers since, well, let's just say...

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    John Blain

    Gaming Guy

    25 Posts

    About

    John has been active in social media at Dell since April of 2006, starting with the blog outreach team, and now as the ...

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    Natalie M. Davis

    Manager, Global Operations for Community Team

    22 Posts

    About

    Natalie and her team engage in conversations on Dell and non-Dell social media sites. She has over 10 years of marketi...

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    Chris Byrd

    Digital Life Liaison

    19 Posts

    About

    Chris works closely with the online community on all things "digital life" and is known on Twitter as @ChrisBatDell. Wh...

    Recent Posts

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    Jay Pinkert

    Raconteur

    15 Posts

    About

    To paraphrase the Bard, some are born great bloggers, some achieve great blogging and some have blogging greatness thru...

    Recent Posts

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    Anne B. Camden

    Consumer Product PR

    11 Posts

    About

    Anne has been with Dell Corporate Communications for 10 years, proudly practicing product PR the entire time. Started o...

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    Jennifer Hughes

    Community Content Manager

    10 Posts

    About

    Jennifer leads the content coordination for Dell’s social media properties. She has been involved with social media s...

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    Randy Gibson

    Imaging & Display Guy

    6 Posts

    About

    Randy is a technical writer and senior analyst for the Dell Solution Network. A nine-year veteran of Dell, he specializ...

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    Ed Hassinger

    Software Engineer for Austin-based NetQoS

    6 Posts

    About

    It feels like I bought my first "IBM-compatible PC" just last year. And despite two decades and stints with nine failed...

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    Jesse Leonard

    Vista and Ubuntu Linux Liaison

    5 Posts

    About

    Jesse Leonard, a.k.a. Dell-Jesse_L within the online Dell community, has been involved in the Dell Forums for eight yea...

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    Winnie Wong

    Alienware Marketing Communications

    4 Posts

    About

    Winnie has been a part of the Alienware family since 2000, when there were only 64 employees on the payroll. Her passio...

    Recent Posts

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    RichardatDELL

    Two Ears, One Mouth Advocate

    4 Posts

    About

    After a career in Canadian politics, Richard moved to the U.S. to build out a career in communications. He joined Dell ...

    Recent Posts

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    Lionel Menchaca

    Chief Blogger

    3 Posts

    About

    Lionel Menchaca (LionelatDell in Twitter) has lived and breathed social media for the last couple of years and wishes ...

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    Richard Bernier

    Dell Community Security Liaison

    3 Posts

    About

    I have been with Dell for five years; two of those have been spent with the conversations group. You may have seen me o...

    Recent Posts

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    Jacqui Zhou

    Lead Editor/Moderator of Direct2Dell Chinese (http://chinese.direct2dell.com/)

    2 Posts

    About

    Born and raised in Shanghai, China, Jacqui always wanted to travel and see the world. After she earned a college degree...

    Recent Posts

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    Ellen Murphy

    Consumer Public Relations, EMEA

    1 Posts

    About

    Ellen works on the Consumer PR team in EMEA. She has nine years of marketing and communications experience, ranging fro...

    Recent Posts

    • Dell UK Formula 1 Test Day Event at Silverstone

    Andrew Ford

    Head of marketing, corporate accounts, Dell Europe, Middle East and Africa

    1 Posts

    About

    Andrew is a keen internet, e-mail and social media enthusiast, and has worked in the IT and telecoms industry since the...

    Recent Posts

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    Bob Blomquist

    Senior Manager, Electronic Media

    1 Posts

    About

    Bob has spent 15 years at Dell working in a number of communications roles ranging from video productions to broadcast ...

    Recent Posts

    • Social Network for Pedal Mashers

    Stefanie Nelson


    1 Posts

    About

    Stefanie has been entrenched in online media since the mid 90s, currently runs the marketing communications programs fo...

    Recent Posts

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    Ricardo Guerrero

    Global Online Project Manager & "Twitter Dude"

    1 Posts

    About

    Hailing from Colombia, South America, Ricardo has worked at Dell since 1999 as a content developer, and most recently ...

    Recent Posts

    • Twitter: It’s Not Just TMI About Your Friends!

    Michael O'Dell

    Team Dignitas, Managing Director

    1 Posts

    About

    I've been a gamer since I got my first computer, a ZX8, in 1980. Last year I was able to fulfill a lifetime dream and t...

    Recent Posts

    • Join Team Dignitas Live on WebCam at the M Festival Tomorrow

    Dawn Lacallade

    Lead Stormchaser

    1 Posts

    About

    Dawn has been with Community for several years and is currently the Lead Stormchaser for Dell Ideastorm. She has been w...

    Recent Posts

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    Mary Ellen Krautter


    1 Posts

    About

    I've been on the cutting fringe of the technology world since 1981 when my husband brought home one of the first person...

    Recent Posts

    • Coming Out of the Closet: The Ideal Home Office for the Not-So-Techie Gal

    MoneyGuyBK


    1 Posts

    About

    MoneyGuyBK is one of our most active and helpful customers on the Dell Community Forum, where he has earned “Supersta...

    Recent Posts

    • You and Your Idle PC Can Help Humanity

    Kara Krautter

    Foodie in Training

    1 Posts

    About

    Although I spend most of my day managing the Small Business blog for Dell, any free time I have seems to involve food. ...

    Recent Posts

    • Online vs. Print: Where Do You Find Recipes?

    Jennifer Allison

    Global Consumer Internal Communications

    1 Posts

    About

    Jennifer joined Dell’s Corporate Communications group in 2006 to focus on executive and employee communications for t...

    Recent Posts

    • Separating Ourselves from the Animals

    Deborah R. Wood

    Independent Communications Consultant

    1 Posts

    About

    Open to learning about almost any topic and a professional interest in helping people communicate in new and traditiona...

    Recent Posts

    • Passionate About Your Stuff? Check Out itaggit.com

    Shaun Clark

    World Class Gamer

    1 Posts

    About

    Shaun Clark (game name Apollo) is a name that has been partnered with command and conquer since the release of EA's tit...

    Recent Posts

    • My Weekend at the M Festival in the UK

    Stuart Wallock

    Dell Senior Manager, Global Community & Personalization

    1 Posts

    About

    Loving new tech things to play with since I started gaming on my Atari 2600 way back when, I have been working with Int...

    Recent Posts

    • New Dell Special Art Edition Laptops

    Matt Parretta

    Dell Analyst Relations

    1 Posts

    About

    Matt has been at Dell since 2006 and is responsible for relationships with consumer industry analysts. He spent four ye...

    Recent Posts

    • Photography PhD Not Required

    Eric Erway

    Program Manager, Global Online

    1 Posts

    About

    Eric serves as a program manager for Dell’s Global Online team, working with multiple groups to translate customer re...

    Recent Posts

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    Michelle Mosmeyer

    Dell Communications Analyst

    1 Posts

    About

    Michelle has been with Dell Global Communications for more than eight years. In that time, she’s worked in Executive ...

    Recent Posts

    • Tech Tips for Those of Us With Wanderlust

    Rick Scott


    1 Posts

    About

    Rick is a PADI open water scuba instructor and photographer. He splits time between his home in Austin and his ranch ne...

    Recent Posts

    • For Under $500, Gear Up for Amazing Underwater Shots

    Todd Smart

    Dell Community Outreach Administrator

    1 Posts

    About

    My job is to support our Community Liaisons as they help to resolve customer issues. I’m originally from Western New ...

    Recent Posts

    • Wireless Networking is Great, But There Are Practical Concerns

    Geoff Knox

    Supervisor, Global Operations for Community Team

    1 Posts

    About

    Geoff has been with Dell since 2005 and has been working with Dell’s social media efforts since 2006. He has been a f...

    Recent Posts

    • To Be, or Not To Be, on the Vista SP1 Bandwagon?

    aikiwolfie

    Frequent Contributor to IdeaStorm

    1 Posts

    About

    I got my first Atari when I was only 2 years old - 1980 I think - and I've had a computer of some kind ever since. Past...

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Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Dell Summer Rocks Tour: Next Stop … Outside Lands Festival

Friday, August 15th, 2008

After a highly successful first run at Lollapalooza, and most recently a stop at the Virgin Music Festival, the Dell Summer Rocks Tour and Dell Dome head out west to the first ever Outside Lands Festival.  The festival runs Aug. 22-24 in San Francisco at the world-famous Golden Gate Park.

With two festivals now behind us, we have collected quite a few videos and pictures from the events.  Come check out the action from the festivals and within the Dell Dome via the following links:

  • Lollapalooza
  • Virgin Music Festival

Regular tour updates will of course be posted on the Dell Summer Rocks Web site, however there is now an even easier way to stay on top of the action!

Introducing the Dell Summer Rocks Widget:

Content from events will be dynamically uploaded to the widget during the festival, so make sure to add this widget to your blog, social networking and/or iGoogle home page.  Share with your friends and family, then stay tuned in as the tour continues to rock across the country!

Posted in Events, Music, Social Media | No Comments »

Passionate About Your Stuff? Check Out itaggit.com

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

For several weeks, I’ve been looking for a good program to help me get a handle on my extensive book and music collection, and I ran across itaggit.

It’s a free online service that lets you organize whatever you collect and add photos and other pertinent items to the records.  One of the things I like best about it is that I don’t have to enter each item myself.  For books and records, you can search Amazon using the author, artist or title and when you select it from a list, it imports all the publisher’s information so you just click on it and you have a complete record of the item.

 

Itaggit also tallies the purchase price (retail) so you have a running total of how much your collection would cost to replace. A feature I haven’t used yet is the ability to post an item to eBay, Facebook, Craigslist or other leading Web sites. I have suggested that my husband put some of his collections on itaggit so he can easily upload items to eBay to sell.

There‘s even a blog feature so you can write about your collection and share information with other members of the itaggit community. In one evening, I entered several hundred items.  It’s really a great tool and you can’t beat the price.

Posted in Music, Productivity Software, Social Media | 2 Comments »

Dell Summer Rocks Tour Multimedia: Lollapalooza 2008

Tuesday, August 12th, 2008

Lollapalooza has come and gone. However, memories of the event and the Dell Dome are still fresh in the minds of all who experienced it.  I know I’m not speaking only for myself when I say that next year’s event cannot come quickly enough.  So if you were fortunate enough to attend Lollapalooza this year and want to reminisce or, if you just want to see some of the action from the event, check out the updated Dell Summer Rocks Lollapalooza page which features band interviews and action photos within the Dell Dome.

USA Today’s Pop Candy has a nice recap of the event including a blurb about our resident artist Mike Ming, whose work can be found not only in the Dell Summer Rocks Tour Dome, but on our customized Dell 1525 laptop computers as well.  Summer is full of colors, and Designed for Dell has all the customized features one would want to make your personal laptop or desktop computer as colorful as you are.  Make sure you check out the latest offerings from Dell and pick one up that fits your style and needs.

If you have pictures from the Dell Dome at Lollapalooza and want to share the love with friends and others with Flickr, please make sure to tag your photos with “DellSummerRocks” and upload your pictures today.  I’ve already uploaded some of my shots and will continue to add more as the Dell Summer Rocks Tour continues.

Posted in Events, Music, Social Media | No Comments »

Dell Summer Rocks: Day 3 Wrapup

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

It was the last day of the Lollapalooza festival and the weather was again beautiful.  Everyone arrived a bit late and many were bruised and sore from the incredible “Rage Against The Machine” set on Saturday night.  The performance itself was everything a fan could imagined, however the set didn’t end without incident as many in the crowd and those close to the stage got caught up in the excitement.  Check out the in-depth article from Jim DeRogatis titled Raging during the Rage set if you are interested in more details.

I still can’t get over the number of people that visited the Dell Dome.  Early in the event, one emcee rocked the dome, but by Sunday afternoon we saw two emcees calling out activities and encouraging folks to come inside.

Hanging out around the dome

Mike Ming was feverishly working on his mural and putting the finishing touches up before the event ended.  Mike is definitely as cool and interesting as his artwork, and I felt fortunate for having had a chance to chat with him a bit during the event.

Playing Ping Pong while Mike Ming paints

While I expected to see a “younger” crowd at event, I was bit surprised at how many kids and toddlers attended . I even spotted a few babies in strollers.  And from what I can tell, many of the youngsters were having just as much fun, if not more, than the parents and older crowd during the shows.  In fact, the organizers did an amazing job at bringing kid-oriented artists and activities to the event.  Check out Kidzapalooza for a peek at the lineup that was available.

Kids get involved in the fun

Sunday night had another packed lineup as Blues Traveler, Gnarls Barkley and NIN were scheduled.  Not to mention one of the hometown heroes of Chicago, Kanye West himself would hit the stage.

The Dell Dome and the Lollapalooza festival were a huge success.  I’ll recap the entire festival later this week with more photos and possibly some video.

Posted in Events, Music | 2 Comments »

Dell Summer Rocks: Day 2

Saturday, August 2nd, 2008

I know … You might be thinking where is Part 2 of Day 1 at Lollapalooza 2008?  Well, unfortunately, my photos from the Dell AfterParty last night didn’t come out due to the darkness of the club.  We also had a little technical difficulty as Does It Offend You? Yeah had their luggage lost on the flight in.  As a result, they were limited to playing a smaller DJ set for the performance.  However, that didn’t stop the action as The Gutter Twins hit the stage at 12:30 to an enthusiastic crowd.

On to Saturday:  The oppressive heat experienced in Chicago on Friday is now a thing of the past as we are being treated to a beautiful sunny day with a breeze and temperatures in the mid 80s.  Now this is what I call festival weather.

Heading to the north stage and the Dell Dome

The crowds at the Dell Dome continue to grow as more and more people spread the word about all the great things taking place inside.  And having a dome with air conditioning doesn’t hurt, either.

Getting an airbrush tattoo

More mixtape creations

Visitors to the dome are encouraged to create their own mix of music from a set list offered through Dell.  Their mixes will be e-mailed to them so they can share it with friends and family.  But you don’t have to be at the festival to participate. Just head on over to the Dell Summer Rocks Web site and join in the fun.

The Dell Dome also is the place to see up-close interviews of some of your favorite artists.  Below, Cadence Weapon from Alberta, Canada, sits down with our resident MC, Jonny Santos, for a chat.

Cadence Weapon interview

That’s it for now. Great lineup tonight with Spank Rock, Lupe Fiasco and, of course, Rage Against the Machine on my schedule.

Posted in Events, Music | No Comments »

Dell Summer Rocks: Part 1 - Day 1 Lollapalooza

Friday, August 1st, 2008

Despite a little rain this morning, the day is turning out to be beautiful here in Chicago.  Beautiful and hot… maybe even a bit hotter than the Texas heat we have been seeing back in Austin.  However that’s not stopping the crowds here at Lollapalooza 2008, who’ve been out in force checking out their favorite bands and checking in at the popular Dell Dome.

I took a quick break from the festivities myself in order to share some photos from the festival, the first stop on the Dell Summer Rocks Tour.  Check it out:

Dell Dome early Friday afternoon

Getting a quick hair by one of our stylists

Making buttons for the event

Creating a custom mix

Mike Ming painting canvas in the dome

As you can see, there are plenty of activities going on at the Dell Dome. You can:

  • Make your own digital mixtape
  • Create a band button
  • Get your hair rocked out
  • Make a custom tee
  • Get tatted up (temporary, of course)
  • Meet Dell resident artist, Mike Ming

I’ve got to get back, so more pictures later.  Later tonight we’ve got the Spin/Dell Lounge AfterParty going on, and I’ll be sure to capture some of the action as The Gutter Twins rock the event.

Posted in Events, Music | No Comments »

Dell Summer Rocks Tour: First Stop Lollapalooza 2008

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

The Dell Summer Rocks Tour kicked off this week with the highly successful Dell Towel Drop, and now it’s time for the first leg of festival runs as the Dell Lounge and Dell Dome hit the Lollapalooza 2008 music festival.

The festival itself runs from Aug. 1-3 at Grant Park in Chicago, and the Dell Dome has some incredible artists slated to play.  Check out the lineup for Friday, the first day of the event from the dome…

  • The Go! Team
  • Does It Offend You, Yeah?
  • Tiny Masters of Today
  • Bang Camaro
  • The Terrible Twos
  • Sofia Talvik

Outside of the featured musicians above, we will also have the incredibly talented Mike Ming on tour. His artistic work is showcased on our some of our Inspiron 1525 laptops.  So if you are going to Lollapalooza, please make sure to stop by and say hello.

Friday night after the festival winds down for the day, Spin Magazine and the Dell lounge will be hosting a fantastic Lollapalooza AfterParty.   The Gutter Twins are center stage along with feature guests Does It Offend You, Yeah? It’s not too late to RSVP, but make sure you do so now!

I’ve heard that space is filling up quickly and this is one event you certainly don’t want to miss, I know I won’t.

You can follow me as I Tweet live from the event from Twitter @ChrisBatDell

Posted in Events, Music | No Comments »

On The Road Again

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

It may come as no surprise to regular Your Blog readers, but Dell is becoming even more involved in the gaming and digital life communities. Bloggers John Blain and Chris Byrd are the road and later today will be posting and tweeting from QuakeCon / Extreme Gaming Tour and the Lollapalooza music festival / Dell Summer Rocks tour, respectively.

I have no idea what they’ll turn up. But it should be a hoot!

Posted in Events, Gaming, Music, Social Media | No Comments »

Artist Kira Willey, Dell and the Inspirational Song “Colors”

Friday, July 25th, 2008

It’s creating quite a stir online and on the air, and once you’ve heard the song you will be whistling the tune wherever you go. 

Kira Willey is the wonderful artist behind the song “Colors,”  the inspirational track that can be heard in the new Dell commercial showcasing the many customizations that can be configured for Dell computers. Kira is the founder of Fireflies Yoga and creator of the CD “Dance for the Sun,” an award-winning yoga album for kids that includes the track found in the video. 

Copywriter Bobby Hershfield, part of the Mother, NY creative team behind the commercial spot, had this to say about choosing the song:

We wanted to find a song that communicated a person’s relationship with their computer. Since the spot shows how a computer is an extension of a person, we wanted the song to reinforce that idea in an interesting and engaging way.

What we loved about “Colors” was two fold. We love first the melody and tone. It eased you into the images and had a nice emotional quality to it. Secondly, we loved the lyrics that colors matched a mood. That a person could feel differently one day to the next. We thought that was a nice metaphor for Dell, whose family of computers contain different styles, patterns, colors, and features. The song with the images really reinforced the idea that there is a Dell for everyone.

We came across the song through our editor, who had found it during a search. As he was editing the spot he thought the song worked well with the imagery and gave the spot overall a nice quality to it.

We couldn’t be happier with the way it all turned out

I was fortunate enough to chat with Kira and gather more information on the song and her background as an artist.

CB: Where were you born, and where do you currently reside?

KW: I was born in Boston, and grew up all over New England. My husband and I now live in eastern Pennsylvania with our two young children.

CB: I understand from a young age and throughout high school, your passion was playing the violin.  Looking back, did you always see a career for yourself in music?

KW: I’ve played music since I was five years old, when I began the Suzuki method of violin. In recitals I played Twinkle Twinkle next to now world-famous violinist Joshua Bell! Although I didn’t know music would become my career until after college, it’s always been a huge part of my life. Even when I had a “real job” and wasn’t working in music, I loved that I could speak the language with other musicians, and was always grateful for that lifelong musical education.

I have a large family, and almost everyone is very musical—lots of singers and instrumentalists. My brother, who sings bass on three tracks on my CD, and my dad are fantastic singers. And my cousin Beau Lisy co-produced the album and is an amazing percussionist and drummer.

CB: What was your inspiration for creating “Dance for the Sun?”

KW: I was living in New York City, teaching music to young children, and began practicing yoga at around the same time. I eventually got certified to teach yoga to kids, and the natural way for me to teach—and a very effective way, as it turned out–was to sing and use lots of rhythm. I created Fireflies Musical Yoga for Kids, and “Dance for the Sun” evolved for the most part out of the songs I wrote to use in my classes. I had no idea that the CD and its concept of teaching musical yoga to kids would connect so well with families and become so popular, but I’m certainly glad it has.

CB: How did the song “Colors” come about?

KW: I had wanted to do a song about colors for a while, and felt like it was almost too simple. But I realized after I wrote it that it has a few different levels of meaning: the literal one, which kids really connect to because colors are so directly related to their world—all kids have a strong opinion about their favorite colors! But it also describes the different moods we all have and how we can feel lots of different ways at once, which is important for kids to recognize and learn that that’s OK. And even on another level, in the line “all the colors of the world are in me,” I was going for the idea that even though we’re all different kinds of people, we’re more alike than we are different. It can really mean whatever anyone wants it to mean.

CB: When did you think when Dell contacted you about using your music?

KW: It was a bolt out of the blue–I was excited about it, particularly about the potential of my music connecting with a broader audience.

CB: The new commercial is beautiful, and the song fits very well.  What does your family think now that your music can be heard online and on TV?

KW: Everyone’s really thrilled, and lots of people — some I know but most I don’t — are contacting me wanting to know more about the music, which is great.

CB: Do you have any plans or projects on the horizon?

KW: I’ll continue to teach Fireflies Yoga classes, give workshops and master classes, and perform kids’ yoga concerts—we did one in Bryant Park, NYC last weekend which was a blast. I’m hoping to spread the joy and benefits of kids’ yoga to a much wider audience using TV; we just finished developing a script for a children’s music and yoga TV show. I write a kids’ yoga blog for iyogalife.com, and I’m revamping my Web site with lots of videos, photos and new songs. I am also writing new songs all the time, hoping to record some of them very soon. So I’ve got lots going on!

Kira Willey

Posted in Advertising, Laptops, Music | 4 Comments »

Terry A While: Dell Kicks Off Music Festival Tour and Sweepstakes with Massive Towel Giveaway

Friday, July 25th, 2008

A sea of color will wash over select recreational hotspots across the U.S. tomorrow as Dell choreographs mass arrays of the quintessential summer accessory – a super-sized, eye-popping beach towel. The event launches Dell’s six-festival Summer Rocks Tour and Sweepstakes.

Large-scale checkerboard mosaics comprised of hundreds of colorful beach towels – 15,000 in all – are planned rain-or-shine for:

  • Austin, Texas
  • Chicago, Illinois
  • Los Angeles, California
  • Miami, Florida
  • New York, New York
  • Seattle, Washington

The premium bamboo towels evoke the new Dell Studio laptop PCs, which are available in more than 10 color combinations.

Hangtags on the towels announce the Dell Summer Rocks Sweepstakes, which offers passionate music fans the chance to win one of 10 pairs of tickets to the 2008 Austin City Limits Music Festival, Sept. 26-28 in Austin, Texas.

Dell’s Summer Rocks Tour will take the eclectic Dell Dome experience to six of the summer’s hottest music festival destinations:

  • Lollapalooza – Chicago, Aug. 1-3
  • Virgin Mobile Festival – Baltimore, Aug. 9-10
  • Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival – San Francisco, Aug. 22-24
  • Bumbershoot – Seattle, Aug. 30-Sept. 1
  • Monolith Music Festival – Morrison, Colo., Sept. 13-14
  • Austin City Limits Music Festival – Austin, Texas, Sept. 26-28

The exterior of the geodesic Dell Dome will serve as a massive canvas for the work of Brooklyn-based artist Mike Ming, whose designs are available on the Dell™ Inspiron™ 1525 laptop. Ming also will create a new work of art at each Dell Dome event and assist visitors with their own projects.

Inside the Dell Dome, visitors can take part in unique Dell experiences like:

  • Stations for creating a 20-track “digital mix tape” from a menu of up to 100 songs.
  • A pop culture hair salon, where stylists will recreate iconic rock star hairdos.
  • Custom and Mike Ming original airbrush tattoos.
  • Custom heat iron transfers for shirts, bags and scarves.

Who wouldn’t want to walk around Lollapalooza looking like Amy Winehouse?

For highlights from the Dell Summer Rocks tour, and special online features and downloads, visit the Dell Lounge.

Posted in Design, Events, Fashion, Laptops, Music | No Comments »

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