Week Seven In Which We Enquire of Da Boyz

I do so love the Internet. It has changed my life and given me adventures I could never have dreamed of. It turned the scarifying, lonely ordeal of rugged individualism that was travelling solo to Las Vegas in the early days, into an hilarious, even take-your-chums-with-you-on-the-plane jolly up via in-flight WiFi! I flew via US Airways this time, to Las Vegas to the International CES, via a side-trip to Texas, six flights in all, to see if everything really IS bigger there. It was. And Facebook always has a new thrust or two going on to pique the pointy end of internetz. One page of which right now, spotted properly by our own Guru, was The Audio Boyz. All about the fun side of car audio and less about the grandiose, it has taken on a life of its own. And I was able to check it out while in US airspace by Pogo in flight WiFi, which is wondrously cool and dead cheap.
A serious amount of work and love has gone into the Audio Boyz website and they have some cool swag to get. Thing is, with the changes in Talk Audio’s background, we no longer have any direct affiliation to any retailer set up. This frees Talk Audio to engage even more with the best car audio specialists around the country – and we shall be. There’ll even be a new 200 x 200 square advert location to ping to their own websites from, appearing in the margins in due course. Part of this was the thought that while each brand’s own website often has a dealer locator, you cannot easily find out, without going to each shop’s website, what each shop stocks and how they operate what their stated strengths are. Are they high power system nutters or do they run a successful sound quality team? Are they experts in T5 VW van conversion? I wanted to create a dealer locator.
Then I went and looked at this one and my idea ossified above my head, developed a full set of cartoon crack marks and shattered with a slight tinkle sound, all over my Pith Helmet! link Because it is brilliant.
So I spoke to my TA higher-ups and was given an idea. A phone call to talk about it and a proposal is winging its way to the Audio Boyz creator. Head Boy, no less. For the Audio Boyz Dealer Locator could also nestle in a Talk Audio page launcher, via its own whole tab at the top of the page and we would get the chance to engage with these outfits, too. I want to do more installations, more systems. I think he was positive.. I’ll let you know. Meanwhile, check it out, there are fifty shops on there so far.
A large new selection of cool vehicle installations are coming up in the wings, since the trend in car audio in the UK is so slow-moving at the top end, due solely to the sheer enormity of the work involved. I am keen to blatantly copy Steve Meade and do a System of the Month this year, as well, so PM me, email me, hit me up on Facebook, as apart from anything else, I can foresee a need for cars for Fast Car as well. I wanted to offer up a public thank you to Jules Truss, Midge and Glenda at FC towers for the sheer delight of seeing my stuff printed on paper again. Somehow, the trade press never felt like the real thing and while I may adore the internet, it is still virtual.
What is wonderful though, is when the virtual becomes the actual. When that damn parcel ARRIVES to your utter delight, when you finally meet that Facebook friend in person at a show or five thousand miles away. That’s when the Internet becomes tangible. So be careful what you wish for, what you click and what you say. You might just fall in love.
Adam Rayner On Line Editor