I was mentored as a youngster by an old black guy from Brooklyn. If he hadn't been able to make me a little street smart I don't think I would have done as well as I have done in life.
As for Photoville I was turned onto that through a small group of Flickr contacts that I have namely Ryan Schude, Lauren Lemon, and Julia Galdo...these folks are young professional magazine photographers who have made the big time and are very successful plus they shoot some crazy cutting edge type of stuff if you ask me.
I would love to go see it all but even more fun would be to see the photographers because some of the best and brightest will be there.