Hesperia of Templemore (07.18.15)

I've had a lot of Hesperia on my mind lately. Last weekend, my band They Stole My Crayon were in the city of Hesperia, CA, recording vocals for our album with engineer Phil O'Keefe. Then, on Friday, there was a horrifying brush fire that leapt the 15 freeway near the city, destroying a number of cars (but thankfully no lives) in the process. And then on Saturday, I performed a live show in Second Life at Hesperia of Templemore. While the show itself was terrific, it's unfortunately going to likely be my last there; Templemore's Luis Lockjaw put out the news that the collection of venues there will no longer be able to host live music shows.

Any time that a successful SL venue is forced to close is a shame; Templemore's decision to cease live music is closer to a tragedy. Without being overly dramatic about it, while there remain many great places to experience live music in SL, few venues had the ability to create a vibe like Templemore. The artistry of the many stages that have been created there for various events, right down to the smallest detail, was truly unsurpassed. I will certainly miss playing there, though it should be noted that the sim itself is currently planned to remain open for people who want to wander around and admire the handiwork of the people who created it. However, they will do it without a live performer playing along.

Enough of the sad stuff. I am positive that Luis and the rest of the folks who ran Templemore have valid reasons for not continuing as a live venue, and I respect that. Let's instead talk about my show there, which was great. We had a pretty large crowd, big enough that it wasn't very easy to move around the room very easily. I was okay with that, as you'd imagine... I had plenty of room up on the stage, ha ha. Knowing that it would in all likelihood be my final show there, I was determined to make it special, so I pulled out three songs I'd never played before, including a version of Jose Feliciano's TV theme from "Chico and the Man" that was customized for my friend Luis.

All photos by Kat.

Templemore set list...
*Friday I'm In Love (The Cure)
Blew The Dust Away (They Stole My Crayon)
Northern Sky (Nick Drake)
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
*Luis and the Man (Jose Feliciano)
The Man Who Sold the World (David Bowie)
Sour Girl (Stone Temple Pilots)
Tea In the Sahara (The Police)
*Saved by Zero (The Fixx)
Sleeper in the Valley (Laura Viers)
It's Choade My Dear (Connan Mockasin)
Shame Chamber (Kurt Vile)
Bag of Nothing (They Stole My Crayon)
You're Like a Cloud (Zak Claxton)

*Indicates the first time I've performed this song in SL.

Huge thanks to everyone who came out to my last show at Templemore, and equal huge thanks to everyone over the years who made it one of the best live music experiences ever in Second Life!
Sassy Nitely, Geena Carminucci, Ajana Tammas, CHRlSTIANGREY Resident, Aurelie Chenaux, Darcy Kingmaker, Caasi Ansar, my great manager Maali Beck, lovely hostess Bee Blackrain, and Templemore's creative genius and my good friend Luis Lockjaw.