The Originals (04.26.09)

Bringing the ZakRock to lots of new and cool people.

Neat place for a big show.

Ah, so that's what 90 people look like. It's been awhile.

When I first heard about THE ORIGINALS, a group in SL of people who perform their own song exclusively, I was immediately interested. First and foremost, I was interested as a music fan. Don't get me wrong; I like hearing someone do a terrific cover song as much as anyone, and have spent a lot of time in SL playing covers while I worked on my own stuff. These days, my shows are about two-thirds originals on average, with some covers thrown in to mix stuff up every so often.

But I digress. Today, the Originals held an all-day festival for -- you guessed it -- original music. Here was the line-up:

09.45am - MIMI CARPENTER
10.00am - RASPBURY REARWIN
10.30am - EVAMOON EMBER
11.00am - PILGRIM75 SWASHBUCKLER
11.30am - WINSTON ACKLAND
12.00pm - POL Arida
12.30pm - STRUM DIESEL
1.00pm - ZAK CLAXTON
1.30pm - GRACE McDUNNOUGH
2.00pm - MAXIMILLION KLEENE
2.15pm - DANN NUMBERS
2.30pm - SENJATA WITT
3.00pm - The AfterParty with DJ DOUBLEDOWN TANDINO

So, I had the pleasure of joining some of SL's finest for this entire day of live music. I usually don't stay the entire day for these kind of events, but it turned out to be the perfect day to relax and enjoy the company of Kat (here in real life) and all my musical compatriots in SL as well.

I can say honestly that everyone I heard today sounded pretty fantastic. It was a definite honor getting to play before one of my personal favorite musicians in SL, Grace McDunnough. But all the performers really brought their A-game and played some terrific stuff. I really enjoyed it. My set was at 1:00, and the show was run very well (thanks to Harrie Skjellerup) so right on time I got to start my half-hour show.

Set list for THE ORIGINALS (Sun 4/26/09)...
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
Thanks Anyway (Zak Claxton)
Falling Down (Zak Claxton)
You're Like a Cloud (Zak Claxton)
Always Tomorrow (Zak Claxton)
Come Around (Zak Claxton)

I'd say it went really well, considering that a week ago, I was completely laid up with the flu, and hadn't played for a week before that either. It was a really nice way to jump back into doing gigs in SL, and huge thanks go out to Harrie Skjellerup for getting me involved in this terrific group.

Big thanks to everyone who supported today's show!
Triana Caldera, Diana Renoir, Harrie Skjellerup, Reginald Beck, Ron Kaffebaum, Shellie Sands, sarahjo Teardrop, Jeaninne Mathilde, Natasja Koenkamp, Jordan Hazlitt, Krakov Letov, Kat Claxton, Bourque Rau, Winston Ackland, Jura Shepherd, Amylyn Arcadia, Aurelie Chenaux, Strawberry Holiday, and Eli Schlegal!