Bryant & Stratton College SL Orientation (06.22.09)

Yesterday was Father's Day, and I had a great one. I got to sleep in, and then Kat and I grabbed my son and went to a restaurant to meet my dad and my niece for brunch. When I got back, I found a note from a person in SL I'd seen at a few of my shows, Turn Pike (great name, huh?). Turn asked me if I was able to play a show on the following day, not at a club or other typical SL live music venue, but at an orientation party for an online college.

My ears perked up. This was an intriguing possibility, so I contacted Turn for more information. Turns out that Bryant & Stratton College has an online degree program, and has an island in SL dedicated to the college. They were going to be beginning their next term's online classes this Wednesday, and were holding a party for incoming students. The catch? None of them had ever ben in SL before. They were all brand spanking new noobs. Some people might view this as a bad thing... after all, getting into SL isn't exactly intuitive, and jumping straight into a live music show might have been overwhelming for them as they tried to navigate around SL for the very first time.

When I arrived, the first thing I saw was someone saying, "How do I walk???" UH oh! But the staff members were great... led them over to the stage area, and taught them how to turn on music. By the second song, all of the students were grooving to the tunes, so that was great. The set was a wee bit short, since we spent the first 10 minutes or so just herding the noobs to the performance area of the sim. I also geared most of the material to stuff that was relatively tame, and did more covers than I have recently. Most of the audience conversation was, understandably, in regard to their classes, their majors, and other relevant stuff for the event. However, a lot of them were digging the tunes, and I got to expose all of them to some Zak Claxton music for their very first experience in SL. If they're like most people who end up sticking around in SL, they probably won't ever forget that.

I had to laugh, since for much of the show, they were all doing the "brand new to SL trip out" thing. They all clicked a dance ball for the first time, and were all exclaiming about how well they danced. Hee hee. It was adorable. One lady was saying how her teenage kids were making fun of her for playing a video game, and I admonished the kids out loud for not supporting Mom. And of course, for me, it was great getting back to a point where just calling someone by their name elicited a response of, "OH MY GOD, HE'S TALKING TO ME!"

My set list for noobs...
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
Summer Breeze (Seals & Crofts)
Save It For Later (English Beat)
Thanks Anyway (Zak Claxton)
Always Tomorrrow (Zak Claxton)
You're Like a Cloud (Zak Claxton)
Jane (Barenaked Ladies)
Sister Golden Hair (America)
I Am The Walrus (Beatles)
Come Around (Zak Claxton)

Thanks to the folks who attended my show! See you around the grid sometime!
Stephania Yifu, Bryant Stratten, Ralph Chiung, Antione Foxdale, Jules4 Riddler, Traylorman Lane, Starry Bloobury, Libra Sapphire, miah09 Static, JazzyJoy Texan, Thekidsmom Weirman, Mom2GarretandRyan Leissa, Mona Nissondorf, Jaqueena Edenflower, Jules4 Riddler, Meg124 Charlesworth, and Turn Pike, who hosted the party and wrangled noobs very impressively!