It was literally months ago that my great friend Triana Caldera asked if I would perform live at a special event in SL. It was both the fourth anniversary of her "Triana's Music Trivia" and her fifth rezday ("rezday" meaning the day that a person first signed on to Second Life, kind of like a digital birthday or sorts). Backing up a little -- to Fall 2006, in fact -- Triana's Music Trivia was one of the first things that my darling Kat and I discovered in Second Life that we immediately enjoyed. It's a weekly trivia game that Triana hosts every Sunday evening, and rarely does a weekend come to a close without Kat and I being at Triana's. While the trivia game itself is fun, the real reason we enjoy it so (and have stuck with it for so long) is that the people are a terrific and hilarious group of folks. In fact, we became so close to Triana herself that earlier this year, Triana was visiting the west coast from her home in Minnesota, and she spent a few days hanging out with us. She's every bit as fun to be around in person as she is online, and we had a great time with her.
But I digress. On a usual trivia night, the game is played while a DJ (Samantha Poindexter) spins records as background music. On a few occasions, Triana has had me or Kaklick Martin -- another SL musician and trivia player -- perform live during the game. For this special event, combining TMT's fourth anniversary and her fifth rezday, she expanded the game to a two-hour event, and had both Kaklick and I play.
However, sometimes life throws you a curveball. A few days before the special TMT show, the world was rocked by the sudden passing of Michael Jackson. When a cultural icon with the impact of MJ dies, it's downright impossible to not acknowledge it in any setting that has anything to do with music. So, Triana quickly scrapped whatever plan she'd had for the theme of the trivia questions that night and put together an all-Michael trivia night. For my portion of the live music, which went from 6-7PM, I mostly did my usual show, but for the first time in my life, I actually covered a Michael Jackson song. Not very well, mind you; you have two strikes against you automatically trying to a) play a full arrangement of music as is found in most MJ songs on just an acoustic guitar, and b) covering any MJ song on voice when very few men can sing in that high range of his.
But it turned out to be pretty good, or at least better than the trainwreck it could have been, and I can't see myself having done a show without acknowledging the loss of the King of Pop. All in all, the entire night was a blast, and it was nice for me to be able to relax and play the trivia game for an hour after my portion of performing was done.
Song Sample #1: "Triana" (Zak Claxton)
Song Sample #2: "Off the Wall" (Michael Jackson)
My TMT Set List...
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
Jane (Barenaked Ladies)
Thanks Anyway (Zak Claxton)
Triana (Zak Claxton)
Falling Down (Zak Claxton)
*Off the Wall (Michael Jackson)
Always Tomorrow (Zak Claxton)
Mary Jane's Last Dane (Tom Petty)
Nobody's Home (Pink Floyd)
You're Like a Cloud (Zak Claxton)
Losing My Religion (REM)
Loser (Beck)
*Indicates the first time I have performed this song in SL
Many thanks to the folks who helped support my show!
Alchemy Epstein, Jordan Hazlitt, Jimi Seda, Nakira Tennen, Kaklick Martin, Horizon Darkstone, Eanya Dalek, Samantha Poindexter, Rey Tardis, Blues Heron, Julianna Lionheart, Kat Claxton, and of course my wonderful friend and terrific hostess of TMT, Triana Caldera!
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