Under the Willows (05.27.11)

Nice crowd, great venue, a fun Friday night. I don't ask for much more. Photo by Kat.

I always enjoy an opportunity to perform at venues that are new to me, and this was my first time at Under the Willows. It's a gorgeous SL build, with the stage on a small island in an artificial harbor. I was particularly pleased to see a batch of SL's finest musicians performing that same evening; Damian Carbenell had the 5pm slot, I was up at 6, followed by TwinGhost Ronas and then Max Kleene to round out the evening. All modesty aside, I'd say that owner Precious Rallier has pretty good taste in SL performers!

Only one thing marred an otherwise great night, and it's pretty funny now (though was less hilarious at the time). Right before I was getting onstage, as Damian was wrapping up his last couple of tunes, my computer graphics completely freaked out (which is very rare for me; I usually get pretty damn exceptional performance running Second Life on my MacBook Pro). The result was that suddenly, everything went gray, to the point that I had no idea how I was going to get onstage! Using some combination of intuition and luck (and some degree of seeing shadows in the haze), I managed to make my way in the general direction of where Damian was playing, and planted myself there. It was so surreal, I had to take a pic so you could see what I was experiencing at that moment.

It's amazing I managed to get my guitar attached and point myself at the crowd.

Fortunately, after a couple of songs, my FUBAR graphics suddenly snapped back to reality, and I was able to see my crowd and the rest of my surroundings. Beyond that weirdness, the show was really fun, and I pulled out a coupe of rarities just for the hell of it. Since the venue is named "Under the Willows", I played a tune from the Broadway play Godspell which I last did in 1983 for a high school performance. Also, since Bob Dylan turned 70 this week, I played one of his tunes for the first time in quite awhile.

Under the Willows set list...
I've Been Waiting for You (Neil Young)
You're Like a Cloud (Zak Claxton)
*On the Willows (Godspell)
Broken Day (Zak Claxton)
†Tangled Up in Blue (Bob Dylan)
Falling Down (Zak Claxton)
Pink Moon (Nick Drake)
Help Me (Joni MItchell)
Always Tomorrow (Zak Claxton)
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (Crosby, Stills & Nash)
The Weight (The Band)

*Indicates my first performance of this song in SL.
†Last performance of "Tangled Up in Blue" was in August 2010

What a pretty place to see a live virtual show! Photo by Kat.

Huge thanks to everyone who came out to see me at Under the Willows, especially those who supported my show!
Triana Caldera, Leondra Larsson, Doc Edman, Kalli Birman, Aurelie Chenaux, Horizon Darkstone, Kat Claxton, Christine Haiku, TheaDee, and especially my manager Maali Beck and Under the Willows owner Precious Rallier!