Molaskey's Pub (07.25.13)

It's pretty rare for me that I end up doing live shows on back-to-back days, but for places like Molaskey's Pub in Second Life, I am definitely eager to jump onstage whenever the opportunity presents itself. I knew that this show in particular would be a good one; my pal Stacey Bell, who has been a longtime hostess at Molaskey's, was celebrating her birthday. Stacey is a huge Deadhead, and I rarely have a good occasion to whip out my repertoire of Dead tunes, so I planned a set that would be fun for her as well as the rest of the crowd.

With one small exception (see below), the show at Molaskey's was as great as I'd hoped it could be. We had a nice-sized crowd; I got to perform preceding one of my favorite SL musicians (and good pal), Lyndon Heart; and my guitar and voice were both behaving very nicely. In fact, I'm feeling and hearing a marked difference in my voice since I started my big cut-back in smoking last week. So that's all good.

What wasn't good was an unexpected technical problem (side note: aren't most technical problems unexpected?), one that's never happened in the 6-1/2 years I've been performing in SL. My little Mackie mixer, which is pretty damn old and has served me well for over a decade, blew a channel while I was in the middle of the fourth song of the show. This is not something that you want to experience as a performer or a music fan, but I thought you'd like to hear what it's like regardless.



So that happened. But I've said many times before, the job of the performer isn't just to sing and play, but to overcome the inevitable adversity that happens when playing live music. I took a 1-minute break, very quickly did some troubleshooting (and screaming profanities) and ascertained the cause of the problem, made a fast change, and was back up and running for the rest of the show.

As I mentioned during the show, performing live with an audience comprised of good friends is a great feeling. Photo and top photo by Kat.

Even the sound of a mixer exploding doesn't cause the crowd at Molaskey's to panic. All was well. Photo by Kat.

Molaskey's set list...
Man of Constant Sorrow (Traditional)
The Weight (The Band)
Let's Pretend that Everything's Okay (Zak Claxton)
Our Lips Are Sealed (Go-Go's)
Is She Really Going Out With Him (Joe Jackson)
Uncle John's Band (Grateful Dead)
I've Been Waiting for You (Neil Young)
Things Behgind the Sun (Nick Drake)
The Crystal Ship (The Doors)
Terrapin Station (Grateful Dead)
She's Leaving Home (Beatles)

Happy birthday Stacey, and huge thanks to everyone who came out and supported my show at Molaskey's!
warmpup, Bree Birke, Diana Renoir, Kat Claxton, Aurelie Chenaux, Richy Nervous, Cicadetta Stillwater, Woodstock Burleigh, Thinkerer Melville, Stace Silvercloud, my manager Maali Beck, and Molaskey's GM Mia Kitchensink!