"There is an end to everything, to good things as well." ~ Geoffrey Chaucer (1374)
Chaucer was right. All things, good and bad, come to an end. Sometimes endings are slow, and sometimes they happen fast and without warning. My final show at Molaskey's Pub in Second Life was somewhere in between; it was just Tuesday morning of this week that I found out Molaskey's was going to be closing in a week, making last night's show my final performance there.
I thought about dedicating a bunch of space on this blog post about why Second Life venues tend to close, but honestly, it boils down to two very simple things: time and money. They are two things that most people feel they don't have enough of. Running a venue properly can take a lot of each, but neither of those were the specific cause of Molaskey's demise. In actuality, it was SL itself that was the problem, at least for my friend Katydid Something who ran the place. She found that she was increasingly unable to enjoy SL due to technical/connection problems that barely allowed her to log in, much less move around or talk to people. Without being able to do the things she loved in SL, it's completely understandable that there's no way she could continue to make the investment of time and money that allowed Molaskey's to keep rolling. Her staff -- including Mia Kitchensink, Cicadetta Stillwater, and sometimes Stace Silvercloud -- did an excellent job hosting shows and keeping things happening at the club. But the money to pay tier and artists has to come from somewhere, as does the huge amount of time handling events.
It obviously wasn't going to work, and so Molaskey's will have its final shows on March 17. They have the distinction of being one of the longest continually running live music venues in SL, having opened on the same day exactly seven years ago in 2007. I could look back through this blog and tell you exactly how may shows I've done there, but there's no need; dozens and dozens of times, I got on their stage and played live music, almost always for great crowds of truly appreciative music fans. Most of the time, my shows were down on the beach stage, and during the winter months, I'd set up on the ice rink above the beach. In addition to Katydid and the hosting staff, my thanks for all the great Molaskey's experiences over the years wouldn't be complete without mentioning Apple McKay and Nasus Dumart, who also co-owned the place for a long time.
Here are a few of Kat's shots from last night.
I don't need to write some long historical retrospective of my shows at Molaskey's; all of them are documented here on this blog. Instead, as I usually do, I'll tell you about last night's show, which went very well. After Mia told my manager Maali Beck and I about the impending closing of the pub, she asked if I could do a special long show for my last performance, and I was very happy to oblige. I did a full hour and a half there, with a good crowd (especially considering that I was performing alone, with no support artists bring in their own audiences). My voice and guitar skills mostly held up, though I was pretty hoarse and drained of energy by the time I finished up the show. That's okay; it's what being a performer is all about, especially at a place like Molaskey's where the effort for an artist to put on his/her best show was always appreciated.
Molaskey's final show set list...
Never Run Away (Kurt Vile)
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
Swing Lo Magellan (Dirty Projectors)
Golden Years (David Bowie)
Always Tomorrow (Zak Claxton)
Northern Sky (Nick Drake)
Redemption Song (Bob Marley)
You're Like a Cloud (Zak Claxton)
*Say Goodbye (Beck)
Comes a Time (Neil Young)
Broken Day (Zak Claxton)
Black Peter (Grateful Dead)
Long Time Gone (Crosby, Stills & Nash)
Go Easy On Me (Zak Claxton)
Falling Down (Zak Claxton)
After the Goldrush (Neil Young)
Soul Kitchen (The Doors)
*Indicates the first time I've performed this song in SL.
A special thank you to everyone who's attended and helped support my many shows at Molaskey's over the years... especially Katydid Something, Mia Kitchensink, and Cicadetta Stillwater. And, of course, thanks to those who supported my final show there last night!
Maurice Mistwallow, Scarlette Vendetta, TheaDee, ChingALing Bling, Harry Wheeler, XaraTeransula, Kat Claxton, Sesh Kamachi, Christine Haiku, Richy Nervous, Crap Mariner, Aurelie Chenaux, and my manager Maali Beck.
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