Daddy's Piano Bar (04.22.14)

Here's a tidbit of info you might not know: I find out where I'm going to perform by looking at my own schedule every so often. My manager, a lovely lady named Maali Beck, handles all of my bookings, and I trust her implicitly to get me booked at places on days and times that are good for me. She never fails me, either. Hats off to Maali.

Anyway, I looked at my schedule and saw I was booked at a place I hadn't played before, called Daddy's Piano Bar. Uh oh. I'd heard of the venue, but assumed that it catered only to the jazz crowd. While I enjoy jazz and am capable of playing it, it's hardly my signature musical genre. I'm a rocker, or occasionally a somewhat folksy singer-songwriter. Then, when I went to go learn more about the place, I saw the description in SL read "where jazz meets kink". Uh oh again. I mean, much like jazz, I can be kinky, but that rarely crosses paths with my musical performances. What would be happening there? Would I be performing in latex while three leather-bound girls whipped me? This had all the hallmarks of a bad musical situation: being the wrong guy at the wrong place.

All of those unfounded worries vanished about two seconds into my show last night. First off, thank the gods for my Zaksters, who showed up in force for my debut there. Additionally, Daddy's had its own crowd, and as I've mentioned often, I love the opportunity to perform for people who haven't heard my show before. The staff there was also very friendly, and were totally on the ball in regard to getting my show set up and announced. The vibe in the air, for whatever reason, was very positive.

I'm standing on a giant piano next to a normal piano and a small piano... while playing a guitar. Photo and top photo by Triana Caldera.

Pretty venue, cool people, good tunes. I ask for nothing more than that. Photo by me, oddly enough.

A brief side note: this was also my first SL show using my new Mac mini, and it worked like a champ. As I'd done previously, I'm running my audio through the computer and running SL at the same time, and everything functioned fantastically. Plus, I could actually move around and stuff after the show, which had become impossible with the old MacBook Pro. I can't tell you how happy I am about that.

Finally, another glance at my schedule shows me that I'm booked at Daddy's once a month through the end of the year, and after my first show there, I'm already looking forward to the next one.

Daddy's Piano Bar set list...
Never Run Away (Kurt Vile)
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
What I Got (Sublime)
*Nearly Lost You (Screaming Trees)
Thanks Anyway (Zak Claxton)
All Apologies (Nirvana)
Swing Lo Magellan (Dirty Projectors)
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Neil Young)
You're Like a Cloud (Zak Claxton)
Big Yellow Taxi (Joni Mitchell)
Falling Down (Zak Claxton)
Man On The Moon (R.E.M.)
Tea for the Tillerman (Cat Stevens)

*Indicates the first time I've performed this song in SL.

Massive thanks to all who came out to see me at Daddy's, with special thanks to those who helped support my show!
Rich Simsider, Triana Caldera, Jilly Jules, AlexisReese, Sesh Kamachi, Dusty1125 Gumbo, Kaethe Atansoff, Samuel Berithos, Alexis Fairlady, Luis Lockjaw, AishaLace, Sassy Nitely, Christine Haiku, Aurelie Chenaux, TheaDee, my great manager Maali Beck, and Daddy's excellent staff members Spankichu Barbecue and Zee Difference!