Key West (01.30.15)

Hey, lookee here: I managed to do one live show in Second Life and two whole blog posts in the month of January 2015. Go me! I have an excuse for my absence, your honor. You see, apparently there's some kind of limit to human productivity and creative energy and all that good stuff, and every January for the past 22 years, my brain gets sucked into a vortex of a huge business event for the industry in which I work. It's called the NAMM Show. I'm not going to spend any time writing about that event here. My entire life has been preoccupied by it for months, and now that it's over, suffice it to say that while it went fine and I didn't die or anything, I'd prefer to spend my time telling you about the show I performed Friday night at Key West in Second Life.

I've played there dozens of times over the past four years or so, and it's just inarguably one of the best places for live music in SL. Friday night, for my first show back in SL after a seven-week hiatus, it couldn't have been better. I was wedged between two superb SL artists, Samm Qendra and Max Kleene, and had a nice built-in crowd for the whole set. As usual, I had legitimate concerns about the fact that the music I choose to play is way less mainstream than most of my fellow performers in SL, but my purposes for playing live in SL may be different than those folks as well. I really don't know. I do know that I do hear from people fairly often who say that they enjoy the more alternative, off-the-beaten-path songs and artists I cover, so while my type of show is never going to have as wide appeal as some others, I think I fill a certain niche of tastes in SL that people don't get elsewhere. So, then I feel good again, and play what I want regardless.

Excellent photos above and below courtesy of Cicadetta Stillwater.

Since it had been so long since my previous show, I made sure to throw in a few previously-unperformed tunes in the set. I will say -- not as an excuse but simply a statement of fact -- that my voice has not entirely recovered from my trade show last weekend, and wasn't quite at the level of goodness that I expect. But it was good enough, and people seemed to enjoy the show. All's well that ends well.

Key West set list...
Northern Sky (Nick Drake)
*Big Empty (Stone Temple Pilots)
Blew the Dust Away (They Stole My Crayon)
*It's Choade My Dear (Connan Mockasin)
Low Key (Tweedy)
Falling Down (Zak Claxton)
Pancho & Lefty (Townes Van Zandt)
On A Plain (Nirvana)
Shame Chamber (Kurt Vile)
Ashes to Ashes (David Bowie)
You're Like a Cloud (Zak Claxton)
Here I Land (Nicholas Stevenson)
*(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love and Understanding (Elvis Costello)

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

Big thanks to all who came out to Key West on Friday night, especially the following who helped support my show!
Bonita Beyaz, JennaLusch Resident, Syd Baddingham, dls Falconer, Blues Heron, Aurelie Chenaux, Richy Nervous, Cicadetta Stillwater, Shannyn Fall, TheaDee Resident, my great manager Maali Beck, and Key West owner Liz Harley!