Serenity Gardens (07.31.17)

Serenity Gardens really is a beautiful design and makes for a great atmosphere to experience live music in Second Life. Photo by Kat.

Happy August!

What is August, anyway? I know it's the eighth month of the year. I know I've experienced 48 of them previously. I know it was named after Augustus, the first Roman emperor and successor to Julius Caesar (who had the previous month, July, named after himself, the cheeky bastard). Months are a somewhat handy way to divide time, I suppose, and also give you a reference point that's easy to follow, year after year. When I think of August, I reflect on being a kid and having turned my brain to gel during the time off school in June and July, and already dreading the return of school in September. As an adult, August doesn't have a whole lot of meaning to me apart from one thing: August 1 (aka today) is the rather unofficial day that Christina and I became a couple, in 2005. So, it's our twelfth anniversary today. Being a Tuesday in the middle of a typical work week, I think our celebrations will be limited at best, though I did draw her a little note on the whiteboard above her desk in our shared home office.

Contrary to some people's beliefs, Christina and I did not meet via Second Life. Rather, we got into SL specifically for one reason: we were already in a long-distance relationship early on (she was living in Seattle, me in Los Angeles), and we thought SL might be a good way to feel more together despite our lack of physical proximity. We actually came to know each other years earlier via an online forum (remember those, kids?) about music and audio topics. We met in 2003, found we had a lot in common, and became friends before finding interest in each other romantically a couple of years later. In my opinion, that's a good way to go, and it's obviously worked out for us. In 2008, after several years of us traveling back and forth to see each other, she moved to my area to be with me, and she still is, for some odd reason.

In lieu of presents, a little whiteboard drawing is acceptable.

Hey, How About Some News About They Stole My Crayon?
Oh yeah. So, as you know, Christina is also part of my independent alternative music band They Stole My Crayon (along with our happy little friend Bunny Knutson). We came out with an album in August 2016 (which was, holy shit, almost a year ago), and are slowly starting to put together songs for the follow-up album. One kind of cool thing is that several of the brand new songs (i.e., the ones we've created after the debut album was wrapped up) were little things that came to us while on trips to Joshua Tree, so I think there's definitely a desert influence that will be heard whenever we release the new music. When will that be? When it's done. And when will that be? When we feel we've genuinely put together our best possible effort and made this collection of music as great as it can possibly be. That's not really a date, per se, so I'd say look for it sometime in 2018. Maybe.

Hey, How About That Show You Played?
Oh yeah. Almost forgot. In June and much of July, I did a flurry of live shows in SL after a long period of semi-inactivity. While I enjoyed that, it also was a little distracting from the other things that I want/have to do. It was nice, therefore, having a couple weeks without any live shows, and I was able to really enjoy coming back to Serenity Gardens for my bi-weekly Monday night show there.

I have to say, the people who run Serenity Gardens are truly nice, and it makes a big difference when, as a performing artist, you feel like the venue management are truly supportive. Doing my show every other Monday night there, each one has been a really positive experience for me, and I do believe that I'm helping some folks discover this venue who otherwise might not have gone there, so hopefully my shows are good for the owners and staff as well.

I can always tell when people in my audience are really enjoying the show rather than just attending for the sake of being there. This show's crowd was really appreciative and I was very glad to make their Monday night a little more enjoyable. Photo by Kat.

My voice and guitar both seemed to be working well for last night's show, and per my recent mission statement of keeping my shows fresh, I pulled out a couple of previously unperformed tunes, and did a couple of others that don't come out of my set list very often.

Serenity Gardens set list...
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
Possession (Sarah McLachlan)
If It Makes You Happy (Sheryl Crow)
The Arrangement (Joni Mitchell)
Comes a Time (Neil Young)
Always Tomorrow (Zak Claxton)
Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart (Stone Temple Pilots)
*Words (Missing Persons)
*Cheer Up Murray (Flight of the Conchords)
Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie)
Thank U (Alanis Morissette)
Tea in the Sahara (The Police)
Tea for the Tillerman (Cat Stevens)

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

Big thanks to all who came to the show, with special huge thanks to the following who helped support it!
Trouble Streeter, ErikKottzen Resident, RoxxyyRoller Resident, Aurelie Chenaux, Kat Claxton, Lauralynn Foxtrot, RansomTalmidge Resident, TheaDee Resident, my great manager Maali Beck, Serenity's hostess Tilly Rose and owner Ilsa Wilde.