Ladybird's Cellar (04.27.19)

People having fun at Ladybird's Cellar while I rock. Photos by Kat.

I just found myself laughing over something that angered me disproportionately earlier this morning. I got up and poured myself a steaming cup of coffee and then looked in the refrigerator and there was no milk to add to the coffee I'd just poured.

NO MILK.

My God, you would have thought by my immediate reaction at the moment that I'd discovered that my best friend was dying. "WHY ME, GOD, WHY ME?" It's sort of ironic that the old phrase about overreacting to events in the past that you can't change is to "cry over spilt milk", and here I was stomping around my kitchen in my bathrobe early on a Sunday morning over this momentary lack of milk. The funny thing is that after going through a series of logistics in my head about showering, dressing, and heading to the store before my coffee cooled down, I ended up just taking a tentative sip of the sweetened-yet-black coffee, and while it wasn't my preferred manner of ingesting this beverage, it wasn't that bad. Not great, mind you, but drinkable.

So I took my cup of pitch black liquid upstairs -- poor me -- and sat down and, upon becoming a little more alert, realized how ridiculous it was for me to have determined that my brand new day had been completely ruined by this momentary lack of dairy product. So many of us lead such spoiled existences that the smallest thing can invoke our ire, or make us feel sorry for ourselves. If you look at every other aspect of my life apart from the missing milk, it's insane that I'd have let this bother me. I got up today in a beautiful area of the world, in a nice home, with a mostly healthy family, with a steady income. I have things to eat and drink. I don't live in a war zone. I have access to amazing technology and a mostly unrestricted flow of knowledge and information. I'm not a member of any race, gender, religion, nationality, or any other personal aspect that experiences discrimination on a daily basis. And, as I recalled moments later, I'd performed live music to a bunch of cool people just the day before. Life is really pretty great for a lot of people, myself included, and that brings us to what I sat down to write about while drinking my black coffee, which was my show at Ladybird's Cellar in Second Life.

Doing My Show
Here's something of note: my repertoire list for my Second Life shows is now well over 500 songs. That having been said, out of those 500+, there are really only a couple of hundred that I turn to on a regular basis. The reason is simple; some of the songs that I can play are not the songs I really like to play, or find that I'm very good at playing. There are a number of songs I've done once and never did again. There are others I played a lot early on, but eventually burned out on and they end up relegated to their spot in a pile of lyric sheets for years afterwards.

Regardless, I make sure of two things while planning my set: first, that I haven't done those songs at recent shows, to help my audience from hearing the same things over and over. Second, that the songs feel appropriate for the venue. That's a tricky thing, and it has to do with my own personal perception of the place I'm playing along with the tastes of the venue owner/management and the crowd who hangs out there. Third is also important: if my voice isn't behaving, I'm not going to do songs that are out of my singing range to avoid embarrassment on my behalf and displeasure on that of my listeners.

Ana is good at putting together artists who have a similar enough vibe that the audiences will want to stick around for multiple shows (in this case, myself, AM Forte, and SaraMarie Philly. Photos by Kat.

Peeping through an outside window at Ladybird's Cellar. Photos by Kat.

Me, doing my thing. Photos by Kat.

We had a great crowd and folks seemed to be having fun. I ask nothing more than that. Photos by Kat.

After some 12+ years of performing live music in SL, I've gotten pretty good at this whole process. It obviously can take a little while to get to know people and the venues they run, but I'm pretty good at determining which places are better for familiar songs versus newer stuff... for classic rock versus singer-songwriters versus indie music versus originals. Truth me told, it's usually a combination of all of the above, but I weigh the set list accordingly.

We had a terrific crowd at Ladybird's Cellar, a place that my friend Anastasia Yanwu opened last summer and has held a pretty steady schedule of shows at since. Because I got to know Ana through our mutual friend (and fellow musician) Sassy Nitely, I sometimes refer to her using one of Sassy's nicknames for her, which is Ana Banana. I think most Ana's have been Ana Banana from time to time in their lives. In any case, she's a sweet lady who really does a great job at making her venue have a nice, welcoming vibe, and is also good at promoting the shows there. Ana and I met in person at the Nashville SL Jam back in 2014, and she's every bit as friendly and kind in the flesh as she is in pixel form. We've become friends in the time period since then, and I hope to see her in person again sometime. I already know I'll be playing Ladybird's Cellar again; she's booked both me and Sassy for her one-year anniversary of the venue in August.

As a final note, I should add that while writing this blog, I took a short break and walked across the street and got milk and some bagels and cream cheese, so life is now back at its optimal level. It really always was, but now it's filled with luxury that I never fail to appreciate.

Ladybird's Cellar set list...
Pink Moon (Nick Drake)
Blew the Dust Away (They Stole My Crayon)
Big Empty (Stone Temple Pilots)
California (Joni Mitchell)
Fire and Rain (James Taylor)
Love Hurts (Everly Brothers)
If You Could Only See (Tonic)
Always Tomorrow (Zak Claxton)
Change (Tears for Fears)
Carry Me Ohio (Sun Kil Moon)
Pecan Pie (Golden Smog)
Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie)

Giant thanks to every single one of you who came to the show, with special hats off to the following who helped support it!
Langarhans Resident, Arcangelo Hellmann, AMFORTE Clarity, Raspbury Rearwin, Anakin Spark, Diana Renoir, Kat Claxton, Darcy Kingmaker, Asimia Heron, go2smoky Resident, TheaDee Resident, hynesyte Harbour, and the lovely owner of this fine venue, Anastasia Yanwu!