Hotel Chelsea (07.05.22)

Nice to be back rocking in SL again. Photo by Kat.

Oh hi there.

So, for those of you who understandably think this has become a weird news blog over the past couple of months, allow me to explain. It's not an anything blog. For the most part, going back to when this started in April 2008, it's primarily been a repository for documenting my musical experiences... my live performances in Second Life and elsewhere, the creation of new original music by me and my band They Stole My Crayon, and so on.

Along the way, it's also been a place where I make note of various events, big and small, which is pretty much what a blog is by at least some definitions. Some events have been personal. Some have been world-changing. But this has never been a blog with a single purpose or topic or focus.

Anyway, I'd been disseminating information on sociopolitical and cultural topics for years and years on various social media like Facebook and Twitter. One day in May of this year, I decided that instead of filling my social feeds with smatterings of topical posts, I'd compile these thoughts into a single daily post that I called "Zak's Random News". Since I was posting that to Facebook, I thought it seemed like good stuff for this blog and whoever was reading it.

Why Now?
It just so happened that during this same period, I had a dearth of music stuff to write about. The reason was mundane; I had a business event in June that both took up a lot of my time and energy, and also forced me to temporarily cancel my one remaining regular show... the first Tuesday of the month at Hotel Chelsea in Second Life.

On the day I'd usually be doing my June show, instead I was in business geek mode.

So that's why, going back to early May, there's been nothing here on the Zak Claxton blog but my daily Random News posts. I find I enjoy doing them. The act of skimming through all manner of news sources and reference information has me feeling more informed than ever before, and I can tell based on the statistics via this blog and my social media nets that people are indeed reading these posts. It's not thousands of people, but it is more than I would have expected. Hopefully they're getting something out of them. I'll continue doing them regardless.

So You're Back? How About That Show?
Yes, so I finally made my return to music performance after that two-month hiatus. It had a multiple-weird thing going on. First, Monday was a holiday, so this particular Tuesday night show felt like a massive Monday. Second, as is typical for people in the business world after a holiday weekend, I had to make up for the day off by doing twice as much work as would be typical on a single day. Third, I woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat that I couldn't shake.

I'd have to feel a lot worse to think about canceling this show. Photo by Kat. 

I wasn't going to cancel the show; I knew I could still sing. It primarily hurt while swallowing. But all in all, I wasn't filled with confidence that this particular show was going to rank among my better ones. That feeling was driven home when I arrived at the venue, and instead of finding it packed with people as is usually the case with my friend Max Kleene performing before me, there were just a few people hanging out. Max was ill so I was on my own to try and draw a crowd.

Not a big crowd but, as usual at Hotel Chelsea, one who appreciated cool music. Photo by Kat.

And?
It went fine. We didn't have a ton of people there, but if you know me, you know that it doesn't bother me at all. I don't perform enough in SL on a regular basis to expect people will be there to flock to my infrequent shows when I have them.

Despite the throat issues and my lack of recent steady performances, my voice held up just fine despite a couple of occasional rough patches. I was particularly happy with my set list, which seemed to come together very nicely and had a number of tunes I haven't done very often. Oh, and I almost forgot; on Saturday, I did a long-overdue restringing and maintenance to my main acoustic guitar, the Takamine P5DC. It was sounding fantastic at the show, and was playing very smoothly.

Fresh strings on a clean guitar make me a happy virtual rock star. 

Me doing my thing. Photo by Kat.

Live music is fun. For me, and hopefully for you. Photo by Kat.

Sweaty me, right after my show.

Hotel Chelsea set list...
Homeward Bound (Simon & Garfunkel)
Is She Really Going Out with Him (Joe Jackson)
*All You Need is Love (Beatles)
Either Way (Wilco)
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
Hannah Sun (Lomelda)
Big Yellow Taxi (Joni Mitchell)
Crime (Real Estate)
Crosses (José González)
Daniel (Elton John)
Drive (Incubus)
Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel)
Tribute (Tenacious D)

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

Huge thanks to everyone who came out for the show, with extra super thanks to the following who helped support it!
AutumnFoxx Sutherland, Sin Snowfield, Kat Claxton, Nina Brandenburg, Irishk9 Aeon, Alessia Rodeyn, Jenna Graycloud, my terrific manager Maali Beck, and Hotel Chelsea manager Shyla the Super Gecko!