Hotel Chelsea (05.02.23)

Another fun Tuesday night at Hotel Chelsea. Photo by Kat.

Hi again. Yes, it's me. I did another live show in Second Life. So soon? Actually, like most things in life, I have a story about that.

What's The Right Amount of Shows to Play in Second Life?

There's no actual answer to that question, but let's start with some history. Right now, it's odd for me to have played two shows in a single week, but there was a time when I'd play multiple shows per week nearly every single week throughout the year. Was that a lot? Depends on your perspective. There are still to this day folks who perform in SL far more than that, with shows every day, or multiple shows each day.

Which brings us to our answer. The right amount of shows for a live musician to perform in Second Life is exactly the number of shows they and their audience enjoy doing. What does that mean? Well, a bunch of things.

Me rocking the non-pixelated world. Photo by Kat.

What is the rest of their life like? Do they have a family? Do they have full-time employment outside of their work in Second Life? Do they have other interests beyond performing live music? Do they live in a place where the income from SL performances can significantly supplement their lifestyle? Do they have a large audience of fans who come to and help support their shows and the venues where they perform? Are their shows fun for them to do, and fun for their audience to experience?

It's Different for Everyone

There was a time frame, relatively early on, where there were less than 50 total musicians doing live shows in SL. At that time, it was pretty easy to have large crowds at every event, because the choices were rather limited. That changed quickly. Also, I'd say there was (and remains) a certain percentage of musicians who were really committed to doing SL shows. Others -- like me -- had other musical activities that took up their limited time they could spend on music, like working on recording songs and albums, or performing in live music shows in the fleshy world.

So while I never consciously decided to perform less frequently in SL, my balance in life dictated that doing 2-3 shows per week was no longer going to be possible. At least for me, the result has been good. I've avoided the burnout of repetition, and also stopped any level of cynicism that builds from turning music performance into a full-time job (with not a whole lot of compensation to justify it).

Ten years ago, it was weird if I didn't have 2-3 shows every week in SL... and there were a good number of occasions I had multiple shows on the same day. It just got to be a little much, but for someone else, it would probably be great. Photo at Molaskey's in 2013 by Kat.

Also -- and please don't take this the wrong way -- my ego is robust enough without needing constant reinforcement via audience adulation. I now play once or twice a month in SL, and it's fine. Any time I wanted to add more gigs, I could easily do that. I do not perform at tips-only or open-mic venues because as a person whose spent decades working as a professional musician, I choose not to devalue my music by offering it for free. But while there are plenty of SL venues who will happily pay my modest fee to perform there, I've found it's better for me to maintain my current pace of shows.

So Why This Week?

Oh, that's simple. I'd been meaning to do a show for the Feed-a-Smile charity for some time, and when Brique had suggested last Saturday, I agreed immediately. It just so happened that my monthly show at Hotel Chelsea was the following Tuesday. No problem.

I will tell you one huge benefit of doing shows on a more frequent basis. While warming up for the show, it was immediately apparent to me that both my voice and guitar-playing hands were already in good shape, and it didn't take nearly as long to feel like I was ready to perform. I'd forgotten how that worked. It's just like any other physical activity; the more you do it, the easier it seems.

I've actually made a mental note as a result: whether I have SL gigs coming up or not, I'm going to make sure I run through some songs at least a few times each week. There's no need to get rusty and have to recover from that for each show I do. Also, since we're about to launch into the work on a new They Stole My Crayon album, I'll have plenty of opportunities to play and sing in the coming months without making any special effort to do so.

How About that Show?

Yeah, it went fine. It was really good, in fact. It was somewhat of a surprise because the day hadn't been going so great; I awoke with a sinus headache/allergy thing going on, and then the whole day was a frantic sprint through work deliverables, meetings, my weekly grocery shopping and so on. I barely had time to get warmed up before jumping in work to do my show.

Feeling cute, won't delete later. Photo by Kat.

I always tell visitors to Hotel Chelsea that never once in any way have they tried to tell me what kind of music to play or how to run my show. They're very accepting of all kinds of musical creativity and performance styles. I like them a lot. Photo by Kat.

Once I got there, everything was great. I haven't had the benefit of an act performing before me at recent shows there at the Chelsea, but we still managed to pull in a fine crowd who stayed for the entire set. As I mentioned above, being back in the swing of things from having done a show a few days back, my voice and guitar were both cooperating nicely with my brain. You have to understand that much like shooting a fadeaway jumper or catching a football on a post route with a cornerback on your ass, playing music is a constant battle between what your brain would like to do and what your vocal chords and fingers are willing and capable of doing. So I'm always happy when my body is mostly doing the things my brain requests it to do.

Hotel Chelsea set list...

Help Me (Joni Mitchell)

Is She Really Going Out with Him? (Joe Jackson)

Hand In My Pocket (Alanis Morissette)

Swirl (Charlie Martin)

Ashes to Ashes (David Bowie)

Say Goodbye (Beck) 

Abrasion (They Stole My Crayon)

Tea in the Sahara (The Police)

It’s Good to be King (Tom Petty)

This Afternoon (Zak Claxton) 

Cat’s in the Cradle (Harry Chapin)

Swing Lo Magellan (Dirty Projectors)

*Hotel Chelsea Kicks Ass (Zak Claxton)

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

Huge thanks to everyone who came out to the show, with extra super duper special thanks to the following who helped support it!

Jennnn Ember, Seattle Barbosa, Maurice Mistwallow, SunrisaSmiles Resident, Trouble Streeter, Nikki Kesten, Kat Claxton, my terrific manager Maali Beck, Hotel Chelsea manager Shyla the Super Gecko, and Chelsea's great staff!