Hotel Chelsea (08.01.23)

Rocking a full hour of '90s music at Hotel Chelsea. Photo by Kat.

Well hello, everyone.

It's safe to say at this point, the majority of people who check out this blog -- and there are a good number of you... I can see that -- come here for my daily Random News bullets. That's cool. Thanks for doing that.

But for the majority of time since I started this thing back in April 2008, it's been a place for me to document my musical endeavors. In May 2022, I started doing a daily compilation of news stories I considered to be important, and at the same time I was performing and recording less, so the news became the predominant content of this blog. But that doesn't mean I still don't do music, or enjoy documenting it when I do... and this is one of those times.

A Journey Through the Past

One thing that's been happening lately is a renewed interest in my genealogy. There's a very specific reason for this, and it's one I can't divulge quite yet. I will say that in Spring 2022, I took a DNA test via 23andMe and got some very surprising results. When I questioned my then-surviving parent about it, I received some more information that for the first time piqued my interest in my genetic background.

It wasn't something I dwelled on or became obsessed with; frankly, I'm probably less focused on my genetics compared to most people. My life isn't dictated completely by the DNA I ended up with. I believe that I am not a pre-programmed automaton and that I am capable of reacting to life's stimuli in ways that are not controlled solely by a set of genes passed along to me over millions of years of reproduction.

But then my mom passed away in February. Of my immediate family, I am the last remaining one still among the living, my sister having died in 2009 and my dad in 2017. So if I was ever going to get to the bottom of these unanswered questions, I was going to need some help.

Ancestry to the Rescue

I wasn't really focused on it, but when my significant other purchased another DNA test kit for me and got me a full subscription to the Ancestry site as a gift, I found myself pretty excited once results started popping up right away. Due to the hard work of other relatives, I was able to trace my lineage back to the 1400s over just a few days of searching.

And again, I'm sorry to be so obtuse about the actual matter at hand, but once my DNA results get back in 6-8 weeks and I can communicate with some of the other folks who may be impacted by the information I receive, I'll eventually tell the story. For now, sticking to what I know, my ancestors run the gamut of wealthy and poor, famous and unknown, noble and evil, and everything in between. It's fascinating. I had no idea how interesting it would be, being a detective and exploring hundreds and hundreds of years of people over 15+ generations whose genes inhabit every one of the cells in my body.

It is absolutely stunning how little about your family you know once you get past a generation or two. I have to say, the Ancestry site is pretty amazing, and I've only begun to scratch the surface.

Hey, How About that Show?

Indeed. Here's what happened...

It was a couple of weeks ago that I decided I wanted to do a themed show of some sort, and it was through total coincidence that the first few songs I chose happened to have been from the 1990s. I was choosing some new songs to add to my set, and a couple of them were mid-90s tunes from the Foo Fighters and Stone Temple Pilots.

And then Sinéad O'Connor died, and I realized that doing a full hour of songs from the '90s was very feasible. I have a bunch of '90s grunge, alt rock, and pop in my repertoire, which makes sense; I am part of Generation X and was in my 20s for nearly the entirety of that decade. Plus, objectively, there's just a lot of great music from that era.

People chilling and enjoying the set. Photo by Kat.

We started out a bit slow but ended up with a fine crowd. Photo by Kat.

One thing that we seasoned SL performers do when possible; we vacate the stage at the end of our set to allow the next performer time to get set up and ready to go. I seem to be serenading Alex Zelin here because I am. Photo by Kat.

Me, appropriately dressed in flannel for my '90s show. Photo by Kat.

As I started the show, I was a bit concerned. Two minutes before the top of the hour, I had exactly three people in attendance, including the venue staff. What am I, chopped liver? But as tends to happen, within the first couple of songs, people started filing into Hotel Chelsea, and before I knew it, I had a nice good-sized and enthusiastic crowd as I am often blessed to have.

The show itself went great. I did four songs I'd never played before, which is always exciting for me and at least some of my audience. My voice and guitar playing, while not at their peak, both worked acceptably well for me. And the reaction from the people who attended was really over-the-top great. At the end of my set, my messages were bombarded from people expressing how much they enjoyed the show, which is always nice to hear.

One note about playing live music during warm summer days... I mean, I sweat while I perform even in temperate times of year. Playing in a room without air conditioning, I was dripping wet after wrapping up my show at Hotel Chelsea, and it's likely I'll be even sweatier after my show there in September.

Hotel Chelsea set list...

1979 (Smashing Pumpkins)

Wonderwall (Oasis)

Man On the Moon (R.E.M.)

*Lady Picture Show (Stone Temple Pilots)

Nothing Compares 2 U (Sinead O’Connor)

*Waterfalls (TLC)

Six Underground (Sneaker Pimps)

*Californication (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

You Oughta Know (Alanis Morissette)

*I’ll Stick Around (Foo Fighters)

Loser (Beck)

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

Big-ass thanks to everyone who came out to Hotel Chelsea for my '90s show, with super-giganto thanks to the following who helped support it!

Ever Amethyst, Maurice Mistwallow, Jexpek Waverider, KarlPeterKP Resident, Chazznoon Greenwood, Alex Zelin, Basil Brooks , Minka Davi, Kat Claxton, my terrific manager Maali Beck, Hotel Chelsea manager Shyla the Super Gecko, and Chelsea's great staff.