Hotel Chelsea (10.03.23)

if it's the first Tuesday of the month, you know where I'll be. Photo by Kat.

Hi there people. I feel compelled to tell the person who's been scrolling through my daily Random News bullets that sometimes I write about things that aren't news, and now is one of those times. And actually, before May 2022, this blog was much more focused on the things I do as a musician and a person than about current news, but a little variety is a good thing, so here's some observances on my show last night at Hotel Chelsea in Second Life, along with whatever else is on my mind at the moment.

What Is On Your Mind at the Moment?

Um... well, a lot, but also nothing that I don't talk about every day in my little amalgamation of news. All manner of insanity is afoot around the world, but I try not to let that bother me. And frankly, there's always horrible shit happening, and always has been, and probably always will be. But I only get this one life, and time goes quickly and I don't like spending it walking around being angry or frightened, so I don't.

That doesn't mean I'm unaware of things; to the contrary, as you know if you read my news bullets every day, I'm about as much on top of things as any person can be whose job isn't actually running the world or reporting on it. It also doesn't mean I'm impervious to negative emotions; I'm not some kind of robot, or so cold and aloof that things don't affect me.

But I just became aware at some point that my internalizing every negative aspect of life that happens everywhere, all the time, doesn't help me or anyone else. I try and funnel things that piss me off into things I can take action on, or spread awareness about, or otherwise add to the solutions rather than exacerbating the problems.

Hello, it's me.

Cool Story Bro

Anyway, yeah, plenty going on but I'm good. It's also revving up into my super busy work time of year, but I have noted that once you've done something a thousand times -- say, write a press release on a new product -- it's still a pain in the ass on the 1,001st time, but you worry less about it less and keep getting better at it.

What else? Uh... enjoying the NFL season, despite my Las Vegas Raiders being mostly awful. I never have the time to actually watch entire football games, but I do follow each game online in progress and if something interesting happens, I can always see recaps via various sources almost in real time these days. Also, being involved in the same NFL Pick 'Em Pool I've done for like 15 years makes following the season fun even when the Raiders completely suck.

I did just receive two freshly-roasted bags of coffee from Peet's, so that's another thing that will perk me up even when things aren't ideal. At least I have good coffee.

Hey, How About That Show?

It was really good. Here's the weird thing: on Saturday, my throat started hurting pretty badly. Swallowing and talking were both difficult, and when it didn't get much better on Sunday, I began to consider the real possibility thatI'd have to cancel the show. But it improved a lot on Monday, and by Tuesday morning I was warming up scales while in the shower that morning and felt mostly fine. Lucky me, as usual.

Me, onstage, bringing the rocking tunes to the people. Photo by Kat.

Did someone not tell me that it was ladies' night? Photo by Kat.

We had a fun crowd there which -- for reasons I can't explain -- was made up entirely of women for the first 40 minutes of my show. Note that when I refer to women in Second Life, I am basing that gender definition on the feminine aesthetic appearance of their avatars and the names they use. There are no rules, official or etiquette-based, in virtual worlds that a person's avatar gender must match that of their real life identification.

That doesn't bother me at all, and I'm happy to refer to people in any world by the gender roles and pronouns that they prefer. From my view on the stage, it seemed as if there were no men there other than me on the stage, and that was fine. Men are dicks. Actually in Second Life, most men are pretty cool, and some of them don't even have a dick. I'm serious. Why bother having a dick? It's a virtual world. You're not going to use it in any meaningful way.

Hotel Chelsea set list...

Shame Chamber (Kurt Vile)

Among the Leaves (Sun Kil Moon)

Perfect Day (Lou Reed)

Sleeper in the Valley (Laura Veirs)

Say Goodbye (Beck)

Garter Snake (Macie Stewart)

Here I Land (Nicholas Stevenson)

Low Key (Tweedy)

Things Behind the Sun (Nick Drake)

California (Joni Mitchell)

People Are Strange (The Doors) 

Runnin' Down a Dream (Tom Petty)

Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie)

Huge thanks to every single person who came out to my show, with super extra thanks tot he following who helped support it!

Edward Lowell, KarlPeter Kohime, Judytoo Resident, Triana Caldera, sanjesans Resident, Trouble Streeter, sammi Yachvili, Kat Claxton, my terrific manager Maali Beck, Hotel Chelsea manager Shyla the Super Gecko, and Chelsea's great staff.