Hotel Chelsea Rooftop/A fiya Grimbaker Benefit (10.05.24)

Friends and fans gathering to lend a hand to one of our own. Photo by Kat.

Hi there. I want to tell you about a benefit show I did yesterday in Second Life. Just a quick update, unless I think of something else of importance to say while writing this, which has been known to have happened.

Oh Yeah, There Is This Other Thing

Before I tell you about the benefit show, I want to quickly follow up on the tale of DNA discovery that I mentioned last week. This morning (Sunday October 6), I had my first face-to-face contact with genetic relatives that I didn't know existed until recently. I did a Zoom call with my new half-aunt (the newly-discovered half sister of my late mother), and her daughter, one of my new half-cousins.

In short, it could not have gone better. They were both genuinely nice people, both fun to talk to, and we had a truly nice conversation that lasted about an hour. I filled in my new aunt on all the information I have about who her (and my mom's) biological father might be, and told her a bunch of background info on my mom, which my aunt really wanted to hear.

I'll be doing more follow-up with them on my continued research into our mutual ancestry, but even as it stands right now, it was an absolute pleasure just meeting these folks and knowing that we have this commonality via our genes. Good stuff.

Okay, Back To The Show

I did a short set on Saturday at a benefit show to help Hotel Chelsea hostess and all-around good person A fiya Grimbaker, who is facing some serious health issues. They were smart when setting up this event; each artist came up for 10 minutes, did two or three tunes, and got off. That helped maximize the audience circulating in and the donations flowing, since that was the point of the whole thing.

Chipping in a little time and money is the least I could do for A fiya, who's cheerfully hosted a ton of my shows at Chelsea over the years. Moreover, it was an honor to be among the artists who were performing, who -- in my humble opinion -- make up some of Second Life's best. In addition to myself, the lineup included Abby Jaidov, Billy Thunders, Cactus Ninja, Effinjay, Gypsy Dhrua, Jaik Mario, Joe Paravane, Justine Johndory, Lluis Indigo, Mandala Bee, Matthew Parreault, Moonman, Reno Jones, RJ, Rosedrop Rust, Shannon O’Herlihy, Spence Wilder, Tsu, Wald Shridde, and Zacharia Loon.

Rocking my mini-set. I will say, when you're used to hour-plus shows, 10 minutes is when you're just feeling warmed up enough to actually play well. And yet, what's important was raising funds for A fiya, and that was the absolute best way to do it. Photo by Kat.

My view. The event was held at Hotel Chelsea's rooftop, which is great for a change of pace. I've done a couple of other special events there for that venue. Photo by Kat.

It was great to hang out and also see a few of the terrific quick sets by my fellow SL artists. We should do that more often. Photo by Kat. 

An area of the venue was set up to honor A fiya, reminding us of the important reason for this well-run Second Life mini-festival. Photo by Kat. 

Like most SL people who speak through microphones (on stream or voice), I had no idea how to pronounce A fiya's name. When I played at Hotel Chelsea, I tended to say it like, "A Fire," but I heard some folks yesterday saying, "A Fee-Ya," so I'm still none the wiser. However, her name did inspire me to choose some songs that had the word "fire" in the title or lyrics, and it seemed to work out, with a few songs I think A fiya herself -- however she says her name -- would have enjoyed.

Hotel Chelsea Rooftop/A fiya Grimbaker Benefit set list...

Doctor, My Eyes (Jackson Browne)

*Fire (Bruce Springsteen)

Fire & Rain (James Taylor)

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

Huge thanks to all who came out and supported our friend A fiya... artists and fans and management alike! Thanks to the generosity of all who contributed. Special shout out to Shyla the Super Gecko for making it all happen.