Zak Claxton Happy Fun Show (07.06.25)

Unsurprisingly,  I am usually pretty happy during my Happy Fun Show. Screengrab by Kat.

You're not imagining it; I've done three live music shows in eight days. I know, crazy, right? Isn't that totally insane?

Um, No?

No, it's really not. That's not shit. When bands are touring around in the real world, you don't have the luxury of going into a new town, hanging out for awhile, getting acclimated, seeing the sights, and then doing the show. It's more like, drive into an unfamiliar city, frantically get to the venue barely on time and with little or no sleep, perform as best you can — often with no sound check — and try and see if you can crash that night on the couch of a fan to save hotel money before heading out to the next city, often in a gear-stuffed and smelly van.

So my live performances are about as easy and luxurious as can be. I'm performing from the comfort of my own home, not traveling around with gear, and for the majority of my shows, I'm just an avatar in a virtual world, so I don't even need to consider what I actually look like before jumping onstage.

Lest I be unfairly judged by other musicians as being only a streaming guy: I've done hundreds of actual live shows, in the flesh, nearby and far away from my home, and dealt with all the shit that entails. Me onstage with Liquid in 2011.

But This Wasn't That Kind of Show

No, it wasn't. For many years — don't ask me how many, but. it's a lot — I've sporadically done a livestream video show that I call the Zak Claxton Happy Fun Show (or ZCHFS when I don't want to write all that out). How often? Totally random. It was a bit weird for me, during the earlier parts of the COVID pandemic in 2020 and early 2021, to see a bunch of musicians trying livestream shows for the first time. I'm like, "You're in my lane, pal."

But that doesn't matter. What does is that both in the virtual world and on livestream video, I'm quite comfortable (and have gotten quite good at) being entertaining from a distance. And so even though I'd done two recent shows in Second Life — Saturday June 28 at the Hotel Chelsea anniversary and on Tuesday July 1 for my regular Hotel Chelsea gig — it had been too long since I last performed as a fleshy human being and not a bunch of pixels. Hence the decision to do a ZCHFS on Sunday.

One tip I have for any streaming musician: if you don't get into your show, your audience won't be into it either. I am no less immersed performing in a virtual environment or in front of a camera than I am onstage in a big room full of people. Screengrab by Kat.

ZCHFS History

I just went back through the annals of my own history and found the date of my first ZCHFS. It was on February 6, 2010, and I used a platform called UStream. It's long gone, I should add; the platform eventually got purchased by IBM and rebranded as IBM Cloud Video, and later as IBM Watson Media... not very rock-and-roll sounding. I subsequently tried out a number of platforms for livestream video shows; as usual, they each had their strengths and weaknesses, and none seemed to last very long or keep my interest level up. StreamJam, StageIt... if there was a tool to get my live show in front of people, I've probably tried it out.

By 2018, there were some third-party software tools — though glitchy and unreliable at the time — that allowed for desktop-based connection to Facebook Live, and that's when I started doing ZCHFS straight to that platform, my first show being on March 17 of that year (and yes, I seem to have been wearing green for the occasion). When the true seriousness of COVID became apparent in March 2020, I increased the frequency of my ZCHFS events for awhile, understandably.

Another tip: just like any show, if you don't let people know about it, don't whine that people didn't show up. Also, keep in mind that livestream shows have such a low level of commitment for an audience that if you really expect people to attend, you can't be shy about promoting your show ahead of time.

Also of note: why do I do livestream camera-based show at all, as opposed to sticking to Second Life shows as I've done since 2006? That's easy. First, there's a number of people who have no interest of getting into SL, or whose computer systems or bandwidth doesn't allow them to easily do so. I have friends and fans who can only see me do these kinds of video shows, and Facebook is where most of them already are. Meanwhile, on platforms like Facebook and YouTube, the potential audience size is literally in the billions, which is many times larger than is possible in Second Life.

How Do You Do a Facebook Livestream Show?

It's super easy... which still doesn't mean it's going to work perfectly all the time. Live-streaming is still some kind of mystical dark art, and even when you have the same setup on the same platform, every so often things like stream keys and bit rates and video resolution seem to not work the way it did the time before.

But as I said, with the right tools, it really isn't rocket science. As I've referenced previously, I use some open-source software called OBS (short for Open Broadcaster Software), and it's fucking fantastic. I have nothing but good things to say about OBS; not only is it extremely flexible and surprisingly powerful, but it's also completely free. OBS has become the standard for millions of people who stream regularly, from musicians to podcasters to cam models to gamers and many more. And OBS has setup options that are designed specifically to work with Facebook, making the process pretty painless most of the time.

What else does one need? A camera that connects to a computer, and if you're doing anything that involves decent sound quality, some kind of audio interface that you can use for microphones and instruments. Anything beyond that is just stuff that increases the production value of your show, and that's cool. Look, I do have a full green screen setup and pro lighting. If this was what I did all the time — and especially if I did it for money — I'd put more effort into that stuff. And OBS will totally accommodate multi-cam shows, graphics, effects, transitions, and all that cool shit.

My other gear is very typical. A Takamine acoustic-electric guitar. A large-diaphragm condenser vocal microphone. A Focusrite audio interface. I do use a Soundcraft analog mixer because I like having the extra control from physical knobs and faders, but it's not required. Apart from that, just accessories like picks and capos and cables and stands, Normal shit most performing musicians have around. 

Setting up OBS and getting ready for my show.

And How Was the Show?

The show was great, once I got rolling... which really was not long after I'd planned. I had to fuck with the settings a bit to get the stream I was sending to be viewed via the event I'd set up on Facebook, and spent the first 10 minutes or so cursing at the tech gods before I could confirm the stream was... streaming. But I've had far worse tech glitches to fuck up the start of my show, and we jumped right in as soon as I saw people responding to the show.

I should mention that I believe Kat has served as my producer for every single ZCHFS I've ever done. What does a livestream producer do? Like any broadcast, be it radio or TV or Internet-based livestreams, they do the things that would be difficult for me to do while I'm trying to perform live music. So she keeps an eye on who's in the audience and she relates their comments and reactions to me in between tunes. The technology itself is mostly "set and forget," so she doesn't have to deal with anything on that end. But it is super helpful to have her there, doing what she does. Her only requirement for me is to make sure I angle my camera so that she's not visible.

Even though I have the help of Kat, I still do glance over to the screen every so often to see what people are saying... mostly because my crowd is often full of smart-ass funny people who I find entertaining as well. Screengrab by Kat.

I'm typically not a "stare at my fingerboard" kind of guitarist. I've been playing this silly instrument for 49 years; I can literally do it blindfolded (and have on occasions). That said, when I'm doing something that's particularly complex or unfamiliar, even so often I will glance down to make sure my left hand is doing what my brain wants it to do. Screengrab by Kat.

Though I'd been considering doing a ZCHFS for awhile, it was really only the day before, on Saturday July 5, that I decided on committing to it. The set list was a bit of a mish-mosh, which isn't unusual for me. I often describe my own performances as "eclectic", meaning I might play damn near anything. But I did a couple of new songs. One was so new that it literally got released a week ago Friday. The other one was a tune from 1973 that I'd played before but never performed before; there's a big difference. Also, in the summer heat, "Midnight at the Oasis" gave me some serious hand cramps, doing those jazz chords on an acoustic guitar. I couldn't even grasp my phone for about a half hour after the show ended.

Things I can tell from this pic: one, I seem to be enjoying whatever I'm singing, so that's a bonus. Two, I'm playing a F# chord at the second fret. Third, I'm leaning back slightly, which is my unfortunate default rock mode that makes my lower back complain after the show.

Oh, and one more thing: I try not to stare into the camera much. It's just creepy. Screengrab by Kat.

At some point in the future — possibly never, but at least it's a thought — I'd love to try and accomplish a more produced ZCHFS, with multiple camera angles and better lighting/set design. But really, what it's supposed to be about is the music, and I am perfectly happy with how things went for Sunday's show. I mean, at the end of the day... I enjoyed myself, and it seemed that those in attendance did as well. No amount of fancy production beats doing a good performance, even with the low-key style that I generally adopt.

ZCHFS set list...

Among the Leaves (Sun Kil Moon) 

Either Way (Wilco) 

The Waiting Boy (Zak Claxton)

Free Man in Paris (Joni Mitchell) 

Things Behind the Sun (Nick Drake) 

Sweet Aphrodite (Zak Claxton)

America (Simon and Garfunkel)

California (Joni Mitchell) 

*Classic Love (Luke Roberts & Kurt Vile)

Doubt It (Zak Claxton)

Doin' Time (Sublime)

*Midnight at the Oasis (Maria Muldaur)

Carry Me Here and There (They Stole My Crayon)

All You Fascists (Woody Guthrie)

Peace Love and Understanding (Elvis Costello)

*Indicates the first time I've performed this song... ever!

Huge thanks to everyone who tuned into the latest Zak Claxton Happy Fun Show! I always say this after every one of them, but I'd like to do these more than a couple times per year. Maybe I will. I never know what I'm actually going to do, but it's a nice thought. In any case, I always appreciate everyone who was there. Thanks again!