How I spend the first Tuesday night of every month. Photo by Kat.
Hello, person reading this. Zak Claxton here... musician, singer-songwriter, virtual rock star, shining golden god, here to describe my greatness at my most recent live music performance at Hotel Chelsea in Second Life.
Bye
No wait, come back. I was just kidding around. Just joshing. Pulling your leg. Making a jest. Having a laugh.
BYE!
Okay, seriously, I'll stop that. But here's the deal: I just told you all about my trip to Las Vegas last weekend. I tell you what's going on in the world in my daily Random News bullets. So I don't have much to discuss apart from the show itself, which went great.
So... That's All, Then?
No, I'm sure we always have things to talk about here in Mr. Claxton's neighborhood. In regard to Tuesday's show at Hotel Chelsea, I want to relate a little anecdote that made preparing for the show a little bit more challenging.
That morning, my phone rang and it was my landlord. which is never a good sign. But he was calling with some good news, at least on the surface (more on that later). He said that he wanted to send over a maintenance guy to replace the broken blinds that have been fucked up for the entire nine years I've lived in this residence.
Why now? That's a good question. A realty corporation has been buying up all the multi-family dwellings in my neighborhood over the past year or so, and we've figured it was only a matter of time before ours was scooped up as well. So my landlord's sudden burst of generosity may very well be the first step he's taking toward selling the building... and that would likely be really bad news for us.
But it's a bridge we'll cross when we come to it. Meanwhile, there was the matter of those blinds. See, he was referring to the ones in my upstairs office, where I not only work all day, but where I do my shows. And directly below those very blinds are parts of my audio and computer system that are essential for — you guessed it — me to do my live music shows in Second Life.
Tear It Down
He only notified me with a few minutes to spare — because landlords are like that. So while in the midst of a super busy work day, I also had to tear down all my carefully-planned cabling and physically remove a speaker and a mixer and some other accoutrements to give the maintenance guy room to install the new blinds (which, I should add, look nice and function well).
So that was an unexpected obstacle to my day, as well as my preparedness to do a livestream audio show. I will say, it was much to my surprise (and a reasonable amount of random good luck) that when I threw everything back in place and re-did my cables, everything worked on both the input and output sides of things. The show went fine, and seemed to sound good, at least in my headphones.
I will say that today, I'm noticing a slight buzz in the left channel of my audio system, which is super bizarre considering that it was the right wide of my audio system that needed to be hastily disconnected and removed. But that could be from any number of things, so now I'm inspired to do a more calm maintenance session on my audio setup this coming weekend.
And the Show?
Yes, the show. It went great. This time, I had my friend Max Kleene in the spot before me, at 4pm, and there is a nice aspect of arriving to a show when there's already a big crowd in place. It's less nice when most of those people were there to see the artist preceding you, and a good chunk of them leave pretty quickly.
Me onstage, being me. Photo by Kat.
Doing my show and having a good-ass time. Photo by Kat.
I don't need a ton of adulation from millions of screaming fans. My ego is big enough as it is. Photo by Kat.
But I stopped being annoyed by that fact many years ago. My own crowds tend to bail as soon as my show is over. It's a normal thing to do. And I'd add that the quality of my shows in Second Life is not predicted on crowd size. I've had shitty shows in front of huge crowds, and outstanding ones in front of tiny crowds, and vice-versa. We ended up with a nice mid-sized audience, and despite not having touched a guitar for a little while (having been on vacation), I felt good while warming up and getting ready.
As I mentioned to the folks who were there, Hotel Chelsea is great in many ways. The casual vibe, the lack of a dress code, the welcoming of all different styles of performance and genres of music... it all adds up to make it a terrific place where a musician really feels at home.
Oh, and one more note. It's getting to be warm enough that, combined with the energy I put into my performances, leaves me a very sweaty man by the time I wrap up. I also make sure to hydrate well before, during, and after my shows... because I'm perspiring roughly a gallon per hour while doing it.
Coated in sweat after my gig.
Hotel Chelsea set list...
Airport Bar (Martin Courtney)
Save It For Later (English Beat)
Pink Moon (Nick Drake)
This Afternoon (Zak Claxton)
The Man Who Sold The World (David Bowie)
Ironic (Alanis Morissette)
Alison (Elvis Costello)
Carey (Joni Mitchell)
Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie)
Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)
Summer Breeze (Seals & Crofts)
Perfectly Calm (They Stole My Crayon)
Radio Free Europe (R.E.M.)
Big thanks to everyone who hung out and had fun at the show, with extra special thanks to the following who helped support it!
Maximillion Kleene, lexi Beery, Gina Stella, Harpermonday Resident, Richy Nervous, Pansy Snoring, Kat Claxton, Harley Wytchwood, bundy Xue, Kat Chauveau, my terrific manager Maali Beck, Hotel Chelsea manager Shyla the Super Gecko, and Chelsea's great staff!
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