Rocking on a Tuesday night with my Hotel Chelsea chums. Photo by Kat.
Anything Else?
Sure. One thing is that I have been absolutely terrible about up keeping the Zak's Random News portion of this blog, with no new posts since August 17 at this moment. I am going to spend a little time this weekend rectifying that — I have all the news, I just need to put it here, which is tedious but not difficult. A big copy/paste and format job, nothing more. But what it actually speaks to is that I have — as I often am and many of you are pretty much all the time — been busy.
And not even good busy. Not fun busy, being creative and doing interesting things. Just "work all day, collapse at night, spend weekends taking care of shit" busy. And again, that's the new normal for almost everyone I know, or so it seems. I'd also add that by both choice and necessity, part of my day is devoted to trying to save our democracy in various ways. It's worth it, but it also saps time and energy.
Okay. Anything Else?
Let's see.
Hey, How About That Show?
Yes. Totally happy with the show at Hotel Chelsea on Tuesday night. I have literally zero complaints, nit that I ever do. But that's about as good as I am able to sing and play guitar in a live setting. The set list came out just how I'd hoped, and I maintained a good crowd from start to finish... maybe a little better at the finish, since my popular pal Max Kleene was following me.
Me, being me onstage. Photo by Kat.
People seem to be having fun. I approve of fun. Photo by Kat.
Also, it was one of those days where I would have sworn that there was no way I'd be primed up to do a good show. It was the first day back at work after the Labor Day holiday. I had meetings, deadlines, and a grocery store run right in the middle of the day. I'd been basically sprinting from when I awoke at 6am to the short while before my show when I popped into world and got set up.
But I'll tell you what: speaking from many years of experience, some of my best shows happen at the least expected moments, so while earlier in that day I was grumbling about having to do a show at all, by the time I started my broadcast, I felt great and I couldn't have asked for anything better. Maybe I can remind myself about this experience the inevitable next time I'm whiny on the day of a show.
Something that many of us longterm SL live music veterans do: I clear off the stage for my last song so that the next person has a moment to get set up. Here's me standing in the crowd while Max gets ready for his show following mine. Photo by Kat.
Sweaty Summer
As I'm prone to tell people, when they see me play live music in person, there's zero doubt it's a physical activity. My whole body has to involve itself for me to stay in the groove. There's zero possibility I could do my exact show, for example, while seated. Both for singing and guitar playing, I need to stand to perform to the best of my ability. And while I stand, I rock. Simple as that.
So even in cooler — and less humid — times of year, I tend to work up a little perspiration while I do my show in SL. But this particular one, it was the time where that late afternoon heat all starts to rise up and there's not a lot of sea breeze coming in to blow it inland. Anyway, I was a fucking mess by the end, dripping as if I'd gone swimming in my clothes.
As I mentioned to the crowd during my show, when it's hot and I'm performing in a non-air conditioned room, I am thoroughly soaked by the end of the set every single time.
Hotel Chelsea set list...
You Don't Know How It Feels (Tom Petty)
One of These Things First (Nick Drake)
Shame Chamber (Kurt Vile)
Fly Like an Eagle (Steve Miller)
Better Man (Pearl Jam)
Bang and Blame (R.E.M.)
Fire & Rain (James Taylor)
Things Under Trees (They Stole My Crayon)
Rikki Don't Lose That Number (Steely Dan)
Tea in the Sahara (The Police)
My God Is the Sun (Queens of the Stone Age)
*You’re Here to See Max Play (Zak Claxton)
*Indicates the first time I've performed this song in SL.
Huge thanks to everyone who came out to this fun show, with super duper thanks to the following who helped support the show!
Triana Caldera, Kat Chauveau, Trymetwice Resident, Kalie Indigo, Richy Nervous, bundy Xue, Trouble Streeter, Wild Rabbit, my terrific manager Maali Beck, Hotel Chelsea manager Shyla the Super Gecko, and Chelsea's great staff!
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