2015 SoCal Second Life Jam (02.06.15 - 02.08.15)

For almost as long as there has been live music in Second Life, the people who create it have also gotten together in their real lives, in various ways. It's kind of a natural aspect of being a musician; while the wonders of performing remotely for people around the world can't be understated, musicians love the act of being in the same place at the same time to create music on the fly. The first SL Jams were casual get-togethers when a few musicians realized that they lived reasonably close to each other. I believe it was in 2009 that the first organized SL Jam happened (in Dallas, if I recall correctly). Since then, there have been dozens of SL Jams across the USA and around the world.

I've managed to attend three of them. My first was in San Diego in 2011, followed by Nashville in May 2014, and then last weekend, Kat and I made the very short trip from here to Santa Ana in Orange County to go to the 2015 SoCal Jam. Each Jam has its own vibe that seems to be a combination of the musicians, the fans, the size of attendance, the location, and other factors. Each of them has been very fun for both Kat and myself, each in its own way. I'd say the aspect of the 2015 SoCal Jam that was particularly outstanding was everyone's willingness to jump up and lend a hand for everyone else's performances. That happens at most SL Jams, of course, but this one in particular seemed to have as many possible people onstage at all times. It truly was a Jam in the real sense of the word, and I loved it. Here's a brief diary of my experiences (yours might be different from mine, but I'm not you).

The entire SoCal Jam group photo by Gwampa Lomu (Bruce Lomasky).

FRIDAY FEB 6
It would have been nice to be able to take the day off and head right down to Santa Ana, where the Jam was being held in a Quality Suites hotel next door to John Wayne Airport. Alas, that wasn't possible for Kat and I. We both had to put in most of a day's worth of work at our respective jobs. By the time we were ready to go, it was about 3:30. We were hoping we'd beat the traffic; with clear freeways, it's only about a 45 minute drive between where we live in Redondo Beach and the jam location. But since it was Friday, it seemed that everyone was taking off early from work, which happens around here. We got on the 405 South and it immediately turned into a parking lot for a good portion of the trip. Were we bummed about this? Hell no. We put on some good tunes and talked and laughed the whole way... at least until the end of the trip, when traffic got ridiculous. Even so, we were on no specific schedule, and we ended up rolling into the hotel at about 5:30.

After getting our room and unpacking, we immediately followed our ears to the jam room, which was located directly next to the pool area. It was really an ideal spot for a jam, and before I continue, I want to give kudos to Eric Steffensen and Gretchen Capalini for having selected a great spot for this event. You have to understand, there are a lot of things to consider when choosing a location for an SL Jam. Are the rates affordable for attendees? Conveniently close to an airport for people flying in? Is there an appropriate room in the hotel for the jamming? Will loud music be an issue? Can food and alcohol be brought in and served independently of the hotel? I think they made a perfect choice with the Quality Suites.

We spent most of Friday evening giving hugs to old friends who we see far too rarely, and starting to meet new folks (several of whom had never been to an SL Jam before). In my typical fashion, once settled into the jam room, I grabbed the first available instrument and did some tunes with whomever was playing at the time. We arrived in time for dinner, and enjoyed a nice Italian feast before getting back to the jamming. I recall playing some laid back bass doing a Joe Cocker song with Rosedrop Rust and Lyndon Heart that night, as well as a cool rendition of "Wicked Game" with Gina Stella and a motel crew of players. By the way, I will make no attempt here to list every single one of the songs I played at this Jam; there are dozens and dozens, and I probably don't know the name of half of them anyway.

Friday night dinner, surrounded by friends. Photo by Gwampa Lomu (Bruce Lomasky).

Kat and I had been up since before dawn, and we hit a wall at about 11:30. We headed to our room, perchance to dream of the next day's jamming.

SATURDAY FEB 7
We awoke the next morning with plenty of time to go try out the breakfast of the Quality Suites that we'd heard about, and for a free hotel breakfast, it completely kicked ass. They have cooks standing by with a set menu, but you can order eggs any style, omelettes, hash browns, sausage, bacon, toast, plus coffee, juice, and so on. It's free and fast and really pretty damn good. Our little brigade of Jammers were coming and going in the breakfast room (which was actually our Jam room, at least after 12PM). After eating, I went back to my room and grabbed my guitar. Who needs to shower and dress when there's music to be made and friends with whom to make it? Still wearing my sweats, I wandered back to the poolside area and sure enough, plenty of the Jammers had the same thought. We meandered around in the morning sun, many of us holding guitars, and chatting and occasionally strumming things.

Saturday morning poolside fun. Photo by Gwampa Lomu (Bruce Lomasky).

Q: How do you get a guitar player to stop playing? A: Put sheet music in front of him/her. Thankfully there was none around. Photo by Gwampa Lomu (Bruce Lomasky).

Kat and I with Celtic. Photo by Gwampa Lomu (Bruce Lomasky).

I should mention that like all the good Jams, the organizers had us sign up for specific time slots for half-hour shows. This is a good thing, and I'll tell you why. Some people (cough... me... cough) will hog all the stage time in the world, while other, more shy folks might not have the nerve to jump up there on their own. Giving everyone a specific time slot ensured that every musician who came would have a chance to perform the tunes they wanted to do.

However, as I mentioned earlier, the SoCal jam was completely awesome in the aspect that every performer got a little help from his/her friends. It was extremely rare to see someone standing completely alone on the stage area. All manner of people hopped up to support their pals, filling in on bass, drums, keys, vocals, and whatever else seemed to add to the tunes. It was a complete blast, watching these random music groups form for a tune or two and then morph into other groups as people came and went. In any case, my assigned time slot was 2PM on Saturday, and this time I actually did prepare a set.

2015 SoCal Jam set list...
What's So Funny Bout Peace Love & Understanding (Elvis Costello)
Falling Down (Zak Claxton)
You're So Vain (Carly Simon)
Space Oddity (David Bowie)
Pancho & Lefty (Townes Van Zandt)
Blew The Dust Away (They Stole My Crayon)

I should note that my performance of "Blew The Dust Away" with Kat was the first time that any They Stole My Crayon song was performed live in public by two-thirds of the band. I'm happy that this milestone happened at such a fun event. Also, perhaps for the first time, I took a request at a Jam when Gwampa's grandkids (heh) asked me over the stream to do Space Oddity. I happily complied, with Gwampa acting out the song in his own interpretive dance routine.

Mali's kids, minus Sassy. Taunter, Lyndon, and I had so much musical fun together over the weekend, it should have been illegal. Photo by Gwampa Lomu (Bruce Lomasky).

Both before and after my set, I spent the majority of the day in the jam room, though Kat and I did duck out to grab lunch at some point. Later that day, it was time for the "random pairings" part of the Jam. Selecting names from a hat, all performers were paired with another for two sessions of songs. My random pairings were CelticMaidenWarrior (who I've known for years and years) and Bluerose18 (aka Lila, who I'd just met the night before). Celtic and I quickly decided to do "Leather & Lace" by Stevie Nicks and Don Henley. Finding common musical ground with Lila wasn't nearly as easy, but not long before we were supposed to go on, she asked how I felt about doing "The Best of You" by Foo Fighters, and I felt mighty good. We did a quick rehearsal and then did the song, and it went great.

There were other performers all day long, and that night they had a catered Mexican meal. All quite fun, and just being able to hang out with my great friends from the SL live music community was, as usual, the best part of all. After dinner, Grif Bamaisin did his rock set, so after Krell Karu jammed for awhile, I stepped in on electric guitar and spent as much time onstage laughing as I did playing, doing a memorable stage tango along with Lyndon. The whole day was a blast, and Kat and I slept soundly that night once we made our way back to our room.

SUNDAY FEB 8
We'd been having such a great time that Sunday arrived much too quickly. But we still had plenty of time for fun. Once again, Kat and I headed over to the breakfast line and enjoyed a hearty morning meal. Like a repeat of the day before, I got my guitar and stood around the pool with friends old and new, and played a bit and chatted as well. By noon, everyone was raring to get back onstage for one last round of music before the Jam wound to a close.

There were some scheduled performances, but betwixt and between, people were also doing random songs here and there. It was great. I hopped around from instrument to instrument, occasionally handing bass, drums, keys, guitar, or vocals on various tunes. I led a few tunes, and also did some with Max, Lyndon, and others. It was all too fun, and for whatever reason, I never was concerned about impressing anyone with my playing skills or performance. I screwed up a number of times; few noticed and none cared. It was that feeling of musical camaraderie that I think I enjoy most about SL Jams. It's hard to find in any other environment, musical or otherwise.

Sitting in with Max. While piano was my first instrument, it's always a challenge to play keys when I on;y do it a few times a year (as opposed to the guitar that's in my hands daily). Photo by Gwampa Lomu (Bruce Lomasky).

My lovely Kat with the always friendly and talented Max Kleene. Photo by Gwampa Lomu (Bruce Lomasky).

At about 2PM, Kat and I knew that we had to take off; we didn't want any chance of dealing with the same traffic we'd had on the way down, and had some non-Jam things to do before the weekend was done (including Kat picking her mom up that evening at LAX). There was a flurry of hugs and kisses to all of our friends; leaving a Jam is never easy, especially with the awareness that it might be a long time before you're in the physical presence of these people again, if ever. Nevertheless, Kat and I were all smiles as we pulled our Jeep out of the parking lot and headed home (which, by the way, took only about 45 minutes with a wide open Sunday afternoon freeway). The 2015 SoCal Jam was wonderful, and I have many great memories of the entire thing. Here's to the best jam ever (until the next one).

The Islands of New England (02.04.15)

It's only taken me a week to post this blog after my most recent SL show, which was at The Islands of New England, and it was a great show, and I want to talk about that. Before I do, though, I want to say a few things about why musicians should bother performing in Second Life at all... and it's probably not why you think.

I used to be emphatic about the tangible reasons for doing SL gigs. As one of the somewhat earlier people who took to SL for the purpose of doing live music (though not nearly one of the first; there were dozens of pioneering live musicians in SL before I started in 2006), I even wrote a couple of published magazine articles about it early on. You can still find them online, if you want. Back in March 2008, I did this article in Electronic Musician magazine, and did another in 2011 in Live 2 Play. My reasoning at the time was pretty logical, and it still stands today: SL allows for people to expose their music to listeners around the world in ways that have yet to be duplicated via other platforms. For people who for whatever reason are incapable or unwilling to physically tour around the world to perform live music, SL accomplishes a similar result. I have fans of my music in places like Australia and The Netherlands and Brazil who would never have possibly even heard of me without SL. Also, as I stated in the articles, it's possible for a musician to actually make a small amount of money as a performer in SL, via fees paid by venues and tips from the audiences.

All that is still true, and still valid. But those are not the reasons you should perform in Second Life. The reason is clear via a fast and easy analysis of the results; there has yet to be a single musician who initially gained notice via SL that became a popular musical star in the real world. Why? First, the grand majority of musicians in SL don't play original music at all. The most popular SL artists, understandably, are those who do covers of current popular songs. And as you already understand, on a general basis, people don't get famous from doing covers. But even if the greatest songwriter and musician in the world jumped into SL and wowed audiences, it's still unlikely that it would translate to popular success outside of SL. The fact is, by nature of being in a virtual world, there's a disconnect between the performer and audience (in both directions). I can anticipate that eventually, the technology will catch up to the point that every facial expression, every muscle movement will be translated into the digital realm. Until that happens, the audiences will constantly be reminded that what they're experiencing doesn't match up to even the person strumming cover tunes at their local bar. And, in the other direction, the performer will never get the kind of feedback they receive from an audience made of flesh located in front of them.

So, back to the question: why perform in SL? Because despite all of the shortcomings, it allows you to have a lot of fun and make friends with people who appreciate what you do, and guess what? That's reason enough on its own. Speaking of which, I'll now tell you about my show at The Islands of New England last Wednesday night.

I knew that a couple of days after this show, I'd be heading down to Orange County for my third SL Jam (which was great and I'll blog about soon), so it was good that I had a show or two beforehand to warm up and prepare for some real-life music performances. It used to be that at TIONE, I was fine playing for smaller audiences, but it seems that my more recent shows have had the place pretty well packed. I don't need big audiences to feel like a show went well, but it is a good feeling knowing that a lot of people are enjoying your music at once, from time to time. And again, referring back to my earlier point, having a house full of some of my closest friends in SL makes it all worthwhile.

All photos by Kat.

The Islands of New England set list...
What's So Funny 'Bout Peace Love & Understanding (Elvis Costello)
Pink Moon (Nick Drake)
Cat's In The Cradle (Harry Chapin)
Antiphon (Midlake)
Blew The Dust Away (They Stole My Crayon)
Thanks Anyway (Zak Claxton)
*Avalon (Roxy Music)
Sleeper In The Valley (Laura Veirs)
Longing On (They Stole My Crayon)
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Neil Young)
Big Empty (Stone Temple Pilots)
Any Major Dude (Steely Dan)
Things Under Trees (They Stole My Crayon)
*Improvised Outro Song (Zak Claxton)

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

Massive thanks to all who came out to see me play at TIONE, especially the following who supported my show!
Cicadetta Stillwater, Funkyfreddy Republic, Sesh Kamachi, Gideon McMillan, Bonita Denimore, GMetal Svartur, Kandy Roussel, Kat Claxton, Alexis Fairlady, TheaDee Resident, Joel Eilde, Aurelie Chenaux, my great manager Maali Beck, and most of all, TIONE manager (and my lovely friend) Christine Haiku!

Key West (01.30.15)

Hey, lookee here: I managed to do one live show in Second Life and two whole blog posts in the month of January 2015. Go me! I have an excuse for my absence, your honor. You see, apparently there's some kind of limit to human productivity and creative energy and all that good stuff, and every January for the past 22 years, my brain gets sucked into a vortex of a huge business event for the industry in which I work. It's called the NAMM Show. I'm not going to spend any time writing about that event here. My entire life has been preoccupied by it for months, and now that it's over, suffice it to say that while it went fine and I didn't die or anything, I'd prefer to spend my time telling you about the show I performed Friday night at Key West in Second Life.

I've played there dozens of times over the past four years or so, and it's just inarguably one of the best places for live music in SL. Friday night, for my first show back in SL after a seven-week hiatus, it couldn't have been better. I was wedged between two superb SL artists, Samm Qendra and Max Kleene, and had a nice built-in crowd for the whole set. As usual, I had legitimate concerns about the fact that the music I choose to play is way less mainstream than most of my fellow performers in SL, but my purposes for playing live in SL may be different than those folks as well. I really don't know. I do know that I do hear from people fairly often who say that they enjoy the more alternative, off-the-beaten-path songs and artists I cover, so while my type of show is never going to have as wide appeal as some others, I think I fill a certain niche of tastes in SL that people don't get elsewhere. So, then I feel good again, and play what I want regardless.

Excellent photos above and below courtesy of Cicadetta Stillwater.

Since it had been so long since my previous show, I made sure to throw in a few previously-unperformed tunes in the set. I will say -- not as an excuse but simply a statement of fact -- that my voice has not entirely recovered from my trade show last weekend, and wasn't quite at the level of goodness that I expect. But it was good enough, and people seemed to enjoy the show. All's well that ends well.

Key West set list...
Northern Sky (Nick Drake)
*Big Empty (Stone Temple Pilots)
Blew the Dust Away (They Stole My Crayon)
*It's Choade My Dear (Connan Mockasin)
Low Key (Tweedy)
Falling Down (Zak Claxton)
Pancho & Lefty (Townes Van Zandt)
On A Plain (Nirvana)
Shame Chamber (Kurt Vile)
Ashes to Ashes (David Bowie)
You're Like a Cloud (Zak Claxton)
Here I Land (Nicholas Stevenson)
*(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love and Understanding (Elvis Costello)

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

Big thanks to all who came out to Key West on Friday night, especially the following who helped support my show!
Bonita Beyaz, JennaLusch Resident, Syd Baddingham, dls Falconer, Blues Heron, Aurelie Chenaux, Richy Nervous, Cicadetta Stillwater, Shannyn Fall, TheaDee Resident, my great manager Maali Beck, and Key West owner Liz Harley!

Welcome to 2015: Happy Crayon Year

After a typically non-eventful New Year's Eve (Kat and I are past the point in life when going out and staying up super late and getting hammered is on our list of fun things to do), we had a terrific start to 2015 by having our pal and bandmate Bunny come by. Bunny's actual reason for making the short trip from the Valley down here to the South Bay was simple: he was picking up his drums because he's going to use some open studio time and do some live drum recording for our upcoming album. But anytime Bunny is here, it's a good reason to have fun, and we did.

Oddly, we started by watching some football. Bunny's alma mater, University of Oregon, was playing in the Rose Bowl versus Florida State, and he wanted to check out the game. I'm pretty sure we were good luck charms; within minutes of planting our asses in front of the TV, the Ducks started destroying the Seminoles, and ended up blowing them out entirely. During the second half, Kat went out to bring us back a delicious Chinese food meal from Top Wok across the street. Once the football and gluttony parts of the day were over, we headed upstairs into my little office/studio, talked about music, and then did a little song demo that we made up on the spot. Side note: why do we say that something was "made up on the spot"? Isn't everything made up on the spot? How else are you supposed to make something up?

In any case, we made a little tune which may grow up to be a real song someday, and Kat and I drank coffee while Bunny abstained -- he's all but abandoned caffeine entirely for health reasons, and we applaud his efforts. Actually, Bunny's seeming very healthy and fit these days, and we're happy for him. Eventually, we got around to doing what was intended; we broke down Bunny's drum kit and packed it in his car. After that, I remembered that we should take advantage of having all three of us together to take some band photos, which you see here. And then, Bunny bade us farewell and hopped into the night. I mentioned to Kat that as far as New Year's Days go, this was a particularly good one.

Music I Discovered in 2014: The Songs

Hello, my friendly readers and readerly friends. I've spent this last week (including Christmas) being sick, and being surrounded by other sick people. It didn't make for a very merry Christmas, and I'm pretty sure that it will be an especially quiet New Year's coming later this week. But I am on the upswing, and am pretty optimistic about things getting better soon, health-wise and in other areas as well. It's also my busy time of year for my job, so it's likely that my own music, as usual, will take a backseat to other things for the short term.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share with you some of the more cool/interesting songs I discovered in 2014. Note that I say "discovered"; it doesn't mean that all of these were released in the last year (though most were). One of the wonderful things about music is that you can "discover" a band that hasn't released music in 30 years, but if they're new to you, the joy of getting to know them and their music is equally good. As you'll soon see, my tastes leaning toward independent music of various genres. Basically, almost anything you'd hear on pop radio (or would be acceptable on a show like "American Idol") are things you won't find in my top playlists. Anyway, here are the top 10 tunes that I didn't know about a year ago. This is a song list, so the order is alphabetical by song title.

Syd Arthur - "Autograph" (2014)

If I had to pick one band that I was most excited to find in 2014, it's this group of young and super talented guys out of Canterbury, UK. In as much as I never really like to go out to see or do anything, we had a fantastic time seeing Syd Arthur at the tiny Hotel Cafe in Hollywood last summer. They are a nearly indefinable blend of prog, pop, rock, psychedelia, jazz, and more. I am totally looking forward to their next batch of tunes, whenever it arrives.

Unwound - "Demons Sing Love Songs" (2001)

Here's a great example of finding a terrific "new" band that doesn't exist anymore. Out of Olympia, WA, these people made music together from 1991 until 2002, right after this ultimate album of theirs. And then, another 12 years went by before I'd ever heard of them. This song is ridiculously ahead of its time.

Nicholas Stevenson - "Here I Land" (2014)

I found this UK-based indie singer-songwriter (and, coincidentally, superb visual artist) when my band They Stole My Crayon submitted a song to the "Welcome To Night Vale" podcast. While checking out some of the other artists whose music had been chosen, I immediately gravitated toward this song, and bought it as soon as it was released. Nicholas has a terrific sound that, like most of the music makers on this list, isn't easy to immediately classify.

Fatso Jetson - "Long Deep Breath" (2014)

I'd love to be able to show you this whole song (a clip of it starts at 1:09 above), but the band seems to have only released this split EP on vinyl. Ah well. Fatso Jetson is a hugely influential band in the desert/stoner rock scene, and any new music from them is highly welcomed. We saw them in June at Pappy & Harriet's, and immersing ourselves in this band on an outdoor stage at sunset in the midst of the Mojave was fucking sublime.

Tweedy - "Low Key" (2014)

Jeff Tweedy, of course, was a member of influential alt-country bands Uncle Tupelo and Wilco. This year, he and his son Spencer created a band simply called Tweedy, and I have to say, this particular tune just hit all of the jangly, poppy goodness that I often like in music. It's simple, it's fun, and there's nothing I don't fully enjoy about it.

Heroic Doses - "Reggie, Is It?" (1998)

Here's the oldest entry on this year's list. Yeah, 1998. Making matters even more strange, this Chicago-based band did one album, and as far as I can tell, never did anything again. Somehow, I stumbled onto them, and loved their sound which is at times reminiscent of The Police if they didn't have a narcissistic vocalist. Or any vocalist; most of the tunes on this album are instrumental.

Talk In Tongues - "Still Don't Seem To Care (2014)

This is probably the newest band on my list. They're a psych-rock band based here in Los Angeles, and are so fresh that this single (and a remix of it) is all they've put out so far. I am looking forward to see what else they can do, but this tune is a sweet psych nugget regardless.

Quilt - "Tie Up The Tides" (2014)

A really cool indie psych-folk band out of Boston, I became more impressed with Quilt after I saw them do a couple of live shows, which really highlighted their musicianship and performance skills for me. Great harmonies and strong songs in a modern yet very organic-feeling package that doesn't feel at all contrived or overly hipstery.

Beck - "Waking Light" (2014)

You'll note that few bands on my list are on any kind of major label or are known on a widespread basis. Beck is one exception to that rule, but Beck has always been an exception. It was immediately apparent to me that his 2014 album Morning Phase was a companion piece to his great 2003 album Sea Change, and is simply an amazing piece of studio work. The songs and the sounds are all innovative and outstanding.

Polvo - "The Water Wheel" (2013)

Holy shit... how did I not know about Polvo until this year? I have few regrets in life, really, but I do wish I'd known about this North Carolina-based art/noise rock band previously. No better time than the present; their latest album (released in 2013) is fantastic. I'm not quite sure of their status; they haven't toured since 2011, but they use dissonance and odd timings in ways that appeal to me on many levels.

And a few honorable mentions...

The GOASTT - "Animals" (2014)

I have to admit, if The GOASTT was some random indie band, I'd probably like them even more than I do knowing that it's fronted by Sean Ono Lennon, the son of John and Yoko. As it is, it's very hard not to make comparisons and have certain expectations. I will say that I like what they did on this album quite a lot, and this tune hooked its way into my brain for quite awhile last summer.

Connan Mockasin - "It's Choade My Dear" (2010)

Well, if you want weird, I've got some weird for you. I'm not sure if Connan is a human, an extraterrestrial alien, or some kind of hedgehog, but his album from 2010 that I ran across this year has some moments of extraordinary strangeness.

Foo Fighters - "Subterranean" (2014)

Perhaps the most mainstream band on this entire list, I give the Foos credit because of Sonic Highways, Dave Grohl's spectacular television series on HBO this fall. This is the tune they did in Seattle, and is probably my favorite on the new album (which, while a solid rock outing, isn't nearly as strong as their previous LP Wasting Light which may have been their best).

They Stole My Crayon - "Things Under Trees" (2014)

I should say that I'm certainly not including my own band's only release of the year in some promotional effort on my own behalf. In fact, I had little to do with this song at all, other than performing on it. The lyrics are by my lovely Christina Lee, and the music is by the equally lovely Bunny Knutson. But looking back over the year, I find that I genuinely enjoy this song, and am proud of it despite my relatively small personal contribution toward it. It will be available as part of our debut release coming in mid-2015.

Joe Cocker (1944-2014)

This day was already pretty iffy. I'd spent much of yesterday worrying over my sick teenage son -- he just has a bad cold, but it's a particularly shitty one -- to (not surprisingly) realize I was coming down with the illness as well. I awoke today to a foreboding burning pain in my chest, and throbbing in my eyeballs, and congestion. Yeah, all that fun stuff. And, of course, it's been a pretty depressing week, with last Wednesday's horrifying accident down the street from me on Pacific Coast Highway. Add to all this the stress associated with my absolute busiest time of my work year, and things have not been exactly peachy as of late. And then, my phone rang.

It was Kat, letting me know that Joe Cocker had died of lung cancer at age 70. Ugggggggh! Well, there will be many well-written obituaries about Joe. I'm only here to share a couple of personal observations and interesting factoids that might offer a little perspective on this unusual musician.

1. My parents listened to Joe... a lot
My folks came from the same generation as Joe, born in the early/mid 1940s. And they were hip and cool people. They actually still are, though they're now hip, cool, and old. Anyway, around my house, there was a lot of music playing while I grew up. Beatles (of course), and lots of singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Elton John, and the like. Plenty of soul, including Aretha, Al Green, and Marvin Gaye, and some other varied stuff that ranged from Santana to Burt Bacharach to Beethoven. But two of the big albums on the playlist in my house were Joe Cocker's With a Little Help from My Friends and Mad Dogs & Englishmen. I heard every song on those now-classic albums all the time in my most formative years. I can't but think that Joe was probably a huge influence on me as a musician, as I started playing in 1972 (at age three), when he was still a young and vibrant pop star.

2. Joe was an amazing performer... but not a huge songwriter
There are some many songs associated with Joe... but he didn't write them. Like, any of them. Look at any of his most well-known hits, along with the people who actually composed the tunes:

- "Feeling Alright" (Dave Mason)
- "With a Little Help from My Friends" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
- "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
- "Delta Lady" (Leon Russell)
- "The Letter" (Wayne Carson Thompson)
- "You Are So Beautiful" (Billy Preston, Dennis Wilson)
- "Up Where We Belong" (Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Will Jennings)
- "You Can Leave Your Hat On" (Randy Newman)
- "Unchain My Heart" (Bobby Sharp, Teddy Powell)

You get the idea. However, while many singers have achieved fame performing other people's songs, there's something very special about Joe. He often did completely different arrangements of the song. This was no cover artist. Listen to his version of "With a Little Help from My Friends", and compare it to the Beatles' original; it's practically an entirely different song (and many would say a superior one, including me). Most of Joe's material was like that. He took great songs, and added something you could never have anticipated from having heard the original version.

3. Who's playing that awesome wailing lead guitar on Joe's "With a Little Help..."?
Why, it's Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page! Jimmy did the session work in the studio, but the most iconic performances of this song were when Joe belted it out live, as per below.


4. Which classic TV series used Joe's version of "With a Little Help..." for its theme song?
That would be "The Wonder Years".

5. A semi-tangential factoid: Joe's version of "The Letter" was originally a one-hit wonder by a group called The Box Tops.
And the singer was a 16-year-old named Alex Chilton, who went on to front the critical favorite power pop band Big Star.

That's all I wanted to say. In a world of auto-tuned soundalikes who use "American Idol" as their standard for what singing is supposed to be like, the world will dearly miss Joe's uniquely soulful vibe.

Vinyl Cafe/Winter Wonderland (12.11.14)

It's been rare, in recent times, that I've done two shows in a week in Second Life. But when gigs like last night's show at Vinyl Cafe come up, you jump on them, and that's what I did. Interestingly, the show itself wasn't even held at Vinyl Cafe, as cool as that would have been. Instead, it was at the special Winter Wonderland area that's shared between Vinyl Cafe and Key West, and let me tell you, it looked terrific. I didn't touch my environment settings, so basically, I was performing in a snowstorm at night... and loving it!

As I typically do, at about two minutes before the start of the show when I had three people in my audience (and two of them were my manager Maali and the venue owner Heavenlei), I got a wee bit antsy. "Where are my peoples?" I asked no one in particular. And, of course, by the time I'd finished a song, there was a nice big crowd of avatars who seemed to be enjoying themselves. All was well. I have to say, I may not play a lot of shows in SL these days, but the venues where I do play are all top-notch, and run by the coolest and most organized people in all of Second Life. It's a pleasure putting on shows at their places.

Vinyl Cafe/Winter Wonderland set list...
Low Key (Tweedy)
Man Of Constant Sorrow (Traditional)
On a Plain (Nirvana)
Broken Day (Zak Claxton)
Shock the Monkey (Peter Gabriel)
Pancho and Lefty (Townes Van Zandt)
Do They Know It's Christmastime? (Band Aid)
Long Time Gone (Crosby Stills & Nash)
Long December (Counting Crows)
California (Joni Mitchell)
You're Like a Cloud (Zak Claxton)
Birds (Neil Young)

Big thanks to all who came out, especially those who helped support my show!
Mavenn Resident, Diana Renoir, Etienne Brando, DupliCat Resident, Brad Domenici, Arturo Martinsyde, Sinful Xubersnak, Sesh Kamachi, Christine Haiku, LolaGoetz Resident, tralee Neox, Monkey Martian, Rusty Seisenbacher, my terrific manager Maali Beck, and Vinyl Cafe head beaver heavenlei Lexenstar!