I have decided to take a hiatus from all online performances for awhile. Why? I have YET to finish producing the collection of songs that I’ve been writing for many years. I have more songs just begging to be written, as well. I’m likely not going to get these done if I keep playing the same old songs all the time.

It seems that outside activities beyond work, family, home and church are going to have to take a back seat (does that leave any time?). There is no possible way that I can get this project done if I don’t fully focus on it whenever and however possible.

Once the songs are fully recorded, produced, and available I will start doing Second Life and video performances on the internetz. Until then, I’m going to be finishing this album.

I will again be performing at the THON Benefit in Second Life. This time I will be starting at 2:30pm SLT/5:30 PM EST on Friday, 19 February 2010.

This year’s event will again be held at the PSU World Campus in SL. I’m pleased to be back at this event for my fourth year.

The Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, affectionately referred to as THON, is a yearlong effort to raise funds and awareness for the fight against pediatric cancer. Since 1977, THON has raised more than $61 million for The Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Children’s Hospital. Find out more about the THON benefit weekend at thon.org.

If you would like to listen to the performance in WinAmp, iTunes or on your iPod Touch or iPhone, you can use the following address: thesongster.serverroom.us:9392 or richpalmer.com/a/9392

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

A friend and musician, Michelle Pillers (Micki Underwood in Second Life), has recently been diagnosed with lymphoma of the brain. This is a fairly early catch and the survival prognosis is about 70%. However, her treatments may take from six months to year.

It has been discovered that she doesn’t have health insurance to cover this challenge. Because it will be considered a preexisting condition she will find it very difficult to get coverage for her medical expenses.

Today I performed a benefit show in Second Life to help raise funds for Michelle. Many artists performed throughout the day and people are being very generous. We still need to do all we can. So… I am offering a recording of today’s show (warts and all) for you to download. You are certainly welcome to the recording for free, but I think Michelle and everyone else would appreciate it if you would donate a bit to the cause.

The PayPal link will allow you to donate online — you can use any major credit card (Visa, MC, AEx or Discover) or your PayPal account to do so. Please contribute. Every little bit helps. Your donation will be send directly to Michelle.

This is a very nice view of the live music community and the availability of great entertainment from artists such as Grace Buford (Cylindrian Rutabaga) in Second Life.

This is a recording of a live acoustic performance that I did on Gibson Island (yes, the guitar manufacturer) in Second Life. Performance date was 17 October 2008.

I just started using TextMarks. This is a service that I’ve known about for some time, but just didn’t really know how I might use it. Actually, for musicians and others that promote new content from time to time, this is an excellent idea.

I learned of this from Dave Jackson at the Musicians Cooler podcast. He recently mentioned it again on a recent episode, so I thought I’d give it a go.

Here are three of the keywords that I’ve started using:
richpalmer: Yes, this one seems obvious. But the easiest way for me to use this is to have it serve as my virtual business card. If I’m in conversation with someone and find that I’ve forgotten my actual business cards, I can suggest that they text ‘richpalmer’ to 41411 and they will get an SMS message with my contact details.
richdesoto: This is the keyword for people that would like to know when I’m playing again in the Second Life environment. I’ve also placed this widget on my Rich Desoto blog page.
safesongs: Right now it simply points people to my music page for information about the Sing a Song for Safety CD. But I might start using it as a prompt for new information, newsletter updates, etc. Would be a great way to connect with people while on the go.

Here are the three widgets:

I seem to have to define myself a lot these days. Sometimes, I just want to do the things I’m interested in doing without labeling myself.

World-Wide Collaboration

Recently, many Second Life musicians collaborated in a project to build awareness to music in the virtual world. Djai Skjellerup penned a song called “Get It Together.” With the engineering and production magicianship of Toby Lancaster, the song came together with the talents of the many musicians participating. I was very pleased to be able to provide the bass track, some main and harmony vocals, and (ahem) tambourine.

The Official Launch

On Saturday, 22 March 2008, the song was revealed to a very full Nitida Ridge sim in Second Life. The crowd was extremely appreciative (and somewhat overwhelmed?) by the scope of the project. The launch of the song followed a full day of performances by many of the collaborators and other active Second Life musicians. I was unable to participate, as I have lost my voice over the past few days. Thank you food allergies.

Info About the Musicians Involved

Share the Widget!

To help spread the word, I developed this widget. Please click the “share” link in the bottom right corner to get the code for use on your favorite site!

I posted a show at Audio Gumshoe tonight featuring Second Life musician Dan Octavia. Dan McCall is his real name and he has an album called “Wait With Me” available at several online retailers (as well as from his site).

If you’d like to hear the show, please visit Audio Gumshoe or listen via the player here. Don’t forget to subscribe for FREE so that you never miss an episode!

Here’s another for the series:

(Click for full size)