Great show

I had a great show at the Drip and Grind Coffee House today. There was a great crowd of familiar people, as well as some new people. Some were experiencing live music in SL for the first time.

That crafty tambourine

Recently I’ve begun adding tambourine (and shaker) to my performances of Avatar Girl. There has been a fun undercurrent of conversation as to just how I play this instrument while also playing guitar, singing, and playing that shaker, of course. How people hypothesize this feat of musical agility is best left to one’s imagination.

With the recent release of the song Get It Together by Djai Skjerllerup I’ve been credited with vocals, the bass guitar line, and of course, tambourine. This just perpetuates the comments and fun that we have with my addition of this rhythm instrument.

The true story of the rhythm instrument

I caught this chat today while performing at the Drip and Grind — courtesy of Doubledown Tandino (Brad Reason):

[13:55] Doubledown Tandino: the tambourine was invented in 1735 by Billy Ray Tambourine. Originally, it was bugs on strings tied to a stick, but the sound wasnt perfected until the mini cymbols were added. Then, in 2008 Rich Desoto broke new ground with the tambourine taking it to new levels in songmaking. and by 2009, inventing the first USB midi controller tambourine. Coming up next on True Hollywood Story : Rich Desoto…… the heartache, the struggle… Rich Desoto leaves his pregnant tambourine, … for a triangle.

I quite enjoyed the conversation that followed. Of course, I wouldn’t have left the tambourine had her drivers not become so corrupted.

Be sure to visit Brad’s site at thesixtyone.com. You can listen to his music — and be sure to bump!

In response to recent posts about certain organizations having certain terms that they don’t want their users and participants to promote them improperly:

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Collaboration across continents

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.

The 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.

Info About the Musicians Involved

The Get It Together 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!

Today I have no voice. This is indeed one of the worst days not to be able to sing. I am scheduled for performances at the Relay for Life Clothing Fair, thesixtyone.com/Get It Together parties, and at the Music Awareness marathon event being held at Money Island.

There is simply nothing coming from the pipes. They rusted. What a drag.

Please support these events, regardless.

Relay for Life Clothing Fair

Many live musicians on the schedule. DimiVan Ludwig will be playing at noon SLT.
Clothing Fair Slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rezzable%20Discover/70/185/28

100th Bump Bomb and Get It Together Parties

Here’s the lineup for thesixtyone/Get It Together event:
08.00am Kourosh Eusebio
09.00am Beth Odets
10.00am JueL Resistance
10.30am Leslee McCarey
11.00am Neil Morrison
12.00pm Mel Cheeky

Get It Together Launch Party
1.00pm Zak Claxton
1.30pm Rich Desoto — (oops)
2.00pm Lyn Carlberg
2.30pm Mimi Carpenter
3.00pm Kim Seifert
3.30pm Djai Skjellerup and Toby Lancaster
4.00pm Premiere of “Get It Together” (this is the song that many of us around the world collaborated on with Djai and Toby. I played bass, provided some vocals and - ahem - tambourine)

4.30pm the Professor
5.00pm Von Johin
6.00pm Closing act with Dolmere Talamasca and Mimi Carpenter

Here are the Slurls to this event: Euclidia (stage) side: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Euclidia/5/151/216 and Nitida (walk through the trees) side: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Nitida/239/101/228/

Music Awareness 48 Hour Event

48 Hours of Live Music in SL! March 21st 7 pm - March 23rd 8pm!
Money Island: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Money%20Island/241/102/22

Many apologies

My apologies to the many planners of these events. I simply do not like to cancel anything I schedule.

I have some type of upper respiratory congestion thing happening. It has resulted in a very significant sore throat. The problem is I have four gigs scheduled in the next 32 hours:

Tonight - The Fries Band at Lincoln Park Grille, Kettering OH
Tomorrow -
12:00 SLT - Relay for Life performance
1:30 SLT - Get It Together Launch Party (and thesixtyone.com 100 party)
7:00 SLT - Music Awareness performance at Money Island

I can only hope that something resolves VERY SOON. I sound like Bobby Brady everytime I try to attempt a note.

Sha na na na na na na na Sha na na na na!

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!

Open Mic at Los Arboles

We had another great open mic at Los Arboles tonight. Yxes Delacroix rounded up some fantastic performers, as always. It was good to hear some regular favorites, such as Jackson Oxberger and Joaquin Gustav. We also had the pleasure of hearing two new performers on the Los Arboles stage. Allister Westland and Therese Nightfire both put in a great first-time performance for us.

Tukso Okey was scheduled, but was unable to make it. I filled in the remainder of the set in his place.

Tired of the Tech Issues

As is typical lately, I had plenty of difficulty maneuvering in Second Life this evening. I’ve been discovering that my performances are more often than not hampered by difficulty getting around on stage, maneuvering my avatar into place, and finally actually getting off the stage when the performance is done. Typically I’m finding myself stuck in place while other performers attempt to get their place or I’m flung clear across sims with a simple bump of the arrow key.

This is making for an increasingly frustrating experience. I hate that. I enjoy performing so much. It shouldn’t be hampered by lag issues.

I have finally convinced the members of my band, The Fries, to make a Second Life appearance. Join us as we simulcast a real-life performance from the Boston Stoker Coffee Shop in Centerville, Ohio. This will take place Friday, 14 March 2008 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Second Life time. (8:30 EST) It will be held at my place, La Desoto Casa Bonita.

The band members will not have avatars during the performance (except for me). However, you may see some cardboard stand up representations.

This simulcast will be dependent on the stability of the wireless connection at the coffee shop. They use the Harborlink setup and it can sometimes be flaky. Cross your fingers and toes and come on by to hear THE FRIES!

Last night I had the opportunity to play a set at the Lonely Yak Texas Roadhouse. This venue is on the BlaksleeWorld sim owned by Razzap Snookums. It is run by some great podcasting friends, Rocky Torok, Jane2 McMahon, Radar Masukami, and Chugabug Goodnight (and more?!).

The great thing about playing a venue and show like this is that you often get to visit with people you’ve not seen in awhile. Or you get to have some fun visiting with good friends that you just don’t get to spend enough time visiting. I was so glad to see a good number of familiar names in the venue during this show.

I’ll be playing the Blarney Stone Irish Bar stage once again this evening. I always look forward to my return to this venue. The staff and visitors are always top-notch.

One thing I’ve always appreciated about this venue is their forward approach to marketing themselves outside the Second Life environment. They have an active web site and they share their activities with communities all over the world. They streaming entertainment options are always shared with the world wide audience. Many of their live music events include simulcast opportunities with venues in the UK and beyond. You can find out more at their website DublinSL.com.

If you would like to listen in, I’ll be performing at 5 p.m. Second Life time (1 a.m. GMT/8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST). You can listen via Winamp or iTunes using this URL: http://66.34.54.162:8000/listen.pls