Sunday, August 30, 2009

Ray Weyland at Star Stage on a Saturday afternoon



I wrote the following some time ago. Sometimes my first life takes way too much of my time I think. I heard from Ray that he has now changed the access to the Star Stage, so it should be much easier to find it.
Anyway - this saturday afternoon a few weeks ago, in SL it was morning, I set out to find Ray’s venue. I had not managed to catch him before. He lives in Minnesota, so he usually plays when I am asleep.
It was something of a challenge to get there. There are two elevators going up into the sky – to the Star Stage, Ray’s own place. After fumbling for a while I managed to press the right button, get the elevator moving - only to walk into a swimmingpool when I arrived. I got a little wet, but I am glad I finally got to hear him. Ray plays a 12-string guitar and has a very nice voice to go with it. He plays his own original songs. As he says himeself: “A little bit Folk, a little bit Country, and a whole lot of gentle music.” And finally I found out why the little matchstick man, who walks around on the dance floor at Cascadia Harmonics is saying: “ I don’t wanna go to Pittsburgh”. It is the title of one of Ray’s songs:)
Ray has been composing and playing music for many years and is an experienced performer. He sings about life, love, friendship in a thoughtful, sometimes even melancholy way. You will not regret spending an hour with Ray and his music.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Jon Enímo at Rhythm Park and thoughts about music in Second Life

Last night I went to listen to a guy called Jon Enimo at Rhythm Park. He was playing from Canada. I had not heard him before.
He was brilliant – I mean really good. He was a highly skilled rhythm guitarist, and I liked his voice a lot. He sang his own originals, covering several styles - folk, pop and rock. I will have to listen to him again to write a proper review. I am looking forward to doing that.
This evening he played for 7-8 not very talkative people. As far as I could see his tips amounted to 200 Lindens. I tipped him half of that and my friend the other half. I am sure this can’t be the default, when he plays in Second Life. Nevertheless I sometimes wonder what is wrong with people.
Firstly: For me being able to listen to live music is one of the greatest things about Second Life. And you can do it for free. It doesn’t cost you one single linden dollar, unless you choose to tip the artist. Honestly –if you can at all, I think you should. And while you are at it – remember to tip the venue too. You will certainly not become a millionaire by running a Second Life venue. It cost a lot of lindens to keep a venue running.
Tipping will also show the artist that his or her music is appreciated, and if you are not able to donate, tell in chat that you like the music! That is the least you can do.
Secondly: It is beyond me that a highly skilled musician like Jon Enimo gets such a small audience ( still sure though that it must be an exception). Sometimes I stumble into gigs with large audiences, and the artist is singing nothing but karaoke. Maybe a nice voice –no more than that, and then backing tracks. No - I am not mentioning any names!
Anyway – I wish people would support the artists in Second Life who plays LIVE music.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Torben Asp at Yard Club Ethereal


The Yard Club is Torben’s own place, and in the ethereal part of it you get rocketed out into space. It is fantastic and very beautiful. Stars, planets, spaceships and satellites are glowing in the dark space
Torben is very special to me. Heat was the first one I listened to, when I started to listen to live music in Second Life. He calls himself Torben Asp now, but in the old days he was ”Heat”. He is also my fellow country man, and it is nice to be able to speak my native tongue – danish – with him in Second Life.
I went to listen to his music together with my friend Fyrm Fouroux. This evening was a rather quiet one compaired to the usual ones. A lot of people have like me grown attached to the ethereal, dreamy but also rhytmic tunes, that Torben creates.
The music he plays is electronic, and he says himself that he is inspired by Jean Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, Vivaldi and many more. I can certainly hear that he is influenced by Jean Michel Jarre, but I have to say - I prefer Torben to Jarre.
He started out with ” Ice cave”, where you can almost feel the icicles on the instruments and continued with ”Dance of the sirens”. The sirens lure the sailors onto the rocks with their beautiful singing. The sailors go to party with the sirens, and of course they end up dead. All that is expressed in this song if you listen carefully. ”Last bus” with the sound of the bus starting and stopping came next. Fyrm loves that one, and he often gets to collect the fare for the bus:). And Fyrm was the inspiration for the next tune ”Take away”. He once made a synth experiment with the lyrics: ”She blamed it on the Peking duck”, and Torben was inspired to do this chinese sounding tune, which made Fyrm hungry. Usually Fyrm’s food songs make other people hungry. This time he had a little of his own medicine:)
Next came ”Whistler in the sewer” about the people working in the sewers followed by ”Touching souls”. Torben wrote that for his partner Jess Oranos. It is a beautiful love song and one of my favourites. He ended the gig by playing ”Prayer for life” and ”Daydreamer”. ”Prayer for life” he dedicated to Mother Earth, an appeal to take good care of her. It starts with a spacey, creeking sound, and I always imagine it is the sound of the infinite space where our little lonely planet belongs.
Listening to Torben’s music puts pictures like that in your head. I listen to him in Second Life but I often have him in my ears when I wander the streets of Copenhagen too. I have to listen to his music often.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Djai Skjellerup at Benzaiten Gallery


Damn I forgot to take a pic! Oh well – I will write about Djai and his music anyway (and I ended up googling a picture of Djai)
This evening he was playing at an opening of an art exhibition at the Benzaiten Gallery. Cestra Segall, Iam Yumako and Crow Vultee were displaying their art. We didn’t see much of it though, because there were so many people there, and it was very laggy. The part I did see made me wanna come back later to take a closer view.
Djai is a singer and pianist from the South West of England. He is one of my favourite musicians in Second Life, and I listen to him as often as I can.
This evening he started out with the rather quiet ”Waiting for you” Then came the more up tempo song about the american author Jack Keruoac. He sang ”Hidden depths” and ”Making me feel I belong”, where the chorus line makes people type ”Doo do Doo” like crazy.”While you wait” he introduced with a sweet little story about his son waiting for an ice cream, and he said: ”In this life it’s not what you are waiting for, but what you do while you wait”. Very true words! He continued with ”Stars shine more”, ”Cotton tree” about FannyAnn Eddy, who fought for the human rights of lesbians and gays in Sierra Leone. He ended the gig with ”Work it out”, a sad song called ”smile” and finally ”Suffer”
My friend said to me that Djai this evening was slightly more serious and reflective than usual in his way of introducing the songs, and I think that was true. He is very good at connecting with his audience, making them take part, and he is not reticent to share details of his first life. In fact I think that that is a very important skill for a musician in Second Life to have. Well more or less for musicians in first life too I guess.
Apart from his entertainment skills Djai is a brilliant pianist and a good singer. His songs are original, melodious and often make you reflect on life. They makes you wanna dance and sing along too. If you haven’t been to one of Djai’s shows you definitely should. I am sure you will end up coming back again and again.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Kourosh Eusebio at Nitida Ridge







For me 3 AM (5 o’clock in the afternoon european time) is the time for listening to Kourosh Eusebio at Nitida Ridge. Nitida Ridge is run by Bree Birke and makes wonderful surroundings for the dreamy, meditative music of Kourosh. I am not the only one having that time as a weekly landmark. There is always a lot of people there, and I recognize and say hello to a lot of regular fans week after week.
Kourosh says on his webpage about music: ”Music is the channeling of a form of Nature. A musician attempts to create a certain abstract space. Within and of that space, there is Nature.” When you listen to this music it is easy to understand what he is talking about.
His instruments are piano and synthesizer, and his compositions are dreamy, poetic, often building up to a powerful crescendo. Always with new improvisations. He plays covers too. This Saturday he played George Harrison’s “Here comes the sun”. It is a beautiful song and in Kourosh’s hands it becomes even more so. He ended the gig playing “Twinkle, twinkle little star”. Wonderful and very original.
Kourosh Eusebio is in a league of his own in Second life music.