A friday at the SL Live Music Scene

This day I chose to go listen to 2 performers in Second Life: Tarragon Pelous at The Gershwin Room and Eponine Dench at Ka-Leo-Lani Beach Club..hehe...yes...it's real enough.

The Gershwin Room is a very nice standard venue that I would describe as cozy and with an intimate athmosphere over it. It has a bar in one end and the stage at the other....not too big..not too small...you would always know who threw that beer at you.

On the walls they have posters hanging of all artists that have played there and they seem to be rather busy in SL.

Tarragon Pelous is an australian singer in SL that does mainly original stuff. He likes to write songs about political stuff...but hey....we also got a kind-of lovesong. On his repertoire is also songs very much inspired by everyday life...and I am not claiming that love...is not a part of that...Would get me mutilated if so.

Tarragon announced in the beginning that he was kinda friday night intoxicated...maybe not the thing to start a show with...but....even though he was...he delivered a quite fascinating show with a mixture of the above mentioned subjects.

At some point while saying thank you for the tips he mentioned that he was saving up for a new harmonica..and you know what?.....I believe he will succeed..it was a real pleasure listening to Tarragon Pelous.

Next stop was Eponine Dench at Ka-Leo-Lani Beach Club.....I love that name!

Its a very nice open venue with a hawaiian look over it..palms...blue water and all.

I arrived at the venue 8 mins before showstart.....and no one was there!...So Iwas thinking it would yet another miss of an Eponine concert as had already happened at Falling Waters this summer.

Fortunately everyone (Eponine, Staff and people) came in 2 mins before the event was set to start and it startet almost on time...But!...Personally I hate that...it's unprofessional and no one is that busy...in my opinion ofcourse. But then again...I am not part of the club...maybe they are used to that...but...what about new people...like me?

Eponine Dench is a lovely singer using backingtracks of the most popular songs in different genres over the years and she does them well......mostly.

Maybe because of the rushed start the soundlevel on the backingtracks was too low or the voice a lot too high...you choose...but the balance was non-existing at this concert.

Eponine has a lovely voice and you can tell she likes to sing. The voice sounds the best in the middle levels because when it is stretched it loses power and we go a bit off on the note. As a sideremark I experienced the same at a following show later in the weekend.

I requested 2 of my favorite songs: Smooth Operator by Sade and Songbird by Eva Cassidy. She delivered both of them nicely..but Songbird came out the best.

The thing I loved was the contact with the audience...commenting on what was said...I like to do that myself...and it always helps to have many regulars in the audience...so you can throw something out...and get the ping-pong going.

That was all from me at this time...see you out there!

About Cover Charges....People....and 2 Year Anniv.

Oh my has it really been that long?!
Well....to play the violins it has been something with selling the sim...finding another place...getting things built...again......RL work...(yup...that life!)....and so on and so on.
But today is the day I decided to sit down and talk a bit.

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Since my last post one of the biggest themes in SL live music has been...covercharges...or not!
My opinion is that I would never want to force people to pay for something they might not like and I most certainly would not force people to pay for music that the performer on stage doesnt even have any right to play in public.
I present my own stuff in SL so I have no problems with copyrights whatsoever....to me it's more the "maybe don't like" option....and then they can leave without having lost their lindens.

When I was a kid I learned that even though you do not get a present from the guests at your birthday it doesnt mean that they don't like you. The simple fact that they are there shows that they do care and want to share the day with you. Yes...it also means that they get a free meal..but...they chose to have it at my birthday.

As a liveperformer in SL I ofcourse love being tipped...but...even though you don't get a tip from people it doesn't mean that they don't like you. They are there because they wanted to experience your way of performing in SL and share the hour with you. Yes......it also means that they get a free show...but...they chose to get it at your concert.

God knows there are a lot of concerts in SL to choose from...so be proud of the people that chose your hour.....it being 5....or 45.
They may tip you 5 lindens...or 1000 lindens while they are there...doesnt matter.....with any amount...or just being there...they show their appreciation of what you are doing on stage.

Now they want to filter the people out by charging i. ex. 250 lindens at the door...ah well....I think they will get the same good experience at some other show...on their terms.

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It seems that the eventslistings in SL are never read nor understood by a certain percentage in the SL population.
If we set a eventstart at 1PM slt...then the show starts at 1PM slt....but we often experience people jumping in like 20 mins before that and ask why the show hasn't started yet...how clever is that?..then they tp out and do not return...thank you....wouldn't probably get the style of the show anyway.
Which leads me to "Instrumental Music"!!!....Does that include a singer?...no it does not!...So...if you attend a concert that clearly states in the listing being instrumental you do NOT claim loud in public: "I am turning up my hearingaid cause I can't hear the singer at all"....not wise.....this is instrumental...and you are just being...mental!
Read AND Understand the description of the event before you make a fool out of yourself...pretty please!!

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Saturday Oct. 17th I will celebrate my 2 year anniversary as a performer in SL and will be doing that by performing a 3 hour concert at Ethereal which is my own venue in SL. The concert will start at 12PM slt / 21.00 Eurotime and then we go on untill I have played all the tunes I have composed so approx. a 3 hour affair and you are all invited. If you are not in Second Life you can always grab the streamurl I use from my website: http://www.torbenasp.com/ on the "Next Show" tab and listen through winamp or another player. Actually you can do that with all my shows in SL. If I have the streamurl...it will be posted there.

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That's it for now...Hopefully I will soon get out and do some more reviews of concerts...untill then....be safe!