Saturday, July 20, 2013

Joaquin Gustav and Voodoo Shilton Don't Rock Cat's Art MusikCircus

These days rocking something means anything from making a cup of coffee to going to the shopping mall but it rarely has anything to do with music so it's much better not to rock something and Joaquin Gustav definitely did not when he came back last night to Cat's Art MusikCircus.


Joaquin Gustav has been playing consistently beautiful and romantic sets ever since he started in Second Life six or seven years ago.  He's using tracks for some of his songs but he made them and then he plays over the top.  Or he plays without any accompaniment at all but everything comes over with a with a very gentle delicacy.

Throughout the set he was waiting for the right moment to play "Happy Birthday" for Cat as celebrating a birthday over just one day is hardly enough, is it!  I love how Europeans celebrate Christmas over two days, Easter the same way, etc, so why not birthdays as well.  Argentina isn't exactly Europe but maybe they celebrate things this way as well.

At the end of the set, the moment was right and he did a Latin version of "Happy Birthday" that was charming.  Happy Birthday, Cat!

You can find more about Joaquin Gustav on his Artist Profile on Cat's Art MusikCircus Web site.



Voodoo Shilton was away last week for, I believe, jams with friends but he returned last night and he didn't rock either.


Voodoo Shilton is easily one of the best guitarists in Second Life and he's developed quite the sense of adventure lately but that didn't stop him from going right into his own version of "Happy Birthday" right away.  Voodoo did a jazz version of it and sang it as well for a charming rendition of the song and great happiness for Cat.

Voodoo then went into a set that is not at all predictable as he is singing more and more to bring yet another instrument into his play.  His willingness to experiment gives tremendous 'liveness' to his music and perhaps that is what inspires the audience to experiment as well.


Here is Kiki Szetey on the trapeze.




And here's Eric Poultry who was experimenting in many ways.



And so it went through some of Voodoo's covers, some of his originals, and some you may not have heard before or he does them in a different way.  He went into some jazz blues with his looper and this was very cool as it's tough to bring anything new to blues but he goes with his own beat and his own style for blues that go well beyond the same ol' twelve-bar.

His audience loved it and there was a Conga line going through most of the show.


There was a surprise in the audience as well as Suzen Juel was there.  She has been singing in Second Life for quite a few years but had bailed out some while back.  Now she has come back home and she is singing and playing again.  I knew she was painting but I didn't realise she had stopped playing.  Well, she's back!

At the end of the set, Voodoo started playing some Hendrix and you wouldn't think that would work in a jazz style but he brings it off very well.  He went directly into another one with "Voodoo Chile" and again he did it very much in his own style.  From there he went into "Little Wing" but something unusual happened at that point and I'm sure it went well musically but I crashed and apparently so did everyone else.  Ever the professional, Voodoo kept on singing and, even though he was crashed, he kept the song and the music stream going and I could hear him again when I got back in again.


You can find more about Voodoo Shilton on his Artist Profile on Cat's Art MusikCircus Web site.




Oh yes, Cat and I danced.


Cat is wearing a pirate outfit and I thanked her for being careful with the hook where her left hand once was.  She said don't make me angry!  Look closely and you'll see she has a parrot on her right shoulder so this was some dangerous dancing!

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