Aldo Brizzi Performs at Alienarium on his Fifth Rezday

Today Aldo Brizzi celebrated five years in Second Life and he did that by giving a solo performance for his Rezday at The Alienarium.  Here's a picture:

The Alienarium shows everything that Second Life can be.  Some like to make stages that look just like 1965 and that's fun but The Alienarium isn't even on the same planet and why not!  Aldo makes music from a whole new age as there's no chance you would have heard this kind of synthesizer work in 1965 so why not bring that music to you from another planet.  The Alienarium was a very cool choice for his Rezday celebration.

There's no way I can describe what's flying around in there as I have no idea what it is.  I do know that Reality is flying around and he's the one in kind of a Superman flight pose on the right.  He really is flying and many of the people there were doing that.  Reality built and runs The Alienarium and quite a fascinating job he did.

Congratulations to Aldo Brizzi on five years in Second Life and may he celebrate five more and then five more after that.  You can learn more about Aldo and his music at Aldo's Web site.


No, of course the report isn't finished until there's a pic of Cat and I dancing, especially when strange things are flying about in the air around us!

She has a different look every single time, such an amazing lady!

Results of Game Eleven of the Great Greek Chess Tournament

The message came into me reading 'Leaving now. Meet u at that cafe' and my first thought was what the hell is this!  I quickly concluded it was Mary talking about chess but I still had no idea which cafe but this was resolved after I found a place outside where the mobile would work and I could call her.

So the game took place at the Koursaros Cafe in Katakolo and you can see a picture of it in a subsequent article.  It's a quite nice place and even in the middle of Winter there is usually a good number of people there.  Τακης (tah-kis), the owner, has just returned from a month-long vacation with his wife in Australia.  It's Summer down there so ...

(Ed:  Ahem, may I remind this is a game report?)

Right.

The game commenced with me playing White and going forthwith into my favorite King's Pawn opening.  The opening didn't stay conventional for long as I thought I'd bring out my Queen to create some early pressure and this turned out to be a good endeavour as it built to a substantial lead in manpower.

About that point, Mary got a phone call and she was talking quite quickly in Greek but it was obvious she was not talking about a shopping list with her daughter.  At the end of it I asked if we needed a rule about talking to boyfriends or girlfriends during the course of the game and she smiled happily thinking of her date later in the evening.  The boyfriend / girlfriend mobile call rule might be important as we'll see as the game progresses.

Given a strong lead in manpower and a formidable tactical position, it seemed quite inevitable that I would win it.  This, as you have probably guessed, led to some over-confidence on my part which quickly cost me two primary pieces.  The game which had previously looked owned now looked as though it could easily go either way.  I tell you this lady is deadly!

However, presumably because of the distracting thought of her date, Mary did finally lose the game and this is why the Boyfriend / Girlfriend Mobile Call Rule may be a significant consideration for future games.

Regardless of her distraction, I claim the victory and the honor of Clan Fraser is again restored ... sort of.  I went into the game with a one-game deficit as I had lost the last one so the score is now 5.5 all.  To fully restore the honor of the Clan I must take the lead and keep it.  Since we're tied after eleven games, this does not appear to be something that can be anticipated soon.


This game was not annotated as I'm still not sure that the last one is correct and will wait for validation on that before annotating another one.  There's no point in repeating a process that doesn't work unless you're in the GOP leadership in Washington and trying for the thirty-fourth farking time to repeal the Affordable Care Act.  They remind for all the world of the first time a dog sees a mirror and it just can't understand after running into it over and over that there isn't really a dog on the other side of it.

Naturally, this egregiously ineffective class of congressfolk re-elected the most ineffective Speaker of the House of all time and Boehner again has the job for another four years.  I have no political commentary on any of this, it just amuses me to see the most powerful country on the planet hamstrung by people who aren't intellectually qualified to pump petrol or park cars.

Joaquin Gustav and Voodoo Shilton at Cat's Art MusikCircus

There was quite an exciting show at Cat Boucher's Art MusikCircus last night as there are two acts on a Friday night with Joaquin Gustav leading off the show and Voodoo Shilton closing it.  Both are wonderfully talented guitarists and both favor a Latin style of play and yet they don't repeat each other at all.  They give more than two hours of brilliant music and it was lovely last night to see a highly-appreciative crowd, many of whom were dancing throughout the show.

Here's a picture of Joaquin Gustav on-stage:

Joaquin plays such a romantic set and I found at one point that I was suddenly overcome by it and tears came to my eyes.  These weren't sad tears but rather tears from happiness at the wonder of the moment and the beauty of the music.  Dancing with Cat to the beautifully romantic music of Joaquin is a lovely time and there were other couples dancing around us.  It was extraordinary!

While if you had to pick one word to describe Joaquin Gustav's set, you would probably pick romantic, exciting is another one as he plays up-tempo songs as well and his fingers do a dance of their own as he's a highly-talented guitarist and he is quite fast with his moves.  He's a young man from Argentina and he brings his music all the way around the world to us!


Following Joaquin comes Voodoo Shilton and this is the regular Friday line-up for Cat Boucher's Art MusikCircus so you can hear them play next Friday and this article is to show you what you will find.  As always, this is not a compensated review but rather I love Cat, she lives and loves to support music and musicians and I want to do everything I possibly can to support her doing that.  She doesn't think she does so much to support music but I guarantee that any of the musicians who have been coming back for years to her MusikCircus would disagree with that!  In fact she works very hard and I've seen her doing it.


Voodoo wasn't playing so much a Latin set last night as he was playing jazz and he was brilliant at it.  He has a very fast and nimble style and this excitement lifted the whole crowd.  It was quite a good turnout and there was dancing everywhere.   Below is a picture of him on-stage:

Just as Voodoo has a unique style of play in Second Life, he also has quite a unique look and it dawned just now that I'm really not sure how voodoo relates to Latin music or jazz but the look is very cool!

Voodoo was in a mood for excitement last night and he did one hell of a fine job of it.  He doesn't let up in a stream of cover tunes mixed quite nicely with originals, all of which feature his own arrangements.  He's an outstanding musician and you can meet him on Facebook.

Voodoo's lady friend is TrickY and I hadn't talked with her much before last night but she's quite funny and a big part of the show is the chat during the performance.  That's something one can never do in a real-life concert but in Second Life there's a lot of conversation and it was quite funny last night.

Something I had not seen in Voodoo's show previously is that he gets people going in a conga line and this was charming as there were perhaps as many as a dozen dancing in a conga line that danced all over the MusikCircus.  There was so much dancing last night and it was lovely to see everyone having such a wonderful time!

I can tell you that everyone had a great time but the picture tells you better!  The picture was shot from back-stage and that's Voodoo on the far left with the conga line in the middle.  I'm not sure who is dancing to the right of the line and Cat and I are dancing to the far right.  There were so many more as well as people were dancing everywhere here all night!


For me, no report is complete until I've given you a picture of dancing with Cat and here's a quite dramatic one that clearly shows that the Friday night show at the MusikCircus is not for dancing a foxtrot!  There is no happier man in this world ... or the next one!

There's nothing I can say that will better describe the moment so I'll leave the picture to speak for itself!

Sonya Jevette Sings "The Big Girl Song" at Cat's Art MusikCircus

Sonya Jevette has a lovely and powerful voice and she has a great sense of humor.  All of that comes through in "The Big Girl Song" and you'll hear quite frequently from big girls on Facebook as quite a few are defensive about themselves and that's a sad thing.  No-one ever set out to get big but, just the same, no-one sought to get addicted to Marlboro cigarettes and the two are not really equivalent but both are viewed by many as self-inflicted wounds.   People are quick to judge and wouldn't it be a good thing if we were as quick to love.

So there's a little bit of defensiveness to "The Big Girl Song" and that's what gives it its poignance but mostly it reminds 'the bigger the cushion, baby, the better the pushin'.'  Sonya Jevette has a lovely sense of humor and that's most entertaining when people have a sense of humor about themselves.  She also reminds in the song, 'you better treat her right, baby, you won't get none tonight.'  So, it's your choice, pal.  Treat her right or spend the evening "Ice Road Truckers" on television by yourself!

You can learn more about Sonya at her Sonya Jevette Web site and that's where you can hear "The Big Girl Song."  You can listen for free, you can watch her videos and you can also find a link to where you can buy her CD.  Please do support this lovely artist as she is definitely living the music.

Sonya comes to the MusikCircus from Dallas, Texas, where she also sings real life concerts.


Here's Sonya Jevette singing "The Big Girl Song" with Medora Chevalier dancing on-stage on a dance pole beside her at Cat Boucher's Art MusikCircus:

Medora was worried I was going to post something shocking but the girls dancing on-stage during "The Big Girl Song" don't do anything shocking.  Sometimes girls are reluctant to go up to dance as they're concerned something embarrassing will happen but it's not like that, it's all about girls having fun.

There is one thing, tho.  I can scarcely bring myself to mention it.  But, yes, there is one thing and, gad, I tell you Medora is chewing bubble gum.  Now that is shocking.

 


And we dance!

Cat can't even talk that much during shows as she's getting messages from everywhere but, man, do we dance, dance, dance!  People don't much understand how hard venue owners work to bring music to them and Cat, unfortunately, has a strong tendency to minimize what she does as she doesn't want to make anything 'all about her.'

What I can tell you for sure is that Cat has such a strong drive to help musicians in Second Life and also in the real world.  She doesn't make anything 'all about her' but she does make it all about music, light, and love and her spirit is all through the MusikCircus.  That's why performers keep coming back and why people keep coming back to the shows.

That Didn't Hurt

This is a story that involves pain but one of the most wonderful things about memory is one's mind cannot remember pain. I know this incident really really hurt but I have no idea what that felt like now!

The next time you dump your bike and hopefully it doesn't happen soon but what I know is that as soon as you can move again you'll be saying, hell, that didn't hurt!  Of course it didn't because you can't remember what it felt like!  What that means is, hell yes, assuming you didn't smash it up too much, get on that scoot and ride.

In the Big Bike Crash, some cheese-eating sumbitch turned left in front of me.  As always, there was no warning, he just did it and I went into the side of his car, launched off the bike, and went into his windshield, next to hit the ground on the other side of his car.  At first I thought I wasn't too messed up but then I tried to move and quickly realised, boy, you're screwed.

Now I know the First Biker Law is that you don't let the sumbitches hit you.  Yep, I broke that one alright.  I've never been sure if there's a Second Biker Law that says you can put the bastard into a wood chipper if you can still get up to catch him.  I never did that and I couldn't anyway but I can still daydream of my hope that he has a long life ... cleaning toilets somewhere.

The thing about the Big Bike Crash and doing a forward crash launch off a Harley was that I learned that bouncing the stones off a Harley's gas tank is a Very Bad Idea. My pelvis was broken in several places and my little buddies swelled up to the size of grapefruit. My shoulder and other stuff were busted up too but the stones were of particular interest to the doctors.

Later, I was lying in the hospital bed with my legs stretched as far apart as possible, with black bruises from one knee to the other and everywhere in-between.  There was no screwing around with colors for girls like blue or purple, it was total black all over.  It was marvelously dramatic and, no, honey, I don't have pictures!

In the morning, the Big Daddy Doctor came on his rounds with all his Baby Doctors following him like ducklings.  He was very cool but one of the Baby Doctors couldn't get the best of his curiosity and he lifted the bottom of the sheet to take a look at my smashed-up manly pride. That's when I heard him say, "Holy shit!"

Now, I submit there are many things one might not want to hear from a doctor and Holy Shit might possibly be at the top of the list.  What a man might want to hear is nice rod there, partner, or, hey, hell of a joy toy.  Holy shit doesn't really work.

Whether the Baby Doctor had to go back to Bedside Manner 101 is not known. Perhaps today he writes games for Facebook, we just don't know. However, what I can cheerfully report is that the stones repaired themselves proving how remarkable the capability for recovery in the human body!  I'm sure you can all rest easier now.


Yes, I know I've run this one before but I'm being incited to write and publish.  We shall see!  Thanks to my friend, Robert, for the encouragement.

No, I'm Not a Reviewer or Music Critic

This blog is not about providing a column for musical critique but rather I share the things I see.  This is why will you see a 'review' of the same people multiple times as of course I'll go back to something I like.  That would get tedious over a long period of time no matter how much enthusiasm I bring to it but likely that won't even be possible as fairly soon I should be back playing again.  I asked Harry last night to go forward with getting the phone line installed as the experiment to try an alternative solution did not work (i.e. his router is WiFi only so I can't hard-wire into it).

Last night I also uploaded "Send Me an Angel" to the podcast and this is part of going live as I need to be clear on what material I will bring to a live performance.  Likely sometime today I will record "I Love Rats" as that's almost the musical opposite of "Send Me an Angel" but it's something I love to do.  It's original, it's insane, and it's crazy fun to do.  I talked with Cat about this and her thinking is to mix up some covers with originals and I'm sure she's right but it will be an interesting balance to strike.  You can make up your own mind when I do the upload later on today.

So, my intention is not to be a reviewer or a critic but rather I do these things as I go along just as I bring you pictures of Katakolo because I want to share as much as I can of the impressions I have of what I encounter.  One thing that strikes me particularly that has nothing at all to do with music is that the reaction in America when someone speaks Spanish can frequently be one of, mofo, speak English or I'll kick your wetback monkey ass back across the border.  Despite the pretensions of a melting pot, it's actually quite xenophobic.  However, here in Greece, people are charmed to hear one trying to learn the language and they will help.  Most are not conversant in English but they know enough of it to help you along and it's not to boost tourism as Pyrgos is not a tourist town; they don't sell t-shirts, baseball hats, or magnets for your refrigerator.  This kind of attitude is not something that would do America any harm at all!  There's plenty of room for everyone.  Happy New Ears!

Surprise Golden New Ears Show by Reis and Aldo at Cat's MusikCircus

Last night was a Golden New Ears show by Reis Alter and Aldo Brizzi at Cat Boucher's Art MusikCircus and it was a surprise as they're going to be in Brasil for a month and we didn't think they would be able to perform again in Second Life after the show last week.  Last night they gave a wonderful Golden performance and there's another surprise as they will perform yet one more time next week before departing.

Here is a picture of Reis being all Golden on-stage with Aldo and his synthesizers beside her:

The marvel in their performance is that Reis sings with such delicacy while Aldo provides massive power through his synthesizers.  The combination isn't something you would likely predict to work but it's marvelous to hear and creates a music unlike anything you have probably heard before.  Reis is a marvelous singer and Aldo is an extremely talented synthesizer / computer artist.  You can learn more about their music on Aldo Brizzi's Web site.


No, I'm not a promoter.  I'm a fan!  I didn't really acknowledge that before and I've heard so much fantastic music in my life but I never really considered myself a fan of anything.  But, sure, I'm a fan, man!

Something else I realised is that I love it that they're married as you can feel that loving dynamic in their music and it makes me imagine what a wonderful thing it must be when they're creating music in their home.  The hills are alive with the sound of music and so must be their home.

I mention their marriage not to be precious but rather because it adds something tangible to their performance and I have no doubt you will feel it too.  It's not anything they say as I don't believe I've even heard them mention their marriage but I'm sure you will feel what it gives.

I'm not sure of dates but I do know that Reis and Aldo will be giving a performance at another venue and Medora will be appearing with them as she choreographs the show and dances with them.  I saw the three of them perform together at the MusikCircus and it was fantastic so I asked Cat if she would like to go to see them for this one.  She's not at all provincial about only seeing shows at her own venue so we will see that performance as well.


If you don't think Reis and Aldo will bring love to you then take a look at this one:

Cat and I are dancing and we were still dancing even after the show was over.  Neither of us were looking for love as she was looking for music and I was looking for cool places to play but love isn't something you bring to each other, rather it is something that finds you when you're ready for it.  Love found us and I'm most proud to announce that Cat is now my partner.  My friend Julie was laughing, saying you never even kissed her and, nope, I never did but love takes many forms and one just has to be open to it.

"Send Me an Angel" - Alan Fraser on Guitar and Vocal

Here's a cover of "Send Me an Angel" by the Scorpions, one of the most killin' bands ever, and I've uploaded it because I've remixed it a little and also because it's at the center of a personal debate on what kind of stuff I will be doing when I finally get back to playing live in Second Life.  It doesn't meet my personal standards for what I consider live as I'm playing the lead guitar and singing but it's not me playing the rest of the tracks.  This is no judgment of what anyone else does as that's their business, it's just not what's right for me.  So I've already pretty much answered my own question except that covers make tips and originals are questionable for that.  However, I'm highly broke so maybe I need to be a slut and satisfy my stomach before I satisfy my soul.

I've named the upload "Mein Engel" (My Angel in German) and it's on the Ride the Dragon podcast now.  The remix is to bring out the vocal better.

"God of Thunder" (live) - Kiss (video)

KISS is often dismissed but who did a better stage show or rocked harder.  I don't know of a better example of the idea that speed doesn't matter, it's all about whether you deliver the product and they sure as hell did, plus Simmons spits blood out of his mouth!

We were talking about bands sacrificing their babies, so to speak, and I thought I would take another look at KISS.  This is what I found.

Pictures from Katakolo on New Years Day

Zeus smiled with a quite beautiful day for riding.  This wasn't any kind of a thrill ride as much of the time I wasn't even doing forty kph.  It's wonderfully pleasant farm land that goes right up to the beach!  The pictures below aren't fast-paced as there wasn't anything much happening anywhere.  When Greece has a holiday, the whole country shuts down and isn't that a marvelous thing.  Respect for holidays is one of many things America has forgotten and isn't that a sad thing as the holidays are much more important than selling televisions or cigarettes to people in a hurry.  People are too much in a hurry there.

It's a lovely pastoral area and I haven't seen a smokestack on anything anywhere.  The image may not be quite good enough to see the snow on the mountains in the distance and I'm told they're only three hours away.

Here a lovely church in Katakolo and I notice that all of the churches I've seen fly one or more Greek flags but I don't have the impression of domination of the state that's so prevalent in the U.S.  Greek priests in their long black robes and strange black hats are quite common to see and I almost took one out with the scooter the other day so I suppose I'll be going to Hell for that.  No, of course, it wasn't deliberate.  You have to be fast on those streets, even if you're a priest!

The Koursaros Cafe in Katakolo is the site of several of the games in the Great Greek Chess Tournament.  Mary is fast friends with the owners and her daughter is a great friend of their daughter.  It brings it to me all the more that Greece is one huge family!

The marina and breakwater in Katakolo.  The beach is quite hard-packed sand and it's fairly easy to drive on it but you will slide if you're on two wheels so do be ready for that!

At the water's edge looking out over the Sea.  I suppose at some point I will need to get all scientific and discover what the strange rock formations are but for now it's fascinating to walk around there and look at it all.

Life!

The sun starts sinking on the New Years Day for 2013.

The family welcomes me back home.  Well, actually, they didn't do anything.  Why would they, they're cats!  A varying number will hang out here, along with two quite sweet little dogs.  I have no idea of the names of any of them but they don't care.  They just like hanging here in the sunshine.

Update to Results and Annotation for Game Ten of the Great Greek Chess Tournament

The Game Ten annotation for the Great Greek Chess Tournament has been significantly changed to correct omissions of moves.  The process for annotation is obviously flawed so I'll defer another attempt at this until I come up with a better one.  It's not too terrible making the notes as the game progresses as neither of us is in any great rush to move and Mary, I don't think, has ever played speed chess.  She said she wouldn't like it but everyone thinks that before trying it and many are surprised that the way it forces you to think can be quite interesting.

So the problem in the process is that the transcription from raw notes on paper to machine-displayable code is not at all acceptable and, as you saw, results in multiple errors due to oversights.  One possible solution is to blog it as the game progresses but one possible problem with that is any error in the process means that it cannot possibly be repaired as there is no original note.  Nevertheless, I suspect that's the only way to do it as double-handling of anything almost always results in errors.

I will try it again as Kastro Bar does have WiFi so that would permit using the laptop for blogging it and there's enough room on the tables for the laptop on the board.  That's just about as supremely geeky as it's possible to get but at this age who the hell cares!

The Tournament is amusing as Mary is my good friend but we don't talk to each other a whole hell of a lot beyond calling up to see if I'm free and then meeting up to play.  The games are played in pretty close to silence and then we go on our separate ways.  The last time we played I talked more with Mary, her cousin, than I did with her (laughs).  But, as my ol' Dad liked to say, friends are people with whom one really doesn't have to say anything and I find that quite charming.

So, hopefully all errors are now corrected in the annotation for the game as it must have been quite frustrating to try to play it out previously and then finding that it choked on the eighth move.  Sorry about that!

"Next" - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (video)

Jazz on a banjo?  Oh yah!  It's 2013, take your mind somewhere new this year!  The bass player will amaze you!

(The videos I post are on YouTube's mirror for Greece and the ridiculous nature of that means that they may not play in your country even though they are legal there.  I will always try to post songs that are interesting enough to make it worth searching YouTube for them if rights prevent play of the version I have posted.)