Last night at Cat's Art MusikCircus was a privilege as there some things that happen very rarely in Second Life and this night was one of them. It was also a night of panache because, well, it's Cat's Art MusikCircus, it always carries panache.
The night was also unusual in that it followed the grand tradition of real life concerts in which you start out fairly soft and then build to the grand finale. Cat definitely delivered the Big Show last night.
Joaquin Gustav played the first set and it wasn't a radical show because Joaquin doesn't do radical. What he does do is a consistently romantic set and he's been doing this for about six years, maybe more. Joaquin's set doesn't change quickly but Joaquin plays a lot of shows, a whole lot of shows, and he knows what his audience wants. People sometimes wonder why he doesn't shake it up sometimes but his audience wouldn't like it at all if he suddenly did a metallic interpretation of a tango or some such. That wouldn't be cool, it would just be noise, and it definitely wouldn't be Joaquin.
Bamboof Stillmorning played the second set and I had never seen his show before, more importantly, I had never heard it except for a few songs on SoundCloud. Something very unusual about Bamboof is his choice of instrument as he plays a Malletkat which is much like an electronic xylophone but this one is more sophisticated than any xylophone you ever heard before as it's a full-out MIDI controller.
While I thought I had never heard a Malletkat before, Bamboof said in fact I had as I had been to his performance some years ago. I'm sure it sounds like a bit of senility coming on with me but it's more than that as anything that happened before the disintegration of the Galactic Peace Tour could almost be on the Dark Side of the Moon it was so long ago, even though in some cases it was only three or four years back.
It's necessary to be geeky with this bit as it's not uncommon to hear musicians refer to MIDI controllers and how is someone in the audience to know what that means. It's not complicated, it just sounds that way. A MIDI controller might just be a piano keyboard. What's cool about it as that it is that it can send the 'notes' via MIDI, an electronic music language, to sound-producing devices and in this way the piano could sound like anything from a tuba to a waterfall or whatever else your demented creative spirit can devise. In Bamboof's case, the xylophone is a MIDI controller and this means he can make that xylophone sound anything like a symphonic triangle to tom toms. If this had been the xylophone you had in pre-school maybe you never would have left.
Bamboof is all over the place, not in terms of being scattered but rather in how he treats a song. He likes adapting cover songs and he tricks them out a lot. He played a series of them last night and the style for each was quite different from any of the others. He also plays his originals and the set closed with a highly-ethereal ambient piece that was an excellent cap to a quite different vibe.
Funkyfreddy Republic and Voodoo Shilton / Stage by Cat Boucher
While the entire show was a privilege, something exceptionally rare in Second Life is when performers get together in the same room to jam. For my personal taste, this is the only way to do it but many in Second Life enjoy 'dual streaming' in which they play together from different places. This was not dual streaming last night as Voodoo Shilton and Funkyfreddy Republic were sitting in a barn in upstate New York where they could play side-by-side, eye-to-eye. For my taste, that's how a jam really happens and they did it last night.
There were quite a few Neil Young covers last night and ordinarily I will run away from that kind of show as guitarists often look to Neil Young for covers because he has a terrible voice but the words are good. Guitarists hear him and think, hey, I can't sing any worse than that so I'm going for it.
BUT
That isn't what was happening last night. I don't have any musicological analysis of why Neil Young covers work for Funkyfreddy but they do. I don't suppose I need to tell you that he doesn't do those covers like the record because, well, nobody at the circus does covers like they were recorded. The way Funkyfreddy was doing them gave a very pretty delivery and was perfect for the vibe they were building. (Note: some covers are delivered as recorded. When Voodoo covers Paco, it is always with infinite respect.)
That wasn't what was exceptional about the evening as that came through Musician Talk. In a jam you will hear one send some notes that say I'm Ready, Do You Want to Switch. Then that musician will add something to the jam and then the same switch will take place back to the first one. In this way, they go back and forth, talking to each other with their instruments. What you don't see is that they also talk with their eyes and, for me, that's one of the most important parts.
Something that added yet more panache to the show is that Voodoo was playing acoustic but Funkyfreddy was playing electric. I've got to tell you straight that the electric guitar tone wasn't always blowing me away as he's a bit extreme on effects but what he did with it was outstanding and what they did together was a privilege to behold. The balance of sound between the two of them was exceptional and there was no trouble discerning every note and every instrument. It was a really masterful performance.
The show closed with an extended trip jam and these days if I don't know what else to call something then I'll go with ambient. So, ok, this was an ambient jam and more often than not they're the best ones for traveling. I don't mean they're good for a CD in a car which they certainly would be but rather in excursions of mind and this was brilliantly-done. Cat asked me to make a point of telling you how transporting it was for her.
Something that has mystified me and which I really must ask is why don't these guys play out. They're master musicians and could play where they like but they don't typically play in bars, clubs, or whatever. I won't even guess as that wouldn't serve anyone but I do think it's interesting and I'll ask Voodoo about it.
NOTE: it's Saturday and no way Voodoo is going to go back home on a Saturday so it's almost certain he will be doing more SL shows with Funkyfreddy. Check the schedule today or look for Voodoo on Facebook to find out what goes.
There was also a guest appearance from Frogg Marlowe and the long-time Second Life veterans will all know him as he has played for years with Jaycatt and those two have paid every bit of their dues in the virtual world. He didn't play as he came because he was curious too but he's a very bright guy and it's interesting talking with him. There are many things about Facebook that suck but meeting people like this is not one of them.
The night was also unusual in that it followed the grand tradition of real life concerts in which you start out fairly soft and then build to the grand finale. Cat definitely delivered the Big Show last night.
Joaquin Gustav played the first set and it wasn't a radical show because Joaquin doesn't do radical. What he does do is a consistently romantic set and he's been doing this for about six years, maybe more. Joaquin's set doesn't change quickly but Joaquin plays a lot of shows, a whole lot of shows, and he knows what his audience wants. People sometimes wonder why he doesn't shake it up sometimes but his audience wouldn't like it at all if he suddenly did a metallic interpretation of a tango or some such. That wouldn't be cool, it would just be noise, and it definitely wouldn't be Joaquin.
Bamboof Stillmorning played the second set and I had never seen his show before, more importantly, I had never heard it except for a few songs on SoundCloud. Something very unusual about Bamboof is his choice of instrument as he plays a Malletkat which is much like an electronic xylophone but this one is more sophisticated than any xylophone you ever heard before as it's a full-out MIDI controller.
While I thought I had never heard a Malletkat before, Bamboof said in fact I had as I had been to his performance some years ago. I'm sure it sounds like a bit of senility coming on with me but it's more than that as anything that happened before the disintegration of the Galactic Peace Tour could almost be on the Dark Side of the Moon it was so long ago, even though in some cases it was only three or four years back.
It's necessary to be geeky with this bit as it's not uncommon to hear musicians refer to MIDI controllers and how is someone in the audience to know what that means. It's not complicated, it just sounds that way. A MIDI controller might just be a piano keyboard. What's cool about it as that it is that it can send the 'notes' via MIDI, an electronic music language, to sound-producing devices and in this way the piano could sound like anything from a tuba to a waterfall or whatever else your demented creative spirit can devise. In Bamboof's case, the xylophone is a MIDI controller and this means he can make that xylophone sound anything like a symphonic triangle to tom toms. If this had been the xylophone you had in pre-school maybe you never would have left.
Bamboof is all over the place, not in terms of being scattered but rather in how he treats a song. He likes adapting cover songs and he tricks them out a lot. He played a series of them last night and the style for each was quite different from any of the others. He also plays his originals and the set closed with a highly-ethereal ambient piece that was an excellent cap to a quite different vibe.
Funkyfreddy Republic and Voodoo Shilton / Stage by Cat Boucher
While the entire show was a privilege, something exceptionally rare in Second Life is when performers get together in the same room to jam. For my personal taste, this is the only way to do it but many in Second Life enjoy 'dual streaming' in which they play together from different places. This was not dual streaming last night as Voodoo Shilton and Funkyfreddy Republic were sitting in a barn in upstate New York where they could play side-by-side, eye-to-eye. For my taste, that's how a jam really happens and they did it last night.
There were quite a few Neil Young covers last night and ordinarily I will run away from that kind of show as guitarists often look to Neil Young for covers because he has a terrible voice but the words are good. Guitarists hear him and think, hey, I can't sing any worse than that so I'm going for it.
BUT
That isn't what was happening last night. I don't have any musicological analysis of why Neil Young covers work for Funkyfreddy but they do. I don't suppose I need to tell you that he doesn't do those covers like the record because, well, nobody at the circus does covers like they were recorded. The way Funkyfreddy was doing them gave a very pretty delivery and was perfect for the vibe they were building. (Note: some covers are delivered as recorded. When Voodoo covers Paco, it is always with infinite respect.)
That wasn't what was exceptional about the evening as that came through Musician Talk. In a jam you will hear one send some notes that say I'm Ready, Do You Want to Switch. Then that musician will add something to the jam and then the same switch will take place back to the first one. In this way, they go back and forth, talking to each other with their instruments. What you don't see is that they also talk with their eyes and, for me, that's one of the most important parts.
Something that added yet more panache to the show is that Voodoo was playing acoustic but Funkyfreddy was playing electric. I've got to tell you straight that the electric guitar tone wasn't always blowing me away as he's a bit extreme on effects but what he did with it was outstanding and what they did together was a privilege to behold. The balance of sound between the two of them was exceptional and there was no trouble discerning every note and every instrument. It was a really masterful performance.
The show closed with an extended trip jam and these days if I don't know what else to call something then I'll go with ambient. So, ok, this was an ambient jam and more often than not they're the best ones for traveling. I don't mean they're good for a CD in a car which they certainly would be but rather in excursions of mind and this was brilliantly-done. Cat asked me to make a point of telling you how transporting it was for her.
Something that has mystified me and which I really must ask is why don't these guys play out. They're master musicians and could play where they like but they don't typically play in bars, clubs, or whatever. I won't even guess as that wouldn't serve anyone but I do think it's interesting and I'll ask Voodoo about it.
NOTE: it's Saturday and no way Voodoo is going to go back home on a Saturday so it's almost certain he will be doing more SL shows with Funkyfreddy. Check the schedule today or look for Voodoo on Facebook to find out what goes.
There was also a guest appearance from Frogg Marlowe and the long-time Second Life veterans will all know him as he has played for years with Jaycatt and those two have paid every bit of their dues in the virtual world. He didn't play as he came because he was curious too but he's a very bright guy and it's interesting talking with him. There are many things about Facebook that suck but meeting people like this is not one of them.
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