Among the various music projects I participate in or coordinate, EEK! (the Eclectic Electric Kollective) is the weirdest. Unlike mindSpiral, whose recording sessions and/or concerts are usually preplanned and rehearsed, EEK! stuff just kinda... happens. EEK! pickup groups have performed in Second Life at multiple concert events over the years, and have popped up at various venues in the so-called Real World whose audiences have been eager to hear something a bit different. Pa

On Saturday night, December 27, I relaunched the Eklektik Elektrik Kolektiv, or EEK!, in a “flash festival” at the amazing La Vita Bella coffee house in Longmont, Colorado. EEK! got its start some years ago, when my good friend Tony Gerber (Cypress Rosewood in Second Life) asked me to sit in on an Earthdance Festival in SL, the day before I was scheduled to drive to Arizona for a Different Skies event with my friends Nick Rothwell, Otso Pakarinen, and David Herpich. We threw

Live music is always special. It has an energy all its own and it’s not an option for the faint-hearted. Performing solo to an audience that is there simply because they wanted some refreshment is not an easy thing to do. Anyone who has the nerve and the skill to pull off a good set deserves kudos. Certainly, this evening at La Vita Bella, Longmont, Spiral wowed hisStillstream audience (and his audience on site) with an outstanding set of skillfully evolving, exciting and exc

I will be streaming live on StillStream right after that day’s scheduled programming; if you tune in, you’ll hear Rebekkah Hilgraves wrapping up her show, At Water’s Edge, and we’ll then hand off to the live show, possibly already in progress. It’d be great to see you at the show, but if you can’t make it in person, you can always listen in and chat along in the chat room! MrSpiral #vitabella #livemusic

And so my dream has come to fruition…! Here’s the rig I’ll be using for the gig at La Vita Bella on September 20, or near enough; what you see here is no fewer than six different controllers all running the same Ableton Live session. One Ableton, two Novation, and three Akai, with lots and lots of shiny blinky buttons to press and cause all manner of sonic mayhem. Details will follow soon—enjoy the blinky shininess in the meantime, and keep the afternoon and evening of Septem

Once again I must apologize to my readers, who may have to wait a bit to see photos and tags on this blog post. I am dashing it off quickly before returning to work; I set aside a fair bit of day-job stuff to prepare for last night’s concert at Longmont’s ArtWalk. Last night’s show was a big success for a number of reasons, even if for some time at the beginning I felt like I was headed for a major disaster. I have the opposite of “sophomore slump”; I tend to sweat technical

Tonight at 5pm SLT (6pm Mountain, 7pm Central), mindSpiral will perform at La Vita Bella coffee shop in Longmont, CO. Spiral (Mike Metlay) and DesertMystic (Allen Goodman) will be treating the visitors to Artwalk to their very own brand of space music and chill out vibes. If you’re in the area, do pop in and enjoy a fabulous art experience as well as some music with your coffee and pastries. If you’re not local, then you can hear mindSpiral play live on Stillstream Radio (int

Fortunately, I don’t have to be just the one very much these days. My return to a proper website, a working blog, and a regular schedule of performances in live venues, on Second Life, and on Internet radio are due in large part to my making a strong commitment to get back on the metaphorical horse… but they’re as successful as they are because I get help from other people in critical areas. The obvious example is Gypsy, who puts out news releases, posts on this blog as well