One Is Indeed The Loneliest Number
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 as Facebook and Twitter, and helps me keep up to date with the news and calendar on the Atomic City website. But there are others who deserve recognition as well. I’d like to mention two of them tonight before I hit the hay (and let Gypsy find this blog post, figure out if there’s a picture she can add to it, add tags, etc.*).
One of them is Tony Gerber, a.k.a. Cypress Rosewood in Second Life. Tony works much harder than I do at his music career, because it’s what he does first and foremost to feed his family (I’m a music journalist by trade). And he’s darned good at it; an accomplished player, sensitive songwriter, effective networker, and forward-thinking user of modern media for dispersing his musical ideas. I’m honored to be his friend and musical colleague. So when he takes the time to give my show a shout out in HIS show and to HIS fans, I benefit more than he does (my fan base being considerably smaller) and I am well aware that he’s doing me a big favor. Sure, the rising tide lifts all boats, and we’re both benefiting from our newly scheduled back-to-back live shows every Sunday. But not everyone would make that sort of effort when he or she had a busy career to think about, and I appreciate it. Thanks, Tony!
The other is Allen Goodman, a.k.a. Desert Mystic the ambient musician, a.k.a. Locksmith Antonelli (DesertMystic) in Second Life. Allen is a good friend and a really fun guy to make music with; we’ve worked together in the context of larger groups many times over the past seven or eight years… everything from two thirds of a trio (with Mystery Bubble) to two fifths of a quintet (mindSpiral at the Farewell To Fritz concert in 2012) to two parts of a large ensemble (every Different Skies festival since 2007). But tonight (well, last night by the time you read this) we played together as a duo for the first time, on my Internet radio show “Spiral” on StillStream.com and in Second Life at Atomic City Headquarters, and we had an absolute blast. I’d been very worried about the long set of ambient music Allen and I have coming up this Saturday at La Vita Bella Coffee in Longmont, but I’m not worried any more; his style of musicmaking meshes very well with mine and he’s a great listener. Rehearsals went smoothly and so did the show, so our gallery performance will hopefully be heavy on inspiration and short on hassle.
Watch this space; right now it’s looking like we may be able to stream the performance on StillStream if not also in Second Life. If we do, it will be this Saturday, July 19, from 7 PM to 9 PM StillStream (Central) Time, or 5 PM to 7 PM Second Life (Pacific) Time, or… if you actually plan to come by and hear us in person… 6 PM to 8 PM Mountain Time. We’ll actually start playing as early as 430 PM local time, but won’t go live until 6 so as to not pre-empt Rebekkah Hilgraves’ show. We’ll give you a two-hour taster of our long set between the end of her show and the start of John Tocher’s show, which is when we’re due to wrap up anyway.
If you’re able to come by, please do, buy some great baked goods and drink some coffee and see the beautiful art on display (this is part of the Artwalk festivities, an art gallery open-house with music all over downtown Longmont). If you can’t, please try to tune in; no one has ever tried to stream from La Vita Bella before and we don’t know if we can do it successfully… but we’re going to try.
I’ll talk more about the many people who help me be my best creatively in future blogs (you’re going to get tired of hearing me tell you all the amazing things I owe to Darwin Grosse, for example!), but for now… a tip of the hat to Tony and Allen, and a salute and a toast to great things to come.
MrSpiral
*He knows me so well… Gypsy Witch
