It has been a strange week, my health continues to fluctuate between feeling OK and really needing to rest so my attendance on the grid has been sometimes short an sweet.
Tuesday last week I managed to get to the Drunken Drow early enough to watch the little Dragonette Ari performing her set. She had quite a health scare herself a few days previous and clearly was still struggling to get back on form. However her show was enjoyable never the less.
Our set followed Ari's, and I am glad to say we managed to get a few folks in. We love playing at the Drow so it was good to be joined there by some dear folks we knew well, and a few others we had not met before.
Cailidgh Spires was on the stage after us with a mix of her own songs and some old favourite covers thrown in as well. After Caili, we hopped on over to the Playhouse to see Lyn Carlberg. Lyn's set is always like a nerve soothing tonic.
Wednesday was a day of challenge in SL. Sunwolf and I were first on the stage at our venue, Ye Olde Wolf n Hawk, and during the middle of the set our RL phone started ringing, neither one of us could get to it while in mid song and it continued to ring for quite a while.We usually unplug the phone during a show, but it seems that when ever we forget someone rings, which is odd, we only perform for an hour 3 to 4 times a week and yet this is the time folks tend to ring. It's a case of Sods Law I reckon.
Ari was due to perform after us, but we received an IM from her saying she did not feel well so was cancelling her set.It was too short notice to try to find a replacement, but luckily Gweeb, who was due on after Ari saw the cancellation notice go out and immediately came to the rescue by offering to do an extra half and hour so we would not have too big a gap between sets. Bless him, we mess around and tease him, but really we think he is such kind hearted guy, and well, he gives as good as he gets and more often than not starts the madness off.
Frank Molko was due to follow Gweeb, but his lovely lady Scarlett had contacted us earlier to let us know that Frank was unwell. As that was the last show for the evening, we decided not to look for a replacement.
Instead I took a dear friend over to Poets of Zarahemia to see Pondman Haalan. This is such a lovely little venue surrounded by gypsy caravans, and in fact the stage is on the steps of one of these. I had not managed to catch one of PondMan's shows since the time he had done a show at our venue, so it was really lovely to hear that familiar voice. I had a touch of nostalgia as I listened remembering when Sunwolf and I used to spend most of our SL time venue hopping and following our favourite performers round the grid. We were not performing ourselves then, and the pub we run had never even been dreamt of. Now don't get me wrong we love what we are doing now, but as Mary Hopkins said in her famous song Those Were The Days My Friends ...... and I could not help but remember those times with fondness.
I am sure I have said this before, but I will risk saying it again, if anyone out there thinks you can make serious money from running a venue in SL then think again. Speaking for ourselves only, we are lucky to break even and often make a loss in fact. We run the pub purely to provide a pleasant place for folks to come to play or watch others perform. We do tend to prefer completely live shows with no backing tracks, as we love to hear the artists own songs and personal interpretations of any cover songs they might do and at the moment all the artists we have performing at our venue fit into this category. Ye Olde Wolf n Hawk, is our way of saying thank you to the SL music scene for giving us hours upon hours of great entertainment and positive feelings as well as the gift of making some wonderful friends we would otherwise never have known.
Thursdays we usually play at Waffles, doing a weekly show there there since last September, as well as watch other great performers, but no more.
Twinky decided to close the venue. It was kind of sudden and due to problems that it is not my place to discuss here. So for us it was the end of an era and I was once again reminded of how quickly things can change and always before I am ready, or want them to.
Thursday evening, well for us anyway, is the time we go off to Spice, a lovely little venue run by our dear friends Katja n Tim. There is always a warm welcome to anyone who comes to Spice and the artists they host are always top notch. Last Thursday was even more brilliant than usual Tim's performance was wonderful and he sang several of the songs that really move me.
Lyn Carlberg followed with his gentle blend of folk and love songs.
Next to perform was Mash Rhodes, Now we always love to hear Mash, but this set was for us, the best we have ever heard him do.The last act had cancelled and Mash decided to do an extra half and hour at the end of his show and Wow is all I can say. If you have not heard this wonderfully talented man from Dublin then you need to make a point of doing so and I am proud to say Mash is also playing at our little venue a couple of times next month.
Friday saw Wolf n Hawk doing their weekly show at Guthries, another venue that is close to our hearts and not just because we have a regular show there, but also because the shows here are all live artists and the atmosphere is always welcoming.
After our set we stayed to listen to Moses, Lazarus and Quinton then dashed off to RL to get some chores done before we were back to host our own place that evening.
Steveeoilo opened for us and though audience numbers were small the show was wonderful.Stevee's voice is a joy to listen to, such a talented man, you folks who don't know of him are missing out.Stevee plays at our place fortnightly, so if you haven't been in yet to see him then make an effort to do so, we would love to see you there.
Our dear friend Cailidgh Spires followed Stevee. She plays a weekly set for us and I know I speak for her too when I say, why not try to get over to Ye Olde Wolf n Hawk to catch a show of hers, we would be delighted to see you.
Our last act on Friday was a lass who had not played for us before, Mel Cheeky. What a lovely lady and such a great voice, the hour just flew by. Mel is another, not to be missed ,and she has also agreed to play another set for us in April definitely a date to look forward to.
After the shows at our place were over it was a quick trip to an SL dress shop to show my dear friend Blackdwarfbud around. She is only now finding her feet in SL and I know how much she enjoyed our little trip out. So many lovely gowns to drool over and at reasonable prices too. We did not stay too long though as we were on our way to Cuddlers Cove to listen to their Friday evening line up.
TEE HEE THIS IS A LESSER SPOTTED GWEEB
This time it was Steely Dacosta who opened. I had not managed to catch a whole set of his before as he is always performing just as I am having to log off for one reason or another. I was not disappointed , it was a very good show. Gweeb followed Steely so naturally we were all laughing at his antics before the set was over. It is true the man messes about a lot, but make no mistake, it isn't to cover up a lack of talent, far from it.
Saturday found us back at Cuddlers. I had been unable to make it there a couple of times this month and I had really missed it. There is something so comforting in getting to a crazy Cuddlers Saturday event where our good friends Suka and Quinton always ensure a warm welcome to all.
We heard Quinton doing his originals as well as a few covers, We never get tired of hearing his beautiful and insightful original songs as well as his distinct interpretations on some old favourites.
Anj Gustafson followed Quinton with his full rich sound always guaranteed to delight and get you dancing in your seat.
Unfortunately The last act had to be cancelled as Suka n Quinton got an urgent family call and had to log off to deal with that. I do hope there was a satisfactory conclusion to that particular issue.
As Sunwolf and I have no shows and no hosting to do at the weekends, we decided to take time away from SL to concentrate on our Real Life chores and concerns which don't seem to go away just because we are not paying attention to them. I am reminded of the saying, Balance in all things, it is neither good or desirable to focus on one thing to the exclusion of all others. For instance, it is not good to dwell solely on what is going wrong in our lives and forget to focus equally on what is right, and to those who think nothing goes right for them, wait a moment, sit quietly and just breath in and out and know that while you can do that something at least is working well for you. From there it is just a small step to realising there are many things that are working well in our lives if only we can look close enough to see them.
So I will leave you with that thought for this week
May all your concerns be small and you joys be great.
No comments:
Post a Comment