Boogie Beach Bootleg experiment

The other day I took Jackie Cushing up on her offer to hold impromptu concerts at her venue Boogie Beach.

The point of the experiment was to find out if I could take control of the stream using the interface she is employing. Until you actually do something it’s always theoretical. From that point of view the experiment was a resounding success. I got on the stream and returned the stream to “The 80s radio” station after the show, no problem.

I love success.

The attendance of the show was rather spotty. I only sent notice to my group and I did hold the show at 9 AM SLT. The tips were not impressive but it seems I did pick up four new group members.

Had I sent notice to the Boogie Beach group I might have picked up a few more listeners, but I had not checked with Jackie about that before hand.

Also, posting the show in the events listing might have brought a bunch of listeners simply because there is not much live music going on at 9 AM.

Actually time slots represent the undiscovered country in Second Life. People involved in Second Life live their first life all over the world. They get up and participate at different times. While there is a possibility for a language gap, there is still room for growth.

An early morning following could be quite a boon to my five-year plan for world domination. I would also like to develop a more active nighttime group. Right now I seem to be able to pull a pretty good crowd in the afternoon. But a good deal of that crowd is people that know me via my affiliation to POL.

I have to be ever mindful my music will always only appeal to a niche audience. I don’t think I live in the “Pure entertainment” spectrum of the musicscape. My music is thoughtful, emotional, and closer to art then most are comfortable with. But a few people live for the kind of music I make. I’ve seen impressive displays of support from some of my listeners. Aprille take a late lunch to catch my “Lost continent” show, and Natascha has attended shows that take place at 3 AM in her time zone. Nya, after six hours of Hosting at the artic circle shows up for my shows. I often look out and see Harrie at my shows. Any time you see a venue operator at another venue to see your show that is support.

These are just a few acts of support, but each one touches, and motivates me. I want to keep providing the best show I can for the people that seem to love my music. While I treasure the support of my friends, I wish to make more friends. That is why I’m branching out into new time zones.

So many see Second Life as a world of limits. You can only do “This”, because that is all that has been done. I seem to view things differently. Not because I’m an optimist, but rather because I believe what I do is very good, and very profound. It means a good deal to me, and it seems to mean a good deal to others. The more people I present it to, the more people will find value in it.

To put this in perspective, I’ve heard so many songwriters here lament, “I have to play some covers or nobody will book me”. I have never played a popular cover song, and it’s been a good number of shows since I’ve bothered to play “Eat your brain”. I have 51 shows booked this month. I not only book shows, people attend the shows, and I’m playing all original music.

I’m not bragging here, just pointing out, you can do more then the common wisdom says you can do. Good music, good shows and some hard work to get the good stuff in front of people with good taste can do wonders.