Embracing the chaos

Second Life is a handful of unanswered questions. Seems the more I observe and learn, the more questions pop up.

Just today I got notification a venue I was booked to play a show at was closing down. In the middle of the month. This is odd because most closing happen when tier fees for the next month come looming large, and the venue operator grabs the eject handles and pulls.

Yes, it seems running a venue is a money pit. Everybody is losing large amounts of Lindens and I can understand why people would want out. But while this is not in my best interest, I have trouble understanding why people stay.

Perhaps they love music, but it seems like there are plenty of other places you can go to hear music, why would you take your personal money, invest hours of your free time, and then flush more of your money?

Of course lots of people have hobbies that cost a fortune. Perhaps the most obvious answer is the correct one. They do it for love of doing it. They get to be an active part of the music scene without learning to play an instrument.

I’m very glad they do it of course, and I do what I can to educate the public as to how tipping the venue supports live music in Second Life.

Another things I’ve learned, is the talent pool is a bit deeper then I had originally thought. There is an unofficial hierarchy I was unaware of at the start. When you are playing “Tips only open mic” events you are going to be listening to a lot of questionable talent. Once you start playing venues that pay fees, the talent gets a lot more professional. Of course that being said, I’m still freaking amazing and better then the majority of big money talent. And I’m humble too.

However, I do see some remarkable talent playing to tiny audiences while wank-masters pack venues.

The only reason I can find for people to run venues and blow a lot of their money and time is they are willing to embrace the chaos. They believe in the vision.

They are akin to the bands I’ve been in during my sorted past that got behind me to play my music. Investing hours in practice, thousands in equipment, and playing show that often didn’t pay a dime. Why did we do it? Did we really think we would break big and it would all pay off? Of course we did. But after a while of spinning our wheels, all bands end in breaking up. Even successful ones.

People live out all kinds of dreams in Second Life. We all blow a lot of time plotting, planning and executing our five-year plans for world domination. As long as we enjoy it, who cares how much money is spent, how my time invested.

It’s been said, “money can’t buy happiness”. But what else is money for? Should money just be for making ends meet, or turning a profit? Why not take a few of those hard eared green backs and invest in dreaming. While the more cynical might say it’s wasteful, I would be inclined to disagree. Second life is a place where people can have a big house, live on there own Personal Island, and be a mover and shaker in the music biz for a few pennies on the dollar. While some might contend it’s all “make believe”, isn’t that the most perfect expression of a dream?