Considering heresy

The things I'm going to talk about here are so unlike what I normally say you may suspect somebody else is writing it. I assure you it's me.

I remember reading something Derrick Silvers said, and keep in mind I'm paraphrasing here. He suggested, your life, your career is more like High School then College. The Popular people do better. People do business with people they know and like. In High School it's all about the social circle you belong to. In college, you gotta work hard to get somewhere.

In other words, if you want to get ahead in life, smile and nod a lot. Hard work is for suckers and while it won't kill you, it won't do you much good.

For a while now I've been a proponent of the concept if people were exposed to good music they would embrace that music. This may be a case where I'm totally wrong.

I've also talked at length about “Unknown factors”, but I could be dealing with an unrecognized factor. That factor being, it's all about the Clique, and while I have stated previously the Second Life music scene is primarily a social phenomena, I now revise that concept with the over arching relevance of the Clique.

In other words, it's not the popularity of an artist that make them sim crashers, it's the appeal of the Clique that has sprung up around them.

Please note I'm not using the word Clique pejoratively here. Just an observation, no judgment inferred.

I'm not saying the Cliques are totally independent of the music involved, however, the music is only part of the equation.

What does this mean for me? Well I'm basically screwed. I'm not appealing Clique fodder. I could work harder but it won't do me any good. No matter how EPIC the show, no matter how profound the performance, it's all for naught. I'm already bigger then I should be.

If it were a matter of hard work, I could be as big as my talent warrants, because I do work hard. But in the big popularity war, I'm showing up with a pointed stick.

Does this sound defeatist? I sincerely hope not. If you are wondering if I'm thinking about quitting, rest assured I'm way too stupid to quit. I'm just lowering my expectations. While I still insist I am the future of music on the grid, I probably won't be appreciated until I'm dead.

How big does “BIG” have to be?

There is a mindset in Popular music that says big is what you shoot for. You try with every fiber of your being to “Make it”. Get on the Mtv's, the VH1's, the radio, and sell millions of recordings. If you don't sell out stadiums you are just a duffer.

What is popular is good. If it appeals to millions it in and of itself is valid.

This isn't true, never has been. Frank Zappa is a genius, Michael Jackson is a pop star. But even referencing Frank is kind of cheating. How about this, Chance Wayne is the world best Electric guitar player. Have you ever heard of Chance Wayne? Probably not. The people that put hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of promotion money behind “Talent (?)” wouldn't touch him with a 10 meter pole. He's not hip, he's not cool, he's just light years ahead of anybody I've ever heard.

Chance make his living playing venue after venue, and leaving audience dumbstruck. But the simple fact is, without the support of the music industry infrastructure, he'll probably spend the rest of his career doing just that.

But the world is changing, and it's time to re-evaluate just how big, “BIG” needs to be.

But I'm not here to talk about Chance Wayne. I'm here to talk about me.

I have a pretty simple dream. To make a comfortable living doing something I love. Now when I say comfortable living, I'm probably thinking of a number far lower then most people would imagine. I came up with this low number figuring if a man has enough to pay his bills and buy the things he really want by saving up for them, He should be content. If you do something you love, you are already rich.

I don't need to be “BIG”, I just need to be big enough to reach my goals.

I'm currently pulling down an amount which is just shy of halfway to my goal amount. In theory I need become twice as profitable as I am now to make my goal. I'm not sure of the mechanics to do this, but I do understand I need to get a little bit Bigger.

But if there is a point to this entry it would be I don't need to be “BIG” to be successful. I'm not the most popular performer on Second Life, nor am I willing to do the things that might cause that to happen. But I am still the future of music on the grid. Seriously... if you can achieve your goals and avoid doing so by extorting money from people, you've found the goose that lays the golden egg.

Of course, doubling my profitably is a daunting task. But I believe it's attainable without resorting to selling my soul to any kind of Music biz infrastructure. Play a few more Real life shows, find some new listeners to play for, sell a few more MP3 collections and I'm set.

In the end, “BIG” is not as big as it use to be. And that suits me fine.

The sad pathetic tale of “Yet another Lewzer”

It's safe to say that Second Life has some Quirky people involved with it. It's also a fact that some of the residence are a bit more then quirky, or eccentric, or some other euphemism for not quite right. Some are deeply disturbed.

What is the difference between Quirky and Disturbed? Well disturbed people commit antisocial acts in order to do harm to others. I'm not talking grifers here, they just want to piss on everybody and get a reaction. While annoying most are not sociopaths. The subject for today's story is a full blown sociopath. In a more perfect world this jack ass would already be warming a nice padded room. But I'm not here to editorialize, I'm here to tell a story.

The sad pathetic tale of “Yet another Lewzer”

Now Second Life has Karaoke types, Guitar-e-Okie types, but there is yet another category I've not shared with you. These being the “Grind and Grunters”. To clarify, they play a little gee-tar and sing a bit. They get most of the chords right, remember most of the lyrics and can approximate the melody of any number of shopworn cover songs. On a Grind and Grunters best day, they aspire to mediocrity. Some make it and to others... it remains a dream. Now some Grind and Grunters are very popular, but only with people that don't really give a shit about music. They just want to hear something they recognize, something they are comfortable with.

“Yet another Lewzer” falls into the Grind and Grunters category, at least sometimes. He quits the Second Life music scene frequently, only to return like nothing ever happened. What a tease.

Now I'm not going to use “Yet another Lewzer” Second Life name because I refuse to give him any publicity. Besides, it's not who he is that is important, it's what he's done that make him so sad and pathetic. Frankly if I told you, the vast majority of my reader would have never heard of this guy.

However, just calling him “Yet another Lewzer” could cause you to suppose I'm talking about any number of people. So lets narrow it down a bit by using part of his real life name. His first name is Richard... so let's just call him what he is, a DICK.

I first ran across DICK when he was playing a show before me. I listen for a bit... a very short bit then wrote him off as yet another lewzer, and shut the stream off. As I took the stage I extended to him the kindness I extend to all lewzers and said nothing at all about his performance. If I can't say anything nice I don't say anything at all. I played my normal brilliant set, and then ambled off to the next show thinking nothing at all had transpired out of the ordinary. But something had. I had made an enemy. How did I do this? Well by not lavishing praise on DICK I servilely injured his tender feelings. He vowed REVENGE!!!!

Please note this is true story and I'm not making this shit up.

The second time I saw DICK he was following a rather good musician, and he managed to get small portion of a song down stream before I could react. The song in question, “I touch myself”. At that point he went from being a talentless abortion to a retarded talentless abortion. I snapped off the stream, stood in front of his avatar and poofed out right in front of him. I wasn't being mean, just using my well honed skill of non-verbal communication. The act was my way of saying, “Hey dude, you suck”.

Now merely sucking does not turn you from a Richard to a DICK. You have to work at it, and while he's accomplished nothing significant with his musical pursuits he's managed to prove himself quite a DICK.

Now I feel I should broach the subject of DICK's attempts at REVENGE. I've developed the kind of un-career that is all but revenge proof. God knows I shoot myself in the foot at least a couple times a day. I've made lots of Enemies, most of the time without breaking a sweat. But the people that love my music are not marginal supporters. They put up with my eccentricities because I give them something they access value to, and no matter how bad things get, I soldier on. I'm too stupid to quit, and in the end I'm the only one that can end my musical adventures.

However (and isn't there always a however lurking near by), DICK and I had a friend in common. Notice that is past tense. DICK decided that she could either be DICK's friend or my friend but not both, and when pressed she sided with the person not making ultimatums, me. This further fueled DICK's rage. I had stolen his friend. How dare I? The friend we had in common went from being a friend to being a target, and because of that, I'll simply call her Target from here on out.

DICK is the kind of guy that gets his jolly's tormenting women, and Target had it coming. He bombarded her with hateful threatening message. She responded by putting him on mute, banning him from her land, and sending his e-mail right to the spam box. DICK countered these precautions by creating dozens of Alternative Second Life accounts, and generating new Email account. In each case Target would mute/ send to Spam, only to have yet more accounts generated.

DICK then upped the ante by cobbling together some hateful attack songs and having them posted on “Indie-Spectrum radio”. Nobody but DICK would bother to request them... and he did. It all ended when Fox actually listened to theses songs, and decided the production value was not up to snuff with what he wanted on his radio station. The songs weren't meant to be good, they were just meant to hurt the feelings of his Target.

Now the most current attack on target is as follows. DICK registered her Second Life name as a dot com domain and posted a web site in order to attack her. Target acted with far more maturity then I would have. She just wrote his web host and pointed out the web site was an attack on her and also used several of her songs without permission. In both cases, a violation of terms of service. This cause the offending site to be removed.

What evil did Target do to deserve this kind of harassment?

None whatsoever. She simply decided to ignore the existence of a Male human (I would never call such a person a man, regardless of his age or gender) that proved what a petty spiteful and heinous person he actually is.

Multiple alternative Second Life accounts, numerous Email accounts, posting attack songs and registering a domain name for somebody's avatar are the kind of acts only a seriously disturbed person would do. All these acts to attack a person that has done them no harm, no evil.

And I'm not attacking DICK personally. Just saying these acts are a profound statement on just what kind of person he is. He's sick, deranged, and just between you and I, potentially dangerous.

If I were to disclose DICK second life monicker, most would just say, “who”? But if you did know him, you would be quite shocked. The mask he wears is one of kindness, compassion and he's always willing to give you “Wise counsel”. However, actions speak louder then words. He's a sociopathic nut job that is out of control.

I'm quite sad now. Not because of this tale of woe, but because it's probably more common then it should be. How many fucktards are out there doing this kind bullshit? When all is said and all is done, it's just another sad pathetic tale of “Yet another Lewzer”.

Zorch 3:16 part 2... this time... it's personal

Well it's one day before my Rez day and to be honest I can't say there is any major event planned to celebrate it.

However, no big deal in Zorch's world is a HUGE deal to anybody else.

Tomorrow marks the release of “Zorch: Retrospective vol 1”, and it's quite a massive collection.
Total running time is 1:43:56 and it requires two CDs should you decide to burn it all to disk.

The song come from 5 previously released collections so if you have been a longstanding Zorch fan there is nothing new here. However, is you are new supporter, and feel a bit overwhelmed by the shear number of collections available this is a good place to catch up.

The songs are as follows.

If I had a song
Real love
Deciding
Pop song one million
One eyed fat man
The Passion of me
The Pipes of redemption
Underground
The Plan
Looking for the cure
Stoopid Rock song
Find myself in sleep
The Hell in my hello
Turn to dust
The Stubborn old man
I'm in Love with Jennifer Wells
Uncle Dan
Howard Roark and Me
Falling from grace
Accident of fate
Close your eyes
Pay no attention
Knave of Hearts
Different
This is the place
So into you
Marital bliss

The songs come from the following collections. “Get Zorched”, “Songs in the key of Green”, “The Sound of Red”, “Shades of Blue” and, “Shadow and Light”.

You may be wondering why songs from “Black and White” and “White and Black” are not included.

Well I plan on re-recording the songs from those collections that have withstood the test of time. That project, a voice and guitar collection entitled “Me and my monkey” will be released in short order. The major reason it won't be ready on 3:16 is because I haven't recorded it yet, and I have a horrible cold. However, as soon as I can sing, I'll be working on it.

While I do consider myself the future of music on the grid, I'm also a rich part of it's legacy. The songs on “Retrospective vol 1” represent a major inroad into selling music via Second Life.

I invite you to stand on the shoulders of a giant and look back for a moment. Then continue to expect great things.

So.... what's the new idea

A very good friend of mine was talking to another very good friend of me. The one friend said, “I've read Zorch's blog, and I don't see the new idea”. Then she continued, “So.... what is the new idea”.

I think the problem here is she is confusing this project with ones that have happened in the past. Allow me to differentiate.

About three days after I arrived in the wonderful world of Second Life, an organization called, “Music Not Politics” hosted a big huge “Music awareness weekend”. After it was over, the insane women that pushes “Music Not Politics” around like a rusty wheelbarrow full of rancid gopher dung declared the event a smashing success.

She cobbled together some numbers to substantiate the blistering super nova that was the event's glory, but these numbers turned out to be 28% substandard math skills, 23 % fabrication, 43% wishful thinking, and 7% bald face lies. I did make those numbers up and they do add up to 101% but my imagination falls between + or – 1% of “Da Troof”.

Now maybe I'm being a bit harsh calling it an dismal failure. But if the intention was to rise the awareness of live music in Second Life, it was in fact a dismal failure. It did kind of pull the factions in the music community together, kind of.. for a weekend. There were lots of people milling about, and a lot of act performing (???), but a week later, it was business a normal.

Now, the “Music awareness weekend” doesn't have to be a failure, just change the name to the “Music awareness weekend experiment” and you have a resounding success because we have gleaned valuable information on what doesn't work. Of course when you leave a crater the size of “Music awareness weekend”, it can take a while to find the “Black Box”.

So let's compare and contrast the “Music awareness weekend experiment”, with my proposals for “Iconica”.

The “Music awareness weekend experiment” was HUGE. It lasted a weekend (imagine that) and featured every blip on the Second Life music radar. A few were good, most were horrible. Yes it was an accurate reflection of music in Second Life, perhaps that is why so few cared a week later.

Iconica would be good deal shorter, 3 to 4 hours max. Only acts that are Iconic would be featured. This means not only original music, but music that has an unique signature sound. I feel I should point out, the name Iconica refers to the Iconic nature of the music and NOT the Icon status of those performing. Most making the roster are not as popular as they should be. But this is due to the social nature of the Second Life music community, the scope of Iconica is not pandering to the music community, but providing the best possible live music to people that are actually interested in live music outside of the music community.

FUN FACT: Almost every person on the planet enjoys music. Most people love live music, so why it is so marginal in Second Life? Because the vast majority of Second Life music is amateurish, uninteresting, and devoid of talent. Some of the most popular acts in Second Life fall into that amateurish, uninteresting, and devoid of talent category, so when many people stumble into a big event they see a mob of well wishers drooling over some dullard that is going, “ah...ahhhh...ahhhhhhhh.... Stuff”, and figure it's a waste of time.

The “Music awareness weekend experiment” was a big huge media blitz. Ad boards were pimping it all over Second life. People were passing out note cards and packets. They Marketed the crap out of it, then scooped up the crap and sold that as fertilizer. Pump enough pablum and some of it sticks. This gave the event quite a high profile with people already involved with the Second Life music community. But seriously, what is your reaction to spam? Unless it's something you are already interested in, you click the button that makes it go away.

Iconica is promoted via a grassroots collection of Iconic music supporters. The plan is to have 25 “Outreach Liaisons” that simply invite two “Growth Candidates” to the event. A “Growth Candidate” is any person unaware of live music in Second Life, or a person that has decided music in Second Life is a waste of time.

When spam pops up you close the window. When your friend says hello you answer. It's personal. It's NOT a media blitz. Our “Outreach Liaisons” also know the taste and proclivities of their friends. They only have to bring two out to see the show, and we put up the banner that says “Mission accomplished”.

The “Music awareness weekend experiment” was based on a flawed premise, founded firmly in the realm of “Wishful thinking”. It was thought that by performing the proper rote actions, everybody would become aware of music and because music is cool, once they were aware, they would embrace it.

The music scene would BOOM. The event would be a mile stone that all Second Life musical history would reference itself by. It would be the silver bullet that fixes everything.

I don't think I'm founding Iconica on “Wishful thinking”.

I realize that when all is said and done, unless more is done, momentum will die quickly.

But at the very least it's a pro-active step forward. Taking charge rather the sitting by passively and whining about how badly things suck.

The scale of the project is reasonable. The goals I believe are attainable. I'm also convinced a program designed to expand the listener base is what is needed. Even if just one person become excited and involved in Iconic music, that is the first step on a journey of a million miles.

If we should fall, let us fall forward.

Iconica..say it with me

Iconica is my vision to stimulate listener interest in Second Life. Because it is a vision it's very hard to write about. But I'll take my best shot.

When a Karaoke crooner, or Guitar-e-okie wanker starts a Second Life career, what they do is only possible because of Second Life's proclivity towards embracing a proxy reality. It's not real, it's only a shadow of real talent. It's value is it's “Second Lifeness”. There are even acts that feature no real performance at all. They just play recordings and pretend to be some famous band. I would not call any of this Entertainment, rather more of a diversion. Some “Okie” performers have quite a following, but this is always due more to their ability to be sociable then any actual talent. People are showing support for their friend rather then seeing an act that will enrich their lives at some level.

The next phylum up is the “Lounge singer”. These are generally competent musicians that you might catch at the airport lounge. Their bread and butter consist of playing songs people know and love and not mangling them horribly. Some lounge singer scatter a few original songs in their set. But this is something the listeners indulge rather then enjoy. Lounge singers are pure entertainment. They don't rely on Second Life gimmicks to earn a few Lindens.

The top of the food chain are those performers that are Iconic. Please don't confuse this with performers that drop by and do a 30 minute set at “The Originals”show, some of those playing are Iconic, but scattered in are lounge singers looking for a little validation. Iconic performers not only write their own music, but they have crafted a signature sound and if there were an infrastructure to support in Second Life, they would be the Rock Stars. As a matter of fact, I believe with a little ambition, most could leave Second Life and actually groom success in real life.

While there is entertainment value in Iconic performers, there is something far more profound about them. They create something utterly unique. They are not “Select one from Column A and one from Column B”. They are distinct, original, and talented enough to express the vision they've been gifted with.

The Iconic performers are the future of music in Second Life. They are the real among the fake. The Diamonds among the marble. They are the people that can convince people, Music in Second Life is worthy of their attention.

Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, U2, Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and John Prine are Iconic.

POL Arida, Senjata Witt, Blindboy Gumbo,Strum Diesel, Carmel Daines and Zorch Boomhauer are Iconic as well.

While some might suggest the more popular artist are Iconic, I disagree. Those whom are popular just have a better social structure behind them. They are the big fish in the small pond of Second Life. Few people outside of the social circle care about that social circle. But quite a few people enjoy great music and this is what the Iconic performers have to offer. Those few Iconic performers have what it take to generate excitement and interest in Second Life music with those for whom it's a big fat joke. I would suggest those Iconic few are the edge on the sword towards significant growth in the listener base.

Iconica... say it with me.

What is Iconica? Here is the thumbnail sketch for you.

Iconica is a musical event. The objective of this event is to draw new listeners, or people that have written off music in Second Life as joke into the listener base. The outreach will be preformed by those whom are currently Listeners/Fans of live music in Second Life.

The Iconica event will feature a staff of 25 Listeners/Fans that will operate as “Outreach Liaisons”. Their mission will be simple. They are responsible to bring two “Growth Candidates” to the show. They can bring more if they wish, but the goal is for each Liaison to host two Growth Candidates.

Each Artist will be asked to provide 5 Liaisons, their goal, is to bring two Growth Candidates as well.

This is a variation of the old “Invite a friend to church” gambit.

Iconica is also an Honor. Not like, “It's an Honor to play”, but rather bestowed honor. Any artist of worth can be considered for an Iconica honor. To put it another way, perhaps more understandable, an Honor is like an award, however there are no losers, only winners. And Categories are not exclusive. Example “POL Arida, Outstanding songwriter honoree” and “Senjata Witt, Outstanding songwriter honoree”.

I feel the honor system is more equitable to those deserving honor. Award are for the Popular, honors of for those deserving honor.

I'm well aware what an undertaking this would be. It requires massive effort from a lot of people. But I feel the long range benefit is worth the effort. We need to stimulate listener interest in Second Life, and a larger listener base benefits everybody.

The question now is... whom is up to the task? Who will join in this crusade?

Iconica... say it with me.

What is and what needs to be

I'm quickly approaching my second Rez day in Second Life, and I've been observing what has been going on for a while. I think I have a good concept of what is going on and what needs to go on.

Everyday new venues open... and then close. Everyday new “Artist (???) show up, and fill the ranks of the open mic venues. The number of live music events in most time slots is well over 40 events (night time push that number up to 80+ events). Just for the record, 10 PM SLT seems to slow down significantly, most of the time you have 3 or 4 events, and some of them are simply mislabeled as “Live music”.

You might think the numerous event might indicate a thriving music scene, but it's just the opposite. This is scene on the path to extinction. The Multitude of Clueless venue operators booking musicians that have nothing to offer an audience are turning the Second life music scene into the Special Olympics of online activity.

I use to think the split between the professional musician and the embarrassing wannabe was about 10/90 %. I currently see it more like 2/98 %. And while things are sliding down the Quality Assurance hill, people that don't and real world marketable skills keep plotting ways to extort money from either the venue owners or there fan base.

And speaking of the fan base, everyday it diminishes as the Diva-esque tirades of people like Manhood Wanker make the concept of supporting live music less and less appealing.

Wrap you mind around this concept for a moment. It's far more appealing to cease an activity that cost you money, then abandon an activity that makes you money. This is why the community supporting Live music is shrinking, and the glut of musical abortions is just about to achieve critical mass.

What needs to happen is a large scale musical evangelism event. We need an event where we can showcase just how good the talent can be in Second Life. Then we need those involved in the community to go forth on to the highways and byways and invite those who are unaware of the music scene, or those that have written it off as a waste of time to give it a shot.

I'm sure minds could be informed. People would get excited, they would want more.

Of course, I'm not interested in Supporting the Second Life Music community as a whole. I can't in do that, most of it sucks ass. But there are artist I would be interested in both presenting and supporting under a brand.

If what I'm suggesting seems sort of elitist to you... you understand me perfectly. I'm interested in presenting the best, most iconic performers in Second Life.

In the Special Olympics everybody plays, everybody wins. In the Un-Special Olympics, only the best of the best play, everybody goes for the gold. The whole world watches.

More to come....

Starting over... Again

This blog is my attempt to get back in the habit of blogging. I've had my hands full in “Real Life ™ “ for the last few month and I really need to get back on the blogging horse.

Frankly my Un-career in Second Life Music is not going as well as it once did. Most would point to varying factors as you why things are slowing down. But it's clear a good deal of this slump is my own doing. Or more to the point... my lack of doing.

It took me six months to get “Ashes and Dreams” to market. I have a handful of excuses, but no matter what the reason, what ever momentum “Shadow and Light” created was totally dispersed by the time my more current release saw the light of day. Simply put you snooze you loose.

The lack of update on this blog have probably caused it to drop off most people radar. The blog is a valuable asset to my Un-career because it allows me to express my thoughts in the least oblique fashion and gives people a feeling they know the man behind the cartoon (or even music).

ZorchBoom.com is a mess, the music section doesn't work as it once did, and I need to address that. Time for a redesign perhaps.

Tips are down, about half what they use to be, and fee shows are welcome... but far and few between. Of course I don't troll around looking for shows to play. But that is also a matter of sloth. The few fee shows I play are for sum far lower then most in Second Life. I do pay my bills and feed myself with the money I make in Second Life. I seem to be getting ends to meet, but it's always tight and I have no illusion of security.

When looking for ways to improve my situation, there is one area I don't think I can improve much upon, and that is the music/performances. My show is so tight it squeaks. This should be a good thing, however talent or professionalism as a musician mean little if you don't have the machinery in place that turn musical brilliance into money.

One thing I am doing to improve my situation is playing a show in real life. While it's not a HUGE MONEY show it is money, and frankly between you and I, I'll make more in one real life night then I've made this week in Second Life. However I'm not giving up on Second Life, I'm just diversifying my performance opportunities.

I must do the things that need to be done. I've been letting things slide too long, and this is a major part of my “Job”. I've gotta get good at playing the promotion game. I need to keep interesting things happening around me. I need to get better at working with people.

Now if I do all the things outlined above things will improve and in time get back to where they once were. But where they once were, is still not very lucrative. There is a more profound task before me. One I'll begin to outline in the next blog entry.