For this week’s SL Love Thursday, I want to take a minute to thank all the live musicians who are a part of SL. I had no idea there was such a wealth of music in SL until I stumbled across my first Keiko concert in August 2007, and I’ve been a Keiko fan ever since. She’s still my favorite even though I’ve gone on to find other great musicians in SL like Winston Ackland, and I wish I had more time to go to concerts and find new favorites as well.

There’s something very special about sharing a concert with some of the same people time after time. It’s almost like an extended family catching up with everyone. I always get a smile on my face when Keiko mentions me on the stream and when some of the old regulars show up at a concert after a long time away. Earlier this week, Keiko released her first full-length CD for purchase, and she’s celebrating with daily concerts in SL this week, which has been a real treat.

As part of the week-long concert series, Keiko will be playing at my home sim Covet on the dock specially created for the event by my good friend and fellow sim co-owner Kere Delcon. The concert begins at 6pm SLT on Friday, May 22, and we’re going to have so much fun! Come hang out with us and listen to some great music while maybe doing a little shopping at Exile, Shine, and Treads. I hope to see a bunch of you there.

I’ll warn you all now that this is another 15-minute post coming your way. I had the pleasure last night of attending two concerts in SL. The first concert of the evening was Kafka Dinzeo at the Firefly Cafe. I’d heard of Kafka and seen him around in the audience at other concerts, but I’d never heard him perform. I decided to check him out when I got a notice from the Firefly Cafe because I was in the mood to hang out in the cafe again. The second concert was Keiko’s weekly performance at the Blue Fusion Jazz Club, so the night was a nice mix of something new and an old favorite.

When I arrived at the Firefly Cafe for Kafka’s concert, I realized he is a hip-hop artist, and I honestly wasn’t sure I was going to like it much because while I do listen to some hip-hop, it’s not one of my favorite styles of music. However, I ended up really enjoying the entire performance, and it made me think a little bit about what makes or breaks an SL concert for me. A big factor for me is simply originality. I prefer musicians who write at least some of the songs they perform, and if they’re willing to give a little a little insight into the making of the song, then that’s even better. Kafka last night introduced each of his songs with a little story of how it came to be, which I gather is different from his usual concerts, and I thought it added more interest for me.

So what else draws me in? A live performance is vastly preferred. In fact, I’d probably leave a pre-recorded concert just because it seems kind of flat to me, and unless it’s something like Kafka’s hip-hop with the mixed music, I’d rather listen to someone who plays an instrument over someone who depends solely on backing tracks. Again, it just gives a certain spontaneity to the performances that I like so that even if I hear the same musician play the same song a hundred times, it’s not the exact same song. Speaking of spontaneity, Kafka did a really cool thing last night where he freestyled using words that people typed into chat for one of his songs, and I really loved that. It definitely showed off his creativity and style and was a great way to involve everyone.

This might seem odd after me talking about the joys of spontaneity, but I also like when a performer has some signature thing he/she always does like Keiko‘s bucket of chicken and waffles for her tip jar or Winston Ackland singing “All the Little Fishies” as his last song in every set and dedicating it to his wife Sesi. With the locations changing all the time, it’s nice to have something that the “regulars” can count on, and I think it shows the personality of the musicians a bit as well.

Location isn’t as big a deal to me in SL as it would be at a face-to-face concert simply because I’m always comfy in my computer chair no matter what venue I’m at in SL. Granted, there are some venues I prefer for ambiance like Firefly Cafe, but I can’t think of any SL venue that bugs me so much that I wouldn’t go hear one of my favorites perform there. Speaking of favorites, I’ll make another quick plug for two of mine – Keiko and Winston Ackland. These are the only two SL musicians whose groups are part of my limited 25 that we’re allowed, and I’d recommend them to anyone. They’re good people as well as entertaining musicians, and I’ve met some terrific people in the audiences at their shows, which is really just the icing on the cake.

I’ve been very fortunate lately to make it to a few of Keiko‘s performances. If you haven’t been to one yet, then you need to work on that! Keiko was the very first musician I ever heard in SL in the summer of 2007, and even though I’ve heard several more since then, she remains at the top of my list. She’s hilarious and open and has a fantastic voice and writes amazing songs and chooses great songs to cover. I’m horrible at classifying music genres, but I think if you like 90s alternative rock and guitar-based rock, then you’ll probably like Keiko. Heck, even if you don’t like that kind of music, you might end up loving Keiko. I have a hard time imagining anyone not having a blast at one of her concerts to be honest.

But oddly enough, this post isn’t about Keiko. Well, it has been so far, but I’m building up to talk about a venue at which she recently played. Last week, I was puttering around in one of my sky boxes when Keiko sent out a group notice that she was performing soon at the Firefly Cafe. She encouraged everyone to join her in wearing their wings. I took the fact that I was already wearing one of my fairy outfits as a sign that I was meant to go to the concert and eagerly clicked the attached landmark.

I landed at the Firefly Cafe on the Pemberley sim and watched as the most lovely fairy forest rezzed around me. The cafe is in a brick building, but when you step inside, all you see is grass, trees, and an assortment of adorable plants and animals. I could easily see why Keiko had felt the urge to put on her wings, and I was completely entranced by the surroundings. The Firefly Cafe is owned and operated by Phemie Alcott, Bethany Heart, and Abigail Republic, and while they just opened on Aug. 7, I’m told that they’re planning to have weekly live performances every Thursday evening. I’m not even sure who will be performing this week, but I’m going to do my best to be there. The venue is just that much fun!

I want to write about this past weekend before it gets too far away because it was such an incredible one. Saturday started with my first Winston Ackland concert at the Ivy Falls Cafe. Anybody who covers both Blue Oyster Cult and Carl Perkins well gets a gold star from me, and he had some lovely original songs as well. The best part is that along with his great voice, he has a sense of humor that keeps the entire set fun. While there, I started chatting with two people in the audience about various things and found out that one of them was actually Winston’s RL and SL wife. I’ve joined Winston’s group now, and I’m looking forward both to hearing him and to hanging out more with these new friends.

Of course the big event of the entire weekend was the party for Phoenix Ellsberg‘s 2nd rezday. Finally, I got to meet the rezday girl in person after quite some time counting her as a friend after commenting on each other’s blogs and Flickr streams. Wolf was the DJ and party planner, and he did great getting us all together to celebrate a wonderful person. New friendships were formed, and old friends got to reconnect. You really couldn’t have asked for a better time. By the end of the night, we were all christened as party animals, and there was so much positive energy that’s still flowing all around us and connecting us. Beautiful evening with beautiful people, and we’re definitely going to be getting together again soon.

Then Sunday continued the theme of excellence as I got to see the Changhigh Trinity Sisters yet again at the Ivy Falls Amphitheatre. I always love watching them as they dance with various props and gorgeous particle effects. Later in the day there was a Keiko concert to make sure that the weekend ended on a high note. A weekend with music and friends is really hard to beat in any life, and it has really recharged me.

As I’ve been playing in Photoshop this afternoon, I’ve had several folders of my music playing on shuffle in the background. I noticed that Second Life has influenced my playlists in a couple of ways. One, I learn about musicians in SL that I wouldn’t otherwise know about, and I get to go to their concerts and purchase their mp3s to enjoy later. Two, I’ve met friends in SL who mention songs to me that they think I’ll like or just remind me about songs by mentioning they’ve been listening to something a lot recently.

Attending concerts in SL was something I first experienced during the BlogHer conference in July 2007. Keiko was playing during one of the breaks between panels, and I was absolutely captivated. Her voice and her style really spoke to me, and I loved her choice of covers as well as her original music.

I immediately joined Keiko’s fan group, and for a few months, I attended her concerts whenever I could. At least once a week, I was hanging out in her audience and seeing many of the same faces every time. Then some other things started taking up more of my time, and I drifted away from the concerts. When I recently started finding the time to go to a few of them again, it was so nice to be remembered and to fall back into the general conversation with other Keiko fans. When I listen to the Keiko mp3s I have, I can still remember the first times I heard them in concert, and that definitely adds a little something to the music.

“Best Friend” by Keiko is probably one of my favorites even though I was initially confused by the lyrics “her big belly touching the ground”. It made much more sense when I realized it was “her feet barely touching the ground”. Thankfully, I also found out that I wasn’t the only one who started out hearing it the other way, so I didn’t feel quite as silly as I might have.

Another musician I found through SL was Marijke Freenote. I’m honestly not even sure if she’s still performing in SL. I lost track of her at some point, but I’m still listening to her music almost daily through my computer thanks to the mp3s I bought. She’s a Dutch singer who sings a mix of songs in both Dutch and English, and her voice is so pretty that I don’t really care if I can understand the lyrics or not. For someone like me who usually finds the lyrics the most likely part of a song to grab her, that’s kind of unusual.

Then in addition to these great musicians who play in SL, I’m constantly digging up old songs I’d forgotten or learning about new music because of friends I’ve met in SL. In recent weeks, the person other than me who has most influenced my playlists is probably Kavar. Thanks to him, Jordin Sparks and Westlife have found new life in my music line-up. The acoustic version of No Air by Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown and Flying Without Wings by Westlife are in particularly heavy rotation at the moment. He also hooked me on the American version of Queer as Folk a few months ago, and there are songs from that series that are among my all-time favorite songs now like Proud by Heather Small and Shine by Cyndi Lauper.

Do any of you have music to suggest? If there’s someone in SL that I absolutely have to see in concert as far as you’re concerned, then please let me know. I’m always ready to find new music.

BlogHer in SL allowed me to meet so many new people, and in some ways, I view it as a second birth of my avatar simply because it was there that I started breaking out of my shell a little. That was also the first time I heard of Keiko, and now I seem to end up at one of her shows at least once a week.

Keiko Takamura (actually Takamura Keiko in-world to go with the Japanese custom of family name first) is an amazing singer-songwriter. Her sets are a mix of covers and original material, and she’s even been known to break out into the theme song from the Gummi Bears cartoon.

She plays every Monday night at her own café in Bali Hai at 6pm SLT. If I’m in-world, then I’m there, so please stop by to hear some great music and hang out with some silly people. I’ll save you a seat next to me on the couch.