Mulder Watts and Voodoo Shilton: Showing Respect

by Traci Nubalo
photos by Jami Mills

rez Magazine - April, 2012


Chemistry.

Wikipedia: “chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms”. But the science of chemistry also tells us that when certain substances come together under certain circumstances the result can be explosive - literally. It’s a fitting description for the fireworks that take place in the Second Life live music laboratory when Mulder Watts and Voodoo Shilton take the stage together.

Each is a definitive solo artist in his own right. Seeing either name in Search sends me to the teleport button post haste. And on the rare occasion when they are going to dual-stream onstage - fuggeddaboudit - I’m there! When Watts and Shilton are playing together the musical chemistry can be both volatile and magical. The packed houses in music venues everywhere across the grid will attest to that.

My friend GarGraVarr Rau, owner of The Source (one of SL’s premiere music venues) approached me with a suggestion that I consider doing a story on Mulder and Shilton. Gar (as his many, many friends call him) has been presenting both performers in his club regularly since late 2011. He helped put these guys on the map and seems to get into continuing to help them as they move up the success ladder of the SL music scene. Thanks, Gar!


Mulder She Wrote

He tells me that he’s 38 years old and makes his home in the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis. I’m thinking that maybe he just stops there to pay the rent once a month - it looks to me like he might actually live on YouTube. Mulder Watts has one of the best collections of performance videos that I have encountered among inworld performers, if one factors in both quality and quantity. There are a bunch of them - some with Mulder playing live on-camera - and some with his beautifully-recorded songs gracing either still photo slideshows or static visuals. And there are several with one Voodoo Shilton, who himself has a major collection of videos online. This treasure-trove of visuals was my starting point.

In some ways Mulder is the quintessential singer/songwriter if you’re interested in straight-ahead excellence in craft. The songwriting and performance quality is first-rate across the board, with a growing catalog of superb videos being viewed and listened to globally.

On “Fool’s Gold” we are treated to that powerful Mulder voice in a closely-mic’ed recording situation. He sings each line with emotion and clarity, the voice laid on top of a chugging tremolo guitar.

Another great exposition of Watts’ singing acumen is displayed on “Just Get By” which features a great raw-and-nasty guitar part behind those powerful pipes.

After watching videos until my eyes looked like a chihuahua’s I decided to interview both Mulder and Shilton. I found each to be in his own way fascinating and very interesting to talk to. For this reason I have decided to let them do most of the talking in this piece. Mulder and I sat down together and I asked him about his musical background.

Mulder Watts: I started out as a drummer and then took up piano. Eventually friends would leave guitars at my place and I picked that up. I started writing at an early age, but most of my RL live playing has been as a sideman playing keyboards. But I've always done a lot of demos at home and eventually started putting more of my own stuff out there. SL has been good for stepping out and doing more of that.

Traci Nubalo: Was your guitar welcome at home growing up?


MW: Oh yeah, my folks were and still are as supportive as one can ask. They put up with loud drums at any given point in the day. The guitar was probably a nice relief to that thunder.


TN: *smile* What kinds of bands were you in?


MW: My first band was in high school, mainly a good friend and I from then. We wrote a lot and had a few gigs and I learned a lot from that. In my early 20's I played keyboards in a very theatrical band, kind of a Peter Gabriel meets Nine Inch Nails meets Pink Floyd thing. It was an interesting time and I learned the importance of atmosphere from that group. As an adult I've done stuff for more the singer/songwriter types.

TN: Awesome. When and how did you find SL?

MW: Around 2006 Duran Duran were talking in interviews about how they were going to do shows in this virtual world called Second Life. So I checked it out. I always liked video games so it sounded like a fun thing. I don't think they ever did a show in SL but I believe they have a sim inworld here. It took me a bit to decide to do shows myself in here but I'm glad that it got rolling.


TN: What kind of act did you bring to SL back then?


MW: I think I started to play here in about 2008. I played at Voodoo Shilton’s "Catcher In The Pie" which was a fun place and in looking back the timeline leads to meeting Lingual Markus and Gar and some others I'm still in touch with. The show was kind of the same format as now: singing, and playing guitar or piano. I keep trying out new songs but there are still a few pieces from back then I'll bring out.


TN: Excellent. You seem to have led us right into Voodoo Shilton. It must be fun to jam with him. He’s a guitarist just as good as you but in a totally different style.

MW: He was a big part of getting me going on SL musically and still is. He's a true guitar player; I couldn't imagine playing as well as he does. When we do the dual shows he brings a higher level of credibility to the musicianship for the tunes. I grow a lot musically by listening to him and it pushes me to learn more chords.


TN: Mulder, I’ve been on your YouTube channel recently. There’s one I really like; it has a superb guitar solo - “Dime A Dozen”. What’s behind that song?


MW: Thanks! It took a few takes to get that solo going. I finally turned the wahwah pedal on and it seemed to do something. As far as the song, I was thinking of images I'd been seeing at that time in the news. The tsunami had just happened in Japan, which lead to the line about an “old man holding his head at the floodline”. I started thinking of other events like that that can change a person's life instantly, during the life of a soldier, etc. So in looking at images I wondered what their stories would be. I saw a common thread among all these folks: I imagined they would all be wanting to get home. Or to find a home.


TN: Wow. Great imagery in that one. You also have several excellent YouTube clips with Voo. “Calamanda’s Broken Watch” is one of my faves.


MW: Thanks. It's one of my oldest songs and it keeps hanging around the songbook. That one fits Voo's style so well.


TN: By the way, I love how Voo begins “Calamanda” in an interesting related mode with an F# note on the guitar. I plan to ask him about that.


MW: Totally. That's what Voo does; he finds interesting scales and theories behind the song. He'll explain what key and scale type the songs are in and I'll have had no idea.


TN: So what's next for you? You already play the best rooms in SL; you're taping great pieces for YouTube...


MW: I do feel pretty lucky knowing Gar at The Source, Gmetal and Thea at Ground Zero and of course Lingual at The Roof. They give a great home for folks who wanna play a few tunes to whoever wants to listen. I think that's what is next for me, the next song, or the next recording. Trying to bring something new to the writing process. Trying to get better at playing and singing and hoping those who lend an ear go away feeling entertained. It's a simple approach but one that keeps getting me up in the morning.




That Voodoo That You Do

It’s the laugh that really tickles me. Well, that and the fact that I’m talking to one of those rare musicians who seems to understand, and can intelligently discuss, the arcane wheels-within-wheels machinations of musical theory. Voodoo Shilton is also one of those extraordinary modern players who prefers to exclusively play nylon strings. This gives his sound a significant first layer of authenticity. This is an important thing for Voo because his solo set focuses on pieces that represent a number of authentic genres: gypsy jazz, finger style, flamenco and several others. And he approaches each of them with an impeccable loyalty to the original forms and with maximum charm and flair.

An example of this authentic styling: at one of Voo’s live sets he announced a Paco De Lucia number called “Between Two Waters”. He proceeded to tear the house up with a massively passionate and complex solo in which his plucked attack was so fierce that I was forced to turn down the volume on my Bose noise-reduction headphones. He chuckled again in a voice both soft and expressive; a friendly, welcoming sound. And then proceeded to destroy the room musically.

One of his stronger suits is his ability to play gypsy jazz. On this night he was so spot on that it dawned on me that if Django Reinhardt had possessed all ten fingers, he might have sounded something like Voodoo Shilton at his peak.

Seeing Voodoo live and on the solo stage is like taking a tour through a historical exhibition of jazz/swing acoustic guitar styles. That same evening he graced his audience with an original flamenco composition called “Stately Dance” which could easily pass for the backing tracks on one of Springsteen’s southwest USA yarns.

One endearing thing about Shilton’s live persona is that he truly has a good time doing his job. In the middle of a solo he’s known to shout “Here we go” and kick the action up another few notches. And his version of “Voodoo Child” would be something to write home about - if anybody wrote to anybody anymore.

Shilton then devoted the final minutes of his set to an inventive and accurate reading of Chick Corea’s syncopation-dusted composition “Spain”. The piece was packed with gorgeous fast-yet-precise solo moves and brought the house down. After his set I was able to ask Voodoo a few questions similar to those I’d asked Mulder a night earlier.

** ** **

Traci Nubalo: May I ask your age?

Voodoo Shilton: I'm 36.


TN: Where do you stream from?


VS: I'm from New Jersey, not far from NYC. Well, I haven't lived in Jersey that long. I've lived all over. My mother is from Chile in South America (my name is Juan in RL). That’s where the latin influence comes from.


TN: How was it for you growing up? Was your music accepted by the family at home?


VS: Oh sure. Before I discovered guitar my instruments consisted of a Casio keyboard. It was my mother's idea that I take a guitar class though. And my father was always a classical guitar aficionado as well. I think he was less supportive when I grew my hair long and started playing electric guitar. But he came around.


TN: Your latin heritage, is this where you got the nylon stringed guitar influence?


VS: Right, my first guitar was nylon. But then I did a full spectrum of instruments and styles: electric, acoustic, and others and then came home to nylon. Even on nylon strings I can't seem to stick to one style.

TN: I really enjoy your work on YouTube. “Calamanda’s Broken Watch” - quite an impressive performance on that one.


VS: Thanks. That's a great tune of Mulder’s. We've really found an intuitive mesh on that tune. And also on “Broken Carousel”; we usually play them back to back.


TN: Ahhhh.


VS: I’m such a big fan of his songwriting. That’s part of why we work so well. I know his songs well; not just as a performer but as a fan too.


TN: I think that the tightness between you guys shows very well in your performances together.


VS: He is really the best songwriter in SL in my opinion; and he’s very much out of the public's view. Has been for a while. He's not a big self promoter. He wins you over by just doing his thing. I’m constantly getting the word out about Mulder because I think his shows should be packed wall to wall.


TN: Were you raised on the radio as many were?

VS: You know, oddly I discovered music a little later. I just had ambient latin music around. My mother listened to a lot of South American folk music when I was young. She plays guitar herself and can still do some fancy strumming things that I don't quite know how to duplicate. My father admired and studied classical guitar as well. It was sort of just magic that I ended up with similar tastes since we didn't talk about it much when I was young. But yes, I inherited the old classical guitar that was under the bed as my first guitar.

TN: Lucky you. Nylon strings. I had to shred my hands on metal strings to get my calluses.


VS: I did awful things to my hands, too. At one point I restrung my guitar with steel strings and even an electric bass string. Then that guitar was lost when I was robbed. I was sixteen and my stuff was robbed from the minivan.


TN: Oh no.


VS: It was an educational experience in not being attached to material things. Music is very meditative for me, too. Absolutely


TN: How zen of you, Voo. So - musically - how did you get started with bands, performing, etc.?


VS: Well, of course I did the obligatory high school rock jam thing. Then in college I really discovered the styles that would make the foundation of what I do today. And that is jazz, bossa nova, and interestingly, Indian music. I played in a few different groups in college but always some kind of jazz or world music.


TN: Interesting.


VS: Yes. I was also in a duo for years with my best friend on tabla - north Indian drums. We performed a great deal of original Indian fusion music.


TN: So at last night’s solo gig I caught something...


VS: Oh yeah? What's that?


TN: I noticed that you not only played a lot of different styles (as you had told me that you would). But each approach was precise and true to that form; accurate and authentic, in other words. wtf? LOL


VS: Hahahha! There are definitely different tones of voice to each style, but also some commonalities too. Take for example two things that seem different on the surface, like funk and gypsy jazz. Both styles employ "off" notes to grab the ear; they both use syncopation and chromaticism to play. Both are really playful styles.


TN: Excellent observation. I also noticed something on YouTube; on "Calamanda’s Broken Watch".


VS: Yes, with Mulder.


TN: Right. The song seems to be in B minor.


VS: Correct.


TN: Your guitar enters on an F# note, through the back door, as it were. I loved that.


VS: Hehe. Well, the song has a overtone of F# phrygian dominant which comes in all the way in the second part, "Broken Carousel". That's where it has an almost “flamenco” feel.


TN: Yes, it seems to cross over some musical turf.


VS: Yes. That sound is fun to work with. I think in “Calamanda” I go between bluesy, jazzy melodies to that sort of phrygian dominant Spanish feel.


TN: Jerry Garcia was very adept at slipping in and out of the various modalities. But it's a technique that many players only find accidentally while soloing. I love that you have such a grasp of the mechanics of the chordings and the related modalities.


VS: Oh, I totally geek out on music theory.


TN: Yes, Mulder told me that about you.


VS: If I let myself I could ramble about all the modes and things.


TN: Let’s go in this direction: how did you find SL, YouTube and Mulder?


VS: Well I started SL ages ago, six years now. Originally my main motivation in SL was as a builder. I've been a builder and designer in SL for years. Mulder and I met before he was even a performer. I hate to take credit for it but I actually persuaded him to start performing in SL. I had heard his music on recordings and was really impressed. A few years ago I had a small cafe venue in SL, an arts cafĂ© “Catcher in the Pie” and I invited Mulder to play there several times.

Another big breakthrough for me was when I discovered websites where you can perform via webcam, particularly TheStage.tv. I ended up playing there for months and really increasing my exposure dramatically, because many SL artists play there.

TN: What's it like to play with Mulder? I see you each as profoundly talented, only in different
modes.


VS: Mulder is a very intuitive musician. He understands song creation and structure in a fundamental way that few do. His songs have a huge spectrum of styles too. What he does as a bandmate is he intuitively knows how to share the musical space. It's hard to overestimate the challenge of playing a duet with someone you can't hear. I've only just started to learn this as a result of a new collaboration I’m working on where I am the first member of a duo, so I can't hear the other person.


TN: Can we go there a minute? Could you explain the dual stream predicament to the readers please? Many do not know how this works.


VS: Sure. There is a fundamental limitation to how quickly information can be transmitted across a distance. The higher the quality of sound, the harder it is to transmit it accurately and quickly. The way streaming works in general is with a "buffer"; you're always behind time-wise, which allows the computer to "save up" "packets" of sound to dispense to the listener. Imagine a stream of little packets. Now in real life when you jam with a friend you hear each other instantly, but online, if you want sound with any degree of quality you gotta wait for it. But this creates a fundamental problem; the way you get around it is you declare one person to be "primary" and one to be "secondary". The primary person starts the stream and sends their packets to the second person. The second person listens to the primary and adds his music into the mix. The mix is then streamed to the audience.


TN: So, the "primary" cannot hear his musical partner?


VS: Not until after the concert. The painful irony is that the primary is the last person to know how the show sounded. The entire audience is saying, "Wow what a great show!"



You Can’t Tune A Fish

They were stacked up inside The Source, and I could feel the expectant buzz as we waited for show time. Gar and his team at the venue (including his ever-present and always-friendly partner Dark Rau and his SL bro and host Grunt Popstar) know how to take care of both their performers and the audiences who follow them. As a result The Source has become a room of choice for discerning music lovers across the grid. This success has led to the recent opening of a gorgeous adjoining performance space. It’s called The Source Damari, a sort of cream-of-the-crop venue featuring the very best in SL artists, including classical piano or guitar performances.

Mulder and Voodoo appear onstage and within minutes prove that they are, indeed, explosive and capable of knocking listeners on their dancing asses. At The Source they feel at home and it shows on this particular night.

They simply tear up on one of Mulder’s songs called “Cracks”. He introduces it as a song which he wrote in his 20’s about his childhood. It’s a John Mayerish free-wheeling romp with an ecstatic latin guitar-tinged opening. He’s such a clear-voiced singer (especially live), that each vocal melody line can be heard - in key and lovingly placed precisely where it should for maximum effect.

I fall down every day as I walk out the door
I bang my head on the wall every night
I wonder when I’ll remember to miss those cracks in the ground.

After a wide-open hellacious Spanish solo (in which Shilton uses every linear inch of his fretboard, including the harmonics that float lightly and mysteriously along the tops of the strings), Mulder sings the kicker line “Me and Chewbacca were howling at the wind”, Chewbacca being a boyhood dog.

As “Cracks” closed down it dawned on me that this was not ONLY an explosion. That might imply simple random destruction. This is much, much more. Watts and Shilton together are musically akin to a detonation in which a pair of extremely strong talents smash into one another in a way that sees everything thrown together in exactly the right way.

Toward the close they killed the house again with yet another crowd pleaser, “Higher Ground”. Their amazing vocals power this tour de force composition through several adroit musical changes, a journey in rhythm and song.

One thing I love about this duo is their extreme commitment to excellence. They don’t step on one another musically despite working with the technical limitations of the streaming process that Voo described. They listen to one another.

And I love it when one or both guitars goes out of tune. They look at one another and one will say, “Tuning is respect”. The other might answer “Tuning is love.”

Then Voodoo laughs and warms my old school musical heart.

Tuning is respect.







(c) Copyright 2012
Traci Nubalo.
All rights reserved.


Steely Decosta: Knocking at the Door


by Traci Nubalo

Metaverse Tribune - March 31, 2012

“I just worked this one out last week. I saw it on a video and I love the song. It’s called ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’”. Steely Decosta is talking to his audience at Key West Resort & Marina. It’s his debut at the mega-popular Second Life music venue and I can tell that he’s brought his A-Game. He launches into the Crowded House piece and within several measures his musicianship and sense of the song begins to show through. I’ve been hanging with Steely for a few gigs this week and I’m beginning to see how he’s landed here, finally knocking at the door of success in this amazing and highly-competitive SL live music scene.

To begin with he has developed a beautiful sound - full and present; the guitar is crisp and sparkling and sets up his smooth, easy vocal tones perfectly. He’s managed to tweak his live sound to almost-perfect calibration for the working singer/songwriter; the frequencies of the guitar and the vocals are cleanly separated allowing each "voice" to be heard beautifully and cleanly. I asked him about it.

** ** **

Traci Nubalo: I’d like to fill the Metaverse Tribune readers in on this amazing clean sound of yours, Steely. Let’s open with a little Tech Talk. What guitar are you playing in Second Life these days?
Steely Decosta: It’s a Line Six Variax. It has twenty-five guitar sounds built in with the flip of a switch. The guitar sound I’m using in SL is a Gibson acoustic. Then I use a Boss Me 70 effects board. So I run guitar to board to looper, then to a Behringer mixer.
TN: Which vocal mic do you prefer?
SD: A Shure SM58.
TN: The old standby.
SD: Haha. You know it.
TN: Let me ask about your guitar style. You seem to combine strumming with finger-picking. It's like strumming with runs and fills added in. Very effective. I know it’s probably Chet Atkins-based, but is there a name for that style?
SD: Not sure; it’s kind of developed as I’ve played. I get a better feel for the notes that way. More touch. I also use the back of my fingernail for the crisper sound, for the strum sound.
TN: Ahh. Then the pads of the fingers for the hammers and pulloffs.
SD: Yes, the pads for pulling and combining strings in small chords.


Back at the gig our guy has just revealed the opening notes of Lennon’s “Watching The Wheels”, and the audience is loving it. That unique guitar style is on full display as the Louisville, KY resident backs his wistfully-sweet vocals with that picked/strummed guitar from underneath. It gives a very full sound without intruding on the simple beauty of the song. Over subsequent hearings this rendition of “Watching The Wheels” has surfaced as one of my favorite live Steely songs - for now.

He follows that one up with another unexpected-but-right-on choice, “Dock of the Bay”, the classic Otis Redding/Steve Cropper ballad that flew to the top in early 1968, just weeks after Redding’s death. Decosta’s sterling vocal treatment, married to a wonderfully-expressive guitar break, retains the longing and angst of the original but, as with most of his live offerings, he “Steelyfies” it and makes it all his.

Revealing yet another wise-veteran song choice he moves the crowd effortlessly to “Wildflowers”, the straightforward singer/songwriter title track that so sweetly graced Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ superb 1994 album. Again, Steely demonstrates exceptional finger-picking, driven by a right hand that’s rock steady yet inventive at the same time.

TN: So, when did you arrive in SL?
SD: April, 2007. I had seen an episode of CSI where they came in to SL to solve a murder. It piqued my interest.
TN: Were you gigging in RL at that point?
SD: Hmmm probably not. Maybe just jamming around with old band mates and such.
TN: Gotcha. The reason I ask is that your SL live set is often very intelligently and logically put together, flow-wise. Usually that's a sign of someone with a bunch of live gigging under their belt.
SD: Thank you. I try. I also try to get a feel from the audience about which one to call next.
TN: Were you a strong vocalist in your early groups?
SD: Yes, when I was in a band we all sang three- or four-part harmonies.
TN: Yes, I notice that you have a very strong hold on your upper-register vocals. Did that come from all the harmonies you did?
SD: Yes, I always did the high parts. And I was very comfortable in the band situation. Playing on my own in SL was the first time I played with just me and my guitar. I’ve always respected the guys who could just set and play.
TN: A good example: "Wildflowers" - good call. It’s not the typical Petty to cover.
SD: You like that one? It’s a nice song isn’t it? I play it with the capo on the 5th fret.
TN: Great choice and well-suited for your skill set. You demonstrate some really creative picking work on that one.
SD: That one is fun to play.

By the time he breaks into Clapton’s “Bellbottom Blues” it feels as if the venue and the audience in it have risen to a higher level as the crowd floods open chat with a singalong.

Then, there’s the looper. I’ll go on record as saying that Decosta seems to be defining his own turf in the growth of original loop pedal work in SL. Steely uses the looper in a transparent fashion; the effect serves the song. Over top of the layered rhythms he’s capable of slicing in with an excellent electric guitar solo, then letting it all morph improvisationally. He's strong enough musically to give the notoriously-difficult live looping process an identity of its own.

Overall, I’m looking for great things in the future from Steely Decosta. He’s original, he’s talented and he’s at the door - knocking.








(c) Copyright 2012
Traci Nubalo.
All rights reserved.




High Voltage: Bruce Springsteen Tribute

by Traci Nubalo

Metaverse Tribune - March 23, 2012


I’d like to say right out front: I love me some Bruce Springsteen!

The first time I saw him perform at his RL concert I was so uncool that when the show began I thought the audience was booing him. (They were yelling “Bruuuuuce”). By the third song of the set I was a raging Bruce fan and was screaming my lungs out along with them. The guy simply puts on the very best live show I have ever seen. As a result I went back again and again.

So, there I was minding my own business when I came across a notice for a Bruce Springsteen tribute show to be performed at a Second Life music venue. For the unaware, a tribute show in SL means that a “band” of avatars mimics the show of a RL star, while a sound track plays the actual music of that star. In this case, they “jammed” to a recording from one of Springsteen’s notorious concerts. I’m traditionally not a huge fan of inworld tribute shows; I’ve felt that some seemed a little bit “canned” or “static”. But hey, this was Bruce! So I decided to give it a shot.

The event was held in the attractive concert area at the V-Twins Biker Outfitters shop and when I got there I noticed that the avatars of the E Street Band were sort of lined up in the hallway behind the stage waiting to begin. It looked exactly like how the scene appears backstage at a real concert. Suddenly the curtains parted and the stage lights came up and the opening measures of “I’m On Fire” filled the theater as the band took the stage.

I was very impressed, at first with the stage itself. It was huge and gave the performers plenty of room to move among one another, and to play off one another just as they do live. But neither the size nor the look distracted me from giving my attention to the performers. The arrangement of players and equipment was perfect, exactly like one would see at a live Bruce event - right down to the pedal steel placed audience right for the Nils Lofgren character. I really had to blink twice at the creativity and devotion to The Boss and his remarkable live show that seemed to have gone into this production.

The company who puts on Springsteen (and quite a few other tribute events) is called High Voltage Entertainment and is the brainchild of SL builders and huge music fans Karma Lovenkraft and Christian Moyet; Chris also plays the role of Springsteen (nearly perfectly!) during the show. The other “performers” were also excellent in look and moves, making it authentic - front and back line. They are: Ami Breanna (“Mighty Max” Max Weinberg), Blackpearl Dirval (Clarence “Big Man” Clemons), Elania (Gary W. Tallent), FriendlyG (Roy “The Professor” Bittan), Dragonfire17 Ghost (“Miami” Steve VanZandt), and - sporting the best stage name in SL - Kazoo Dagger (Nils Lofgren).

Another impressive component to the High Voltage show is the virtual stage lighting. Lovenkraft/Moyet presented the best lighting design for any show I have ever seen in SL. The show looks and feels huge. One clever effect involves keeping Bruce’s face in shadow for most of the time, thereby enhancing the identity that would be lost by displaying an avatar with more accurate facial features. What seals the deal, though, is that they have somehow managed to replicate those timeless Springsteen moves: that classic wide-legged stance, the walk along the edge of the stage, and the Telecaster guitar held high beside his head - all spot on.

Back at the venue the crowd was building and the band had powered its way into “Because The Night”, which was co-written by Springsteen and Patti Smith in 1978. It was released by Smith on her album Easter and then later by 10,000 Maniacs. This was followed with an excellent “live/recorded” performance of “Hungry Heart” during which I was very much impressed with how deeply the Second Life audience got into the spirit. Open Chat was flooded with “Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack”, mimicking the way RL audiences around the world have sung that first verse for years at Springsteen shows.

The audience went wild when “Thunder Road” kicked off with one of the greatest opening lines in the history of rock lyrics : “Screendoor slams, Mary’s dress waves.” You might want to head to YouTube to treat yourself to a few different views of him and the E Street Band performing “Thunder Road”. It’s one of the best live songs ever. In fact, if you have never seen him live, this High Voltage Entertainment presentation will give you the closest thrill to the real deal possible.

The company also fields tributes to a wide variety of other great artists including Metallica, Kiss, Van Halen, U2 and many others; I counted close to fifty different tributes these guys can mount.

Lovenkraft, the creator of the stages they use in their productions, clearly has an eye for detail and a heart for the music. “I try to create all the stages with homage to the artist and to capture the essence and feel of him and his music,” she explained. “I listen to the music as we’re building and we also watch their video performances. It’s all about creativity.”


Before I knew it, the band was ending the show with “Born In The USA”. I looked around and couldn’t find the tee-shirt venders to get a souvenir, so on my way out I leaned over the front of the stage and took this quick photo of the set list taped down onto the stage at Bruce’s feet.


Bruuuuuuuuce!


To contact High Voltage Entertainment and inquire about booking
one of their amazing tribute events
please IM or drop a notecard on
Karma Lovenkraft or Christian Moyet.

Springsteen set list by my good friend Alexxis LeFavre. Thanks, Lexxi!


(c) Copyright 2012 Traci Nubalo. All rights reserved
.




AcousticEnergy Nitely: Keeping the Promise

by Traci Nubalo

Metaverse Tribune - March 17, 2012


It was a rather strange scene, even for me who has grown up in the Fellini-esque world of live rock and jazz music. First, there was the cheerleading squad: four of them in authentic cheer outfits doing their jump and spins right in front of the stage. “Not in Kansas any more, Traci,” I was thinking to myself as my eyes followed the quartet’s moves.

Distracted as I was, at first I didn't see the huge blue guy who was dragging a three-foot tail behind him. My eyes went left, then back to the cheer squad, then darted left again. Yep. Big blue guy at 9:00. Dancing very closely beside me.

Stepping back to avoid the swishing tail I introduced myself. “Hi, I‘m Traci.” “My name is Tsanten. I am from the Txampay Clan of the Navi’ - from the James Cameron movie ‘Avatar’," he replies. Seems like a nice enough…I guess he‘s a guy! “Nice to meet you Tsanten. Want to watch that tail, please?”

All the while I’m chair dancing to Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” as it’s sung to us by AcousticEnergy Nitely, one of Second Life’s most potent musical success stories. I last interviewed AE (as he is known) way back in the dark ages of late 2009. I loved him then and I love him even more now.

In fact, in that time AE’s fan group has tripled in size according to AE’s longtime manager Sher Salmson of Spiritfire Entertainment. “AE has always been a joy for me personally, she told me. "He is simply amazing musically and in my opinion he has it all: the talent, the desire, the stage presence. And then add to it that he is genuine in how he cares about his audience. He is a true professional.”

Back at the menagerie, James (AE) who often tells his live audience that he is “broadcasting from the back seat of his car somewhere in Southern California,” has moved into one of his very best originals “Heal My Bones (Heal My Body with this Song).” I’m constantly amazed at the growth in AE’s voice, even though I have heard him quite a few times in the interim. He is that rare breed of singer who can inflect major emotion into his vocals without coming off as saccharine.

One thing that AE loves to do - and that his fans love to hear - is that he will call out the name of a fan during a song, effectively “giving” that person the spotlight. He employed this technique while covering the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Don’t Want The World To See Me”. “I just want you to know who I am…Traciiiiiiiiiiii”. I admit, it thrilled me.

** ** **

Once at a Springsteen concert the E Street Band played soft and low as Bruce walked to the microphone and spoke breathlessly to his audience: “I was thirty years old before I told my parents that I loved them, etc…So, tonight after the show if Mom and Dad are sitting up in the kitchen tell them that you love them. And see how life changes.” I could hardly believe I was at a rock concert.

I got the very same feeling of delight and awe when AE exhorted us to sing (actually enter into open chat) “I LOVE YOU ____” and to fill in a name of our loved one. Let’s face it campers, it’s a rare day in either world when we get led by the virtual hand to that place of tenderness and togetherness that every one of us seeks. And this man has brought thousands to drink of those refreshing waters and to go away healed and relieved.

AE swung effortlessly into a haunting, dreamy version of Coldplay’s “The Scientist”. It was sparse and spacious in form, but the emptiness was filled to the brim with passion, reminding me of a Sanskrit term - shunyata - which means “empty fullness”.

Tell me you love me, come back and haunt me
Oh and I rush to the start.
Running in circles, chasing our tails
Coming back as we are.

“My audience breathes life into me each time I sing,” he told me. “I always like to tell them that I love them.” And he keeps that promise night after ecstatic night onstage.

As i made my way out of the venue, I glanced over to see five smiles as big as mine: Tsanten and the cheerleaders were apparently healed as I was that night.


MarkSeery Melodie: Celtic Warrior

by Traci Nubalo

Metaverse Tribune - March 7, 2012


When I was growing up on the east coast of the United States one of my uncles had an Irish music band. It was himself on guitar and vocals with his two sons on guitar and banjo. There were also a couple of assorted side men on fiddle, whistle, bodhran, etc. The family would take me along when they went to gigs and I can remember having the best time. I loved hearing the authentic Irish ballads and trying to learn to dance the jigs and the reels. So I grew up steeped in Irish music.

I would always wonder, though; at every show during the second set a waiter would arrive at the stage carrying drinks for the band. The room would come to its feet, glasses raised as my uncle, who had served as a paratrooper in the US army during WWII, would always make the same toast: “To the British - may you have an itch without benefit of a scratch.”

Years later I came to learn that my uncle (and some others in my family) were hardcore supporters of the Irish freedom fighters.

** ** **

He first grabbed my attention when he walked to the microphone wielding that guitar like it was a battleaxe. “Gonna give you some celtic mayhem for the next hour,” MarkSeery Melodie tells the waiting audience.

The Dublin resident steals my interest again a second later when the room fills with a dreamy intro, a mournful cry on slow fiddle and pipes with an eerie keyboard underpinning. The guitar comes up, the pace quickens and the opening notes of the traditional reel “The Fair Maid of Barra” sweep through the room. We all ecstatically erupt into dance.

Before we get our breath back Seery attacks an authentic version of “Whiskey in a Jar”, the traditional Irish rocker that catapulted to fame when Thin Lizzy rode it to the top of the world charts in the early 70’s. It was also covered - still authentically and quite a bit more muscularly - by Metallica, who won a Grammy for the song in 2000.

Just two songs in and it was already beginning to dawn on me that we have a real Irish heart and soul present among us as Mark whips the crowd through the singalong ending of “Whiskey” and barrels headlong into “Blood of Emeralds”, bringing me out of my chair. This one is a classic from the great Gary Moore, also of Thin Lizzy fame. We lost Gary to the bottle just a year ago, and a lump formed in my throat as Seery wailed the chillingly-prophetic lyrics sung by Mr. Moore himself a mere handful of months ago.

Through the thunder and the rain,
the deepest blood of emeralds
was running through our veins.
Some of us will win and some of us will lose,
the strong will survive.
Some of us will fall,
some of us won't get out of here alive.
Blood of emeralds.

Seery, who comes from a family of classical musicians, blasts through this epic with all of the confidence of the original, winning my heart along the way. Then, to the astonishment of the breathless crowd he wheels headlong into “The Worker’s Song” from the Boston-based celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys.

We're the first ones to starve, we're the first ones to die
The first ones in line for that pie-in-the-sky
And we're always the last when the cream is shared out
For the worker is working when the fat cat's about.

And when the sky darkens and the prospect is war
Who's given a gun and then pushed to the fore
And expected to die for the land of our birth
Though we've never owned one lousy handful of earth?

From highwaymen through the personal struggle to survive and into the realities of the lives of all oppressed peoples, he weaves the beauty and the tough spirit of his countrymen-and-women into whole musical cloth. And then he wraps us up in it with his smooth Irish wit:

“I have a new tin whistle and let me tell you it’s not the most hygienic instrument. I thought about it and realized that if I can be incompetent on guitar I can also be incompetent on tin whistle,” he reveals. What Mark seems less quick to tell is the fact that he’s had a long recovery from a power tool accident in 2007 in which he sustained tendon and nerve damage to the fingers of his left hand: the fretting hand. To listen one would never guess. Mark Seery is a musician of significant talent. He creates his own backing tracks, playing all the instruments himself. And his guitar skills - injury notwithstanding - are exceptional. His vocals are clear and expressive - perfect for the musical storyteller role that he has adapted.

Not done with his work day just yet, he slams us all back to the dance floor, this time in couples for “The Worst Day Since Yesterday”, Flogging Molly’s wistfully-sad-but-beautiful ballad.

Then the unmistakable stacked-guitar attack that screams Thin Lizzy introduces an insanely-energetic rendering of “Black Rose” which, of course, includes the “Danny Boy” theme we all know so well. A mysterious keyboard wash then trances into “Lord of the Dance” just in case anyone had any sweat left in them. Seery sends us home with “In a Big Country” the major hit from The Crossing, the scorching 1983 album by Scottish band “Big Country”.

I’m not expecting to grow flowers in the desert
But I can live and breathe and see sun in the wintertime..

And in a big country dreams stay with you
Like a lover’s voice, fires the mountainside

Stay alive.

This warrior has thoroughly entertained the room for an hour through his well-developed and expertly-executed musical craft. But he also reopened my heart to the beauty of the music I was brought up with. And I was reminded of the nobility and strength of my people - the Irish. Born and tempered in oppression and struggle, this music still speaks to us in voices which celebrate the simple joy of the living.

He faces us at the microphone, that battleaxe now sweaty and slick from his efforts. He says two final words: “Stay alive.”

An unearthly, explosive roar fills the room and my headphones begin to rumble like they want to fall off my head as thick brown clouds of fog envelop the stage.

When the smoke clears he’s gone.

Then an eerie disembodied voice (which sounds suspiciously like a playful Mark Seery) announces: "Mark Seery has left the building."

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