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.
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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.
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.
