Looking for something other than a guitar in live music?

Photos the property of Brian Tero used with permission

I am always looking for different kinds of music to listen to and report back to you the VTOR reader, and several months ago I just by accident showed up at a Live Music event where the saxophone was featured instrument. The event turned out to be a jazz music event with Flaming Moe playing the tenor saxophone along with some light backing tracks. Flaming Moe really does a tremendous job of entertaining with his works of jazz. Many people will try to tell you that a tenor sax is not made to be a featured instrument, but I will have to say to them that they have never heard Flaming Moe pushing air over a reed!

I so enjoyed Brian’s music I contacted him and asked if I could send him a questionnaire about himself and his music, he filled it out, I fell off the face of the earth a couple months… but the following is the result.

1. Is there a real life picture of you that I can publish (of course with the statement that the picture is your property used with permission? I took a couple of your Avatars during this performance. Would like to publish a side by side real with avatar

Sure! I’ll include the files when I send this out.

2. Would you mind giving me your real name and may I publish it?

Brian Tervo

3. would you care to share your musical background? ie… what age you got started, family involvement, maybe even a little family background?

Well my mom never played anything, but my dad played clarinet, drums, guitar, and a bit of piano. I started singing in choir when I was 6. I played the recorder in elementary school like all of the other kids, but I always thought the saxophone looked cool. I saw an episode of Mr. Rogers one day. He went on a tour of the Selmer factory, and I was hooked on the curves of the tenor saxophone. I insisted that was what I was going to play in band. I remember having my first lesson, too. My teacher, Jack Lis, called me and my friend Jake “banana brain” and “Jake and the fat man,” like the TV show, except I was a skinny little kid.
Even though my parents had to force me to practice when I was younger, I always made it into the honors bands, even in middle school. This was probably due to the amazing saxophone teacher I had, Dave Schiavone. In high school, I made it all the way to sit as the first chair tenor saxophone in the New York Conference All State Jazz Ensemble. At that point, I knew that was what I wanted to do.
I pursued a Bachelor’s degree from the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music and a Master’s Degree from The University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL. I studied with Greg Banaszak and Gary Keller, respectively.

4. Events which led to your musical interest.

I mentioned the whole Mr. Rogers thing. The event that made me decide to take it all the way to college was a featured solo Mr. Lis gave me in the jazz masterpiece, “Channel One Suite.”’ I played my heart out every time we played that piece, and that’s how I fell in love with music.

5. How about events you have played in Real life?

I have played with Roy Hargrove, the Mongo Santamaria Band, The New World Symphony, Al Tinney, Alex Norris, and many other great musicians. I played piano for Steve Reich in a group we formed to perform “Music for 18 Musicians” at Baldwin-Wallace.
Also, notably, I was the second musician to broadcast into Second Life, following Astrin Few. Astrin and I performed the first relay concert in SL and the first loop concert. A relay stream is when a user broadcasts to another user, and conceivably could be broadcasted to other different users before the last user broadcasts it to SL. In this case, Astrin played guitar and broadcasted to me, and I played saxophone to his stream and broadcasted the combined instrumentation to SL. A loop stream means the first user catches the last user’s stream and anyone in that loops can broadcast the combined signals to SL.

6. How would you personally describe your musical style (s)?

I play mostly jazz, but I like Latin, and I tend to stray into drums ‘n’ bass, experimental, classical, folk, and electronic music.

7. Influences (not bands but concepts) that have shaped your music. (Ok, maybe some groups or individuals are needed to understand the shaping.)

The concept of combining acoustic and electric timbres has always interested me, Saxophonist Joshua Redman does this extremely well on his albums Elastic and Momentum.

8. Places where fans can purchase your music? Any website exposure… your own or other?

Anyone can purchase MP3s using Paypal on my site, www.moetownproductions.com, but in SL it is now possible to buy my tracks with Lindens from www.SECONDtunes.com.

9. How do you earn a living in the real world?

I have worked on Holland America Cruise lines as a saxophonist and Celebrity Cruise lines as a bandmaster/saxophonist since the summer of 2006. I just finished school in May 2006, so right now my only source of income is from SL.

10. What brought you to Second Life, and how did you get into Second Life? (give you a chance to give credit to those who have helped you)

When I first moved to Miami to pursue my Master’s degree, I had no friends, no car, and I lived alone. I starting checking out social games on the internet and found There. I got bored with that game after about two weeks, but someone in the game mentioned SL. So in September of 2004, I checked it out and found myself working at the Flame Room (go figure) as an event manager. After getting bored with “best dressed” and “sexiest,,,” events, I searched for “jazz” and found an event hosted by Astrin Few. I went to this event, and he was streaming, something he had been doing for the previous five months. He told me how to get started and the rest is history. I started performing live music in Second Life in October 2004.

11. In what ways do you participate in Second Life?

I have a store in Bali Hai called MoeTown Productions. I have put up posters of SL musicians in MoeTown that directs anyone who clicks on it to the musicians’ websites. This is completely out of generosity and I don’t make any money from that. Other than that, I attend live music shows and I have been trying to get to know as many people as I can.

12. What are the benefits you personally receive out of performing live inside Second Life?

When the audience claps and I get an enthusiastic reaction after playing a song, it makes me feel good.

13. How important do you think interaction performer to fans is in Second Life?

Imperative! If a musician doesn’t communicate with his audience, then why even perform live? Why not just put on a recording of themselves and go out for a beer? The interaction is what makes people come back, and essentially, communication is what music is all about, whether it exists between performers or between the performers and the audience. That connection is what makes the difference of music that reaches people and music that just plainly exists.

14. Can you give me a fair way you think you should be tipped in Second Life?

Buy my MP3s! I don’t know how many tips I have received in performances which the person could have walked away from the concert with 3 or 4 MP3s. Seriously, if you like my music, and you like it enough to give me money for playing, then buy an MP3 from SECONDtunes or from my website, and take it with you so you can listen to my music even after the concert is over.

Flaming Moe, who’s real name is Brian Tervo, is a jazz entertainer that anyone who enjoys jazz doesn’t want to miss. I believe that to suck an extent that I would like to tell you where he will be playing in Second Life for the rest of this month. I suggest you find the time to go to one of his events and when you like his sound…. buy his songs!
Galveston
Monday, May 21 @ 12pm SLT

The Blarney Stone
Tuesday, May 22 @ 1pm SLT

Galveston
Friday, May 25 @ 5pm SLT

Blue Fusion Jazz Club
Saturday, May 26 @ 1pm SLT
Blue Fusion website

Ratepoint
Tuesday, May 29 @ 4pm SLT

Relay for Life
Tuesday, May 29 @ 6pm SLT
SL Relay for Life website

The Ruby Slipper
Saturday, June 9 @ 5pm SLT