Review of Keiko Takamura, Frogg Marlowe, Kim Seifert, Bill & Pam Havercamp, and Greg Colossus performances
Last night I tried to make as many of the live music performances as I could, but I couldn’t make them all. I did teleport in to the Old Salt’s Pub in time to catch Firlane Vavoom warming up a nice sized crowd waiting to catch the featured act of up and coming alternative contemporary songwriter and singer keiko (pronounced Cake-o) Takamura.
Keiko Takamura
On her myspace site(link) Keiko states she sounds like the unwanted lovechild of Elliott Smith and Lisa Loeb that grew up in a black neighborhood… this should give you some indication of the sense of humor she brings to the stage. If not maybe you should check out keikotakamura.com (link) and the tale of Keiko Takamura, which should bring a smile to the most hardened face, and get a short introduction to Amy Te… Keiko in RL. I truly enjoyed what she has to say about her music.
It’s not about talent or what’s marketable or what could place me in the charts. It’s about expressing myself in the only way I really know how. Otherwise no one would ever know what it is I keep inside. My songs are written when I’m burning to say something, to shout something, to tell somebody something that I couldn’t somehow. Whatever it is, it needs to escape from my lungs.
Her voice was soothing and sensual, a pleasure to listen to as she sang honest emotions which can reach the soul as she strums the acoustic guitar. Keiko seemed to enjoy the crowd and honored their requests, making an enjoyable time for all in attendance.
My next stop on my tour of live performances was Dublin and the Blarney Stone Irish Bar where I arrived just in time to hear Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. Frogg Marlowe (link) aka Jeremy Works and Jaycatt Nico (link) aka Marc LePine were both supposed to be appearing. I have to admit I didn’t stay very long in that extremely crowded area, but I never saw or heard Jaycatt. I don’t know if he had technical problems or was simply taking a break during the time I was there, but Frogg kept the crowd entertained and hoppin with his blend of Jazz, Folk, and Blues. I regret missing Jaycatt on the piano, yet found Frogg’s guitar, harmonica, and vocals considerably more than adequate and the crowd appeared to love it!
It was about this time I begin trying to teleport over to catch Louis Volare (link) at “Someplace Else” but I couldn’t get into the sim… I kept getting the message the sim is full. Congratulations go out to Louis on totally filling up a sim for his performance. I have seen Louis perform before, on a night the grid went down and the performance started extremely late, over an hour late, and still people were continually showing up for that performance. Sometime it seem as if all the elements line up against me seeing a great performance, but after the performance I sent Louis an IM congratulating him and asking for a personal interview. I will be publishing information about the time I spent with him in the near future.
Kim Seifert at the LILY PAD
When I couldn’t get to “Someplace Else” I popped over to the Lily Pad to give a listen to Kim Seifert. The area I teleported into had a non- functional teleport down to the Lily Pad… I am thinking that would be one of the reasons the crowd was sparse for Kim’s performance of country sounds. Kim has a nice voice which she used to sing over Karaoke style background music. There wasn’t a large crowd, but Kim interacted with those in attendance leaving me scratching my head wondering where all the country music fans were on that Tuesday night.
Bill and Pam Havercamp at THE CAFE
At “The Café” I was able to catch the duo of Bill and Pam Havercamp. This duo works from the stage as if they are live in a small club. The interaction between themselves and the crowd is a talent within itself. I would love to have the words to describe their entertainment value, but I am not gifted with that immense a vocabulary. Suffice it to say their performance goes well beyond the 60’s and 70’s hits they perform.
Greg Colossus on stage at his amphitheatre
When I thought I had reached an end of the Live Music in Second Life that Tuesday night, I stumbled upon Greg Colossus aka Greg Colburn Jr. at the Greg Colossus Amphitheatre an area set up for acoustical music at peak performance.Greg’s performance on this night was superbly relaxing and mellow acoustical music presented in a relaxed professional manner. If you enjoy a laid back mellow time, I highly recommend your finding the time to enjoy his talent!
January 10th, 2007 • 
Weirdharold • 
comment | January 11, 2007 at 00:38 | individual comment-link
This is a nice article Weirdharold. Second Life has a tremendous potential for allowing musicians & singers to showcase their talents. I can’t wait until I can finally log back into SL to enjoy this! Too bad that current issues with SL prevented residents from reaching some of the performance locations or that the scalability issue limited the number of possible event attendees.
Now as one not having seen these performances, how did they handle the animations? Did they attempt any type of lip syncing? This is an area that I have thought much about and if done properly, can add a whole new dimension to the performance, as well as the attendees experience at these events. Would you not agree?
Perhaps as Linden Labs moves to open-source the various components of Second life, not only can the current issue be quickly resolved, but features can be added to enhance performances of this nature. With the current DAZ & Poser avatars, they have built into them phenome-based lip movement and with the aid of a utility like Mimic Pro, one could very easily produce lip synchronization to match the performance. Plus the new generation of characters/avatars that DAZ is currently releasing incorporate a new mesh and rigging that makes life-like animation rather simple. I am overflowing with ideas as I’ve been researching the development side of things ever since TD led us into the virtual world.
comment | January 11, 2007 at 08:28 | individual comment-link
Jvastine, I truly enjoy the experience of the live events, the limitation of Second Life does not provide any true lip syncing possibilities. In fact it is very hard for musicians who aren’t in the same location to jam together.. due to time delays in reaching across the web. there are a few that go to great links to be able to jam together… I was reading a great article about this the other day… wish I could remember where that was. But I enjoy the feeling I get at a live performance, because I feel more connected to the performer, especially if he/she/they have a good stage presence and interacts with the crowd. The most enjoyable performers I have seen have been Bill and Pam Havercamp. They have a routine not only with themselves, but interact with the crowd as much as possible. Louis Volare also communicates well with the audience, and will slip into INPROV easily. More of the performers are learning how to be more interactive with their audience and, in my opinion, raising the level of the entertainment.
comment | January 11, 2007 at 16:14 | individual comment-link
Well Weirdharold, it is my belief that Linden Labs move to open-source Second Life will eventually make it possible for performers to lip sync & animate their avatars in a very realistic way and still be able to interact with the audience members in a number of ways. I know what you mean by the stage presence and how the interaction with the crowd can really enhance a performance. One of the most enjoyable real-world concerts that I had attended was with Kenny G & Michael Bolton back in the early 90’s. Both artists got off the stage and started mingling through the audience as they either played or sang and took a moment between songs to greet and speak with audience members. I my mind I see the future of SL providing artists & fans the ability to have a much similar experience in a much more realistic way. This will be a great vehicle for musicians, singers, & songwriters to get their artistic endeavors to those who both appreciate and enjoy their creations. This virtual interaction will do to the music video stars what the music video revolution did to the radio stars!
comment | January 12, 2007 at 17:41 | individual comment-link
I am a member of Second Life and also have a lounge there that Kim Seifert performs at regularly on Thursday nights. To bad you were not able to attend one of her sets there. She continuely “Packs the House” every week. And I have been to the Lilly Pad as she has “packed the house” there. True, I have a personal connection to Kim as she is a family member but I am only one of a great number of people who enjoy her style of music. Please feel free to come see Kim anytime and really listen to her and her powerful voice and delivery of her songs.
comment | January 12, 2007 at 22:48 | individual comment-link
LadyKay, I certainly was not trashing Kim nor her voice! I like many forms of music and country happen to one of them. I honestly blame the lack of attendance that night upon the teleport listed in Lily Pad event cause people to teleport to a place where the teleport which would teleport you down to the Lily Pad was not functioning and you had to walk to another section to get to the club.
I enjoyed Kim’s performance and will attend another of her events. I am trying to get a listen to as many of the SL performers as I can, and when I do .. there will be a write up here… some short reviews some I will seek to find out more about the performer and bring a more complete picture… also when it is done.. It will be found on VTOR.
pingback | January 23, 2007 at 09:35 | individual pingback-link
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comment | November 30, 2007 at 05:25 | individual comment-link
“Cake-o”???????? Not even close. Try “Keh-ee-koh” (Ke-i-ko). Japanese i’s are like English long e’s, like in ‘deep’, and Japanese e’s are English short e’s, so Cake-o is so far off base it’s not even funny. Japanese is extremely easy pronunciation-wise, there are a million and one Japanese pronunciation sites out there, try looking one up.