Maurice's Musical Musings

Seems like just yesterday that I was at my first SL musician meetup in Hartford, Connecticut.    Honestly it was one of the best weekends of my life.    In Hartford I got to hear some of my favorite artists play live and found out how much is lost on a shoutcast stream, even as good as it sounds.    Shannon and TerryLynn and Max and BartAlan and all of the others... they all sounded so incredible live!    And then to get to spend the weekend hanging out with all these great musicians and great people was just phenomenal.  I got to have a viola lesson from Tamra Hayden and play uno with Max Kleene.     I met so many people who I knew only from a distance, and made all new friends as well.     I got to meet Lady Hightower.  Everytime I look back at my pictures and see the ones of her a tear comes to my eye and I feel blessed that I was there that weekend, or I never would have had the opportunity to meet her.  Woodstock pushed me up on the stage... I was terrified to be on stage with such great musicians and didn't feel like I belonged.   I hid in the back a lot and played along with my guitar unplugged, afraid to spoil the great sounds.  But the weekend ended with my first ever public "performance" as I stood next to Shannon Oherlihy and played her song, "The Test" with her.  Without that moment, would I be performing now?  Probably not... that moment made me consider that maybe it really was something I could do and the adrenaline rush I felt was like nothing else I'd ever felt.   

In 2 more days I get to do this again... this time in Montreal, Canada.  Again I will get to meet some of my favorite artists.  Some people who I had hoped would make it to Hartford but for various reasons were not able to.  Artists such as Montian Gilruth, Norris Shepherd, and JellyJellyJelly Benelli and great friends like Poppy McDunnough.  This time I won't be so afraid to step on the stage and play along.  Although I registered as a spectator I will have my guitar and I hope to get to play some songs with as many people as possible, on stage or off.  And I will again get to meet some of those I met last time like Shannon and Tamra and Max... Words simply cannot express  how excited I am to hang out with everybody again.  The event starts off with a mixer and a pajama party... Saturday night we will be doing a Second Life RP,  truly bringing Second Life into Real Life.  I can't even imagine how that will go!  The musical lineup is absolutely fantastic... just considering the artists I know and there are so many that I have never heard before.  Hearing Montian Gilruth, Jace Branner, and Funky Freddy together in person will be worth the price of admission all by itself.  I truly can't wait to turn these Montreal Dreams into memories like the ones I have of Hartford.  You can expect a blog next week all about them and hopefully lots of pictures!

Check out Norris Shepherd's blog at  http://www.norrisshepherd.com/  for the schedule of all the artists playing  this weekend along with the stream URL's and the venues where the event will be streamed.   Check back here next week for Montreal Memories.  

Labels: hartford, jam, live, montreal