Fun with Notices

This morning i was able to read my mails again,
yesterday my provider wouldnt allow me to enter my mail, so i had a detox from that *lol*

My mail was filled with offline Notices,
normally i throw all that stuff out but suddenly i remembered a talk i had about a week ago with Less.
We came to talk about the funny notices and how he reads them and laughs about it,
i decided, since i had nothing better to do, to read a few because i normally dont read that crap

And i must say, it sure was funny
You dont need to build a stand up act,
just read those notices on stage and you blow even then best comic out of the sky.

First notice i saw was about an artist playing at A BEAUTIFULL PLVE
whatever that may be, but even better that plve had the largest DABCE FLORR on SL
I have been walking around SL for a long time but i cant recall that i ever saw a dabce florr ???

The sad part is that this musician might not even know that this stuff is being send out of his/her name,
because that is what happens, venues send it under YOUR name
and it reflects to you.
I wouldnt like to see something like this :

SOUNDCIRCEL FLANAGAN AT BEAUTIFULL PLVE

TONGITH AT NOON THIS AWESOME MUSICIIANS PLAY AT OUR BEAUTIFULL PLVE
WE ALSO HAVE A LARGE DABCE FLORR AND FREE DANCES !!!!!!!
BRING YOUR FRIDNS

As a regular visitor i wouldnt feel the need to go to a place
where they dont take the time to check the stuff they send
( besides the fact that i HATE CAPS, im not freaking blind or anything )

If they are sloppy with their notices then i fear there talent to run a venue,
i might be wrong, it could be one of the best venues on SL,
and that would make it even worse.

As a musician i never pay attention to what others send,
i write my own notice for my own group and that is it.
People in my group know the music i play, so i only have to mention where and what time.
I assume venue owners do the same thing, but now im not so sure anymore

I wonder if musicians aprove what is being send,
and if they do aprove then in gods name why ?
After reading a few hours of notices my head spins like a maniac,
i read a lot of info that hasnt got anything to do with the music ?

Someone recorded 900 songs on an online karaoke website ?
What does that mean ?

Nothing to be honest, even my little nephew can record 900 songs on that site ?
hell, give me a week and i sing 900 inthere, and i cant even sing *lol*

And why is it so important that you started to play at a young age ?
Mention that in your bio, but not in a notice
I mean, about 99,99% of the musicians start at a young age,
thats how life goes

As a musician i understand it, you want to get noticed and grab anything you can
build a hype and hope it will work.
but if i try to look it from the point of vieuw off a music fan, then it becomes different
All of that was running through my brain when i was reading them.

Why mention something like :
He/she plays progressive, pop, rock, country, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s but mostly ballads

So what does he/she play’s ?
progressive rock country ballads out the 70’s ?
what ? tell me please

Most fun are the bio notices,
big piles of word that are hard to get through, again send out off the musicians name

For me its no issue that a musician plays from his heart, if you dont then find yourself another hobby
and yes i do believe you have an unique voice and that you are some awesome musician
but that doesnt interested me to come to a show, after all, according to the notices we are all kickass folks.

Again i wonder if musicians realise what is being send out of our names ?
I hear a lot of times that “we should raise awareness of SL music”
But those notices doesnt help that in my humble opinion
I can imagine that a newbee to SL music runs away after reading a few of them,
running away, laughing, to the first music free sim they can find to never coming back again.

/me goes on reading the notices

Chaos

Currently im working on some new songs
Throughout the years i made it a habit to work on multiple songs at the same time.
Its something that just happens,
i begin a song, get new ideas from that and decide to use those for other ones
I like that way of working because it keeps me focussed.

It looks like this way of working is chaotic, and in a way it is
but its normal for me, i woudnt want to have it any different,
my chaos makes sence to me, so why would i change that ?

I remember that as a kid i hated it when my mom cleaned my room,
she was allway’s very neat ( same as my dad btw so i have no idea where i have that from ? )
I used to get so pissed, everything in nice order, nice rows of things and i couldnt find anything
So i had to mess it all up in order to find anything again
My mom never believed i could find anything in that mess, but it made sence to me
and i could pick out anything i wanted.

Now that i am “an adult” i have the same things,
its not that my house is a mess, in fact its quit tidy.
But i like a bit of chaos somewhere *laughs*
wheter its on the desktop of my PC’s,
the pile of stuff lined up next to it,
or something else

One of my favourite songs is

Not because of the whole lyric but because of the chorus

“In a dream I cannot see
Tangled abstract fallacy
Random turmoil builds in me
I’m addicted to chaos”

This goes for music as well,
its weird when i think about it to be honest.
The more chaotic it gets in my head, the more i write music.

I never had one style, i never could choose one *smile*
Now im listening to that Megadeth song again and think to myself
“damn im going back to metal again, have those powerchords blasting out,
heavy, angry and dark”

I never decide what style a song is going to be,
i just let it happen because i learned from the past that i cant control it,
I can listen a month to Megadeth, Metallica and Dream Theater
write metal songs because it inspires me and end up with some freaky jazz because that just fits better.

So who knows how the new songs are going to be ?

Contests

There seems to be some stuff going round about some contest.
People can put your name up in categories and then we all can vote for

Who is the coolest M*****F****R on the grid

I can see you smile allready
“hey i bet your not on that list and now you feel sorry”

Yeah i do feel sorry …….. for them
I would give them a show to remember if enough people would be dumb enough to vote for me
I would go on stage and not accept the price, giving a beautifull speech

Other Artists allready im’ed me to get my name up there, that was weeks ago.
But i really hate contests.
There are contests in RL as well, it seems like a yearly disease that you cant get rid off
Its easier to get rid off that mexican flu then get rid of contests.

A month ago i was having my first coffee of the day and watching the news
Beyonce won the MTV awards,
yeah thats breath taking news i want to hear first thing in the morning

I dont know that mutch of her,
but winning that award and being on the news with it,
damn she must be good

So i checked the list of this thrilling contest,
if its important enough to put it in the news, then i have to honour that

Weird, very weird

Video of the year : Beyoncé, Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)
Best new Artist: Lady Gaga, Poker Face
Best hiphop video: Eminem, We Made You
Best male video: T.I. f/ Rihanna, Live Your Life
Best pop video: Britney Spears, Womanizer
Best rock video: Green Day, 21 Guns
Best female video: Taylor Swift, You Belong With Me

Rihanna is a guy ? she is in the male category ?
Never thought that when i see her crawl over cars ?
I must say that they can do a lot with cosmetic surgery these day’s
it looks so real…….

Beyonce isnt the best in pop or hiphop so what the hell does she play ?
Cause the winners there are Mister Britney and Miss M&M
she doesnt play rock, is not male or female

WTF !!!!

Who or what is he/she/it ?
and what about that ring of the song title ?
where does that ring go ?

The Video

Thanks to Robert69

The Majestic in San Diego

Last night i had a cool gig at The Majestic in San Diego.
It turned out Robert69 did some taping so with a bit of luck we have some video’s coming up.

As you might know ( or will find out ) i dont take SL that serious,
i mean its a cool game, but that’s it –> a game, a game to meet people and have fun

I see all the efforts that people make to get noticed and raise their profile,
promotional stuff, image building and blahblahblah
Just throw it all in a bucket and leave me alone

I like it when things get weird, the more a gig gets out of hand the better it gets.
So when Cher mentioned that people could hop on stage and join me, the gig became a cool one
Freggle hopped on the piano, Jakes took the drums and Red tried to play bass *lmao*
Red is a kid avi, so she was more hanging on the upright bass, witch was even more funny

I started with a small part off Dans Macabre, i like to play an intro song.
I think its the metal dude inside of me.
In RL i used to visit those big arena gigs all the time, following bands around half of europe,
and normally they all have some opening theme.
Offcourse i couldnt choose so i got a few of those.

After that i allways play a faster song, it gets the gig going and my fingers loose.
This time i took Crushing Day by Joe Satriani.
The ultimate “Car ride” song, just drive 100 miles an hour and blast out that song through the stereo set.

Then it was time for The Avenue,
one of my own niblets.
An old song but its special for me, it was the first one i wrote as an instrumental,
and i was lucky that it featured as Song of The Month in a dutch recording magazine called Interface.

The Song ends with a piano, so it makes sence to play Aerosmith’s Dream On
And it gives Freggle something to do right *wink*

Then it was time for the “color” block,
A little bit of Green, a song i wrote as a study to irish music
i know that sounds weird, a study, but when i hear something cool i look into it.
I listen, do some research and try to write my own version of that style
I saw The Riverdance on TV, i dont care for those dances but the music was so good.
It kept on ringing in my head and the day’s after i saw it i wrote Green.

Next one was Purple Rain ( yeah Prince, go on and sue my ass off )
The dude is weird, in a way i can understand what he tries to do, but still it’s weird and overdone.
Too bad he wrote one of the best ballads ever,
i like that last part in the original, where the melody just keeps on going.
I pointed that out in my version, left out a verse and repeat that last part a few more times.
When SuzyQ started to hand out scripted Purple clouds it even got better *hahahaha*

Next on the list : Smiling Tears
one of my latest ones.
A tricky one to play, not because its that diffecult but its the timing.
In the original version there are parts where i harmonise 3 guitars.
One left, one right and one centered, a simple trick but damn effective
If i play “my” part to soon or too late, or play something else then the effect i wanna have is gone.

Then i threw in Chasing Car’s
i turned it into a classical version ( sort off )
and a nice convo was coming up about the song title.

Richie Finkler: i never really understood the title of this song, actually
Richie Finkler: chasing cars?
Richie Finkler: dogs do that?

Richie had a good point there, what does the title stands for ?
I only know that expression as in Dogs Chasing Cars,
a dream, a thing to try but you won’t succeed….. something like that.

The set moved on after this interesting talk,
A Chrystal Sky,
The Rose Within
Michael Jackson Tribute,
Queen’s Love of my Life
Movements
Van Halen’s Jump

Then it was time to debut Nights of Passion,
the song i wrote last week, allways a scary moment but it went well

Offcourse i had to play Summer’s Jam, a song i kinda wrote to honour my doggy *lmao*
Then it was time to wrap it up with Satriani’s Allways with Me and my regular last song
Steve Vai’s For the Love of God.

All in all it was another fun gig, i laughed my ass off during it and thats a good sign
so thanks to Cher Harrington, Freggle Fizzle, Red Socke, Ginger Marseille
patter Allen, Nya Raymaker, Grey Aya, Jakes Boxen, SuzieQ Juran, Ragna Magic
Richie Finkler, Otawan Fouquet:, Halifa Hillquit , Xanifur Rau, Programmer Mohr, Robert69 Little
Reggie Forwzy and Roberto Scognamillo

But the best part happened AFTER the show

Soundcircel Flanagan: awhhh lara showing up 2 hours too late
Soundcircel Flanagan: *Giggles insanely*
Soundcircel Flanagan: great timing
Laralette Lane: rofl 2 hours?
Soundcircel Flanagan: must be a dutch thing
Soundcircel Flanagan: noon is our 9 remember
Laralette Lane: lol and where are the last 5 minutes? hahahaha

Damn SL freaks, your on stage for about 2 hours and they cry over 5 minutes
*hahahahahaha*

Nights of Passion

Nights of Passion

What can i say about it ?
First i want you to listen to it

Nights of Passion

How do i explain how i write a song ?
Most times a lot of different things comes together,
leading to a personal reason to write a song.

Last year December, between Christmas and New Year i wrote Melting Ice

A classical piece of music, dedicated to winter time.
During the writing and recording proces
i thought it would be cool to write 4 pieces,
all dedicated to a season.
Crazy idea offcourse, but thats the beauty of dreaming,
it doesnt have to make sence.

In that same period i wrote the begin melody for this piece ( the openining flute )
not that it was my intention to write this particular song,
but melodies come at the most strange times.
I “buried” it in the back of my mind and started to do other things.

A few weeks ago i wrote Smiling Tears,
an unusual song for me, the orchestration is very simple.
Drums, bass and Guitars.

It was fun to do, but i love to write music,
i love to fool around with it and to try to make it all work,
so i tolled myself that the next song would me more complex
when it comes to the arrangements

Summer has left us, it rains most of the time here in holland,
we had allready a few autumn storms and i HATE it.
I am a sunlover, the more sun the better.
I rather have 95 then 80 Fahrenheit, the hotter the better

All of that was leading to this song,
because i miss summer time i wanted to have a happy song,
i wanted to write a big layered song,
i had that melody stuck in my mind,
and in the back of my head the urge to write those 4 songs.

E voila …….. Nights of Passion

Ok, the fun part now

Picture a woman, rising from the sea at night.
She walks on the beach and finds a man sitting at a bonfire.
She wants him, wants him bad.

The music makes her dance for him,
moving around the bonfire she seduces him.
Offcourse the man wants her too,
they dance together, seducing eachother

Finally they make love, lots of love,
passionate love that last all night long.

In the morning the woman sneaks out and disappears,
leaving the man behind ….

This is the story i had in mind with this song,
offcourse it is one big metaphor.

You can replace the woman for Spring time,
nature starts to develop and want to reproduce itself.
back in the old days, most babies where conceived in Spring time,
its the call of nature.
Nature gets rid of winter and is looking forward to the Summer,
Spring is the time for action.

Nature grows in Spring time,
love grows, the passion between the woman and the man in the song grows.
And i bet you can come up with your own metaphors

But all of this is not that important,
music is for pleasure, to listen too.
So……. enjoy

Sound.

Cutting back on shows

It seems that my cutting back on shows is paying off,
im doing this now since begin September and the last weeks i managed to write and record a song each week.
My 2 latest ones are ( in case you missed them )

Smiling Tears

And last week i did Nights of Passion

Besides finishing Nights i also started a new song,
so with a little bit of luck that is done next week.

Some ask me why playing on SL is sutch a time killer,
i can only speak for myself offcourse
i have no idea how others prepare, but for me it takes the whole day.

Lets assume i got a gig at Noon SLT ( witch is my 9 PM )
Normally i get up around 8 AM,
grab the newspaper, light a cigarette and have my first cup of coffee
( you will find out im a coffee addict )

I skip through the paper, let Summer out and around 9 i can start,
First i write down the setlist i am going to use that night.
I like to work in “blocks” and try to have a different show each time,
offcourse i keep in mind where i play and to what occasion.

Then i take another coffee and listen back previous recordings,
i know where i screwed up ( i write that down after a show )
or thought i screwed up and listen carefully.
I make some notes on what went wrong or what i could change.

Then around 10 i fire up the equipment,
first i check if everything still works, if there are no broken cables or anything else.
If something is wrong i got plenty of time to fix or replace it.

If that is all ok then i first work on the screw ups.
I play those song parts till i got them back in my system.
Offcourse i stop a few times for a coffee refill *lol*

Around noon i get hungry and fix a small lunch,
some sandwitches with a cup of coffee offcourse *hahahahaha*
After i finished it i work on other songs im going to play,
i rehearse them, try to come up with new ideas in the song,
try different endings etc.etc.etc.

Around 4 i take Summer out,
and around 5 i start my dinner.
Normally that takes an hour so at 6 i can eat.
I take the plate and set myself in front of the telly.

During and after dinner i watch some of my favourite comedies.

Spin City,
According to Jim,
Will and Grace.

Then its 7.30 PM, 1,5 hours to go till showtime.
i get something to drink ( mostly ice tea ) and change strings on my guitar.
around 8.15 i hop online, go to the venue and make sure i am rezzed and everything works.
I send the notice to my group, make a last coffee and install myself behind the pc.

I check my stuff,

Equipment on, check
Stream running, check
setlist in front of me, check
Second pair of cables and strings ready, check
Drinks on the desk, check
Summer has enough to eat and drink, check

When im finished with that, its about 8.45 and i am ready to Rock Crash and Roll
i make some fun with the audience and when there are more then 1, then i allready start *lol*
Around 11 PM the show is done, i talk to the audience for a while.
Log out, unhook the equipment, write down some things i noticed about the songs i played,
and take Summer out again.

Then around 12.30 i can hop to bed.

So you see, not mutch time left to write new songs,
i used to have like 4 shows a week, so i had 3 days left
i spended 1 day on doing some shopping and cleaning the hourse,
i have some family and friends to visit, so that left me with maybe 1 day to spend on writing.

Now with doing less shows i actually have time to finish music i started *lol*

Welcome ( again )

I happen to stumble upon this old blog again,
i started it a few years ago but didnt really took the effort to maintain it.
But since i got plenty of time these day’s i figered “What the heck”

Everyone is Blogging or Twittering these day’s,
so a little bit more of some web polution wouldnt kill anyone.

I am a musician, my life only excists out of music
( pathetic when you think about it right ? )
So mostly i will write about music related things.
Offcourse that won’t be the only thing, life is more then music.