Live Music Review: Mash Rhode @ Cuddler's Cove

Second Life Live Music Review
Written by Music Desperados - Marioposa Upshaw & Experiment Rhode
Metaverse Music
Mash Rhode

" Last night as I lay dreaming of pleasant days gone by,
Me mind bein´ bent on rambling to Ireland I did fly,
I stepped on board a vision and followed with the will,
When next I came to anchor at the cross near Spancil Hill."

"dia duit gach duine agus failte go dti Cuddlers Cove"
hello everyone and welcome to Cuddlers Cove"

Mash Rhode is a singer/guitar player from Dublin, Ireland, which is evidenced from the moment he approaches the mic onstage and starts speaking over the stream. Mash is Dublin Ireland - He is the streets, Fibber Magees, the Half Penny Bridge over the Liffey, toast on one side, and a pint of Guinness.

M: Mash is self-admittedly, a "chord basher" who misplaces lyrics, says whoops when he messes up...

...reads the chat and giggles at the comments. But none of that matters, in fact it is part of what makes him so real, as if you're sharing your favorite songs with a friend. Mash has the ability to charm everyone in any gathered audience, because he loves people but even more, he loves music, is passionate about it, and it shows thru his strumming and his singing. He has this uncanny ability to chose songs which not only fit his vocal style, but honor his musical past and present. In the words of a mutual friend and brilliant musician, Russell Eponym: "Mash has such a raw talent, and he takes some great chances musically" (thanks Russell). Thru Mash, I learned about the music of Paul Weller, and the Zutons; JJ Cale and Plain White T's. I thought I knew alot about music, but he taught me more.

Today, Mash was the second act of Crazy Saturday at Cuddlers Cove - the special venue already described in our previous reviews of Russell Eponym and Quinton Whitman. Due in no small part to the magic of owners Suka Nishi and Quinton Whitman, Cuddlers is one of Mash's favorite venues to play.

Ex: Mash has a love of music that goes beyond his singing and playing, making for an entertaining show that will always keep your toes tapping if not your whole body dancing! (M: which is why he has such a loyal following that keeps coming back to hear him over and over). He always mixes his set lists with classic songs from the sixties by The Beatles, The Yardbirds and The Who etc. along with slightly obscure gems from the past 10 years from bands like Plain White T'S and Cast. Mash's exhuburance allows him to hold an audience in the palm of his hand and have them singing along and contributing to the songs like no other artist I have seen.

Ex: Mash's love for the 60's, an era of wonderful music from his youth, is evident in his repetoire. He especially loves The Beatles and will usually sprinkle 2 or 3 Lennon/McCartney classics in his sets. I must briefly make mention of one - "Blackbird". This song is a particularly difficult song to perform but Mash plays it note for note without a single mistake!! ( M: usually :) Worth the price of admission alone. Me tips me hat to ya!

Ex: Cry, Baby, Cry (The Beatles, 1968). This amazing John Lennon song is featured on The Beatles 1968 double album known as "The White Album". This song, that dosen't receive much credit amongst The Beatles glorious canon of music, is deserving of much more attention. Today, Mash gave it that attention - a lovely rendition that highlighted the wonderful wordplay Lennon instilled in this gem of a song. Mash articulates each and every word that brings the song alive in a way I have not heard before. Maybe its his rich Irish brogue or just his skill as a songsmith, but this song sounded as fresh as the first day I heard it so many years ago!

Ex: "Hey There Delilah" (Plain White T's): Call me old-fashioned, but until Mash played this song, I had never ever heard of it despite it being a US #1 and UK #2 hit in 2007 for the band "Plain White T's" from Chicago. It is such a catchy tune, I doubt many would not leave Mash's gig without it ringing in their ears! This song, in Mash's capable hands, now has a UK sound, transforming it into a poppy folk song rather than merely another pop song. A highlight of Mash's setlist!
Mari: "Heart to Hang Onto" (Pete Townsend) - When Mash introduced this song for the first time, I fell in love with it, so much so that I looked it up on Youtube and found a bad clip of Pete performing it on the David Letterman show...with....Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam. I loved Townsend's lyric - "Give me a heart to hang onto
Give me a soul that's tailored new, Give me a heart to hang onto, A heart to hang onto" - and i loved how Mash made it his own. This song is deceptively simple, and deeply poignant. Don't we all need a heart to hang onto?

2,3,4,5,6,7....

Mash has the ability to make you feel transported from any venue and welcomed into his in home studio, where you might find a bottle of bailey's, a floor covered with stained lyrics (is there someone holding them up for him to read?) and various papers, half-full glasses, over flowing ashtrays - Mash would offer you a pint, ask you to pull up a chair, and use the irish glamour to make you feel right at home, sharing musical stories from his youth and pulling you into his heart felt songs. It's an Irish ting.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=oD6dvRGKeBk
http://www.myspace.com/chordbasher

Live Music Review: Quinton Whitman @ Cuddlers Cove

Second Life Live Music Review
Written by Music Desperados - Marioposa Upshaw & Experiment Rhode
Metaverse Music
Quinton Whitman

M: I love Saturday monrings; whether I've been up most the night working on art, or jumping from venue to venue listening to live music...I look forward to the clock hitting 7amSL time.. because that means its time to go to Cuddler's Cove. Cuddler's Cove is one of my favorite venues in SL. Its a beach venue, lots of sand in front of a tiki sort of wooden stage.. but its not the aesthetics of Cuddler's that makes it special to me.. its the atmosphere. Some kind of mysterious voodoo magic happens at Cuddler's every saturday morning... something in the air .. its the line up of musicians no doubt, but its something more, more than the music.. its an atmosphere of joy and support and appreciation; you can read it in the intelligent, witty banter of the crowd, but I think truly the atmosphere of Cuddler's starts with the venue owners, Suka Nisha and Quinton Whitman.. and Quinton generally takes the stage first on Saturday mornings at 7amSL and works his own musical magic, setting the mood and tone for each act that follows.

I wish I could accurately describe Quinton's voice.. the first word that comes to me is "earthy" - deep, low down, rich and earthy, like something you want to hold in your hands and let it sift thru your fingers...

...soil so rich that strong grain or a mighty oak tree would flourish in it; but its also smooth like fine rich molasses, and growly and gravely, like a stony path in some dark mysterious forest.. and baby you want to walk that path with Quinton, because even tho its a little dangerous, a little sexy, its also irresistable.

Q hails from West Virgina but thats not what i hear in his voice.. i hear something on the wind - like some long lost relation from scotland or ireland whispering and beckoning, reminding us of music deep in tradition Q honors musical tradition .. you can see it in his choice of songs.. but what makes his deep set list so entrancing is the way he can take a song you've heard a thousand times before, and wrap that voice around it, and make it his very own.

Ex: Q's repetoire is a journey through the last 80 years of music, like a musical ride on one of those old trains that winds its way thru mountains and valleys, rocking and swaying, spewing smoke and steam, with unexpected stops along the way - each song is interpreted in a unique way and conjures stories that will have you thinking deeply about life in general - just like his opening song this Saturday morning, "City of New Orleans" written by Steve Goodman and made popular by Arlo Guthrie.

We like to poke around a musicians set list, and while evey song Q interrprets is worth mentioning, we will restrain ourselves and share our thoughts on just these:

Ex: "For What its Worth." / "Cowgirl in the Sand" is a masterful blending, highlighting two of rock's foremost troubadours, Stephen Stills and Neil Young - "For What its Worth" is a protest song from the mid 60's that still is topical even today unfortunately. Written By Stephen Stills as a member of the amazing band "Buffalo Springfield". Q took it's catchy melody and segued it into a song from the Springfield's other famous member Neil Young. The song in question is his tour-de- force "Cowgirl in The Sand" from 1969. Powerful strumming and magnificent delivery of two archetypal 60's songs - A highlight of Q's set.

"Catch the Wind" - Donovan: Lyric -" When rain has hung the leaves with tears, I want you near, To kill my fears, To help me to leave all my blues behind / For standing in your heart Is where I wanna be,/And I long to be, Ah, but I may as well try and catch the wind;" It's a forlorn love song, a song of longing.. he wants to be in her heart, but he "may as well catch the wind" - I had listened to this song many, many times but never really 'heard' it until Q sang it in his style, I didnt recognize it at first, so I listened intently to it..an example of how he reinteprets songs and makes them his own.

M: Ghost Riders in The Sky (Stan Jones, 1948) (made famous by Vaughn Monroe in 1949); House of The Rising Sun (Traditional) (First versions by Roy Acuff in 1938 & Woody Guthrie in 1941) - these two songs caught my attention - "Ghost Riders in the Sky" because when i first heard the guitar.. and the first part of the lyric.. i thought.. i know this..why do i know this? and then i heard Dick Dale's version, and Frankie Laine's version playing in my head.. and i thought.. wow, just brilliant; With House of the Rising Sun, i thought back to my own childlike attempts at playing my first six string, and the fact that this song, which has been covered by nearly every musician who puts guitar in hand, was made totally and completely new, fresh and unique by Q. and if thats not a testimony to musicianship, what is?

The Parting Glass: Traditional song, often sung at the end of a gathering of friends. It was allegedly the most popular song sung in both Scotland and Ireland before Robert Burns wrote "Auld Lang Syne". Q sings this acapella, often the closing song of his set. The first time I heard him sing this,Ii was mezmorized, I hung on each word, each note; for when a singer comes out from behind his guitar, and offers only his voice, that is the testimony that your voice is your instrument It takes courage to relinquish your guitar and stand alone - you, your voice, the audience - and with this song, Q manages to take you straight to a neighbourhood pub, a gathering of friends, and makes you feel cherished and that you know, you know - you'll come back again.
We urge you to attend any set by Quinton Whitman.. We guarantee "joy will be with you all".

http://www.tallanwhite.com/
http://www.thesixtyone.com/Tallanwhite/
Youtube

Some Good Web Musical Resources & Marketing Possibilities

Written by Enniv Zarf
Metaverse Music

There are a lot of great resources for musicians online outside of Second Life to use to promote original music. I have been exploring all the different possibilities and still discovering more. So I figured I should list them here just in case if you have missed some. And if you know of any other good resources, by all means list it in the comment section here in the article.

There's a good list after the jump so be sure to click on the read more link to read the whole article.

First of is of course the ever popular Myspace - www.myspace.com...

...Musicians as well as other artists of media genre can create a profile to promote themselves. The positive aspect of myspace really is just its popularity. Nearly every musician online has a profile so it's a great way to network. Feel free to add me there www.myspace.com/paulkwo. Your profile page can be manipulated pretty much almost in its entirety custom to your liking as long as you know how to do it. The drawback of the site is the limited amount of music you can upload.

Next we have The Sixtyone - www.thesixtyone.com which I discovered after reviewing a few musicians in Second Life. The cool thing about this site is that your fans can bump you up. It's a neat little program that gives you a little more reach. Personally I think it's more fun for your fans then for you. It is also definitely much more pop/rock oriented. The other drawback is that you really only get to upload a very limited amount of music onto the site. You get to upload more after being bumped. But for me personally it's not very effective since classical oriented music don't fare all that well there to begin with so I am capped. Feel free to bump me if you like at www.thesixtyone.com/paulkwo.

The site I am now very fond of is Reverb Nation - www.reverbnation.com. It really is a one stop music marketing and promotional website for artists. It's virtually unlimited in the amount of music an artist can upload. It connects itself directly to an artist's myspace page as well as facebook and other programs. It's got a bunch of cool widgets to use. It has very professional management tools of fans and promotional tools. It even have a gig finder to hook artists up to venues. The majority of their site and tools are free. There are some really advanced additional tools that you can pay for. But usually when an artist actually require those tools, you would already be making some money which would easily pay for any of those. I am absolutely a fan of Reverb Nation now and I've uploaded a huge amount of my music up there now. Feel free to listen to my music at www.reverbnation.com/paulkwo. Join as a fan of mine if you like too!

Facebook - www.facebook.com is gradually developing things for artists to use such as their artists page. But they are definitely very underdeveloped and isn't really all that friendly to artists. But if you have an established facebook profile, it's still a great way to do more networking. My profile is at usc.facebook.com/profile.php?id=3434939

The best program I think to sell music is CDbaby - www.cdbaby.com. It's a pretty affordable way to sell music and gets your music at a huge amount of websites, more then Reverb Nation's program. Though CDbaby is just slightly more expensive then Reverb Nation when it comes to CD releases, mainly they take a tiny little bit of commission on every sale. But they do also allow hard copy sales which Reverb Nation doesn't do. And they do sell. They are very well established and people do visit CDbaby looking for new music to buy. I have sold hardcopies and MP3's there before I even started promoting it myself. Check out my album (will be albums in a few weeks) at www.cdbaby.com/all/paulkwo. If you want to join as an artist, you will need to visit their artist site which is CDbaby.net

A few other marketing possibilities for artists are:

1) Blogger.com - Wordpress.com - LiveJournal.com - Xanga.com - Friendster.com

Blogging is really a great way to keep your fans up to date with all your happenings as well as get to know you a little better on a personal level. That always helps keep them as your fans when you add more personal touch. Though of course you do run into the problem of revealing too much and upsetting people. So be sure whatever you blog about, it's still in line with yours or your band's brand.

2) Podcasting @ iTunes and other podcasting sites

I think podcasting can be a very beneficial way of building a fan base. I record all my live music concerts and then I post them up as podcast episodes on a very regular basis. Of course if you do cover songs you will run into rights issues with ASCAP and BMI. But if you do all originals, consider doing some sort of podcast episode every now and then! Let your fans who missed you live catch up with you on your podcast!

3) Indaba Music - indabamusic.com

This is a very neat site where you can collaborate in recordings with artists from around the globe. It's a great resource and all the programs are free there for you to use so why not take advantage of it. It's like google documents for musicians. It really is a neat website. Visit my Indaba Music @ www.indabamusic.com/people/paulkwo

4) SNOCAP - Snocap.com

I personally have had a bad experience with this site mainly because it never worked. Nothing played properly on that site for me so I eventually just canceled the account. Their customer support was totally useless. But if you get it to work, it's a good way to sell some music.

5) Twitter - www.twitter.com

Twitter is a simple way to just keep people posted of your latest activities. The most beneficial thing is that a lot of sites allow for an importing of your twitter so it'll simplify you updating people about your events and activities. Mine's at www.twitter.com/paulkwo

6) LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com

A very good networking website that's business oriented. But you may still find some really good music connections there. My linked in is at www.linkedin.com/in/paulkwo

When you have set up all these sites, be sure to post it to your Second Life profiles to let all your fans know to join you there also.

If you have any of your own suggestions, feel free to comment here and share with everyone!

Metaverse Music Welcomes The Music Desperados

Written by Enniv Zarf
Metaverse Music

Metaverse Music wants to officially welcome our new reviewer team the Music Desperados!

Marioposa Upshaw & Experiment Rhode are both musicians in real life and have extensive musical backgrounds.

We are very excited about this wonderful new team and believe that they will add an exciting perspective to the Second Life live music scene that will benefit everyone!

Please feel free to leave us your comments and thoughts about our work here! We always welcome your feedback!

Also if you feel you are qualified to review music and would like to be on our team of reviewers of Second Life live music, please feel free to contact Enniv Zarf inside Second Life to apply. We are continuously looking for individuals with a passion for Second Life music who will give us different perspectives to all that goes on in SL as well as bring forth to the limelight the diamonds in the rough!

Thank you everyone for being a part of Metaverse Music!

Live Music Review: Russell Eponym

Second Life Live Music Review
Written by Music Desperados - Marioposa Upshaw & Experiment Rhode
Metaverse Music
Russell Eponym

Hello Metaverse Music..welcome to the first post by your intrepid reviewers Experiment Rhode and Mariposa Upshaw, the Music Desperados. Our motto is Sin temor, sin favoritismo (no fear, no favoritism)

Russell Eponym
@ Cuddlers Cove 9amSL time Saturday January 17th and
The Wild Rover 5amSL time Sunday January 18th
For our debut, it is our pleasure to present a review of two shows by the immensely talented Russell Eponym, gentleman guitarist, romantic squire and songsmith. Russell has returned to SL after an absence, and we are of the opinon that the musical audiences of SL are much the better for his return.

Russell is an accomplished guitarist as well as a superb harmonica player - his finger picking is of the highest calibre and his eloquent vocal style, reminisent of the finest British thespians of the West End Theatre District, is rich and engaging- whether he is singing one of his original compositions, or any of his superbly selected covers. Russell shares his vast knowledge and joy in each song he presents with his audience, demonstrating his rare ability to make each audience member a part of his personal musical journey.

The first show was at the wonderful Cuddler's Cove, owned by Suka Nishi and Quinton Whitman, two of the warmest, supportive venue owners in SL...

...their sincere love of music and appreciation of musicians (Quinton being a very talented singer/musician himself), is readily apparent in all they do here. Cuddlers Cove is a magical venue indeed.
The second venue was Pauly Zimmer's Wild Rover, a warm and friendly pub with a great stage, a perfect setting for an engaging performer such as Mr. Eponym.


Russell's set list inludes covers by such artists as Bob Dylan (Boots of Spanish Leather, Don't Think Twice, its Alright; Love Minus Zero -No Limit); Donovan (Jersey Thursday, Colours and Catch the Wind); John Prine (The Speed of the Sound of Lonliness) and The Rev. Gary Davis (Cocaine, Candyman) Russell also presented a wonderfully crafted medley of Summertime, It Ain't Necessarily So, and Hit the Road Jack, finishing full circle back to Summertime. It should be noted that in the traditional blues song Candyman, Russell's finger picking increases in velocity setting the strings virtually on fire, and he never misses a note.

Regarding Russell's original compositions, we have chosen three for comment:
One Embrace - Russell's second life partner and rl wife Marianne Madrigal wrote the lyrics for this lovely song. It must be said that the love shared between Russell and Marianne is most evident, not only in the songs he presents, but in the way they communicate with each other during each performance. The audience cannot help but be wrapped in the warm embrace of the genuine and sincere love they have for each other, a rare and lovely thing to behold.

You Have No Eyes - this very special poignant song, speaks to the issues of discrimination and making judgments...if it fails to reach your heart, then you might want to see if your heart is where it should be. A sample of the lyric: "you dont have eyes to see my dreams, although you think you know me well, you've never gone behind the scenes, or sunk within my careless spell".

Sonnet - the lyrics of this original composition combine two poems, for Russell's dear Marianne. It is a melodious testimony to the love they share.

Your intrepid reviewers urge you to catch one of Russell's show's ..when you do, we guarantee that you will be musically embraced with his talent, warmth, and his extraordinary passion for music and musical stories.

Oh for those inquiring minds: An eponym is a person, whether real or fictitious, after whom a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named. Someone eponymous is someone that gives their name to something, i.e. Julian, the eponymous owner of the famous restaurant Julian's Castle.

For more of Russell:
http://www.thesixtyone.com/ukcowboysinger/collection/all
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1AxuY1FASQ

New Reviewer Biography - Experiment Rhodes

Written by Experiment Rhode
Metaverse Music

Ex's musical adventures began at age six, when he began piano lessons in Sydney, Australia. The five years of piano and his love of music eventually led Ex to compose original music, to production and engineering, and finally to the formation of a band with mates in Australia.

Ex was for 15 years the editor of Australia's only Beatles' fanzine and he is a credited contributor to the Beatles Anthology Project as well as a consultant to MPL's (McCartney Productions Ltd.) Wingspan - the history of Paul McCartney's solo career.

Music Desperados = Sin temor, sin favoritismo (no fear, no favoritism)

New Reviewer Biography - Mariposa Upshaw

Written by Mariposa Upshaw
Metaverse Music

Mari's musical journey began at age sixteen when she purchased a used six string acoustic, and some musical books and started bashing about learning chords to CSN&Y and singing along. Just like alot of other music crazy kids, she eventually joined a band in high school, singing and then playing her first bass, an epiphone. Post college, she returned to California, joined a rockabilly band as their bass player, (playing a fender mustang), and sometime singer, playing the same clubs as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Los Lobos. A move to Texas led to playing bass (fender jazz bass) in a cover band Class Action.

Mari has written poetry, essays, short stories all her life and has parcipated in poetry readings, including the recent Amnesty International poetry reading in SL

Music Desperados = Sin temor, sin favoritismo (no fear, no favoritism)

Metaverse Music News for 2009

Metaverse Music News
Written by Enniv Zarf (RL: Paul Kwo)
Metaverse Music

Thank you everyone for being a supporter of our work here at Metaverse Music. We took a little break over the winter to get some things sorted out.

We will be picking up with reviews with 2 new fantastic reviewers this 2009! We will be posting their biography here in the coming days so you can all get to know who they are and what they are about. Soon after we will bring in their first reviews which they have been very busy at this last week!

We will keep the site going for as long as we can to help bring about more serious conversations and discussions of music in Second Life!