Freestar Tammas - A Mind That Never Sleeps

oh yes...about the future of SL Music as far as LL goes?

2009-08-15T22:27:00.003-04:00

Sorry to report, that according to Collussus linden who was representing LL today at this presentation...well..between Paisley Beebe, who was present in SL and RL, myself, and the host on the SL end, Grace McDonnough...folks....he was given no quater.

What I believe was determined is that LL is still holding to their line that "yes we find SL live music so valuable and it certainly has a presence and we are definitely interested, however, lots of other things are more important and live music is not new user friendly, (what???) and we are on our own for the rest of 2009 and no promises for 2010. OK. Got it.

but Grace and Paisely and also Apple McKay had great suggestions. We all gave solid input. Let's hope they listened. But for now and the forseeable future we are on our own.

More later.

Oh my!

2009-08-15T22:20:00.003-04:00

Musicians, wow..lots happened. Thursday night we were just blown away by the folks... matching names to faces at the open mic at the Sellers Markets. Great white pizza too. But I was fried from travel and needed recovery time.

Friday, I managed to get to one music track...had to check out Gwampa as part of the expert panel on creating the best venues. I learned some things but I think that for the novice it would have not been that useful. There was a high level of tech know-how in the room. Saturday night I found the jam that was supposed to happen in room 1121, but was forced to leave due to sound level complaints. They found a home in the domed lobby. Really interesting acoustics. Cool sim to jam. I sang a bit along with Pato, Rosedrop, Juel, and even Cyl stuck her head in on her PR rounds to sing a chorus or two. I noticed when we started to grow in number quite quickly and alot were singing, the hotel security came closer and looked a little anxious, we were in front of the hotel bar entrance, but they let us play without hassle. Some locals that heard the music came in from the street and enjoyed it. Interesting night!

Pepe is here now and we are planning to go to the big Musician party. Tickets can be bought at the door, we understand, for $20. That's about 5 thousand Lindon, ya'll. Just saying!

So off we go to the musician's ball as soon as my hair dries. :D Will i get to harmonize some more tonight? Please o please yes! No sleeping tonight dammit!

Roominating

2009-08-13T21:04:00.005-04:00

So after a lovely repast communing with the Gods of the Volcano, Pepe, Kwai and I talked about where to eat after we came to realize we were pigging out on airport snacks of potato chips and trail mix, high quality both, but destined to make us regret it at some point. Pepe says he feels "full" but does not elaborate. We may go out to eat. I have directions to an open mic going on at a Dublin-style pub with SLers. Cylindrian, who I ran into in the hotel lobby when carrying up my Temperpedic mattress topper gave me directions after a hug and "who are you?" I can tease her about that indefinitely I think. :D

Oh and a wonderful thing about our hotel room which seems reasonably clean and comfortable, is that it has double doors that open to a small private patio. Nothing in site unless you look up and see the neighboring tall buildings, some of which are pretty awesome, architecturally speaking. Granted there is nothing I want to even give the name "architecture" where I live, more like very functional boxes. OK...the food brigade says it's time to head out, to the open mic, I think, in hopes of discovering both music and food there. :D Yay!

SLCC - Arrival

2009-08-13T17:36:00.002-04:00

Here we are, Kwai and I at the SLCC in San Francisco, at the Westin St. Francis. First time for either of us to...well all of it. The plane right was long, but we had first class tickets so was not bad. They fed us constantly.

I decided to go ahead and blog about things right here, my whole experience as it unfolds, assuming I have the energy and time to write but there is always time to blog right? yeah...anyway... This is where it happens folks!

Our friends Pepe and Carol, natives to the area, are going to meet us soon. We shipped my tempurpedic mattress to them and a few other things we wanted to have but not travel with us. After the conference we will go spend some time with them at their home and seeing the sights of northern CA.

But first, dear friends, first coffee! Off to explore the lobby and see what coffee can be found. We have already summarily rejected the $7 Snickers bar from the room. eeegads Internet connection for 3 days cost $40. Oh the price of convenience!

Slowly I Turn.....

2009-05-31T13:03:00.002-04:00

OK.....about a thousand times in the past 2 years I have thought, "That's IT! I am SO gonna blog about this!" And then I think, "Naw...expressing my opinions will just result in more drama and a lot of freaking nutjobs unloading their sickness on me."

Well, I've decided that I don't care. I need a forum to express what I think about what is going on in the SL music community, something I have devoted about 12 hours a day for over 2 years of my life to. I figure that does at least entitle me to an opinion. Will I risk my current popular status? *falls over laughing* Yeah...right. However much I may have cared what people thought of me in SL in the past...well...I have lost the desire to please I suppose. About time, right?

For the past week I have been limiting my typing due to continued neck and wrist pain from overuse, presumabley, or I would get started today. Will have to wait. But I promise... I will be shooting from the hip going forward. Possibly using a speech recognition software I have purchased recently called "Dragon, Naturally Speaking." Hopefully it will work for blogging. Check in soon. From now on my rants and opinions go here, not to a million random people in-world. (Maybe all that in world ranting is why I have overuse injuries?) I'll say it once...then feel free to talk amongst yourselves. You will anyway.

Respect! Freestar

Lost my friend

2008-05-14T06:03:00.002-04:00

Lost
the beast uncoiled
my friend
Lost
I took back my things
my friend
Lost
My heart stayed captive
never asked to wait, it waited
asked to leave, it stayed
my friend
Lost
I didn't understand
my friend
Lost
Pain is not conveyed easily in text
My own pain eclipsed the words I read
I wasn't playing
I opened fully
and fully hurt now
I couldn't wait more
I wasn't understanding
my friend
Lost
my friend

This or That and Also This

2007-08-09T08:12:00.000-04:00

So I've been looking around at other blogs by other SL musicians and thinking...wow...I'm putting up a lot of personal stuff here and others are mainly just talking about Second Life and using their blog as an informational resource, like about where they are playing and so on. And here I am putting every deep and not so deep thought I have up. Hmmmmmmm.......

Also I am wondering, do I put photos of stuff (as in results of silly photo shoots and do and pics of stuff going on at Freestar Bay) or do I put them in my myspace?

Also I am wondering, should I put links to my lyrics here (and how would I do that) or do I keep them on my SLprofiles.com account? Hmmmmmm......

Coordinating all these various information portals is a bit daunting...I am once again a noob. Ugh. I'm trying to figure it all out..where to put pics, where to put information, where to put thoughts, where to put links, where to put what part of me, how much to reveal, how much to conceal, how fake or how real? Will I one day apppear slick and spit-polished? Part of me says yes, that's inevitable if you keep working on it and part of me rebels and says..Nooooooooo....I refuse! Which part shall I submit to? Hmmmm......

Wellllll...at least I'll try to get more organized about it. :D

Free!

explore it don't ignore it

2007-08-08T03:50:00.000-04:00

Ok....so now I have a blog, officially and most seriously....and I should probably write really important things about important things. Probably something about my exciting music career in Second Life! Well...it IS exciting! Every day brings new excitements and new challenges and new friends and new opportunities not to sleep! Instead I am going to share a poem I wrote after hanging out with Juel Resistance for a while today, watching her build, talking about the process of songwriting and creativity in general, and the art of words. Here it is:

explore it don’t ignore it

Earth! Crazy round deep hot cold soft bold god given creation of nations in search of the patience to love it before it removes us from its afflicted skin…PEOPLE!

explore it don’t ignore it

brother sister whiter blacker couldn’t it matter less if we were blessed with sight and soul of giving living touching hearing acknowledge fear and open ears to open hearts to open minds, not time for guilt and fear that binds and blinds our minds People!

explore it don’t ignore it

richer poorer babies underfoot stepping on the heads of beautiful children desperate grabbing taking needing pleading hear me see me help me believe in me believe in me believe in me PEOPLE

expore it don’t ignore it
against it or for it
explore it don’t ignore it

Respect! Free

In the beginning, there was a myspace blog

2007-08-08T03:42:00.000-04:00

That's right...I started this project of blogging at www.myspace.com/freestar_tammas, but now you see, I have decided to use an actual blog for my blogging. Imagine that? However I am lazy...soooo...I'm going to copy and paste my first two blogs from there to here. :D

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Wowie Zowie! All things Transformed!
Current mood: thankful
Category: amazed Music

Wow wow wow!

Get a Myspace account! I heard that nearly every day so I finally gone and done it. Wooo! So this is the most counter intuitive program I think I have ever been confused by...but I'm sure that will pass.

Anyway...what all that wowing is about is that Sunday, July 15 marks the two month aniversary of my streaming in SL. Which means that exactly 15 days after I joined this crazy ass world (Second Life) I started to stream my music live. It was a crazy thing..sitting in Tyrol's garden (which has since been transformed into a total paradise and tribute to all things classic and beautiful) and playing all of four..yes four songs. That's all my poor little fingers could do on the guitar because I hadn't played in about a year and a half. And I had not performed in about six years.

Many don't know this because I don't talk about it alot but I got pretty sick about six years ago and have since been partially disabled and unable to work in the REAL world in any consistant or viable manner. I was painting and drawing alot, because I am also a visual artist, but the problem came when I couldn't figure out how to market my work without running into the same limitations I had with getting out and performing music.

My life goal...my calling...as I currently understand it is to take the many creative gifts I have been given and to use them to make a difference, specifically to improve understanding and relations between black and white folks in the USA, and channel any money streams I manage to generate into projects that will make a difference in the world..to fight poverty...end suffering...open doors...well..OK so I want to save the world. I admit it. I know I can't (I'm not that delutional) but I do believe that I can make a difference, even if it just means one person grows, one person helped...that one life is precious too. Maybe that one person is the one that WILL change the world, right?

But I had been feeling, especially in the wake of my mother's death in February 2006, like I had no idea how I would ever do that with my limitations. I felt my world had pretty much come to a screeching halt and my grandiose visions became nothing more than pretty fantasies to pass time with while I played the Sims 2 and tried to think of good reasons to wake up in the morning. (I thank my God daily for my husband Kwai and my step girl Bluestar for being the best reasons.) Then I discovered Second Life. And overnight it all changed. I have a vehicle now (my fully abled avatar) and my limitations are not so meaningful anymore, beyond the compassion and awareness they have given me. I play my songs to a global audience almost daily and the future just seems brighter all the time!

Now... my friends and family are very slow to catch on to this...you know those looks...patronizing and patient..but the eyerolling can be seen behind the pleasant smile. Tho it seems to stop as soon as I mention the possibility of getting some US dollars out of all of this.

People often ask me about my musical goals. I tell you now...I don't give a damn about fame. Fame...especially in its extreme forms is only good for losing privacy and having to buy a big house with gates around it and security guards and so on. It becomes a form of prison...and I am seeking freedom. However I do want the cash flow that comes with fame because than I can DO something that matters and would make a difference with it. Money is a tool to me though..it is far from an end in itself. If, however I did end up famous by some bizzaro chance...I vow to use it as an opportunity, a platform to bring awareness of how we are all just more people struggling to have love, security, stability, family...all the same things. It makes no difference where you live or what your culture is or how much natural sun protection your skin may have come with. We all need and seek the same things from life. We are all just people.

We are all just people. Be good to each other.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Tours and Recording
Current mood: Groovy, but tired
Category: Groovy, but tired Music

Well, yesterday and today were quite the trip.

Starting with yesterday...it suddenly occurred to me to offer a tour of Freestar Bay. If you've never heard of Freestar Bay..well..its my bay..hahahaha. Wait, did I already talk about this in my last blog? Well anyway...I have this bay. I have the potential opportunity to rent the land beside it and get the extended coastline I wanted to start with, but..enough is enough. For now anyhow. What I've got is pretty cool and I've got to be able to pay for that before I can expand it. The tour went great. I was amazed how many people actually showed up. I was bumming pretty hard about my first two openings but some very kind friends, some new and some relatively old really worked to get me to feel better and suceeded. So anyway, I had this tour and it went totally amazingly great. That was yesterday. I thought maybe five people would come but 18 showed up. Thank goodness Avvy was there and ready to jump in whereever needed! (Avvy did the cool video of my first opening.)

So...as we went along, more people appeared, I guess because the people that were already there liked what they saw. There were many compliments and exclamations and that made me feel really good. Then we got up to the Virtual Universe and even more people came, and Avvy played live and so I sent out an annoucement and more came..I never did get a total head count but it was great to see all those avatars dancing around and having a good time in something I envisioned and made happen. That really rocked. Then I did a short set and that night did a decent set to a not very big crowd in Nantucket. I'm worried about the low attendance at those..but i have to consider the kind of competition I am up against at that hour too...its a tough time.

Today was just as exciting because I talked to Pman on skype and he and Guitar Edman decided to make me their test project for the recording process using their SL studio. It was a wakeup call too..because I realize now..after a two hour conversation..pre-production, he called it, that I am really gonna have to stop playing for awhile..put off my tour and all and just focus on recording for at least a solid month. It's gonna be alot of work..learning how to use my equipment for real as well as possibly several software programs, as well as really improving my chops, specifically my guitar playing, but in the end I will be a better musician and also know how to do this myself..and its really about time, you know? There's alot of work ahead, and it will be a challenge to keep what I started with Freestar Bay going but I think I can do it. I may need to hire someone to oversee things and alot of my (and largely Avvy's) ideas are going to have to wait.

Just the same, someone I never heard of before was visiting the bay and donated 50L. That's cool! :D This just might work!

Free!