SecondCast: Escape - The Second Life Song

My car was broken into the other day and I haven't had a chance to get a new one. Hence I missed episode #55 of SecondCast where they played Escape - The Second Life Song in the middle of the podcast!

I was cooking dinner for the kids listening to SecondCast episodes I had missed when suddenly my daughter starts laughing and jumping around, yelling "that's Daddy's song"!

Blog Post: PacificRim Exchange

I was talking to a RL friend the other day about SL, you know, trying to explain what this cyberspaceplace really is all about, and I made the comment that my SL persona had more google hits than my RL one. When I ran my name through, I found a nice comment on the PacificRim Exchange blog wondering how many Linden Lab iPods have these tracks in their playlists?

Hmm... I know that Pathfinder Linden has heard my tunes. Perhaps a Linden may stumble upon this and let me know if I'm getting any airplay there at LL?

BTW, the post on PacificRim Exchange about the History of Avatars is worth a look.

House of Flames gig goes down in, well, flames!

So there I am, three-fourths of the way through my House of Flames gig when someone hijacks my stream! Apparently the in-world vendor I purchased it from sold it to someone else as well. So I'm trying to play a quiet acoustic tune whilst some other guy has decided to DJ deathcore or something. Quite an abrupt sound switch for my listening audience.

I've IMed the stream provider and am awaiting a response--and my money back. After all, my gig was ruined and I lost income I would have normally received PLUS came across looking as a complete noob who doesn't know how to stream a show. Hopefully the stream proprietor will make good so that I don't have to name names and spread word of what happened. Screw ups DO happen and I am willing to live with that, but I want my 4,000 Linden back.

Watch this space for more details....

IT'S OFFICIAL: SLCC2007 here we come!

Just as I was getting ready to log off yesterday evening, I received an IM from Nethermind that the selection of performers for SLCC2007 in Chicago had been made and that I was chosen to be one of the soloists that will be backed by the house band!!

So, if you are in Chicago August 24th - 26th, be sure and stop by the Chicago Hilton and check out the live performance. It is also my understanding that a SLCC2007 Compilation Album is going to be put out featuring a song from each of the performers. While I'll be putting out a poll in-world to determine which tune should go on the CD, feel free to drop me a comment as well.

Surprise! Donburi on Secondcast #53

I was listening to SecondCast episode #53 "Beer in the Ballroom" when I heard Johnnie mention my name as the one who did the intro music to SecondCast episode #52 "One Year Anniversary." Then he went ahead and played "Dear Linden, Dear Linden" again!

Episode #53 was about SLCC2007. I've submitted my stuff to be one of the "chosen five." Hmmm.... coincidence? Guess we'll just all have to wait and see. In the meantime, why not listen to some tunes?

gig: March 24 at House of Flames

I'll be headlining the House of Flames line-up for the March 24th "March Madness" show. I've submitted some material for use in their podcast which should be coming out shortly. I sent them a new tune written especially for the upcoming gig: My Favorite Things (About Second Life) so hopefully they'll give it a play.

My Favorite Things (About SL)

written and performed by Niko Donburi


Offers of friendship and IM conversations
Dance balls and pose balls and new animations
Earning some Lindens with the songs that I sing
These are a few of my favorite things

Learning new games and vocabulary
Like tringo and slingo and of course primtionary
Taking a class to study scripting
These are a few of my favorite things

Wearing some clothes that a friend has made for me
Sailing a yacht on a virtual sea
Up in a sky box cybering
These are a few of my favorite things

When the grid's down
When there's griefers
When I can't TP
I simply remember my favorite things
and what Second Life means to me....

* * *

This was first performed at my first show at the House of Flames, one of the top venues in Second Life. I wanted to have a special debut so I built the show around this song. It is based on "My Favorite Things." It has been the only song that I could not find a chord chart online. So I had to figure it out by myself.

NIKO DONBURI: THE SL COMMUNITY MUSICAL MUSE

There is nothing cooler than run a google search on yourself and finding a post. Lordfly Digeridoo had a nice post about me on his GridBlog:

"If you’ve been listening to Secondcast lately, you might have caught 'Dear Linden, Dear Linden' by Niko Donburi, an acoustic guitar musician who happens to write catchy songs about Second Life. His song style is pretty catchy, even the faux-covers (of REM and Cheech and Chong, so far), but the lyrics cover pretty much most of the facets of the SL experience. Give him a listen :)"

Hopefully the SLCC judges are reading!

Kat's Place podcast

Katronix Serf (cool name), the host of the The Kat's Place podcast, has asked me to write him a theme song for his show. Take a listen and let me know what you think of it. He also features Dear Linden, Dear Linden as one of his spotlight tunes so now you've GOT to listen in....

[t2]SecondTunes

Bobby Fairweather has spent a lot of time getting SecondTunes up and running. It allows us SL based musicians to sell or give away our mp3s in-world. My bio page can be found here. And yes, I know that that is a low def picture I have up but I haven't had the chance to upload a better one yet.

At any rate, stop by Bobby's music store in-world and get some tunes!

SLCC?

Today was the deadline for submissions to SLCC2007. Only five performers will be selected to play on stage during the live event. I submitted three of my SL tunes: Second Life (That's Where I Want To Be), Dear Linden, Dear Linden and It's the End of the World As We Know It (In Second Life). Watch this space to find out if I am one of the chosen few...!

Blog Post: 9scape

SL resident iconolith Taggart and RL participant Christen Bouffard (by day, an instructional designer for UAF who spends a disproportionate amount of time exploring SL from an educational perspective; by night a pie loving shape-changer) gave me a nice "shout out" on her 9scape blog and gave the links to Second Life (That's Where I Want To Be) and Dear Linden, Dear Linden. Be sure and take a look at her blogs.

Donburi on iLike!

I was just googling myself one day (boy, that sounds dirty, doesn't it?) and ran across a hit on iLike. Much to my surpise there is a listing for Niko Donburi. That's pretty cool. Someone called Robbiet480 has, as of this date, listened to Second Life (That's Where I Want To Be) 20 times!

I am going to do some more digging into this Robbiet480 person who obviously has great taste!

Dear Linden, Dear Linden on Secondcast

The Secondcast 1 year anniversary show begins with Dear Linden, Dear Linden. It will be interesting to see what type of attention this will attract. Perhaps the SLCC2007 music selection folks will happen to listen to it and think, "damn, we've got to have this guy play as one of the chosen five..."

Gig: The Cafe

I had a great time performing at the Cafe in Barcelona last nite. If you have not seen that sim then you definitely need to stop by and check it out. It was also the first time I have played for an SL audience that had a significant number of non-English speakers. It certainly made following the chat a bit more difficult!

Thanks to the following for their contributions: Liam Serf, Jacobi Haskell, Tami Lyne, Zann Canto, Maximillian Desoto, Kent Diplomat, Sean Cinquetti, Flameheart Sol, Kelly Young , Lovely Encore , Eponymous Drake and the ever generous Circe Broom !

Gig: Artropolis

Niko Donburi plays Live at Artropolis 02, originally uploaded by Pathfinder Linden.

Here is Pathfinder over on the left. Is that a frog? Lizard? I'd best check his profile and see. If someone knows, put it in the comments... please!

Gig: Artropolis

Niko Donburi plays Live at Artropolis 03, originally uploaded by Pathfinder Linden.

I played the Artropolis Sim opening at the Mandel'Brats and Brew stage yesterday. Artropolis is the only artist colony in SL that supports all the arts: Art, Music, Poetry, and Theater. Esch Snoats did the building of the sim and it looks great. I think Filthy Fluno runs the place.

Before the gig I had a bit of trouble TPing into the sim as it was full. I thought I might end up ghost streaming the gig but fortunately someone got a Linden to lift the AV cap. Or perhaps someone else got booted out of SL and I happened to push the button at the right time!

A funny story: I was just getting into the set and half-way through Dear Linden, Dear Linden when Pathfinder Linden strolls in and stands right up by the stage. As best I could tell, his AV is an amphibian of some sorts. Then he hops up, only to get hit in the head by the ceiling fan. It was quite hilarious. I actually stopped playing and had to restart the song. Pathfinder has posted more photos he took over on Flickr so take a look....

Who is Niko Donburi anyway?

Hi.

Suffice to say if you've read this far, you must be interested in finding out more about me.

I'm basically a songwriter. A man, a guitar and a pen, as the saying goes.

Well, actually, I made that last bit up. There isn't such a saying. Or at least I don't think so. [Note to someone: please google that and let me know if there is.]

But, in essence, that is what I do. Think of some words, find some notes that fit (or vice versa) and then try and tell a story.

To me, the perfect song is one that you cannot stop thinking about.

Perhaps it has a catchy chorus that flutters in your head. Maybe it paints a story so vivid that you could swear that it was about you. Or maybe it simply causes you to press "play" one more time. These are the songs I try to write.

It would be a lie, of course, to tell you that every one of my songs is "perfect." In fact, I have a box full of cassette tapes, minidiscs and CD-ROMS as proof that most of my songs aren't. But I keep trying. And once in a while, sometimes once every couple of years, I'll get one right.

In RL I have spent many years living, traveling and playing music around the world. I have played clubs in Japan, restaurants in Indonesia and busked in the streets of London. I have studied songwriting formally at National Guitar Summer Workshops and informally by listening, listening, listening to music. Mostly, however, I have simply written songs. I'm realistic enough to realize that I'd never be able to make a living off of whatever songwriting talent I had, so I just write them because they need to be written.

These days I limit my performances to Second Life. It provides me with the opportunity to play my songs for people around the world without having to leave my home. I never enjoyed going to a coffee bar and trying to be heard over the espresso machine. Audience members rarely listened to the words, nor couldn't if they wanted to. Add to it my general reluctance to actually sing in front of people and you can see why performing in a virtual world would appeal to me.

Please check out some of the other links found on the main page. Feel free to IM me in-world or check out my SLProfile.

By the way, all songs posted here are:





This
work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.

I also compose ambient electronica under the name nikorasu. You can stream or download my CD "Music for Unseen Films" here and the soundtrack to my machinima collection, "Twisted Prim," should be up soon.

say something, anything

The word made its way slowly through the gossips and within a few days we all knew he had returned.

By then the crowds had begun filling the market street. His pilgrims were hot and dusty from their trek into Capernaum, and the sheer number of them made it difficult for me to keep an eye on any one of them. Marlev demanded I pay him extra to work into the afternoon, but I didn't put up much of a haggle. It was quite clear that even after paying him an additional shekel or two, I was still going to make quite a profit.

By midafternoon my stall was empty and I had closed for the day. Marlev got his pay and I took the rest to Eldorn the money changer for safekeeping. The pilgrims were everywhere, and the closer I got to home the more there were. The street was packed. People were standing shoulder to shoulder and I could barely get my way through. Children were perched on their father's shoulders to avoid harm else they might get trampled. They were a nuisance, dirty and I couldn't wait to get through them and into the safe and quiet of my home.

Across the way I saw Marlev fighting through the crowd, coming towards me. He began shouting my name and calling me over to him. His face was flushed and his clothes were dusty.

"We need your help," he shouted over the noise of the crowd.

I shook my head and waved him away. He fought the crowd and was able to get closer.

"No," he said. He paused for a moment to catch his breath. "You must help us with Shaphan. We've got to get him inside."

He turned and pointed to a doorway of a house just up the street. The doorway was open but I couldn't see into the building because of the people who were standing near the entrance. I could see that there was no way anyone, let alone Shaphan, was going to get in there.

I shook my head. "I've got things to do. Find someone else."

Before I could turn he grabbed my shoulder.

"This is important," he exclaimed. "He is inside, the one they are calling the Messiah. He can heal Shaphan."

I shrugged.

He reached in his pouch and pulled out the three coins I had paid him earlier. "Help me for this then." He put the coins in my hand. "It's all I have."

I hesitated for a moment then quickly pocketed the coins before he could change his mind. "Alright," I replied. "Where is he?"

Marlev turned and began pushing his way back through the crowd, crossing the street. I followed in his wake as best I could. He stopped near a pair of men who were standing over Shaphan, who was lying on his mat.

Shaphan and I had been friends once, back when he could walk. After his fall, however, I didn't have much company with him. I wasn't much fond of beggars, which was all Shaphan did since he could no longer do a normal man's work. I didn't know the other two men, but by their ages and the excitement in their eyes I could see that they were infected with the same fervor as Marlev. They talked amongst themselves. One of them wanted us to carry Shaphan on our shoulders and march through the crowd as a group to get him to the doorway. Marlev disagreed. By the looks of the crowd we weren't going to be going anywhere.

Suddenly, Shaphan spoke up. "The roof. Drop me through the roof."

I looked at the roof of the building we were trying to reach. Like the rest of the block, it had a thatch and roped cover. If we could find a way onto the roof, we might be able to break through the thatch. We could then lower him down....

By the time we were able to get Shaphan on the roof, I had realized that Marlev had gotten the better part of the deal. Shaphan was heavy, it was dusty and I was getting hot. We quickly pulled apart the thatch roofing and made a hole big enough to fit Shaphan through. With a heave we were able to get him through the hole and begin to lower his swinging body down onto the crowd. He was heavy.

"He's down," whispered Marlev. "And there's the Messiah."

I brushed one of the other two men away from the opening in the roof and looked down on the head of a man who was standing before the temple crowd.

"Why are you thinking such things in your hearts?" I heard the man say.

He pointed at the scribes one by one. "Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, pick up your mat and walk'?"

He went over to Shaphan, who was up on one elbow, watching.

"But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins on earth," he said loudly, still facing Shaphan. "I say to you, rise, pick up your mat, and go home!"

The room was still as we all watched Shaphan, reclined upon his mat.

There was silence.

Even the bugs had stopped their chirping outside.

From my angle, I could see his eyes. They were wide, gazing in adoration at the figure standing above him.

Shapah lifted his head.

Then stood.

The crowd gasped.

Shaphan looked down at the people seated on the floor. At the scribes seated before him. Then he bent down and picked up his mat. He didn't say a word. The crowd was silent. Shapan slowly made his way through the crowd to the door.

"Shaphan," I said.

He stopped.

Everyone looked at me.

The man they called the Messiah looked at me. Right in the eyes. And He knew what I was thinking. And He knew what I wanted to say even better than I did.

He saw my heart.

He saw my secrets.

He knew it was I who had pushed Shaphan off the wall.

My mouth went dry.

Everyone was looking at me.

Waiting for me to say something.

Anything.

something funny

Emailed to me so don't know the original source:

A farmer named Clyde had a car accident.

In court, the trucking company's lawyer was questioning Clyde.... "Didn't you say, at the scene of the accident, 'I'm fine,'" asked the lawyer?

Clyde responded, "Well, I'll tell you what happened. I had just loaded my favorite mule, Bessie, into the..."

"I didn't ask for any details", the lawyer interrupted. "Just answer the question? Did you not say, at the scene of the accident, "I'm fine!"?

Clyde said, "Well, I had just got Bessie into the trailer and I was driving down the road...."

The lawyer interrupted again and said, "Judge, I am trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of the accident, this man told the Highway Patrolman on the scene that he was just fine. Now several weeks after the accident he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a fraud. Please tell him to simply answer the question."

By this time, the Judge was fairly interested in Clyde's answer and said to the lawyer, "I'd like to hear what he has to say about his favorite mule, Bessie".

Clyde thanked the Judge and proceeded, "Well as I was saying, I had just loaded Bessie, my favorite mule, into the trailer and was driving her down the highway when this huge semi-truck and trailer ran the stop sign and smacked my truck right in the side. I was thrown into one ditch and Bessie was thrown into the other. I was hurting, real bad and didn't want to move. However, I could hear ole Bessie moaning and groaning. I knew she was in terrible shape just by her groans.

Shortly after the accident a Highway Patrolman came on the scene. He could hear Bessie moaning and groaning so he went over to her. After he looked at her, he took out his gun and shot her between the eyes. Then the Patrolman came across the road, gun in hand, looked at me, and said "How are you feeling?"

Now what the hell was I supposed to say?"