Second Jam Radio

Xerses Goff (mastermind behind the Arbor Project and The Teleportation Trail), after being interviewed by ABC News at SLCC, turned around and interviewed me for his nascent Second Jam radio station.

Not only are many of my Second Life parodies playing, but he also has snippets from our interview and some of my non-SL songs as well. Other artists include Cylindrian Rutabaga, Rich DeSoto, Ka-klick Martin, and others.... Listen in.

download stuff

Can't make SLCC? No problem!

I understand if this year's SLCC in Chicago is just too far away for you to attend, I really do. That's no excuse, however, for not catching the show.

Those of you with Second Life accounts can attend one of the various in-world venues that will be live streaming the audio. I and the rest of the band (the Music Monkeys) will be logged into SL whilst we are playing so you will be virtually there. If the many sims are full, lagged or if you simply have something else to do in-world then you can stream the audio to your parcel: http://social.phreak-radio.com.

What? You don't have any land? No problem: I'm setting my Tyta parcel to the stream before I leave so that you can stop by the ole duck pond (yes, it truly is a duck pond) and enjoy some SL wildlife along with the tunes.

Those of you that are technologically impaired or have chosen to avoid getting a Second Life for whatever reason don't need to feel left out either. Well, OK, you can feel left out but you can still listen in by entering the following into WinAmp, I-Tunes or another stream reader:

http://phreak-radio.com/social.pls

And lastly, those of you who truly have NO IDEA what the hell I am talking about need to get a life....

Tales from the Grid

After heavy lobbying from certain nuts in the peanut gallery I call my fanclub, the name of the CD has been finalized as Tales from the Grid. Actually, I think it perfectly summarizes the contents of the songs contained within.

Those of you attending SLCC in Chicago on Sat. August 25th will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to purchase the CDs. I've only printed up 35 of them so once they are gone, they are gone. I'll set one aside for you if you send me an email. Heck, I'll even mail you one if you want to pay for shipping. The cost: only $5 US or whatever the equivalent is in Lindens! That's a better deal than you'll be getting on iTunes when I get around to finalizing the details for inclusion on that all-too-addictivesite.

CD title headache

As some of you know, I am in the process of finalizing a CD of my SL songs to bring to SLCC. Esch Snoates, design builder of Artropolis sim and a featured artist at this year's SLCC, and I have been trying to come up with a suitable title for the CD. Something that will capture the essence of the songs and SL.

Here are some of the ones discussed this evening:

"Second Life: Buggier Than First Life"
"The Furry Linden Conspiracy"
"Grid Wars: A New Dope"
"Lindens and Furrys and Geeks, Oh My!"
"Tales from the Grid"
"The Magical Mystery Grid"
"Second Life Survival Guide"
"Things to listen to while the grid is down"
"Second Life: The Saga Of The Rolling Update"
"Dear Linden, Dear Linden"
"Second Life: It's not just for porn anymore"
"Biting The Grid That Feeds Me"
"SL: The Chronicles Of Noob"
"So Pretentious, It's Untitled"
"Don't Eat Soggy Cornchips"
"This Aint' Yo Mama's Second Life"
"Not Suitable For Anybody"
"Missing Image"
"SL: The Day The Grid Died"
"Stability Isn't Just A Four Letter Word"
"Songs That Make You AFK"
"Packet Loss And You"
"Songs To Lag By"
"Untitled and Unloved"
"The Truth About Second Life"
"Waiting For A Third Life"
"For A Few Lindens More"
"A Fist Full Of Lindens"
"God Save The Lindens!"
"In Second Life, Titles Write You!"
"My poseball is bigger than your poseball"
"Gridstock"
"Singing In The Grid"
"Darkside Of The Grid"
"Bark At The Grid"
"Last Train To Gridsville"
"Sgt Niko's Lonely Second Life Band"
"SL: A Cry For Help"
"Second Life: A Fork In The Eye"
"Don't blame me, I voted for Niko!"
"Buy This CD And Grow Hair!"
"6 Songs To Help You Lose Weight!"
"Flammable Songs For Combustable People"
"The First Of Second Life"
"A Second Life First"

At the conclusion of which I said to hell with it and decided to simply name the thing "Second Life".

SLCC: Here we come!

Thankfully, as you have all likely heard by now, the performers at SLCC and the powers-that-are at SLCC were able to come to an agreement over the terms of the release. You can read more at the SLNN website.

OK, it was all my fault. I posted, in relevant part, the following on the SLCC Music Performers group:

I recently saw this on http://slcc2007.wordpress.com/2007/06/28/slcc-community-standards-agreement:

"5. With the exception of Phreak Media and its subsidiaries, recording
of video or audio of any sessions or live performances is strictly
prohibited and subject to legal action. We are bound by both union
rules and contractual obligations. This does not apply to news
coverage and interviews or incidental documentary footage, B-Roll and
background images. It is not permissible to rebroadcast any
performance, panel or track."

I found this "new requirement" particularly interesting given that I
am one of the performers that has been selected to perform at SLCC. It
was certainly news to me that I am now prohibited from recording (on
audio or video) my own performance. Even more interesting is that I
have somehow given "Phreak Media" (whomever they may be) the EXCLUSIVE
rights to record and publish my performance. When did I do this?

I think all of us performers are entitled to an explanation as to what
is going on. I routinely record my performances (both in RL and SL)
and encourage others to do as well. I was not pleased to find out that
some otherwise unknown entity (The Future United) has given another
unknown entity (Phreak Media) an exclusive license over my
intellectual property without having the decency to inform me.

The response included a "release" that I was informed I had to sign in order to play at SLCC. Then the fun began as set forth:

on Slim's blog

and SecondLife Insider amongst others.

Of particular note was John Swords a/k/a Johnny Ming of SecondCast's comment:

3. The agreement between Phreak Radio and SLCC organizers was not in the spirit of new media and should be reconsidered because its simply unprecedented.

I personally will attend regardless of what the musicians do. However, I fully intend to audio and video podcast from the event.

If Phreak Radio or the SLCC organizers want to escort me or anyone else off the premises for doing so, so be it.


Posted at 6:01PM on Jul 6th 2007 by John Swords

Let's all hold our breath and see what happens!!

Blog Posts

Thanks to my handy-dandy ego notification system (aka Google!), I received notice that Bella March stumbled upon and put in a plug for my tunes. Take a look at her post on her blog The Adventures of Bella March in Second Life.

It turns out that google doesn't get everything as Vint Falken also posted on her blog VintFalken.com about AND suggested an additional verse for Dear Linden, Dear Linden.

As Vint comments, Dear Linden, Dear Linden is a bit outdated these days. Everytime I play it I have to keep increasing the number of millions referenced in the third verse. When I first wrote it, 1,000,000 users was still a bit of a ways off (and brought the grid to its knees). Now we are at 7,256,167 as of this post. By the time SLCC comes around, I wonder if we'll have reached 10 million?

Take a look at this great screenshot captured by the talented Kronos. More can be found at his Bonfire photo site.

Upcoming Show

My next scheduled gig is, of course, the upcoming 24 hour BonFire Festival to be held June 1st and 2nd. I was given the 7 pm SL time slot by the ever gracious Flameheart Sol. Start spreading the word!

SL Relay for Life

Despite the problems with the most-recent update, there was a good turnout at last nite's gig starting off Haroldthe Burrel's "Once a Day in May" live music event for the SL Relay for Life on-going benefit. He is featuring a different performer each nite and was relentless in his attempts to get me to come out of "summer semi-retirement" and play a gig. While I don't know the finally tally of contributions made last night, hopefully he got off to a good start.

On other matters, I am honored to announce that the artistic creator of Artropolis Esch Snoats is working on the cover art for my Second Life CD which will be for sale at SLCC.

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....