SecondLife Singer/Songwriter Showcase
PREVIEW.
Showcase 5, September 14 2013
Coming up at Originals Cafe on September 14 are three storytellers of the highest caliber: The gravely velvet sounds of Quinton Whitman, The country-bluegrass twang of Chapman Zane and the psychedelic folk of Funky Freddy. When three eclectic worlds of singer-songwriters collide in SL, chances are it will happen at Originals Caffe so make sure you don’t miss this cosmic explosion on September 14 at Originals Cafe.
Quinton, Coming to Originals Cafe on September 14th we have the unique song-writing style of Quinton Whitman. “Q” has been shaped by a myriad of influences from the folk music of his native state of West Virginia to the original sounds of Crosby, Stills and Nash and also having spent 21 years in a number of bands playing live across the country, have helped make Quinton stand out amongst SL’s singer-songwriters. Equally at home with poignant or humorous songs, Quinton writes songs that will resonate with you for days and his wonderful deep voice is like gravel covered in honey!
On September 14th Originals Caffe is proud to showcase the singer-songwriting talents of Funky Freddy! Fred, I can safely say, is unique in SL music. His incredible spacey ambient guitar skills along with his insightful lyrics will take you to places you didn’t expect. With a Freddy show you never know if you will hear 12 short songs or 3 extra long musical trips into Freddy’s World. In either case, his original songs will give you earworms for days to come! His influences tend to be based in the 60’s and 70’s with a lot of Dylanish, Beatleish; Neil Youngish moments mixed in with his wonderful story-telling lyrical style. If you have never heard Freddy before, it’s time that you did and I can guarantee that straight away you’ll be hooked!
Chapman Zane (nee Jones) has a style he calls “acoustic jangle” - a mix of folk, folk rock, old time mountain music, country and jangle pop. Chapman’s love of music comes to life through his personality, full of mountain charm and exuberance. There is no way that he will not put a smile on your face.
Whether he is playing his acoustic guitar, 12 string Rickenbacker or his beloved banjo, the talent of Chapman shines through in all of his many original compositions. Equally at home writing instrumentals on his banjo or ballads on his acoustic or jangley pop on his electric, Chapman’s songs have a charm all their own. Be prepared to be a-laughin’ one moment and a-cryin’ the next and ultimately dancin’ ‘round the room.
Come along to “Originals Caffe” on September 14 to grab yourself a bit of Chapman’s “Magical Mountain Music Elixir”!
See you there! From the OC Scribe
SHOW REVIEW.
An mp3 sample of each performers performance appears on their individual pages.
First cab off the rank is Quinton Whitman (or just plain “Q” to his friends). A Quinton show is like taking a wild mountain journey narrated with his wonderful music and storytelling. His unique “honey-gravel” voice is like hearing the sounds of the roads he’s traveled on his life’s journey so far. There is no one like Quinton!
“Q” is his usual laid-back self tonight and begins his set with the bluesy down home sound of his song “Another Sunny Morning”- a look at the daily routine of family life. Straight away it was obvious Q was in good form with his guitar skills at the top of their game. Next we leave the home behind and get on the guitar pickin’ train to destinations unknown with his railroad song called, I hope, “Riding on The Train”- a wonderful song. We now hop off the train and listen to Q’s song of contemplation called “Just”. A beautiful ballad for someone special with some superb lyrics. The following song was one of the highlight’s. Gorgeous guitar, complete with harmonics, began the stunning “Merry-Go-Round”. The arrangement was perfect – feeling like you were actually going round and round on a merry-go-round. A superb piece of songwriting and one of the night’s very best. Now it was time once again for some country pickin’ bluesy grooves of the Quinton variety starting with his song “Howl at The Moon” followed by the felinesque “Light in Her Eyes”. We settle down once again for the very beautiful, slightly epic, love song “It’s a Beautiful Day”. Magnificent. Next was one of Q’s very best ever song’s “The Porch Under The Briar”. This song has been one of my all-time favourites ever since I heard it quite a few years ago now. It has such a beautiful gentle groove that it just takes you to the heart of “Quinton country”. Songwriting doesn’t come any better than this. Quinton finished off his set with a tale based on one of his earliest “birthday experiences” – “Jack & Ginger” even contains a funny conversation between him and his cat! A fun way to finish off a really fantastic hour of “pure Q”.
The second artist on the bill tonight was Funky Freddy and just like Quinton he was also ready to take us all on a journey except this one managed to leave the planet on a few occasions and transport us to “Planet Freddy”!
Freddy’s use of a loop station is probably the best I have ever heard in SL.. he is a master of it and uses it to change the simplest folk song into something totally unexpected yet completely unique and compelling. What you hear at a Freddy show is not necessarily what you hear on his CD’s. So basically you just don’t know what you are likely to hear during his sets and tonight was no exception.
Freddy began with a 12 minute medley of two of his songs – “Ghosts of Saratoga” & “Ghosts of Another America” using his acoustic guitar and a backing of live loops, percussion and a harmonizer to tell us that “sometimes Earth is a battlefield” and “don’t you think it’s time for a change”. One song down and I was already in Freddy’s force field. His next song was what Freddy described as a “love song”, the beautiful “Under an August Moon” dedicated to his first ever love from Summer camp. In-between songs, Freddy told us stories about how they each came to be written and what a wonderful insight it was into how this songwriter conjures up his music and it added so much to his show. His next song was a deep philosophical one called “One Life” and I tend to agree with its lyrics when he sang “One life is not enough” and it was also one of the shows highlights. He followed it with a rarely played uptempo slide guitar song of his called “North Country Blues” that he told us had been inspired by the harsh Northern American and Canadian Winters. The next song was a road song, well actually a hitchhiking song, “Before You Get Into My Car”, about a very strange character Freddy ran into on one of his journeys down south. A song you just have to hear for yourselves!
Then it was time to bring out the electric guitar and to journey through the stratosphere before orbiting “Planet Freddy”. You would not be the only one to think that Jimi Hendrix had suddenly appeared in SL and that the LSD was being passed around. Fred gave his loop station a thorough 14 minute workout on his epic tale called “The Years Pts 1 and 2”. That unfortunately was Freddy’s last song of his set but I doubt it could’ve been followed by anything as it was indeed a real mind trip. Wow what a set!!!
The last artist of tonight’s “Originals Café” line-up was Chapman Zane.
Chapman has been playing music in SL for a number of years and for many more in RL. His musical tastes range from old-time mountain bluegrass music to The Beatles, Byrds, Gordon Lightfoot and Tom Petty and tonight his own songs showcased all of those influences in one big party mix of a set! It was a fantastic way to end a simply wonderful night of original music.
Chap began on acoustic guitar with his very catchy song called “Wishing You Were Here”. Next up was his stinging song about all the recent economical problems called “Can’t Get a Dime”. It might be wrapped in a comical overtone but that song rings far to close to the bone for my money (pun intended). He followed that song with one of a similar theme, a studio recording he had made of his song called “Give it Back” and it was awesome to hear what a fabulous musician Chap really is when left to go crazy in a studio. Electric 12 string Rickenbakers and harmonies abounded on this wonderful Byrds-like tune. Roger McGuinn would struggle to write a song as good as this IMHO. Extremely catchy and a major highlight of the night. Chap then delved into his past for his next song. A song about small towns and trains called “Echoes”. A very moody song that fully evoked the songs title in its arrangement.
A recently written song called “All I Want is You” was next, a very simple but honest love song. Another very catchy Wilburyish tune followed, written for his sister when she was feeling ill. “Get Better” contained some wonderfully corny lyrics like “here’s a melody for your malady”. Next we were treated to a brand new song that utilized another of the many instruments Chap can play, the harmonica. “A Love Grown Cold” is basically about the downside of a relationship as it ends. Some really nice lyrics filter throughout this song. Some equally lovely heartfelt lyrics are to be found in the next beautiful love song that Chap wrote for his RL and SL wife, Ceithlan. “Your Backside and You” is a very cheeky song indeed…sorry I just couldn’t resist it :) After that he had to write a serious make-up song called “Forever With You” which he performed next. Following this we were treated to another studio recording. This was Chap’s tribute to The Traveling Wilburys called “Going on a Holiday”. Acoustic guitars and 12 String Rickenbackers along with stacks of harmonies filled up this truly wonderful song along with a very Harrisonesque lead break. Am I the only one who would love to hear a full blown studio album from Chap? Hope he’s reading this!
Now it was time for some of his beloved mountain music and some very cool banjo pickin’. First up was a very very catchy tune called “Katy Bug” written especially for one of his grand daughters. As good a banjo tune as ever I’ve heard! Chap’s final song was a song he wrote about his children called “There They Go”. A fine way to end a typically wonderful Chapman show.
And that brought to an end to another magnificent night of original music at SL’s “Originals Café” from three of SL’s very best singer-songwriters. The good news is that there will be three more talented songwriters on display in October so keep your eyes and ears open.
‘Till next time this has been the OC Scribe.
