Noodled this in about 45 minutes this evening, while thinking about the halls at GDC emptying out. Just me and the piano…

Download audio file (AfterConferring.mp3)
– download

To say goodbye to Metaplace.com in style, there’s a party scheduled at noon tomorrow January 1st, probably running all the way until the lights go out at midnight. Please come on by and hang out!

I am also going to do one last, final farewell concert, after some users asked me to. It will be at 2pm Pacific (or Metaplace time) in The Stage, and I will embed it here as usual.

…means reading those crazy crazy liner notes, full of pretention and affection.

…means finding Jim Kweskin’s Jug Band and Steve Martin as a wild and crazy guy.

…means wondering why my wife had so much Barry Gibb when she was a young teen. And uh, Crystal Gayle?

…means laughing over the albums that we gave each other on CD this year that suddenly we can also play on vinyl.

…means marveling over the 25 cent stickers on them, remembering being broke in college and tracking down obscure stuff in bins in used record stores.

…means blasting Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.

…means rediscovering our classical and jazz collections.

…means, unfortunately, hours and hours and hours of “ripping” the vinyl, because the romance of the record will probably only last another few hours.

Another guitar instrumental… it’s in open D, capo IV. I sorta-tabbed it, after the break.

Download audio file (Holidays.mp3)
– download “Holidays”

Open d
Capo 4

Intro: noodle around the bass riff:

Bass riff:
D------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A------------------------------------------------------------------------------
F#---------------------0-------------------------------------------------------
D-------0----------0-----0--------0--------0h2s4p0-----------------------------
A---0h2--------0h2------------0h2------0h2-------------------------------------
D-0----------0--------------0--------0-----------------------------------------

Verse:

---0------7-0---------0---4-----4------0------4-----2--------------------------
-----5--------5--4-4--4---5-----5--------2------0------4-2-0---2-4-5-4-2-------
-------0-----------------------------------0------0------------3-3-3-3-s-------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------0-----------------------------------0-----0--------------------------
-0---------------0--------5-----0----0---------------------0--3-3-3-3--s-------

--------------------------
--------------------------
--1h3p1p0p1s3p0-----------
---------p2s4p0---0h2s4p0-
--------------------------
----------------0---------

Then to bass riff second half

Then repeat verse, then right into chorus.

Chorus:

---5---4---2---4-0---5---4---2-0-2-0---5---4---2---4-0---5---4---2---------12*-
---0---0---0---0-0---0---0---0-0-0-0---0---0---0---0-0---0---0---0---------12*-
---0---0---0---0-0---0---0---0-0-0-0---0---0---0---0-0---0---0---0-------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------0h2s5-----
-5---4---2---0-4-0-5---4---2---0-4-0-5---4---2---0-4-0-5---4---2---0-----------

Then into bass riff 2x

Then verse 1x

Chorus but end this way

------5*-----
------5*-----
------5*-----
-------------
--0h2s5------
0------------

Bridge

---0-----7*-------0-----7*-------0- ---5*------0h2-0-----4------------------
-----0------7*------0------7*------0------5*---------0------------------------
-------0--------------0--------------0-----------------0---------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-5----------5---4----------4---3----------3----2---------2---------------------
---------0--------------0--------------0-----------0------------------------

Bass riff 2x, verse, then bass riff, bridge, then outro (harmonics on 12th fret)

Another month, another concert. This one is for Charity Day, another MacZ event in Metaplace. It runs from 2pm-4pm Pacific time. You can get there at this link: http://www.metaplace.com/thestage/play

Or right here, if you can see this world embed:

(event over)

Head up the stairs and through the triple doors by the meep with the bow tie.

]]> http://www.raphkoster.com/2009/11/27/im-playing-a-live-acoustic-concert-nowish/feed/ 3 http://www.raphkoster.com/2009/11/01/the-sunday-concert-halloween/ http://www.raphkoster.com/2009/11/01/the-sunday-concert-halloween/#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:15:33 +0000 Raph http://www.raphkoster.com/?p=3289
Here’s the 2 hour and 20 minute recording of the concert I did yesterday for Halloween on Metaplace. It’s all covers, and there’s plenty of awkward silences between the songs, because you can’t hear and see anything that the audience said and did while I was playing. You only get what went up the stream. [...]]]>

Here’s the 2 hour and 20 minute recording of the concert I did yesterday for Halloween on Metaplace. It’s all covers, and there’s plenty of awkward silences between the songs, because you can’t hear and see anything that the audience said and did while I was playing. You only get what went up the stream. Some of my answers to text chat may seem out of context.

Download audio file (HalloweenConcert.mp3)

No download link — it’s almost 200MB. Edit: here’s a download link for the concert broken up into individual MP3 tracks, in a ZIP file. It’s around 170MB this way.

Before anyone asks, this is just me singing and on solo guitar, plus a harmonizer pedal. Most of the songs are fingerpicked, actually, but I used a flatpick on a few that asked for more of a strum. The recording setup is moderately complicated — mic and guitar into a harmonizer pedal which added some EQ and reverb and of course harmonies sometimes; then guitar further into a multi-effects pedal to add some reverb and punch. I also had a large diaphragm mic, dry (meaning, no reverb or effects at all), sitting close to add detail and some wood back into the guitar. From there, into BUTT and thence up to a Shoutcast station. BUTT did the recording locally.

I tried to make each song lead into the next narratively, and to cover a nice wide range of genres for everyone who was there. Here’s the set list, which was selected to fit the holiday: horror songs, creepy songs, songs about death and madness, prison tunes, and murder ballads and silly songs. It has a bunch of the stuff I usually do — blues, a lot of singer-songwriter material, 80s covers that it’s weird to tackle on acoustic…

1. Some prefatory blues noodling before the actual show started
2. Thriller – Michael Jackson
3. Black Horse and the Cherry Tree – KT Tunstall
4. Are You Happy Now? – Richard Shindell
5. Creepy Doll – Jonathan Coulton
6. Meanies – Jim Infantino
7. Black Magic Woman – Santana
8. Every Breath You Take – The Police
9. Robert Johnson – Bill Morrissey
10. Johnny Rottentail – Amy Ray
11. Down by the River – Neil Young
12. In the Air Tonight – Phil Collins
13. Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash
14. Phone Call From Leavenworth – Chris Whitley
15. Devil Inside – INXS
16. Blow ‘Em Away – Chuck Brodsky
17. Werewolves of London – Warren Zevon
18. Mallon’s Bridge – Mustard’s Retreat
19. Jonas and Ezekial – Indigo Girls
20. Waiting for the Rain – Bill Morrissey
21. Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door – Bob Dylan
22. Moon Over Bourbon Street – Sting
23. My Wife Thinks You’re Dead – Junior Brown
24. Paint It Black – The Rolling Stones
25. Goin’ Down Judah – Dana Cooper
26. Long Ride Home – Patty Griffin
27. Ghost of a Dog – Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians
28. Mad World – Tears for Fears originally, but this one sounds more like Gary Jules
29. Velvet – a-ha

And it will be here:

Concert over!

Thanks to everyone who came — I had a blast! I recorded the audio stream, so I will post it up once I get a chance to peek at it in a sound editor. Off for Halloween night stuff now, though!

A collective of Metaplace users led by the intrepid MacZ have set up a huge Halloween event tomorrow. It kicks off at noon Pacific time in the world Riverbeer with costume contests, art displays, and a bridge to similar events in SL., proceeds to hayrides and world tours at 1pm, then Superbad supplies DJ music in The Lotus Room until 4pm.

And then comes the SCARY part. I’ll be doing a 2 hour live set of music selected to fit the spooky theme, just me, my guitar, and as many creepy laughs as I can muster! It runs from 4 to 6pm Pacific in The Stage, and I will have it embedded here too. I set up a special version of the venue all decorated up for Halloween.

After my set, we’ll have more DJing, in the same venue, from J-Digital.

This will be the first time I have done a formal virtual concert, and I am terrified. Come share my fear.

I actually wrote this back in June, after a walk in one of the neighborhood parks where there were, you guessed it, some baby ducks.

The recording is a little funky — something weird going on with the panning or presence in the left vs right channels.

I’ve already forgotten how to play it.

Download audio file (DucklingsInJune.mp3)

download

A friend of mine spotted a familiar name under the musical submissions. You probably know Raph Koster as the designer of Star Wars: Galaxies, the ill-fated MMO. But folks at The Sixtyone know him for his selections under “folk and instrumental”. You can listen to them here. Unfortunately, they’re pretty good, so I can’t ridicule them.

But how would Raph Koster do as a cantina dancer? | Fidgit.

I think it is hilarious that this is news (of a sort, anyway). Blogged by the estimable Tom Chick, no less!

For the record, I wouldn’t do so well as a cantina dancer. Maybe in my younger days…