SECOND LIVE?

Back in the 20th century I wrote a novel called The Feelies in which virtual reality was presented as a fascist-groove-trap, Darwin-eugenic thing in that those who opted for reality survived and those who immersed themselves in a virtual sensory fantasy died. (After about three months.) Thus, when folks started telling me about Second Life and suggesting I try it, my misgivings were such that I never bothered. Then, this morning, our good friend Some Girl sent me a link to a story in The LA Times about artists doing shows on Second Life, and that really perked my interest, especially the added postscript, “I have to admit, I would love to see how a Mick Farren gig would go down in cyberspace. the avatars alone would rival the Star Wars cantina, methinks.”
A few years ago Andy Colquhoun and I did a live webcast one of our dog-poet guitar and poetry shows. This involved showing up at the club called Spaceland in LA shortly after noon and performing to an empty room for a webcam that relayed our images to an event in the UK, where it was nine in the evening and the audience was waiting. Strange but interesting, and strange but interesting has always been both attractive and one of the names of the game.
Unfortunately the story in The LA Times was so badly written that it gave no real insight into what a Second Life performance might involve. Any worthwhile reporter would have participated in Second Life and described the entire experience. (Hell, I would have – gleefully.) Thus I am researching the possibilities. I figure it must be possible to something more creative than the pitiful stereotypes depicted above. I don’t know if it will come to anything, but investigation is good for the brain. You can click here for the lame story from the Times, and I’d welcome all suggestions, information, thoughts, and offers of help.

Click here for a poor dog-poet