One of my new year resolutions is to continue to add to and develop this blog throughout 2011. Dottie is very supportive and helped me find the perfect artist and venue to start the new year and follow a long night of festivities on New Year's Eve. I love you Dottie !!
The more I listen to live music in Second Life the more I am impressed by the number, variety and quality of artists here. We had heard and enjoyed the singing of Russell Eponym once before but having listened to so many others since we had almost forgotten what an excellent artist he is !
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Russell is a british folk singer resident in North Wales. He was one of the first live musicians in Second Life and has performed in most of the major venues. Alora Bay is a beautiful venue with an open air stage set in a parkland of green grass, big trees, and flower gardens. There is a backdrop of hills, waterfalls, old stone buildings, stables and horses, water and the sea. We could almost have been in North Wales.
He is an established and accomplished artist. Many words have already been written about him and it is difficult not just to repeat them here. Above all Russell creates a magical and intimate atmosphere by his soft, gentle voice, his beautiful singing and expert skills as a musician on acoustic guitar, harmonica, banjo and mandolin. His mellow, calming and restful voice removes all the stress of the day. When Russell sings babies stop crying and dogs stop barking :))
As a musician, Russell's major influences include Davy Graham, Bert Jansch, John Renbourne and Mark Knopfler. He sings traditional and modern folk songs from Britain and elsewhere, plus some originals.
He gave a beautiful rendition of Suzanne a song first written as a poem by Leonard Cohen in 1966.
Suzanne takes you down to
her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside her
And you know that she's half crazy
But that's why you want to be there
And she feeds you tea and oranges
That come all the way from China ...... ..... .... ...
Russell continued with Wild Mountain Thyme a folk song, written by William McPeake, a native of Belfast, Northern Ireland and first recorded by McPeake in 1957.
Will ye go, lassie, go, And we’ll all go together To pick wild mountain thyme All around the blooming heather, Will ye go, lassie, go ...... ..... .... ... Throughout the evening Russell maintained a warm and close contact with his audience. He treated every one as an individual welcoming and thanking each by name. He invited two of the audience onto the stage to play violin and dance a jig as he sang....... runandgetthepitchergetyourbabysomebeer !!
He followed this with a beautifully put together medley of popular british and american folk songs including -
Frog went a courtin' and he did ride
With a sword and a pistol by his side, uh-huh uh-huh, oh yeah.
...... ..... .... ...
What'll we do with a drunken sailor,
What'll we do with a drunken sailor,
Earl-aye in the morning?
...... ..... .... ...
Freight train freight train run so fast
Freight train freight train run so fast
Please don't tell what train I'm on and they won't know what route I've gone
...... ..... .... ...
This land is your land, and this land is my land
from the California to the New York Island
This land was made for you and me
...... ..... .... ...
Dottie and I really enjoyed our evening listening to and singing along with Russell. We will definitely go and listen to him again !
Oh and did I say we could have been in North Wales ? Watch out for the flying pink pig with red Superman cape !
PS. Russell celebrates 5 years in SL on 28th January 2011 !! He came specifically to SL to sing live music and was streaming his first song within 2 hours of his first arrival !! The first song he sang was To Be Free which he wrote himself.
An excellent Group to join in order to receive notices of live music events in Second Life is - Live Music Enthusiasts.
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