Cylindrian’s Grace Notes

At SLCC ‘08 on Saturday evening, we held an Art/Music Collaborative Event in Salon F of the Marriott Waterside. The purpose of it was to not only give people another option to socialize outside of Strokerz Ball but also to recreate the Art/Music Collaboratives that Jeffrey Lipsky (Filthy Fluno inSL) and I have whenever we get together in the real world.

The idea is that creativity creates creativity. Music and the world around inspire the artist and those experiences and moods capture a moment in time. Musicians had an opportunity to perform for both the real world audience and the virtual Second Life(tm) audience simulateously interacting with eachother. Many attendees at the show were also logged into SL and interacting with the group as well. This fusion of both realities gives the virtual audience an opportunity to be a part of the experience even though they aren’t there in person. Nothing beats a live performance, but an SL performance comes quite close, especially when connected through webcam. We were broadcasting webcam using Ustream.tv, and broadcasting audio using SimpleCast as well as projecting the Second Life performance onto a good sized screen. Members of the audience would relay to performers some of the happenings and discussions from “inworld”. It was very immersive from my end and truly a marvelous experience.

Special thanks to the following people for their assistance and participation in this event:

Filthy Fluno-for his incredible talent and generously sharing his gift with all of us by creating a remarkable drawing capturing an experience and making it possible for others to share in its detail and beauty.

Holli Hollwood-for advertising to her groups, for running the projector, creating machinima of the event, and for the incredible support she has given to musicians and artists over the past couple of years.

Tuna Oddfellow and his lovely Assistant Shava-for providing the “magic” for the evening and delighting the attendees with humor, wit, and amazement.

Jami Sin-for connecting me with Ian who provided us with top notch sound equipment and keyboard, and for running the Ustream for us.

Apple MacKay and Katydid Something-(of Molasky’s Pub inSL) for capturing video of Filthy creating the drawing

I’m sure there were more people involved in this project, but I’m at a loss for words and pressed for time. I will add more as they come up.

It was a marvelous experience for me to be able to perform with Lyndon Heart and to watch Kyle Beltran perform live. These two musicians were incredibly supportive and provided some fantastic music to the night. It was an honor to share the stage with them.

To those folks that chose to join us for the evening…THANK YOU! You all made the night remarkable. Having an audience of like-minded muso’s in the house was so much fun and my heart is still FULL of emotion from the experience. THANK YOU for being there, THANK YOU for listening, THANK YOU for participating!

Below is a picture of the original drawing that Filthy created during the event and his own words to describe about the drawing. It is for sale!! Please read about it! THANK YOU JEFF!!!!! I LOVE YOU MAN!

“Tampa Live” is an abstract narrative pastel drawing that was created during the live music/magic/art event at the 2008 SLCC in Tampa.  The artwork consists of imagery of the musicians, song lyrics, and vibe of the night. One can see depictions of Lyndon Heart, Cylindrian Rutabaga, Kyle Beltran, Tuna Oddfellow, Apple Mackay, and some awesome dude (Eladon Galsworthy of Pondlife) who was walking around with a sign that said he was getting an avatar makeover by SL friends.  There also is interprative imagery of the carpeting, stage, signs, instruments, audience, chairs, and other aspects of the event location.

On more of an artistic note…
The composition reflects bilateral symmetry which relates to the idea of duality and what happens when the real and virtual worlds come together.  I draw influences from Picaso, Kandinsky and Basquiat in this piece with the use of grafiti, cubist perspectives, and musical rhythms in shapes found in positive and negative space intervals. I always embrace the tactile qualities of the medium I’m working with such as smudges, smears, erasure marks and crisp lines that celebrate the use of pastels.

“Tampa Live” is available in both RL and SL in limited edition prints.  The original is also available.  Contact filthyfluno@gmail.com for more info!