Cylindrian’s Grace Notes

Thanks to an incredible outpouring of support this DIY Artist will be back on the road for his summer tour.
Here’s what he had to say on his blog:
“05.21.09: HELP!!!!!!! UPDATE!
I am floored. The thought that my stupid little life is of any importance to you has been a humbling experience today.

In just one half of a Thursday, you gave all of the money needed to fix my old van’s tranny and keep it’s maiden tour on the books. YOU did that for me, I don’t deserve it, and I cannot thank you enough.

I have everyone’s contact info. I cannot wait to see you in your town, and start repaying all those hugs I owe. That’s a debt I am so happy to repay.

From the bottom of my heart…..thank you.”

Congratulations to Aaron Zimmer.  I  am moved by the response he received in regards to his circumstance and just felt like sharing it with the readers of my blog.
Be sure to visit his site for his tour schedule, purchase his music, & read his blog: http://aaronzimmer.com

Aaron Zimmer is a touring musician who was all set to start his summer tour benefiting: crashprevention.org (a non-profit dedicated to lowering vehicle crashes & injuries in US roads) when the van he bought for the tour broke down with transmission problems.
You can help this musician by contributing or spreading the word about his plight.

Just visit this link & do what you can. Aaron Zimmer Busted Van Info

Hound Dog Radio is a local internet radio station based out of Loganville, GA. This years Birthday Bash will be held at local live music venue, Atmosphere on June 7th 2pm-midnight with entertainment provided by local indie artists. Stop by the Hound Dog Radio website ( http://hounddogradio.net ) for more information on the line-up, venue location, ticket information, and also find out how you can purchase the rights to tune in to the station for a live broadcast. This will be provided for those who live outside the metro Atlanta area who’d like to be there and support the station, but are unable to make the trip.

Hope to see you on June 7th at Atmosphere to celebrate 9 years of Hound Dog Radio!!!

April and early May have been extremely busy months for me in the real world.  Sadly I’m not a very consistent blogger or I would’ve kept better records. I believe FaceBook has a tendency to be more of a blog site than WordPress. Its there where I can update easily my status, communicate with others, and post pictures all from my phone. (To my knowledge WordPress doesn’t have a BlackBerry Application…yet)

Beth (Odets “Matriarch of Virtual Judaism” Extreme Violinist & Firey Fiddle Player of the Acclaimed Dallas, TX band Fish Fry Bingo) Brown was in town for 12 days and we had a remarkable time performing live in studio on HoundDogRadio, 3 sets at American Tavern, at HomeFest (benefit for local women & childrens shelters), Swiftwaters “Music in the Mountains” festival with the band I’m in, The Melinda Kingsley Band (we also played at HomeFest as the last band), and  lastly the 500 Songs for Kids event which raises money for the Songs For Kids Foundation.(See YouTube Link: Grace Buford and Beth Brown “Folsom Prison Blues”)

During the week that Beth was here with  me in Georgia, I also became involved in the organization of the Music Performance portion of the Music Track at the Second Life Community Convention 2009 taking place Aug 13-16th at The Westin in San Francisco. I am sharing the duties with Lyndon Heart who is a very entertaining, talented and professional musician from the Seattle, WA area and accomplished SL Musician as well.  Lyndon and I have worked together at two previous conventions, but this is the first time that we actually have a chance to be a part of formally organizing various events involving the SL Live Music Community at the convention. Talk about EXCITING!! (and time consuming)

In October of 2008 I started working in TeenSL alongside a wonderful music teacher from Farmington, Michigan  that I had the pleasure of meeting at SLCC 2008 in Tampa, FL. I was brought in as her consultant to set up and train her to operate broadcasting software so she can in turn instruct her students and assist them on performing in their space in TeenSL. This has been a fun project to be a part of this year. I look forward to seeing what happens next year. There’s always opportunities to learn from situations and I’m hoping we can keep it going for the next school year.

In addition to all these things, I am a private music instructor…after joining the faculty at Gwinnett School of Music as a substitute teacher back in August of 2008, my permanent student roster has grown from 5 students to nearly 25 students. This is something that makes me very happy. One of the loves of my life is providing children, young adults, and adults with the means of expressing themselves creatively and equipping them with the skills necessary to get started on that path. Music is my passion in all worlds in various forms.

This summer I also have been hired to perform at two very important weddings. One in Rockmart, GA for the union between a musician friend and his beautiful fiancee and the other in Massachusettes at the real life wedding of a friend I made through Second Life.  Needless to say, its a lot of music I’ve been working on and it sure is a lot of fun researching, arranging, and preparing for these once in a lifetime moments.

With all this said, I feel I must address something that has been weighing on me heavily this week. I love performing, networking, building friendships, and collaborating with other artists in Second Life. It has been a great pleasure for me to do. But here’s the rule I applied when I first logged in Jan 2006…REAL LIFE COMES FIRST!  My family comes first as does the means of keeping a roof over our heads and food on the table. When I cancel a show because real life has made it impossible for me to prepare appropriately for what would be a “ticketed event” or I get called in to work on one of my real life jobs at the last minute and have to cancel a benefit show, I do not expect my management team nor my e-mail inbox to be riddled with disrespectful messages.  Second Life performing is important to me as is the community as a whole, but I cannot justify putting it before my real life income and my children who are depending on me to provide for their well-being and their future. Things come up.

SL Venues cancel shows that have been booked months in advance on me for various reasons. I have even shown up at venues ready to play only to have the host never show up.  I know how unpredictable life is and because I believe in treating people the way I would like to be treated, I cannot berate and belittle someone else for having a conflict arise. These things happen. Life happens. Lets not lose our compassion and respect for one another because real life gets in the way of our second life.  I am deeply sorry that my real life has interrupted performances this weekend and as of late, especially when people were counting on me (I do not like to disappoint people), but in no way do I deserve to be treated the way I have been this week, after all these years of being involved in focusing on getting the word out about the positive aspects of Second Life and the SL Live Music Community.

Thanks for reading and I hope this clears up any misconceptions about me as an artist.

Cylindrian (not afraid to be real & full of Grace) Rutabaga