I just set up a Flickr account for the band and uploaded some pix from our Pheonix roadtrip and show. I mentioned I’d put up something on our new podcast that talks about our Phoenix trip and show… Now you can check out some pix from the show, the hotel, and our drive. Fun times!

Michael Plaster and I.

The haunted stairwell I spoke of.

See more by clicking the Flickr link listed above!

Scoot on over to Dave’s Lounge to check out his latest podcast… I suspect ya’ll might enjoy it!

Considering doing another remix “contest” soon. Several people have asked to remix a track from Free & Easy recently, so we were thinking we may as well make the files available to a large group of folks and see what comes of it! Still not sure which track would be the best one to work with, but probably one of the more upbeat ones like “Deep in My Soul” or “Trouble” would be the most fun. Perhaps we can add our fave mixes from this contest with our fave remixes from the last contest to do a digital release?

Had a nice little getaway this weekend. Decided to make a mini-vacation around the Phoenix show, since we’ve been working so hard for so long. Between the new CD and my new podcast, I really haven’t had any time to just chill. And how can Lovespirals music be created without any chill time? Not that we worked on any music, but having time to cool down and process a bit is really important. I’m sure Ryan and I will be chatting a lot about our Arizona experiences in our new Chillin podcast, so be sure to check out the next episode for all the stories!

Oh man. I met someone at the Curry Castle yesterday who asked, “Are you Adam’s mistress; the one who doesn’t play cello?” WTF?! I had to admit, “That would be me,” but I hope people don’t honestly think I’m *involved* with Adam Curry??? That is just silly…

I have gotten totally sucked into Second Life this week. It’s all Adam Curry’s fault! I heard him talk about the online game on DSC, then Kevin Rose mentioned it on TWIT, and my curiosity was picqued. I honestly didn’t think it would run on my old iMac, but I seem to be able to get around just fine. Maybe things don’t rez as quickly as they should, but it seems to me that the game is mostly a fancy chat interface. I’ve been sharing a little bit of my experiences over at my Chillcast site, including a few jpgs of my avatar. Speaking of my avatar, apparently the work I’ve done on it isn’t up to snuff with the game’s old timers because 2 days in a row girls have urged me that I “need to work on it.” Sigh.

There honestly hasn’t been much time to learn how to create custom skins and all of that because I keep getting into conversations about how to perform live in-game, which is what I’m most intersted in. Several club owners have already offered to let me and/or Lovespirals play live, which is quite fascinating. One DJ suggested that I have a listening party first, where I could introduce tracks to the audience, which should be easier than full on performance. Now I need to start running some audio tests on my computer to see what all I can really do. Oh, the other interesting possibility is in-game podcasting. Prerecorded podcasts would, of course, be much simpler, providing I was working with someone who offers audio feed to the masses in-game. I don’t own any property at this point, so I don’t have an outlet of my own to do it.

Honestly, I am beginning to be afraid of how much time this game takes away from Real Life, or RL as they call it… I mean, my identity is a singer/songwriter, and that’s what makes me happiest to do. Podcasting is already taking a lot of that time away from me. Even playing live has taken time away from songwriting and recording, which I’m sure many fans wouldn’t understand, but it just isn’t the same to perform a song I wrote years ago as it is to create a brand new song for a new CD. I guess there are writers and there are performers, and I am the former. Anyway, SL has gotten me thinking a lot about myself, my goals, priorities, position and function in society, personal relationships — it really is just a microcosm of RL, and not just “a game.” Grand Theft Auto, which I adore, is just a game. The Sims, which I was obsessed with, is just a game. Second Life is just that, another way to live one’s life – without leaving the house, basically. In some ways, I am down with that concept, but in other ways, it is pretty frightening. I think for me, it is yet another great way to get my music – and my friend’s music – out to an open group of listeners. There’s just some learning curve that I’m trying to master before I’m ready to do somthing truly interesting for those who have been using SL for years.

Anyway, this ended up being much more personal than I had imagined. I guess that’s the effect of the game. Adam warned me that it “messes with your head.”