Dolmere Talamasca - Second Life "resident"

You: I've heard you describe your sets as: "Kaklick Martin performs an ecclectic mix of covers and original tunes mostly delivered with an acoustic guitar, but occasionally fleshed out with full backing tracks, but always singing live." Does that sum the whole thing up well? Or is it a soundbyte you'd like to elaborate on?
Kaklick Martin: it is a bit of both, I tried to condense it down to a sound bite, but of course there's other things I would have liked to throw in
Kaklick Martin: My material is probably quite a bit more ecclectic than I can do in a live set
Dolmere Talamasca waits for the other things - feel free to elaborate ad nauseum
Kaklick Martin: don't know if you've had a chance to check out anything at my profile at MacJams or not
Kaklick Martin: but I do mostly singer/songwriter type stuff in Live performance
You: A little bit - please share the URL with us
Kaklick Martin: http://www.macjams.com/artist/ka-klick you can also get there via http://ka-klick.com/
Kaklick Martin: I have a link on the main page to that profile
You: Thanks for the URLs, my two readers will surely click through and learn more about your music that way.
Kaklick Martin: heh
Kaklick Martin: :-)
You: We'll leave it an exercise for the reader to learn more by reading your web sites and listening to some of the material posted at macjams.

You: I understand you have recently finished writing a new original song. You've "previewed" it once so far. Will you be debuting a new song at your Thursday gig at the Shelter in Exile?
Kaklick Martin: yes
You: What is the name of the song?
Kaklick Martin: I didn't play it today (as I thought I might) decided to hold off on it until Thursday night
Kaklick Martin: Meet You In Our Dreams
Kaklick Martin: It's a really "old fasioned" song - at times I felt like I was channeling Hank Williams or someone
You: "Meet You In Our Dreams" by Kaklick Martin - look for it here - live debut Thursday at 5PM SLT!! :) Woot!
You: Speaking of new material: what inspires you musically and lyrically? When does the muse speak to you the most?
Kaklick Martin: hmmm, I'd say when I really work at it, I'm easily distracted by shiney things
You: Haha
You: How did you choose your name?
Kaklick Martin: It comes from a sound effect - from a web comic called Sluggy Freelance (http://sluggy.com)
Kaklick Martin: the original is Ka-Klick
You: I'm not familiar with the character
Kaklick Martin: in fact it's on a tee shirt I have

Kaklick Martin: the character is actually named Bun Bun, that the sound is associated with. He's a homicidal Mini-lop rabbit
You: Do you relate to the bun bun rabbit? Since I'm not familiar is there anything about the character that attracted you in particular?
Kaklick Martin: Well I originally used it (by itself) as an online gaming handle, I thought it sounded cool for that, and when I first started SL I was thinking of it as more of a game
Kaklick Martin: So I wanted to use my gaming handle - but they wouldn't let me use a dash

You: Didn't you spend a lot of time in the Shelter when you first started here in SL?
Kaklick Martin: Yeah, it was one of the first big places I hung out at, one of my first friends was Carl Metropolitan
You: Carl's a wonderful man
Kaklick Martin: and he recommended the Shelter
Kaklick Martin: yeah he's a great guy
You: I certainly remember seeing you around the rec center a lot. At what point did you learn about live music in SL?
Kaklick Martin: I think it was fairly quickly, though there wasn't much going on yet, at the time it was pretty much Frogg, Jay, Astrin, Moe and a hand full of others
Kaklick Martin: I think it was possibly seeing the article in New World Notes about frogg
You: That was a great article imho - Hamlet's stuff kinda stinks lately but that was true journalism. I linked to that article in my interview with Jaycatt and Frogg on this blog.
Kaklick Martin: yeah, I haven't kept up on his latest stuff (since he left LL)
You: Talk to me about motivations - what made you decide to throw your hat in the ring and start streaming your own live music?
Kaklick Martin: Well after reading about that and I think I was talking with a friend who no longer comes on (that I've seen), Agaillon Gateaux after a Music Trivia show, and we kind of convinced each other that I should do it and he was going to find a place

You: What was the first place? how was the learning curve?
Kaklick Martin: hehe, well, I got myself going but I think he forgot
You: haha
You: happens
Kaklick Martin: or didn't get it set up properly
Kaklick Martin: and I ended up doing it at a Castle in Baker that Angelica Wheeling owned at the time

Kaklick Martin: (she introduced me to Harmony)
Kaklick Martin: and it was the night of the huge grid attack
Kaklick Martin: that kind of kicked them off
Kaklick Martin: just a bit over a year ago
Kaklick Martin: so, was Sunday Oct 23 2005
Kaklick Martin: anyway, because of the chaos, it was pretty much just friends (several of whome were folks that I dragged in from MacJams)
Kaklick Martin: My intent for that original one was more to DJ, btw with my original music
You: ah, not to play live into a mic, but rather play pre-recorded original scores
You: how did the transition come about then?
Kaklick Martin: so we got experimental and I figured out I could use GarageBand and just eliminate the vocals on the tracks I'd done
Kaklick Martin: and sing to them
Kaklick Martin: I also pulled out a guitar and did some stuff that way, but at first I did all the songs w/ the full arrangements
You: I see - that's more or less how Slim Warrior and Komuso perform I think
Kaklick Martin: yeah
Kaklick Martin: I've been doing more and more just using acoustic guitar lately
Kaklick Martin: Speaking of Slim... She and Melvin Took and Snow Gretzky and Silas Scarborough and several others are MacJammers
You: I knew about Melvin Took, but not the others, cool detail
Kaklick Martin: Melvin was actually here before me, but hadn't really settled in here
Kaklick Martin: I started posting a lot in the forums there
Kaklick Martin: about SL
Kaklick Martin: Slimmie really jumped in w/ both feet
Kaklick Martin: she was the first of us to buy land
Kaklick Martin: (and I believe the only one w/ a sim)
You: The set this Thursday will be you and your trusty guitar through and through?
Kaklick Martin: Probably, I might pull out something with full backing if you like
Kaklick Martin: but I've been finding it is actually easier to not have to load songs
Kaklick Martin: breaks the flow less
You: I guess it was a leading question - personally I'd prefer you and your guitar for that fully live feel :)
Kaklick Martin: yeah, it also just feels more "live" that way.
You: agreed
Kaklick Martin: and I've finally managed to adapt most of the songs I didn't do that way before
Kaklick Martin: though, ironically, one of the tunes that is very guitar based and bluesy, is tricky to do live because it has an alt tuning
Kaklick Martin: and I'm not much of a slide player live

You: Your answers are really full, I apprecaite that. My last question gets lost a bit in the answers, sorry.
Kaklick Martin: ahh, sorry about that
You: np, it's cool that you're delving deep to answer

You: You are occasionally attributed by Jaycatt and Frogg for some kind of a HUD device. Something to do with song requests. What are they referring to?
Kaklick Martin: they are referring to the Concert HUD
Kaklick Martin: it's a fun freebie
You: Where could one get or buy a copy of the Concert HUD?
Kaklick Martin: SLB, SLX, I know there's a "giver" at my beach... [Editor's note: link to SLX here - http://slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=116790
Kaklick Martin: one of the things they latched onto is the fact that it does this:

[18:58] Random Audience Member shouts: FREEBIRD!

Kaklick Martin: though I didn't invent that
Kaklick Martin: I saw people shouting that in chat at their concerts back before I did that
Kaklick Martin: and if you pay attention in the movie "Cars" there's a scene (press conference iic) where one car shouts "Freebird"
Kaklick Martin: I was about out of my seat on that line
You: :) haha
You: What are your thoughts on the current state of live music in Second Life?
Kaklick Martin: wow, it's really exploded, which I think is great
Kaklick Martin: it does sometimes seem to take more effort getting noticed now that there's a vast sea of folks

You: How do you feel about partnerships and relationships in SL (he asks while you're standing next to the beautiful Harmony Patel)?

Kaklick Martin: :-)
Harmony Patel: :))
Kaklick Martin: Well, I feel like (for me) what happens in SL stays in SL - and I've been luck enough to have had a relationship now with Harmony for over a year
Harmony Patel: Ty for the compliment Dolmere
Kaklick Martin: But we both know it's only in here.
You: What are your strongest traits?
Kaklick Martin: musically? in a relationship?
You: Open question to do with as you please
Kaklick Martin: *chuckles*
Kaklick Martin: I'll go back to musically.
You: :)
Harmony Patel: hehehe

Kaklick Martin: though mostly I'd rather let others say what they like, I'd say, probably my voice, possibly my lyrics and wide range of interests (musically)
You: :)
You: Do you rehearse/practice offline or mostly keep your "chops" up form in-world and live performances? How much do you practice during a given week?
Kaklick Martin: I do some practice offline, though it gets spotty at times - some weeks I'll be playing constantly and other weeks I'll pick my gutar up when I have a gig
Kaklick Martin: RL gets in the way a lot
You: so no "set" practice times
Kaklick Martin: no, wish I had the luxury
You: How do you decide on specific cover songs?
You: How do you decide on specific cover songs?
Kaklick Martin: whatever strikes my fancy
You: haha
Kaklick Martin: some are ones I did back in the day, some are ones I have decided would be cool. Some are requests or other external factors like themed concerts
You: Who are your favorite Second Life musicians?
[19:14] Kaklick Martin: wow, (there are a huge number of folks I love)
Kaklick Martin: some of my strongst connections and reactions so far though...
Kaklick Martin: Melvin Took, he's a really amazing songwriter, fellow MacJammer and the only SL muso I've met IRL
You: He played here last week btw
Kaklick Martin: I love Cylindrian, Frogg & Jaycatt, Astrin,
Kaklick Martin: I guess I also have a special place in my heart for Juel Resistance - she's really got it coming from a deep place
You: What are your personal favorite songs from your set?
Kaklick Martin: you keep asking those favorite kid kind of questions - songs especially
Kaklick Martin: My original songs are all like my kids
Kaklick Martin: *chuckles*
Kaklick Martin: I'm really excited about the new one of course
You: :) I know how difficult favorites are, but it's a good exercise
Kaklick Martin: yeah it is
Kaklick Martin: of covers I really connected with both "Turn the Page" and "I'm Going Home"
You: :)
You: What artists would you say you are most influenced by?
Kaklick Martin: Influence is tough for me - I like to think of myself as kind of a musical meat grinder - but certain songs have fingerprints here and there
Kaklick Martin: I'd say "Not Easy to mend" comes from a very Neil Young-ish place and "Big Bad World" is very influenced by Oingo Boingo
You: Anything else you would like to share with the 2 people who read my blog?
Kaklick Martin: that could be pretty self referential, since I started looking in on it lately
You: :) ok, 2.5 people then counting my bot
Kaklick Martin: maybe you've had a 50% increase (laugh out loud)
You: I'm really looking forward to your show on Thursday
Kaklick Martin: thanks for asking me to play and taking the time to listen to me blather
You: A pleasure, indeed.
Kaklick Martin: :-)