Kyles Bronsdon and Beltran work on an arrangement

I'm really not much of a piano player. I wasn't a piano player AT ALL before Quota turned me on to Second Life. I'd been working professionally as a drummer for years before I moved to Los Angeles and the SoCal beginner's luck wore off and left me unable to find work to contribute to my new wife's lovely home. In fact, I'd dedicated myself to looking for a day job and retraining myself from a drummer to a pianist only months before Quota and I had a drunken phone conversation about the metaverse.

We had both explored the Active Worlds we lost interest in fairly quickly, but I'd never heard of Second Life, which Quota had taken a brief look at years before and declared "gay". Within minutes of creating Kyle Beltran, I decided I had to learn everything there was to know about Second Life, establish a presence there, and entrench myself before they hit a tipping point which was already happening even as I logged in.

It's clear now that Linden Labs was not prepared for the PR push they made then, and things have tapered off a bit - it was just A tipping point, not THE Tipping Point - but I certainly have come a long way, at least as an entertainer if not a piano player, from five songs and little interest in singing technique.

It reminds me a bit of the years I spent working in cruiseship showbands. Sounds like a dream gig, right? Not so much. For every chartered trip to Brazil, there were months of Ensenada, Mexico or Nassau, the armpit of the Caribbean. However, by the time I went back to a place Second Life residents might be familiar with, Real Life, my chops were better than ever. Second Life has plenty of things to complain about, but I might still be woodshedding alone in my studio if I hadn't found it. That's as priceless as the people I've met from around the world who encouraged me to keep it up.

I just turned forty years old while writing this. Why stop now?

kylebronsdon.com - All things Kyle

Vitalegacy Multimedia - I do actually compose "legit" music :)