INDY'S WEEKLY ALTERNATIVE NEWSPAPER HIGHLIGHTING ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Virtual open mic shows in the Hummingbird Café

SecondLife.com draws singer-songwriters from Indy and all over the world

A few miles south of the airport on a dead-end back road sits a modest house that is home base for the largest and best-attended open mic night ever held in Indianapolis. It’s not an illegal after-hours club or a jam session hosted in a garage. It’s the home of “Dimi Van Ludwig,” the owner and host of SecondLife.com’s Hummingbird Café.

SecondLife.com’s online world has really become a second life to many people. They work, play and earn a living in a virtual environment that’s equal parts MySpace and The Sims. The difference between it and other online worlds is that Second Life’s virtual economy can be changed into real-world currency at hundreds of PayPal-empowered ATMs.

The Hummingbird Café is one of the most popular destinations for live music in the Second Life community. Its “in world” setting is inviting with its perpetual spring climate and seaside overlook. Chris Harlow (whose virtual persona is Dimi Van Ludwig) spent about a week last year building the Hummingbird Café into his vision of the ideal online music venue.

Every Thursday night, the cafe’s stage plays host to singer-songwriters from around the globe. It’s not unusual to have players from Australia, Great Britain and Texas on the same night, because the venue exists only in the virtual world.

“I started the Hummingbird early on, when SecondLife.com was just beginning to really take off,” Harlow says. “Now, there’s a new club opening every day. I’ve managed to stay popular through innovation. I don’t know how to write [programming] code, so I partner with coders that can write scripts that make the Hummingbird even more interactive … We just had a new lighting system installed [in world] that tracks the movements of the performers with a spotlight while they’re on stage.”

He pauses a few seconds to introduce his next act. With a few taps on his computer keyboard, Harlow’s avatar flies through the air and lands comfortably on the stage. Ludwig looks like a frat boy in his oversized shorts and Peyton Manning jersey as he takes the microphone.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s have a big round of applause for our next act: Peter Greenstone from Austin, Texas!”

The crowd erupts into a hearty ovation that sounds as raucous as any crowd you’d hear at a major concert venue. But in reality we know that around the world the hundred or so patrons of the Hummingbird Café have just typed the word “clap” on their keyboards from the comfort of their living rooms.

Greenstone begins singing a tender cover of Lyle Lovett’s “If I Had a Boat,” and many avatars in the crowd begin to dance. Rastafarians spin in circles around a dancer who sports her own hummingbird wings. Many club patrons immediately begin expressing words of approval, and it’s obvious that this song must be a crowd favorite when Greenstone performs.

Harlow explains that Lera Vaughn, the winged dancing girl, doubles as the club’s hostess. Vaughn lives in Atlanta, Ga., IRL (in real life). Her avatar spins and dances to each song while she’s instant messaging new customers as they arrive at the café, welcoming them and answering questions.

“The thing about Second Life,” Harlow explains, “is that it’s the perfect testing ground. If you have a dream [or] if you have an idea that you want to test, you can test it in a world that has no boundaries. Who could ask for anything better?

“I’ve played music in and around the Indianapolis area for 25 years,” he continues, “but I’ve partnered and jammed with twice as many performers on Second Life in the last 12 months. I only know one other Indianapolis area musician who’s performing in Second Life. I’ve jammed with more musicians from London than I have from Indiana.”

Greenstone finishes his last song — an original tune called “Stars on My Ceiling” — and the crowd again erupts with thunderous approval.

“The crowd loved that song,“ he says. “Someone just put 500 Linden dollars [Second Life’s virtual money] in the club’s tip jar.”

That’s only a little over $2 IRL, and it doesn’t seem like a lot until you consider that Harlow has 76,000 Linden dollars in his tip jar. Second Life’s current exchange rate is 1,000 Linden dollars to $4.09 U.S. currency. That virtual 76,000 cashes out around $300 in real life. “When was the last time you saw … $300 in a tip jar at an open mic night?” Harlow asks.

There’s never been a cover charge at the Hummingbird Café, and if Harlow has his way, there never will be. “Another club started gaining popularity and decided to charge a small cover, and the backlash was huge,” he says.

Some people would deem Second Life’s virtual vehicle for musical performance a gimmick, but Harlow is quick to dismiss that notion.

“Success in Second Life is all about creativity,” he says. “If the music isn’t good [and] if the talent isn’t there, then there’s no reason for the customers to come back. It takes more than ‘school girl night’ or ‘$1 well drinks’ to make a successful club in here.”