Nigel Freeman Saturday November 5th @ Gonja Land
Nigel is new to SL having joined only 7 months ago & he has been performing on the grid for about the last 5 months. I last saw him at Gonja Land which is a very entertaining venue with 16 different stages from Science Fiction, Ancient Egypt & Post-Apocalyptic sets to Cartoon Land themes and more! It features a mesmerizing atmosphere and beautiful light shows! Gonja Girl is the owner & the venue is currently in it’s 5th year of hosting fabulous music.
Nigel is a talented performer with hundreds of songs on his list & there is truly something for everyone so don’t hesitate to make a request! From classic rock, folk, R&B, new wave, country to brand new pop hits he's got you covered. His set list for the evening included songs by Kings Of Leon, The Weekend, The A Team, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Cold Play, Gordon Lightfoot, Red Hot Chillie Peppers, Cat Stevens, The Beatles and more! He doesn’t talk much so he managed to squeeze 16 songs into a wonderful & eclectic set which is a lot of fun music!
After the set I got to chat with Nigel for a few moments. He has a fascinating background and has visited and lived all around the world. I asked him what it felt like to be the new kid on the block having joined SL last March of 2022. He told me he is no stranger to being new as he grew up in a military family and moved around the country and the world. He went to 12 schools in 12 years and struggled a bit socially as he was an introvert and always felt like a bit of an outsider. So here he is, newly moved into our virtual world, making friends and finding his way through our music scene. Let’s give him a warm welcome. If you run across Nigel be sure to introduce yourself and make him feel at home!
I asked Nigel what brought him to SL and he said he heard a lot of talk about the “metaverse” and finally looked it up on Wikipedia where Second Life was mentioned. At first he thought of it like a video game and it took him awhile to actually start meeting and interacting with people. It was after he found the live music scene that he began to meet people and become interested in performing on the grid. He had performed in RL and at one point had even put off his education to be in a band for several years but eventually decided to quit the rock and roll scene and go back to college.
In later years his childhood love of puppet making ended up becoming his full-time career. Nigel explained that he was so introverted as a child that he started making sock puppets to keep himself company when he was only 5 years old. His parents encouraged him to make his puppets and this hobby ultimately became a lifelong career in which he traveled to libraries all over the country with his pet monkey Buttons entertaining young children with his hilarious puppet show!
I asked Nigel if there were any shout outs for the people that helped him get his start performing on SL. He thanks Thunderfoot who gave him the technical advice to get set up. Then he started going to open mics with another fellow musician Augusto and from there it’s history. Now you can find Nigel performing a few times a week at some of the best venues all over the grid! Nigel mentioned that he is so very thankful to all who have taken the time to come listen and sends out a big thank you to all the venue owners who have allowed him the opportunity to perform.
Well Nigel, from all of us at Toggle, we want to thank you for taking the time to talk to us and we are wishing you the best with your brand-new virtual career!