I have a good friend from high school who played in a band with my brother and a couple of other friends that I still keep in contact with by email almost daily. Casey is a really talented guy and has a really talented wife and for years, they balanced having a professional life (he as a tech-writer and her as a teacher) with their alter-ego life as musicians trying to make a music career take off in the South Florida music scene.
Casey is a little north of 40 and Kris isn't far behind, although you wouldn't know it by looking at them - apparently the rock n roll lifestyle isn't as damaging to your health as reported. But after 20+ years of schlepping amps and equipment, dealing with surley bar owners and other ego-driven band members that came and went, anyone would get tired of the life, especially being up to 2am when you have to deal with kids at 7am the next day.
Faced with the dilemma Jethro Tull outlined - "too old to rock n' roll, too young to die" - Friendly Fire did something unexpected - they went virtual.
Now, Friendly Fire is experiencing a bit of a resurgence in Second Life . They play at a virtual dance club and are regularly getting 35-50 people a night to join them across the world as they rock out, old school style, virtually. They are also making money doing this - averaging $50-$75 bucks a night in tips and MP3 sales. All while sitting in their home, guitars, bass and computers strung together, playing live together and having fun, they way most married couples their age fall asleep on the couch watching American Idol.
They will be headlining an upcoming virtual concern called Synergy Fest and continuing to expand their presence in Second Life; their newfound success is a great example of how technology can change the dynamics for an established field. If you had told me, back in 1982, when Casey, Greg, Chuck, Rich and I were listening to the Clash while I was POKE'ing machine code into my TRS-80 Color Computer and they were practicing "Train in Vain" that someday, the type of device I was learning to program would lead to the resurgence of a music career in a completely new format, I would have asked you to leave before my Dad came in and found the drugs you were obviously high on.
But there it is. F. Scott Fitzgerald said, "There are no second acts in American lives", but Casey, Kris and Friendly Fire are proving that there is a Second Life for an American act.
