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Do you want to walk around with what looks like a mouldy French bread floating above your carefully selected hair? At RatePoint they think you eventually will. After a long ad campaign on pages like New World Notes, RatePoint has started an offensive in the live music scene in Second Life.

RatePoint should replace the now defunct SL rating system. It apparently comes with a HUD and from what I’ve seen, it needs some coaching to work right. Mind you, I didn’t try it. I was attracted by the musicians they hire. We were treated to the sympathetic Dexter Ihnen, who is more than your average guy-with-guitar. Great voice, good songs, funky sound, charming Ozzie accent – if you ask me he shouldn’t have touched The Long and Winding Road as some gems are best left untouched, but to be fair it wasn’t a copy of the original, which is a plus in my book, and it wasn’t bad either. And he had a good rapport with the audience as well.

Tonight we saw Louis Volare, a jazz pianist and singer from New York. I know it’s hard to muster up a full band or even a trio for an SL performance, but for someone as passionate about jazz as myself, a rhythm box just doesn’t cut it. A solo performance with piano would have been so much better. He has a nice voice, but he doesn’t do a lot with it. The whole thing was rather flat, without making use of the enormous (and daunting) liberty a jazz musician has. And so I left before the show was over.

There’s a nice atmosphere at RatePoint Island if you don’t mind that everyone including the performing artist will at regular intervals tell you what a great system RatePoint is. They’re doing great - or so they say – with nearly 2000 registrations in one and a half month. If you ask me that’s not too hot and I didn’t see many people with that green bar hopping around, but ok. I guess everyone came for the music, just like me.

They assured me they did it all ‘for people who just love music’. Yep… and I can sell you Chadrick Linden’s Cottage by the Lake if you believe that one. The bottom line is RatePoint; they practically beg you to sign up. Despite all that the live concerts are well worth a visit. One of those bread sellers really seems to know a thing or two about music – sure, Volare wasn’t at all to my taste, but it was nevertheless a professional gig. So go there, ignore the talk about RatePoint, sit back and enjoy the music, the people and the evening.

Dexter Ihnen at RatePoint Island, May 2nd, 2007