Marina Sharpshire @ Temptation Falls 04/05/21

One great thing about taking a hiatus from my Second Life is being selective about shows to attend. Tonight I had a fantastic treat stumble across my music radar and so I logged back in and TPd over for the last few minutes of Hogan Bailey's show at Temptation Falls. As enjoyable has Hogan's show was my real pleasure was spending an hour with old and new friends listening to Marina Sharpshire entertain us with her amazingly clear vocals.

She opened with a perfect cover of "Soul Sister" by Train that had the person behind my avatar tapping toes under my desk. The party at Temptation Falls was far more enthusiastic (my RL family is relieved I wasn't dancing around). She followed this with the one song I didn't know (and wasn't able to Google), "Hell" by Squirrel Nut Zippers. The dark lyric was over shadowed by her pitch perfect rendition. With her nod to the ancients in the crowd (that would be me) she instantly transported me back to High School, sharing Nick Gilder's hit "Hot Child In the City" ( I wonder whatever happened to Suzy McGhee? ).

Coming back to a modern beat Marina delighted the crowd with "I'm A Mess" by Bebe Rexha. I'm adding this song to my "The Perfect SL Playlist" (a future blog I hope). Harry Styles would have applauded Marina's delivery of "Watermelon Sugar High" which followed with "I like the way you move" and then R.E.Ms classic "Everybody Hurts". I was really getting into the set when she fired up the Cranberries' ode to painful love "Linger" (yes, there is story…), perfectly executed in front of the jumping dolphins behind the outdoor stage at Temptation Falls.

By about now we were coming up on half time when none other than the legendary Guitar Hero landed to join us in the aural (no AUral Trish) delights coming up, starting with "Drunk (And I don't wanna go home)", Elle King's tribute to sudden love (or lust?) in a bathroom stall. At this point I was trying to figure out of Marina's playlist had a theme or story. When she finsihed "Good As Hell" by Lizzo, I was thinking it might be about women standing up for themselves. Her performance of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" didn't confirm or deny my hypothesis.

As we started to see the clock race to the top of the hour I realized this very special performance would end well before I was ready for it. Marina paid tribute those in SL older than me (both of them I guess) with great covers of The Shirelles' "Will you love me tomorrow" and the Ronettes "Be My Baby" before demonstrating her mastery of decades of phenomenal music with The Jonas Brothers' "Sucker". She ended this magical evening with a great interpretation of "Grow Old With You", a song new to me I'll be adding to my playlists.

Temptation Falls in one of the venues we should all visit more often. Owned (in all its incarnations) by Browneyes Magic and Gib Dix (who incidentally does most of the builds), Temptation Falls has an entire menagerie on display. In addition the aforementioned dolphins you can find giraffes and elephants among other denizens of their lush venue. In addition to the stage on the beach Browneyes and Gib host sock hops in their gym and next Monday are Blues and Jazz club as well. I'm looking forward visting the Tempation Falls Blues and Jazz Club soon. The motto of Temptation Falls is "Live Music At its Best" and tonight Marina Sharpshire certainly made that accurate.

Marina is one of the many SL musicians who have used the platform we love as an avenue for personal growth. She started singing live to overcome a fear of singing live. She's performed at jams, and hopes to again. I strongly encourage you to find Marina's shows and enjoy an evening like the wonderful one I had today.