I've been performing in SL for over a year and a half now. As Todd says, it's normal for resident musicians to stream audio only and have their "avatar" present - which is much more interactive than what I saw at the Bluebird. I enjoyed the show I saw, which included Don Schlitz (writer of a huge string of country mainstays) and his buddy Vince Gil. It was an enjoyable show, but they never even acknowledged the SL crowd, as I said it was a very different experience. Normally an SL show will have the artist thanking tippers by name, usually acknowledging regulars and new faces, and usually also engaging in some back and forth with the audience. In a lot of ways it's more intimate than even the smallest club gigs, since you can read chat going by (and people don't have to shout.

As for getting on, if you've gone through the website part of the signup, you need to download the client for your platform (it's like an online game) and the bar to entry is somewhat high: you must have broadband and a reasonably "gaming" capable PC (Real, somewhat current 3D card, decent processor, etc).

Once you have the current client (and they are updating it regularly) you run it and put your login credentials into the login screen. Then click connect. Once there there is a set of instructional areas that help you figure out what your doing (basically) Once you've gone through the orientation it lets you get to the main "grid". If you've never run a 3D game of a 3rd or 1st person "shooter" it can take a while to adjust.

@Bill: the Map is the button 2nd from the right on the bottom next to inventory. You have to actually get connected to get that on screen though.

@Emily, it's not a website, it's a 3D platform. THe website just gets the account set up. I do believe they cut off access to the forums to anyone w/o payment info on file to cut down on the astroturfing that some people were engaging in. You can provide info w/o them using it, but I wouldn't bother until you've gotten logged on to the real service. If you've never downloaded and run the SL Client, you've never actually logged in.

Hope this all helps a bit. If any of you makes it past orientation, I'm Kaklick Martin there. I do a regular gig every friday night @ 9 PST (the standard timezone of SL). I do other shows as availability allows.

Nice meeting you in Des Moines Brian. I'd just been thinking it'd be cool to start up a JPF chapter in SL. I bet there's already a lot of JPF members in there.