BioShock Rock: Keiko's Witty Spin On The Classic Videogame

This mixed reality music video features an excellent song from renowned Second Life musician Keiko Takamura that's a geek's mash-up delight: The machinima part of the video was created in Second Life, for one thing, but it's entirely referencing Bioshock, last year's acclaimed RPG/shooter hybrid.  On another level, it's sung from the point of view of BioShock's hero and his, well, complicated friendship with Atlas, the embattled rebel of Rapture city who guides him over the radio.  (You only catch all the song's references if you've finished the game before listening.)  At still another level, Keiko is actually singing about all the friends you're not sure you should trust.

That's intentional, as it turns out.  She wrote "Same Sad Tune" while watching her boyfriend play BioShock, Keiko tells me, while also thinking of "[a] guy who kept on offering to help me out at a time when I really needed it, but flaked out on me and disappeared off the face of the earth whenever I thought he was serious about keeping his word."  Her brilliant move is connecting these two totally unrelated elements, and it's testament to why Keiko Takamura's music has such a passionate following in Second Life.  Her success in the metaverse, she says, is also why she recently moved to San Francisco, to build her music career in both realities.

"I started out playing [Second Life] gigs as a hobby," she tells me, "and I enjoyed an immensely positive reaction from my audience. It was great getting a rock-star feel from the comfort of my own home."  It also gained her a profile on MTV and a social network of other SL-based musicians.  That turned her hobby into a vocation. 

"I moved to San Francisco," she says, "where local indy musicians roam wild and form a strong, supportive community." With the encouragement of them and her fanbase of SL supporters, she recently began performing at open mic nights in San Francisco.  Cylindrian Rutabaga, another musician popular in Second Life who was touring in the city, helped get her a couple gigs; at the first one, Philip Linden himself was there to see her play. 

"Because of my semi-stardom in SL," as she puts it, laughing, "I've started branching out in RL... it's been a wild ride. "

Keep up with Keiko's live metaverse gigs by joining her SL group "Keiko Takamura's Anti-Fan Club" or by friending her on MySpace.

Comments

[Dedric Mauriac]

Would you kindly have her increase her tier. heh.

[nik385 Doesburg]

Nice work,However I own the shop from which the BioShock avatar came. 1000 Carlos is the builder for said avatar. You can find it here: http://slurl.com/secondlife/FairChang%20Balboa/73/74/25/

In the future, please give credit where due.

[Hamlet Au]

In the future, please read the credits before posting. Keiko attributes her Big Daddy to another creator. There are many out there.

[tooter claxton]

Murdered in my salon! Oh dear me!