so what's the deal with myspace?

some years back, maybe eight, maybe ten, maybe more, I was walking along Orange Avenue in downtown Orlando and just as I was approaching Wall St., there came the sound of a serious guitar and a familiar voice from a local bar called One Eyed Jacks that drew me in because for a moment I wondered if Melissa Etheridge stopped by to do an impromptu gig in the little bar... and I found Amy Steinberg... if you like Melissa Etheridge, you'll probably like Amy Steinberg... just a girl and her guitar, she was shaking the walls from the mini-stage in the corner of this little bar, filling the room with a raspy voice singing intelligent lyrics backed by crisp music, a living sound that spilled out on to the street and had everyone glued to her performance as if they paid good money to see her in a concert hall...

one of the reasons I wander myspace fairly regularly, besides the superficial ego stroking, is the music available there... when my computer cooperates, I find new music almost every time I visit... and I've connected with some great people there (and stay in touch with some long time friends as well)... I blog there as well, often revising some writing from here or elsewhere (which is what I did this weekend, one entry turning into a sort of an odd short story... and there was one new rhyme, a kiss, added there too) and find others writing some great stuff (and wonderful images and eye candy), but the primary draw of myspace, for me, is the music... I love finding new music I can love...

lately I'm enjoying several new singers and one I'll mention is Shannon Thomas, who I found at her myspace blog (actually, I found her at her personal blog on myspace, which is another great thing as new artists are not just promoting their music, but they often are just putting themselves out on the internet as we do, as people, just reaching out)...

there are those just flashing ego (and sex), but there are also those trying to share some good information like holistic health and there are those trying to create community discussion like dodinsky who attracts an oddly diverse group of commenters (I think he started attracting his audience partly because he gives away his poetry in graphic icons and images for others to use on their sites... there are people who put words and images together to tell stories, to slice life into a two dimensional snapshot fin does that well... some might remember her from diaryland)... as does Jenny and so many others... there are also some very amusing and insightful writers to be found there... and for irreverent kicks, I sometimes leave a comment for a celebrity as if they might actually read it... I just did that at Bob Saget's myspace after catching his latest HBO special (definitely hoping his Full House audience has a perverse sense of humor)... that's just scratching the surface of a few of the things to be found there...

it's not the site, it's the people... just as it's not the location, it's the participants in an event... myspace just happens to be the hot spot right now and I think it's great to have a universal phone book of sorts for anyone who wants to browse the world online and hopefully more great connections, with old friends and new, with creative inspirations and fun and serious thought, can be found along the way... you can find the people I try to read when I have time on the list to the left of my blog there, though some are just put there to check out again and I've not actually read much...

so that's what I get out of myspace, at least... it's kind of like wandering around downtown online... and the more technology develops, the more interactive the web will get and it won't be long before myspace, or a site like it, takes the video sharing feature and turns it into actual video conferencing, like instant messaging except with visual contact... sure, many will shy away at first, but future generations will develop self-confidence and self-esteem and use the medium to share as casually as we pick up the telephone...

there's evolution going on every day... the physical might take thousands of years or even millions, but the social, emotional, and psychological evolution of humanity only takes a generation or two to be seen... and the evolution of technology is happening a few times a year these days... our kids and kid's kids and future generations will laugh at how frightened we were of sharing ourselves... I think that (sharing) is what this life is about... so I, for one, welcome the changes and the opportunities... I wish more people did...

all it takes is growing :)