KARTER STONECUTTER "Best Of The Best"

by jenny heying

With little fanfare, Karter Stonecutter walked onto the stage at AIDA Lounge and quietly took his seat at the piano. With a short introduction and leading into Chicago, the Linden Lab curse struck and after a few minutes of the stream breaking, Karter crashed. He did return a few minutes late with most in attendance waiting patiently. There were still stream problems for a bit but eventually all was clear.

With that out of the way, Karter put his magical hands to the keyboards letting out a magnificent version of “Steamroller Blues”. What can I say at this point? The guy is awesome, from the piano to his voice and I’m not sure which was better. His prowess on the keys was simply put, spectacular. His voice, divine. He marvels in his performance and your ears immediately are drawn his way.


He makes any song beautiful, and the beautiful songs he makes amazingly beautiful as evidenced on “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant”. His voice is strong, clear and willowy (okay that’s my word but it means pleasant to listen to). And while his singing is quite incredible, it isn’t his strong point, which is reserved for his piano.

Karter plays with authority and if you know anything at all about piano players, you’d agree that he’s with the best. He uses the piano forcefully and delicately at the same time, making every note audible. You imagine that he doesn’t go anywhere without it as it seems to be what he uses to communicate.

He continued his mastery with “Levon” and “Amsterdam”. His voice shook a little on the second number but only slightly, maybe a result of the crashes and stream issues. But with authority he stroked the keys to brilliantly accompany the voice delivering the songs.

Accompanying Karter at AIDA Lounge was a troop of trapeze artists complete with gorgeous costumes who performed above us while Karter filled the void with music. A nice touch. It was incredible to watch as you listened.

Billy Joel seemed to be the cover of choice this day as Karter powered through “Shameless”, making everyone a Billy Joel/Karter Stonecutter fan. When he does cover other artists, you forget Billy, okay just for a minute.

Karter Stonecutter is a fantastic musician and singer, but I was wondering if there is more to him. And there is. He writes too. Three quarters through his set he finally performed an original song. “I’ll Wait For You Tonight” (not sure if that’s the name) was wonderfully written with the piano in mind. He sang it lovingly.

Karter also performed “Bennie And The Jets”, “Thunder Road”, “Don’t Change Horses”, “Drift Away” and “Space Oddity” and looking over his song list, there’s a lot more I’d love to hear. And although there were numerous problems with the stream, it was worth waiting it out. He finished in a flurry with “Takin It To The Streets”, “Danny’s Song” and "Only The Good Die Young" and just as he entered, he quietly left.

There are a whole lot of great and talent performers in Second Life® and please try to see as many as you can. But if you want to see one of the best, search for Karter Stonecutter.