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Bryan Baker

My life as a free range geek:

Bryan Baker (Kaklick Martin) is a metaverse musician: A singer/songwriter performing in, and writing songs about, the virtual world known as Second Life®. Bryan’s avatar Kaklick took the stage in Second Life® for the first time back in late 2005, so he is among the longest running performers in Second Life® and was an early evangelist for the live music scene there. 

 

Since that time he’s written several songs about or inspired by some aspect of his virtual existence with subjects ranging from virtual relationships to bugs that plague this tech dependent world. Two of these songs made it on to “Roadhouse Ranch and Saloon”; where honkey-tonk meets the metaverse. “Big Bad World” takes on more real life social commentary. Both albums were released in 2007. 2009 saw the release of Mr. Lincoln a more eclectic mix of rock idioms and themes. 2010 brought the zombiepocalypse or at least the new single "Zombie Love Song (If Anyone Eats My Brains)" a tender love song about brains. In 2012 he followed the single up with an album of his nerdiest material, including an album version of "Zombie Love Song" called "Yeah, I'm a Geek".

 

Bryan has been writing music since his childhood, but got serious in high school. Originally intending on a path that would have taken him to Berklee School of Music in the early 80s as a bassist, he was offered the chance to try out a musician's life straight out of high school and he hired on as a bass player in a lounge outfit of no consequence in the twin cities area. When this came to an end a few months later he returned to Iowa and joined a new-wave outfit called "The Keyz" based in Ames. They played some great shows to appreciative fans, but this didn't last either. By this time he'd started studying at Iowa State, initially in music, then migrating to theatre and eventually graduating in that field.

 

In 1987 he moved to California and started a full ride to the prestigious California Institute of the Arts as a composer/sound designer for theatre. He was the first MFA to graduate in that specialty in 1989. He did some freelancing in LA, at one time garnering a comparison to Brian Eno in the LA Times for his work on a play he did with the writer of the TV show "Life Goes On". 

 

For several years he concentrated on other aspects of his life, and his career path led him to work on show control for many high profile entertainment venues, but he kept writing and playing music. In 2004 he started seriously recording and writing again and has been going full steam since.