My wife and I watched a TV show last night (via bittorrent) focussing on the history of British TV show Top of the Pops with clips from 1964 to the present. Even though we're only a few years apart in age, it soon became clear that our musical experiences were vastly different. My musical education began with glam rock, travelled through punk and ended in New Wave and New Romantics, whereas hers, delayed by another 7 years, seemed to be filled with 80s big hair.

20 years ago, I remember a brief trip to Oxford to visit a friend performing in repertory theatre, where the album on constant loop in the actors' slums was Suzanne Vega's self-titled debut album. At that point, I had never visited the US, and New York still seemed an exotic place. Vega was from "The Village", a place I could only imagine as sunny and bohemian, and desperately hoped one day I could visit.

Two decades later, and I'm sitting in an office on 14th & 8th, overlooking the West Village, through which I walk most lunchtimes. Even listening To "Marlene on the Wall" on my iPod doesn't really conjure up the experience I imagined

So where the heck is Suzanne Vega now? Believe it or not, she's performing live tonight - but not here. To see the concert, you'll have to head on over to Second Life, where her avatar becomes the first major star to perform in the land of Linden.

There's a moral here somewhere, and it's probably got something to do with me being constantly 5 steps behind contemporary culture.