Music

More great gifts to pick up at The Bunny Hop!

This is a post also going up on the official Bunny Hop Blog. Please go there for a Japanese translation. I also tend to be a bit wordier in the posts on this blog than I am on the official Bunny Hop gridwide hunt blog. If you’re wondering about the title to this post, it relates to Bob Dylan in the first photo and answers in the second photo!

Wondering what that egg is hanging from my belt in these two photos? Well it comes with a belt latch so you can alway have it handy. Ask the Uncanny Egg from Grimalkin Workshop a question, touch it, and it will answer you - like the 8-ball you had when you were a kid! “The answer my friend…” 

I continued my exploration of winter showcase sims today at Wintermute. Wintermute is described in Search as “a poem inside a mystery wrapped inside a metaphor.”

At Wintermute

Poetry flows through Wintermute. This sign says "All of our tears are frozen."

An unexpected refuge from the bitter winter

Free skating dress from Nylon Outfitters. Bunny ear muffs match the fur-cuffed skates; both from Chapeau tres Mignon.

Contemplating the meaning of life and death

This cute little skating dress is in the women’s freebies package you can find on a sign right inside the wall at Nylon Outfitters. Three different colors gloves are included, as is a red skating dress and, well, just all kinds of other freebies.

These may be my fave color combination of the Chapeau tres Mignon skates - black and silver.

Those of you I hang with in Second Life know that I met Hammer at Toby’s Juke Joint, so it’s a little special to us. And you all know I blogged Toby’s pretty heavily lately. I get a rash if I go too long without the blues, and Hammer named his RL dog after B.B. King’s guitar. So the blues has been the backdrop to our growing relationship.

Dancing to the blues on the deck at home

Now Toby’s is pretty much my regular hang-out (when I manage to pry myself away from the beach house), and since we met there a few weeks back, Hammer and I tend to pop back fairly often. It’s comfortable and feels like home to us.

This has been a difficult week real life and today was the most difficult of all. So I was not amused when I walked into Toby’s tonight, and who was there but my ex and his GF. I know he reads this blog; he knows I hang there. And I know he completely learned about Toby’s Juke Joint from this blog, because he has never, so help me, had an original idea on anyplace to go in Second Life. Ever.

Space Park in Second Life

So needless to say, I didn’t stay. I went out RL for a few hours (I’m a firm believer in the time-honored Friday happy hour tradition), and met Hammer back at the beach house once I was in a decidedly better humor. He wanted to stop by Savoy Jazz Club, which we did, but the dance balls were kind of out of sync. So we did a bit of shopping, and then we decided to head out to the Inspire Space Park, as he hadn’t seen it yet.

If you have not been to the Space Park, cancel all your other Second Life plans and GO. It is beautiful, spiritual and relaxing. We started out having a glass of wine, and could have been happy just sitting there lazily chatting and watching the shooting stars. You see, the sky changes, and you can never be sure what you will see next.

Floating weightless above the Space Park

We walked across some small asteroids to what appeared to be a dance floor. But when we clicked the dance ball, we floated off into space… all very 2001 Space Odyssey.

After awhile, it was time to float back down. I thought a bit of meditation might be in order. I was quite amazed at the calming effect of SL mediation as the platform I sat on slowly rotated among the heavens. The animations were familiar to me, as they are similar (though certainly not exact) to prayer rituals I have practiced so many times before at Hindu temples over the years RL in Bali.  Hammer was feeling a bit under the weather with a stomach bug RL, poor dear, and he said it made him feel better too.

Obviously, I wasn't expecting to be meditating when I put on this skirt!

Hammer and I communing with the universe

While we were chanting, I got a message from Tom Divisadero about an Ozzy concert over at Wild Hogs on the Full Throttle sim, so we did a complete about-face (the sublime to the ridiculous) and headed on over. This is SL at its best perhaps; a pulsating slate for artistry of all types. That, and the fact that Second Life allows us the opportunity to switch gears and attitudes at the speed of light.

Ohhhhmmmmmm

So I guess it is good to get out of your rut, even if you’re forced out of it.  Outer space, even when virtual, can make human idiocies seem small.

Well a girl can’t shop all the time, so I’ve been spending some lately at Toby’s Juke Joint Blues Club. I love Chicago blues clubs, there’s nothing like them. I used to live about 5 hours out of Chicago (pedal to the metal), but now I live on the West Coast. I’ve been here for years, and I still miss those Chicago blues clubs like the Kingston Mines.

What am I wearing? All Digit Darkes, baby!

So imagine my delight when I found Toby’s! I ripped my stockings (see above), I danced so much, but I didn’t care!

Check out Laurel and Hardy dancing behind me!

There’s nothing like the “My dog done left me and even my mama won’t answer the phone kind of blues”.

Or the “Didn’t I make you feel like you were the only man” kind of blues.

And especially the “You never even looked me in the eye while you were telling me good-bye” kind of blues. No, wait, that’s country. Sometimes there can be a fine line.

I’m not the first to say it, but if you don’t like the blues, you got a hole in your soul!

You may recall my buddy Thomas Divisadero, who is a rocker performing as a member of Black Label Society in Second Life. I’ve known Tom since time began (in our various and sundry SL incarnations), and recently he TP’d me over to a concert at the Red Rock music facility at Full Throttle, his wife’s sim, the wild and gorgeous entrepreneur Lacey Saule.  Yes, yes, this is a different wife than when we last mentioned Tom in a blog post. Try to keep up.

Phenomenal effects at concert at Red Rock.

The concert I TP’d into was a Pink Floyd production put on by Bobby Fallon, who you see here standing in the control booth and a couple photos down.  Note the effects where these giant figures sing phrases of the song. There’s a band, but in this photo, they are behind the wall.

Another break in the wall at faux Pink Floyd concert. In foreground, left to right: me, Thomas Divisadero, Lacey Saule and a couple unknown concert goers

In the course of the concert, the white wall was actually broken down by these giant hammers. I have to say that Bobby Fallon really takes advantage of the possibilities of Second Life to add great effects to his music productions. These photos don’t begin to do them justice.

Bobbie Fallon, concert producer

j

Concert at Red Rock

Me, feeling the biker vibe. That's Tom in the background.

After the concert, we headed over to the main square of Full Throttle (love that name) where there was an event going on at the club, Wild Hogs Roadhouse. Tom rezzed a bike for me to ride around, and I promptly ran it into a wall. I’m still living that down!

If you’re wondering about what I’m wearing, the barely buttoned sweater and the cut-offs worn over fishnet stockings were picked up at the recent Sn@tch sale, which is likely over by this time. This is a Gala skin - I’ve had it forever and still love it.

From left to right, Me, Lacey, Tom in front of shopping area

Above you see Me, Lacey and Tom watching people party at the Wild Hogs Roadhouse (not shown) with the shopping area behind us. If you are of a Hell’s Angels kind of inclination, you can also rent property on this sim and live the biker lifestyle 24/7.

CONCERT SCHEDULE for Full Throttle

November 19, 8 PM SL: AC/DC

November 28, 7 PM SLT: Lynyrd Skynyrd

November 30, 3 PM  SLT: 3 Doors Down

Though the fairy lifestyle is new to me, I had ventured into medieval Second Life before when I visited Avilion and some other medieval sims as a human. It was right after I discovered gowns by DeFleur. Of course you can buy wonderfully detailed medieval wear there. But DeFleur also has some camping chairs that reward you with absolutely KILLER gowns, so I had to wear them someplace. (Are you beginning to see a trend in my SL?) I stopped by DeFleur today, and I saw there are now many outright freebie gowns you can pick up without camping as well as the gowns in the chairs. Here is a photo from a few months ago - this red velvet number called Autumn Red is still available in one of the DeFleur camping chairs.

I popped over to Avilion today wearing another DeFleur camping dress called Gilda. (See below.) You don’t exactly wander around Avilion in your capri pants and a tube top, after all. The hair below is Seibsa in the color Sunset from Curl Up and Dye, a great place to go for period hairstyles.

So anyway, I was heading for the little shops - not the ones in the castle, but the ones in the village. On my way there I came upon a clearing where I found a small gathering of fairies and dragons.

I had wandered awhile so I sat down for snack, and what do I find but Vegemite. Well, this is SL, so why not?

Thus sustained, I continued to explore and I was pleased to find Indonesian gamelan instruments on the other side of the clearing. I actually took a real life lesson or two on some of these musical instruments when I lived in Bali, but I guarantee you that I play the set at my Second Life beach house much better. Below is a photo of friends and I playing gamelan at Hans’ and my place about a year ago.

When I made mention (without breaking character) of how wonderful it was to find a gamelan orchestra in Avilion, a passing, nosey gentleman I was not addressing looked completely aghast and very heatedly informed me that not one of them was a gamelan instrument, rather all of them were “elven” instruments. I told him I would be sure to inform the Balinese and Javanese gamelan composers, musicians and dancers of my acquaintance of this fact. After all, who are they? They only spend their very real lives playing, dancing to and caring for such instruments, often in service to their gods.

Here is a photo of gamelan in Avilion.

Role play is great - each to their own in SL. But don’t steal sacred items from someone’s real culture and pretend you invented them. In Bali (and some other islands) each gamelan instrument is believed to be imbued with a spirit. So should someone in Second Life comment upon an “exotic” item, such as a gamelan instrument, perhaps the Second Life role player could work the instrument’s heritage into the story - the elves brought it across the ocean on a magic cloud from the Spice Islands (Indonesia) - or whatever. Or just don’t comment at all. Whatever floats your boat. But blatantly and loudly denying someone else’s history is much worse than offensive. It’s just wrong. The Balinese believe in karma, and they believe in the spirits of their instruments. So think twice before denying an important aspect of a culture’s identity. Or the universe may bite you in the butt.

The Blue Note has always been very special to Hans and me (the BF is a bit miffed I haven’t been mentioning him by name), so I was moved to RL tears when I received a notice it was closing January 1. Naydee McGettigan put her soul, time and money into making The Blue Note a friendly, romantic destination that was all about the music. The Blue Note has always meant class. I think I may even have fallen in love with Hans there; see my inworld profile for a little story about that.

So despite our busy holidays, Hans and I knew we had to get to the Blue Note before it closed. I had no idea where to find the perfect dress for the occasion of all the beautiful gowns from all the talented designers in SL. But as soon as I received the notice from Simone of her Christmas Glam gown, I knew I had found it. On Friday I ran over to Simone’s to pick up the gown, and I was so relieved she had not yet put it back into mothballs for the season.

Yesterday (Saturday), I was out doing some RL post-Christmas shopping with friends, arriving home past the time Hans (in Europe) is usually asleep. So I was surprised to find him still awake and ready to go to the Blue Note for the holiday bash.

I quickly changed into my dress, which I have to say I love more than any gown I have bought in quite some time! The silk! The detailed embroidery! The delicate red fur tickling my shoulders! (Of course it’s fake fur, ’cause I don’t wear real.) Fortunately, I had just had my hair done at Sirena in the new Juliette style. Hans was quite dashing in his tux, of course. (Well, that boy can be dashing in a pair of overalls.)

It took some doing to get into the sim, but we both eventually made it, and we were soon dancing in each others’ arms, warm and happy despite the ice beneath our feet. As you can see from the photos, the holiday party was held out on the ice rink. And yet our joy was bittersweet, because we thought it would be the last time we would be together at The Blue Note. Naydee was lying atop the piano, but she was not DJing. The DJ ended a song and made an announcement. What’s this? The DJ requesting support to help keep The Blue Note open? I IM’d Naydee who told me The Blue Note was not closing after all!

I dug through my notices and found one from the day before saying the community had rallied around to offer support. One benefactor in particular had paid tier for a year! Naydee’s RL is changing, so she will not have as much time to devote to The Blue Note. Of course we all know it’s also a financial challenge keeping a club afloat when it’s not being supported by exotic dancers and such. So now Naydee is looking within the community for those who might want to take some of the burden of labor from her shoulders - greeters, hostesses, security - anyone who can help with the myriad tasks of running a club. This is a labor of love, and I’m sure the community will step up.

I’m so relieved that Hans and I will still be able to go ice skating and dancing at our favorite club come January. I’m not at The Blue Note that much, but it would be such a loss to SL were it to close. I take its rebirth as a good omen for the New Year.

At the end of our evening, happy with the good news, we were also happy to return home to our favorite place in SL - the hammock on our little island.

I popped into SL this morning to pick up the daily holiday freebies, and the Hey Girlfriend! group was buzzing about a hunt over at Nicky Ree’s… 25 little gifts and only one of each. Now you know I am pretty much a freebie girl myself, and the ONLY thing I have ever bought myself (after much angst) was a marked down Nicky Ree gown for $100L. Sapphire may throw her linden around on the designer wear, but I’m just a working girl. (And no, I don’t mean THAT kind of working girl!) So you can bet I zipped over there as fast as my comped designer shoes could carry me. To hell with my real life work! This was a chance for another Nicky Ree hanging in my inventory!

After searching the store I flew back to the beach where I heard people chatting including Nicky, but I couldn’t see her! Anita Cassini assured me she was there, and Nicky said,”Oh, I just take time to rez!” But they all seemed to be giggling a lot. Convinced I had taken too many drugs at all the SL nightclub openings, I was really beginning to doubt my sanity.

Nicky offered me a drink at the bar to calm me down (of course it could not have been to get me away from her proximity), so I gladly headed for the margaritas. As I was staring morosely past the salted rim, there it was! A little, bitty, red package! Well, you can imagine my shock! I’ve never been lucky. I’ve never won a thing in my life. But here you see me in my stunning prize, the Divine Sisi Svelte Gown in pink. A mouthful of a name, but a drop dead, gorgeously detailed gown. Anita and Alicia Cyr, observing on the log behind me, assured me it was just perfect for my coloring!

Invisible Nicky (honestly! she’s lying on one of the sun chairs behind me!) said she was heading for the store, so I grabbed my photographer and followed hard on the heels of the flying name tag. (Honey, I always travel with a photographer!) We ran up and down the aisles, and finally we cornered the harried designer who had hoped to escape the ever-persistent paparazzi. She graciously posed with me (well, I guess my burly photographer was blocking the aisle!)

If you hurry on over, there may still be a few gifts that are as yet unfound. And if not, Nicky is having two concerts today, one at 12:30 pm SLT - 1:00 SLT with musician harpo Jedburgh and one at 5:00 pm SLT with Takamura Keiko. Head for the concert stage behind her house on the other end of the island from her Tropical Orchid store. Her last concert was packed, so get there early!

After the Winter Festival at Wyrms, Darth and I were in the process of picking up the daily holiday gifties from all the generous designers around Second Life. Just as I was clicking on the Advent Calendar at Mondira, I got an IM from my old buddy Thomas Divisadero to pop over for a Black Label Society concert. He’s in a Second Life tribute band, and it seems to consume more and more of his SL. I didn’t know a whole lot about it, ’cause I’m more into blues, jazz and African pop myself, but it sounded fun! This is Tom, who I’ve known forever. In fact, his lovely wife, the fabulous DJ Ariana Petrova, even gave me my first set of teleporters for the beach house.

Darth and I TP’d over to the concert, and they were rocking hard on the OD Designs stage. I must say we were treated royally! No sooner had we arrived than Tom gifted us with memorial guitar picks and back stage passes, which you see us wearing here around our necks. Now this was more like it! Of course, you can also see that Darth is STILL bogarting the damn Cheetos.

So if you are looking for something fun to do one evening, TP over to a Black Label Society concert. Here is their current concert schedule ’til the end of February (as it stands now). My legal team has insisted that I tell you that I take absolutely no responsibility for anything that may go on at one of these rock concerts, cause we all know rock ‘n roll is the devil’s music. Particularly, I take no responsibility for the concert at that frat house the end of February!

SL BLACK LABEL SOCIETY CONCERT SCHEDULE

December 15 - Lil’ Sturgis 1 Year Anniversary show - 8:30pm

**** 2008 ****

January 6 - The PIER - 4pm

January 12 - VLS - Virtual Light Studios - 8pm

January 26 - Transylvania Village - 8pm

February 2 - Londyn’s Edge - 8pm

February 9 - The PIER - 4pm

February 23 - XN (Chi Nu) Frat House Lawn - 8pm