vSide - Virtual East Side?

I'm always looking for new virtual worlds to dive into. I've tried so many that I won't list them all. This morning I read about vSide on the Metaversed - vSide Offers a New Twist on Virtual World Advertising. This is the first time I've ever heard of it. It appears to be just like SL in the sense of teleporting, mobility, and communication with two big differences... vSide is AIM chat capable and appears to be musically motivated.
They take their music very seriously and is the apparent driving force behind all the different venues offered. Bands, live music performances and more! You can bet I'm dragging Hawks with me. :) We love live music in SL. I bet that with a world that exists just for the music, it'll ROCK HARD! It's currently in Alpha testing, so it may be hard to get in, but you can sign up to receive an email when the doors open.
Browse the website here if you're interested: VLES

For the wub of Mankind!

I know, I suck.. no really, it's cool. I know. Mankind Tracer jumped over Maximillion Kleene in my favoritest chart of Live Music Performers to date in SL. I just happened across one of his shows last week and wouldn't you know I forgot to blog it. *gasp*

Mankind plays some awesome guitar riffs. (is that right?) And people flock like lost lil SL sheep to see him. The one I "stumbled" across was standing room only with 70 people hitting the island sim max in the Isle of More. As soon as I heard him I wanted to throw my panties on stage. *mwah mwah mwah Hawks baby* The very next performance I figured the sim would be uber crowded so I tp'd in & ganked the stream for Hawks & I to tune in at home. Hawks is still very fond of Max, as am I. I just know in a Live Music deathmatch, I'd chose Mankind. :o I'm not so sure Hawks would say the same.

Mankind is a solo rock musician touring presently around all of SL. His act: him & an acoustic playing the best Rock covers from the 70's forward as well as my originals. From Clapton to Creed, Pink Floyd to Pearl Jam. To learn more:

The thing I love the most about Mankind is that he seems so down to Earth and very comfortable with his performances. Each time I've tuned in, he's invited others to dance on stage with him as he rocks his guitar. His events are awesome & non-formal. Everyone has a great time and he is definitely worth a listen if you get a chance.

Join the Friends of Mankind group for gig notices and news.
On the Web:
http://www.sethregan.com
http://www.myspace.com/sethregan
http://www.1sgdesign.com
http://www.desktopwidgets.org

"Peace, love and belief!"

Hip Hop Returns to SL

Jelly and I have now joined the Live Music Enthusiasts group, so as we dig through the 3 or 4 spams each and every hour we are starting to find some more acts out there that we were not picking up in the event listings. Some are not so hot (like a Latin Guy from Brazil we heard doing REM covers in an Irish pub *coughs only in SL*.) This is also how we happened across an interesting spam stating that Hip Hop Returns to SL, and we ended up going to hear Timid Worthington spit some original lyrics. He delivers a positive message in a strong format with a solid beat. As he said himself, he has kid friendly lyrics. In fact, his message touches on themes like rising above your situation, making the most of yourself, and overcoming racism. Although, we only caught the last few songs, I greatly appreciated his smooth delivery style, and we will look forward to tracking him down for a future show, so we can hear more off his upcoming new CD which he will be releasing soon. For more info, be sure to check out either Timid's myspace or personal web page.

Pity does not encourage growth...

After a long morning of missing the hell outta Hawks, he finally logged in. Yay! Back to our regularly scheduled programming. Skimming events lead us to a Maximillion Kleene performance coming up & if you've read Hawk's post you'd know that Max is like our favorite Live Performer thus far. Consider me a little bias because Max is the only performer that I know that does the Bare Naked Ladies, Foo Fighters, and Blind Melon well. Okay mayhaps more than well. He is a more alternative, Jelly type of live performer. Anywho, I love Max yada yada yada, blah blah blah. This post isn't really about Max. :D

So we headed to the Sterling Vineyards to find a place early & plant our asses for Max's performance. We were early enough to catch Kim Seifert which can only be described as country gone wild? Okay mayhaps that's not it. There were some songs I enjoyed over others. Okay wait... there was only one I liked. She sang a country song "Red Neck Woman" which was a very good version of it yet she did seem to yell a lot. Then she completely killed "Before He Cheats" and "Black Velvet". I did love her voice but I don't think she's very suited to do covers. It's just my tastes I guess. I like covers to actually sound like the original artist. Don't try to make it your own if it completely kills it.

Next up was our Max. Wuwu! I have a few things to mention though besides the fact that I love him. He wasn't responding to my IMs for his entire 1 hour show when I requested songs, David embarrassed (haha) me & oh yah I tote loved his version of "No Rain". heh! I don't know what it is but Max just seems so down to earth and comfy. Even when he's just talking, he's not full of himself & it never sounds rehearsed. Yah, I know, I know. Ya'll get it already. :D I was wondering if he had like a fan group or something but couldn't find anything except the Live Music Enthusiasts group, hey! THATS ME! So I joined it. It says: Support live music performance in world. Announce performances with an advanced notice, and group chat just before show start. Only the SL Musician role may post notices, and please only announce your OWN shows. You must have played an SL gig to qualify as an SL Musician. ONLY live music may be announced on this group and please only announce an event ONCE, before the event starts. Dedicated rebroadcast of SL live shows may be announced as well.

After Max's performance we stayed for the next artist, Grateful Stryker. "Hi everyone ill be playing live at 7pm at Sterling Vineyards.. I cover NEIL YOUNG- BOB DYLAN -CAT STEVENS -THE EAGLES -THE BEATLES -THE GRATEFUL DEAD- THE EAGLES-LEONARD COHEN-THE WHO-DAN FOGELBERG-SOUL ASYLUM- BRAD PAISLEY- TIM MCGRAW CSNY-THE BAND- BOB SEGER And other including my own originals ...Come listen dance and relax". It could have been the fact that he said he had 11 beers before he went on, or it coulda been the way he tried to do weird things to songs or it coulda been the fact that his voice scared the bajeebus outta me. In either case, NO! NO! NO! I stayed for three songs before I was trying to claw my way outta there. I love the Eagles, the Beatles, some Grateful Dead, and all Soul Asylum but jeepers... this guy sounded like NONE. I cannot even put into words how bad he was. Seriously awful! I'm beginning to shake from the trauma just rehashing it. *runs away*

SecondFest Doors are Open!

Intel 8 is open for all ya'll to grab your wrist bands & start explorin! A few things to mention:

• The wrist band is HUGE! Needs to be adjusted where it attaches, and is no mod. Enjoy your huge wristband.
• Free Skates! But... the sim is no script so good luck using them there. They are also HUGE, and no mod as well.
• The schedule is written like military time but is actually in British Summer Time (SLT + 8hrs) Again, Gluck.

REMIX:
Apparently I was wrong, a couple of the sims out of the 9 are allowing scripts. AND there seems to be a different size wrist band in the different turnstiles. Oh yah and I think it's -8 hours. I am so farking confused. :/

Fflew Llanfair at Parrot Bay Club

Well you win some and you lose some when you try out the live music scene here on SL. We recently covered our post on Maximillion Kleene and how much we loved that show, well we attended another event at the Parrot Club tonight, and it wasn't soo hot. Let me provide a couple of my favorite quotes from Fflew Llanfair that he delivered during the show.

"Let's listen to the tuning song."

"You heard this one a little earlier, but I am going to play it again because I need the practice."

It wasn't that every song was horrible (said through gritted teeth) or that the evening left me lacking entertainment value (because between Jelly and Dreamer I was rolling laughing as we all discussed things amongst ourselves.) Before the show started I commented to Dreamer that Fflew's RL pic looked like David Bowie, and then wouldn't you know that he would play not one but several David Bowie songs throughout the set which got us all to laughing each and every time. Well in the interests of making something out of nothing, we decided we needed to lay out the proper etiquette for a live show, so we created this top ten list throughout the event as the list of "NO NO NO, they didn'ts" kept piling up.

Keys to a successful live show:

1) Don't do sploders - I mean there is a time and place, and this is neither.

2) Always type / in front of your words to stop the typing sound

3) Hire a competent host/hostess who knows all these rules - who is more concerned about the quality of the experience for the audience, than trying to generate donations to support a crappy experience.

4) Provide good dances - that old slow dance sucks (try V3 or V4 peeps)! as do several of the other versions that had been laid out which were either buried in the ground or herky jerky and dancing in circles and making me dizzy?? wtf?

5) Find a good singer - dur

6) The singer shouldn't talk more than he sings

7) Performer should have a play list - starting songs and stopping them to change your mind = not cool

8) Don't think you are David Bowie - if you aren't David Bowie, or at least related to David Bowie, or mayhaps can sing like David Bowie

9) Animate your AV when performing, just standing up there without an AO sort of takes from the experience... even if you are holding a guitar.

10) Try tuning your guitar BEFORE the show

Basically in a nutshell, yes it is a game, yes it is virtual, but you know what... there are REAL people on the other side of those computers and if you want to have ANY chance at all of having us go out and pirate your music, then show up prepared and READY to provide a quality show.

Secondfest (Jun 29th - Jul 1st)

Okay, I am excited!! When you take a powerhouse like Intel as a sponsor and combine 9 SIMS into one big island of entertainment all geared up for a 3 day music and arts festival = huge potential for a fun time. From the looks on the website the sponsors of the event are trying to recreate a 3 day festival just like the many RL festivals this summer. There will be places to camp, food vendors, ,portable johns, and even be a mud fight scheduled for the last day of the event. Pet Shop Boys will be headlining the event (which ironically Jelly and I were just discussing earlier today and which bring back quite a few memories from high school.)

The official posting reads:

Secondfest is a virtual three-day music festival inside Second Life realised by The Guardian and Intel, featuring live music from offline and online performers, theatre, ballet, cinema, animation and general chaos. It kicks off Friday 29 June at 6pm GMT (10am SLT) and rocks and rolls until midnight (GMT) Sunday night.

Three arenas for exclusive performances by Pet Shop Boys, The Aliens, New Young Pony Club, Groove Armada, Hot Chip, Hadouken, Simian Mobile Disco and DJs Rob da Bank, Gilles Peterson, Sunday Best, Bugged Out, Ninja Tunes and many more.

Two stages for exclusive live music from Second Lifers, including Doubledown Tandino, Clayton Road, Slim Warrior, Tony Moore and Wiredaisies.Two cinemas, featuring offline blockbusters, BBC short films and Second Life machinima.Characters, chaos and wandering minstrels! Rocky Horror and Ballet! Theatre! Human Mazes! Secret Stages!

For more information, you can check out http://www.guardian.co.uk/secondfest and http://www.myspace.com/secondfest.

Maximillion Kleene

Continuing with our exploration of the live music scene, we discovered an exceptional performer, named Maximillion Kleene. We headed over to the Peg Leg Saloon for a night of live music on a whim while searching the event postings for something fun to do. I have to say that this guy jumped right to the top of my list for favorite live acts I have seen so far. Jelly and I really enjoyed the heavily alternative set including Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Bare Naked Ladies, and other original samplings played in an an acoustic format with just Max and his guitar.

The Peg Leg Saloon was hopping with a great crowd in Transylvania. It made for a cozy spot to check out some live music action. I didn't even have to make a blood donation while there... so I can save my neck for another day. If you want more information on Mr. Kleene (Mr Clean, Mr Clean... couldn't resist that...) then check out his myspace listing at http://www.myspace.com/maximillionkleene.

I strongly recommend checking him out in the future, at an SLvenue near you.

Trouble Everyday - Live

On Friday June 8th, Jelly and I continued our exploration of the SL live music scene. This one ended up being awesome, as we got to see the band Trouble Everyday sponsored on the Phreak Radio sim. Click the link to hear some of their music on their myspace page.

They are a Philadelphia band, with a great post-punk sound heavy with guitar rifs and a vocal range that combines shouting and singing into a solid sound that leaves you wanting to move. Keep an eye out for future events or join the Trouble Everyday group to hear about future performances.

Plus did I mention they used Penguins to promote their band?? I mean penguins.... come on, major points with a certain pink princess!!

Beth Odets - Violin in SL

The event listing went like this:
Join me at THE ARK for a Live Violin mish mash Impromptu show ; Broadway, Folk music, Jewish tunes, Classical, and your requests.

The Ark is Live Music Venue at the TMA Jewish neighborhood.

Her name is Beth Odets and she describes herself as a "Bohemian, Live Violin playing, Jewish Art Chick. " In RL she is a 33 female from Texas. She builds things in Second Life, draws with magic markers, and plays fiddle in a Hilbilly band. She plays beautifully and I very much enjoyed listening to the variety she played. From classical, to bluegrass, etc etc.