It's terrible Tuesday ...

... following a wonderful extended Bank Holiday weekend.


I think this time round the Bank Holiday weekend really started for me last Thursday. Thursdays have become rather like Mondays for me ... I look forward to them because of the DJ sessions friends run for us at The Pig & Whistle.

It is clear that one of the most lasting appeals of Second Life is not, as many might think, pixel sex; rather it is music - indeed music performance in all of it's aspects are increasingly widespread throughout the Second Life communities.

I will now publicly confess that many months ago Babette and I had a discussion which was quite animated about the value of introducing music performance to our Sims. It's not that I was opposed to it but at that point I was not convinced it was that much of a draw for the citizens of Second Life. Fortunately for all who now visit us regularly for music events Babette had a much better insight than I and persuaded me we should 'Give it a try for a few months ...'

Well here we are MORE than a 'Few months' down the line and I take my hat off to Babette (and carefully pop it away in it's box - a Nice Champagne silk with some cute lace features *S*), not only was she right but in those intervening months it has become clear that whereas Second Life relationships come and go people will always be looking for another music event to go to.

We have been very fortunate to have met some exceptional Second Life performers and of those we have been even more fortunate to be able to persuade some of them to regularly appear for us and delight the crowds with their skills. I am sure that you will already be familiar with the names I am going to mention and if so then I am sure you will join me in applauding their professional and exceptional skills. If you do see some names you are unfamiliar with then whether you come to experience them at our events or search them out at times more suited to your own lifestyles please, please, do go and enjoy their performances.

One of the longest standing of our live performers is Sean Lerner; he has an easy style which is relaxing to listen to and although he does a number of cover songs Sean's real appeal is in the music and songs he has composed himself; based on his life as indeed most artists do Sean writes from his heart and soul and you can really hear it in his performances. If original music appeals to you - listen to Sean Lerner.

Another performer of long standing is Yahshvah Shinja. In real life Yahshvah was a long time professional performer and musical entertainer. His voice is rich, powerful and well suited to the wide range of superb songs he sings. We were introduced to Yahshvah and first heard him sing at his 'Soul Church' and I have to say I was bowled over ... this may well have been the beginning of my being convinced about the draw of music in Second Life. I am certainly not skilled enough to portray the emotive impact that Yahsh's voice has ... what I can say is he has a hard core of dedicated followers and I count myself as one of them. For sheer unadulterated OoommmFF!! Yahshvah Shinja has it in spades ... find him ... listen to him ... be stunned! *S*

Moving now to a great friend of ours, another long time real life musical professional and a fellow UK resident Elvera Lerner brings elegance, charm, sophistication and a HUGE!! bubbly and magnetic personality to us each fortnight in the Love's Trinity ballroom. Elvera is a classically trained singer who enjoys performing a wide variety of music from, of course, the classical arena but also musical stage plays, musicals and popular films and similar disciplines. Elvera is a joy to listen to and when each show is over you will find yourself in total disbelief that an hour has passed ... she is breathtakingly entertaining and totally engages the crowds she draws. Even if your taste in singers is for modern popular music I would still recommend you take an hour out of your life and experience this amazing lady ... You may not be converted ... but I bet I catch you at more than one performance *S*

In more recent months we have been introduced to an up and coming Second Life, star performer, Quinty Munro. Quinty is once again a real life musical performer with her style set firmly in the Rock arena. She is Dutch and like so many of her countries people she speaks English like a native and I just wish I was not so lazy and actually had learned to speak at least on language other than English! Once Quinty hits the stage the whole place lights up and the energy the lady brings to her performances is just awesome ... back this up with her powerful voice and each performance is a winner!! If rock is your preferred type of music this lady can really deliver it!!

As well as Quinty making her apperances with us we are most fortunate to have persuaded Chandra Deed to book us into her busy schedule for a regular Saturday afternoon (SLT) event. You really do have to use the word event as well with Chandra ... Her repertoire seems almost endless and if I am honest I believe many of the songs she performs sound better than the original singers. I have used a lot of words so far in this blog to try to give you the feeling about the artists we have performing on the sim ... I could just go grab a thesaurus and start slathering the honorifics and expressions of sheer delight onto this paragraph while trying to do the same about Chandra ... I really do have a much, much better idea though ... GO SEE HER!!! *S* The performance itself is utterly transfixing with a clarity and power to her voice that would grace any stage in Second Life OR Real Life ... and then there are the between song entertainments; Chandra is sooo in tune with the audience and it is completely clear she enjoys every moment she spends making that hour special for us ... See her; you really do deserve to do yourselves that favour *S*

We have some more plans in the pipeline and there are currently negotiations taking place for 2 new singsers and final words to be rubberstamped on one more performer... I really hope to see you all at some time on the sim and if not then with any luck you will check out some of the performers I have mentioned and will enjoy!!

Take care you wonderful people ... *hugs* and see you soon *S*