Okay, I’m making a note — always double-check when applying for performance slots at events in Second Life.
I realised yesterday that my DJ-ing slot at BURN2 wasn’t going to be at 12pm SLT today, but at 12am, or 8am UK time. That would have been tough for me to do even on a weekday, but doubly so on a Sunday!
I let the performance organiser know yesterday, but I woke up to some offline messages from the on-duty stage hosts early this morning asking if I was going to be performing. It was several hours before I was awake enough to log into Second Life to answer them.
I’ll most likely try and perform at BURN2 later in the year, but next time I’ll pay more attention!
In other news, I had my second Covid-19 vaccination shot last Tuesday. The side-effects weren’t as severe this time around, but I still felt rough for most of the week.
I thought I’d better post something to let the world know I’m still alive!
I ended up taking time out for most of March, both from broadcasting duties on Gorean Whip Radio and activity in Second Life generally, while I took care of my physical and mental health. A combination of sinus infection plus poor sleep had left me pretty frazzled, so I decided that sorting that out took priority over everything else. The time off ended up doing me a power of good, not only because my health has improved, but because I now have a lot more clarity on where I’m going and what my priorities are.
One side-effect of that is that I won’t be chasing after DJ-ing opportunities at big events like the SL Sci-Fi Con or SL18B. I will do coverage of events for Gorean Whip Radio when I’m able, and the good news is that the station is once again part of Sci-Fi Con 2021, meaning I’ll be doing a live walkabout around the event sims. 🙂
I do have one special event coming up soon — on Sunday 11th April I’ll be at BURN2 once again for their Burnal Equinox event, and that’ll be dual-streamed to Gorean Whip Radio. I’ll post the show recording plus a photo gallery afterwards.
In other news, I managed to snag myself a Catwa HDPRO Queen mesh head, which was briefly on sale for just L$1! It took me a while to get it setup to my liking, in part because my custom avatar shape caused it to break in a few places, but I’m pretty pleased with it. The best part is that the ears move by themselves, and unlike the old mesh ears from Stargazer Creations that I’ve worn in the past, they support Bakes on Mesh. 🙂
I’m also looking to reduce my monthly expenditure in Second Life, so I’m going to drop my Premium account in the autumn when it comes up for renewal. I’m now down to about 30 groups, and focussing on roleplay and events over shopping, so that won’t be a handicap for me. It does mean I’ve given up the houseboat Premium Home, which is a shame, but I can go elsewhere for sailing.
For a change, I was able to get plenty of photos taken for this visit to BURN2, which is great because words along cannot fully describe the creativity (and craziness) on display on the Playa! 🙂
The theme of this year’s event was ‘Bubblegum & Duct-tape”, so there was much pink gooeyness and tape replacing the roads.
Photos taken around the BURN2 Playa on Saturday 30th January 2021.
I took these photos on the day before I was due to perform, so it was marginally less laggy walking around the region and I could get unobstructed views of the various builds.
Suffice to say, there were a lot of Bernie Sanders meme pictures dotted around! I guess the Burners decided that he was perfect for a winter festival. 🙂
Incidentally, that last picture is the installation of Patrick Moya, who has an entire region of his own full of his wonderfully surreal creations. He’s in the bottom right of the photo, by the way. 🙂
I caught the end of one of the Saturday DJ shows, which was followed by a live performance by the Changhigh Sisters. They are regulars at just about every BURN2 event I’ve been to, and for once I was able to both watch the show and take some photos. These stills don’t really do them full justice, their performance combines dance, acrobatics and a lot of pyrotechnics!
Changhigh Sisters Assemble!
My show was on the Sunday from 12pm to 2pm SLT, and once again I simulcast it on Gorean Whip Radio. There was a small technical hitch at the start where the radio didn’t get switched to my DJ stream right away, but everything went smoothly at my end. I say ‘smoothly’, but that was because for the most part I had my Firestorm Viewer setting cranked down so that I could still type and control my broadcast setup!
There was a large crowd during my show, and they enjoyed the mix of soul, funk and disco. 🙂 Later on, I was able to bring up my viewer settings enough to snap some photos of the partygoers — lots of sexy pixels on display!
An assortment of colourful critters! Sadly, I didn’t note down all the names, but the first two are DJ Sab and DJ Puddles, and the two dinkies in the fourth picture were Supersuz and Lee, part of the BURN2 region management (along with Puddles, who is the Performance lead.)
I had a great time, and will definitely be back for the next BURN2 event!
Tracklisting:
Move On Up — Curtis Mayfield Soul Man — Sam & Dave I Say a Little Prayer — Aretha Franklin Sir Duke — Stevie Wonder (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay — Otis Redding Try a Little Tenderness — Percy Sledge War — Edwin Starr Walk On By — Dionne Warwick Let’s Stay Together — Al Green Ain’t Nobody — Rufus & Chaka Khan Sweet Love — Anita Baker
It’s My Thing (You Can’t Tell Me Who To Sock It To) — Marva Whitney The Message From The Soul Sisters (Pt. 1 & 2) — Myra Barnes Think (About It) — Lyn Collins Super Bad, Pt. 1 & 2 — James Brown & The J.B.’s Never Too Much — Luther Vandross Le Freak — Chic We Are Family (Single Version) — Sister Sledge Boogie Wonderland — Earth, Wind & Fire, The Emotions
Give Me Just a Little More Time — Chairmen of the Board Play That Funky Music — Wild Cherry Disco Inferno (Single Edit) — The Trammps Proud Mary — Tina Turner Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) — Marvin Gaye We Have All the Time In the World — Louis Armstrong
This is a friendly reminder that I’ll be doing a special show today, from Whip HQ in Second Life. I’ve dug out some of the weirdest and/or most cringe-worthy Christmas-related songs I could find. 😉
If you’re logged into Second Life you can join me here, otherwise tune in to Gorean Whip Radio by plugging the stream URL into your browser!
I will post the show recording and track-list here within next day or so. 🙂
That was a blast, literally! 🙂 Not only one of the biggest audiences I’ve had for one of my Gorean Whip Radio shows, but also one of the biggest audiences I’ve had in-world too. Of course, the flip-side of that was lag, and lots of it, to the point where I had to switch away from Firestorm to get my streamer controls to respond! But I soldiered through, and had a load of fun riffing off the crowd in front of me.
Benjamin Brougham, the organizer and lead for the Sci-Fi Expo, provided me with a list of songs he wanted to be played during the ceremony, plus a prepared speech to broadcast. (We’d discussed the possibility of doing that live over Discord, but given that I knew it would be laggy I suggested that he pre-record instead.) I filled around that playlist with my selection of themes from TV shows and films. 🙂
I wasn’t expecting to have such a nice DJ booth, nor have a light-show to accompany it. Thanks to the Sci-Fi Expo team for arranging that. 🙂
And this evening they dropped a new promo video for the event, which features the audio of the audio promo I created earlier this week for Gorean Whip Radio. 😀
Yes, that’s my voice! 😀
Tracklisting:
The Clangers – Intro — Smallfilms
Extended Intro (from ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’) — DJ Spitfire
Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30: I. Prelude (Sonnenaufgang) — Berlin Philharmonic & Herbert von Karajan
Star Wars Main Theme — John Williams
Space Walk — Silent Partner
Fun — Selena Gomez
Wonder — Shawn Mendes
Soon You’ll Get Better (feat. Dixie Chicks) — Taylor Swift
The Final Countdown — Europe
2020 SL SciFi Expo – Opening Speech — Benjamin Brougham
JUST STAND UP! — Artists Stand Up to Cancer
Buck Rogers In the 25th Century — The Daniel Caine Orchestra
Battlestar Galactica Theme — Stu Phillips & Royal Scottish National Orchestra
I Am the Doctor — Murray Gold
Doctor Who – Clean Tom Baker Opening (1974) — BBC Radiophonic Workshop
End Credits (from ‘Star Trek’) — Jay Chattaway
Outro music (from ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’) — DJ Spitfire
I’ve been a very busy alien the last few days! The 2020 Sci-Fi Expo is happening from the 14th to the 28th October, and Gorean Whip Radio is the official station for the event. In previous years it has been help around November / December time, so I was caught off-guard when Irish Breen informed me that it was happening this month! 😮
As promised, here’s the audio recording of my DJ set from Saturday at BURN2 “The Multiverse”. There weren’t as many people this time, compared to my previous appearance at BURN2 VRC at the end of August, but the upside was that I could actually type in chat without horrible lag! 😛
Just a reminder that I’ll be DJ-ing today at BURN2 “The Multiverse” in Second Life, from 12pm to 2pm SLT (8pm to 10pm UK time).
Here is the link to the landing point if you’re in-world. Be advised that it could get very busy, so remove any scripted attachments, HUDs or other items that you don’t need before arrival.
If you can’t make it, you can tune in to my DJ stream here. I will also be streaming to Gorean Whip Radio, but as I’ll be squeezing in between two other shows there you might miss the start of my set. Never fear if you can’t listen live, I’ll be recording my show and posting it here tomorrow, along with tracklisting. 🙂
As promised, here is the recording of my show from BURN2 which took place yesterday at 12pm SL Time.
I was the first act on after the opening, which was pretty cool. Sadly, I only had one hour to perform this time around, as the Fashionistas were doing their show at 1pm, but I continued broadcasting on Gorean Whip Radio after my set time was up.
Sooo… last week I got confirmation from the organizers at Burn2 in Second Life that I’ve got a slot there this coming Sunday at 12pm SLT for the VRC Week event!
As with my previous performance at Burn2 last month, I’m planning on simulcasting across Second Life on Gorean Whip Radio, with the approval of station management. I’d normally be broadcasting at that time anyway, so no danger of conflict with other shows.
I’ve not yet finalised what I’ll play, but since it falls on August Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK, when the Notting Hill Carnival would usually be taking place — but not this year, thanks to Covid-19 — I’ll try and fit in some reggae, ska and calypso. 🙂
If you’re around in Second Life on Sunday, you’re welcome to drop by the Burn2 performance stage (note that they’re in the process of building currently, but feel free to have a look around.) Otherwise, you can tune in via Gorean Whip Radio (here’s the stream address), or wait until next week when I’ll upload and post the recording of my set.
In other news, I’ve been doing some more tweaking of my avatar. My search for a new deep blue skin has finally ended — the appropriately named Peacock skin from CORE, which makes my rainbow spot tattoo and makeup really pop! I also found some new mesh eyes that I’m truly happy with, the Hypno from Venge. Unlike a lot of the others I’ve tried, these can be modified, so I could add some glow to them. Perfect for staring down haters and undesirables, or perhaps enthralling the unwary… muwahahahaha! 😀
Look into my eyes… you are feeling very sleepy… you need to read more of my blog! 😉
You might notice that a few things are missing, namely my ears and antennae. The sad fact is that neither of those items support Bakes On Mesh, meaning it’s much more hassle to texture them, and I cannot apply any shine to them. So, I’ve ditched them for now. On the plus side that reduces my avatar complexity quite a bit, as does the removal of the need for an extra tattoo layer to hide the baked in fingernails and toenails from my previous skin.
That’s all the news for now. I have a review coming up for an alternative mesh body, which I’ll get done and posted later this week. And I’ll try and take some photos from Burn2 on Sunday to share with you all.
Peace and love, stay safe, and look after yourselves and each other! *mwahs*
