“We Gotta Say Goodbye, For the Summer” - Bahama Beach Club Closes

 
By Bixyl Shuftan


At 6 PM Saturday August 22nd, the Bahama Beach Club at the Goldrush sim held it’s final event. Club owner Rory Langdon was the DJ that night, playing classic rock for a “Back to the ‘60s” beack party, with some guests and staff in their swimming trunks and bikinis. Instead of in the club, the party was held on the beach sands.

Rory Langdon, or Joe Ward in real life, has been playing music for over 30 years, with experience as both a DJ and club manager. Experience he brought with him to Second Life, both DJing and club managing here. In March 2009, he decided to start up a club of his own, buying up some land that already had a nightclub there, “Club 9:30.” As it turned out, there really was a Club 9:30 in real life. So he kept the building for a while, setting up a small beach club next to it, poles holding up a thatched roof, with a danceball overhead with a particle streamer sending down a light show at times, with a picture of a blue parrot behind the DJ stand, which became known as “Flip the bird.”

With his partner Marai McMahon helping to manage things, Rory had planned to run both clubs with events in both every week. But problems in real life cut down on his time in the metaverse, and the prim content limit limited what he could do with both clubs. So they decided to take down the nightclub building, building a a bigger beach club. They also put a little more detail in the beach. adding rocks, a waterfall, palm trees and hammocks, a secret cuddle spot, and more. Some people dropped over between parties just to see the beach scenery and relax. The new bigger club was renamed the Bahama Beach Club, though sometimes simply called the “BBC” as a pun on the famous media company.

Besides himself, Rory had other music-makers performing. Bosco sang at the club for a time. Later on came DJ’s SonicBlu and Boo Gearhead. And throughout the club’s history, there was ScratchMusikatt the “Chaos DJ,” playing for the late at night while he also performed in real life.

The club and it’s grounds took up a quarter sim, but prim limits limited what Rory, Marai, and the staff could do. There was talk about buying up a half sim, or maybe a full sim in the future for things like a staff residence home. Then his old friend and former neighbor Foxyfurman Kumaki who runs the Foxworth sim offered a deal. Rory and Marai now have a section of the sim there for a club, which will be opened sometime in the near future. This time, it will be a nightclub to go along with Foxy’s casino next to the place. The land on Goldrush will be sold.

So, the Bahama Beach Club comes to a close, at least for now. It’s likely it will come back in some form, but the place at Goldrush will be missed.

As the final party came to a close, virtual champagne was passed around, and toasts were made.

“To this place being good to us, memories made here.”

“To memories old and new, to friends who shall never be forgotten.”


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Addition (2015): In the Summer of 2008, I came across and made friends with the people of Woodlin, eventually joining the community in October. But over a period of weeks from January to March 2009, the place fell apart due to drama, the majority of us heading over to Foxworth, owned by Foxyfurman Kunami. But while Woodlin had it's own clubs, Foxworth didn't have one. It's entertainment was an open-air gaming hall with machines of Foxy's construction. Enter Rory Langdon, whom was one of Woodlin's DJs, and was the manager of it's short-lived "Margaritavile." Wanting to stay in the club business, he got some land in a sim separate from Foxworth that already had one, and went to work with help from Foxworth's residents. More of the club's history could be seen in this article of the place, that was published in August 23 2009, the day after its closing party.

  Rory never did open his nightclub. Events in real life intervened, and he was forced to take a hiatus from Second Life. While he was able to make occasional reappearances, he never could stick around for very long. Some months later in March 2010, Foxworth itself had to close down. Marai and a few others were able to relocate to a place they called Glen Meadows, but there was no room for me. But there was another group of friends I had with their own estate: The Sunweavers. ScratchMusikatt did end up meeting a special friend at the BBC, and their friendship continues to this day, as does his DJing.

Bixyl Shuftan

 

RFL Walk: The Really Wild West Exhibit

By Bixyl Shuftan

With so many exhibits on the Relay for Life walk, there just isn’t the time and space to write in detail on each of them. But I did get a sneak peak at one, the “Really Wild West” by the Passionate Redheads.

The exhibit was set in the Old West themed area of the Relay for Life Walk in the southwest corner of the RFL Endure sim (the other west sim was RFL Courage just to the east), the road just on the edge of the RFL Advocacy sim to the south. The place looked like it was set in some mountainous desert, with Native American music in the background. Just behind and to the right of the sign over the entrance was the main building, a two-story adobe structure that served partially as a store, offering a number of items for sale for charity. But the place also had some messages of inspiration. Nearby next to the road were some whimsical “Armadillo Crossing” signs, with armadillo nearby.

Paths and bridges helped one up the mountains. One could walk around to the various sights, but there were also teleports to the more notable ones. There was a mine in which one could hop on a cart and ride down the tracks. There was a river rafting ride, in which one could make their way down the twisting mountain waters. There was an Indian Circle, in which one could sit on a blanket, get a drum and a stick, and beat in rhythm.

The completion of the exhibit was announced in a few group chats a couple nights before the Relay for Life Walk officially started. People headed over, gathering at the adobe building, and having a party around the hot tub. When this reporter checked a few days after the Linden lease ended on Tuesday, it was still up.

Most of the work on the exhibit was done by Lomgren Smalls. Of the theme of the exhibit, “We found out we were on the ‘western’ themed sim already,” he explained, “I thought blending in with what was already there was a good idea.” Others had told me Lomgren had spent so much time on the place, he got only a few nights sleep in the days just before it was finished, “If you count actual hours ... I put in around a day, to a day and a half of work. Others did more as well, with the river, the detailing, the plants, etc. If you count real-life time... it was done in... 4-5 days.” Of the various attractions, “We all contributed toward the ideas. Daaneth loved the mine idea. We were all just spouting out ideas quickly.” Lomgren had no idea how many stepped off the track to look around, but he had a good idea what they felt, “Everyone's loved it.” Although pleased to hear it was still up, he felt it wouldn’t me much longer before it would vanish into the blue, “Anything after (Tuesday) is a bonus.” Despite the temporary results, Lomgren was still happy to have built the place, “That Relay is awesome, and more people should try to get involved. And that building it was fun, if exhausting.”

For his work, the Passionate Readheads awarded him, along with Dusk Griswold, the first Annual Fimi Awards, named after the late Artistic Fimicloud.

On July 21, Daaneth Kivioq announced the Passionate Redheads had raised 2,425,968 L, or over $9,300.

Bixyl Shuftan

Addition: This would be the first Relay track camp of the Passionate Redheads team I would see. It was part of a great introduction for me to the Redheads. The team would do other exhibits in the future, but this was among the most detailed and interactive by it. Despite all of Lomgen's work, and that of those helping him such as Alleara Snoodle, he never did win an official Relay award for the build. Sadly, the team would fold in 2013, but many of the members would come together again under a new team: the Sunbeamers.

Berlin Wall Display in Second Life

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

On Veterans Day/Rememberance Day, I heard about a replica of part of the Berlin Wall set up here in Second Life. IMing the man I heard built it, Christo Larsen, we chatted for a couple minutes, then he invited me to his sim Ciel. So I went over.

“A lot of foreign people don’t know much about about the Berlin Wall,” Christo, whom is German, told me, “even th e younger ones. He explained that the New Berlin area also had a replica of the Wall, “It’s very good, sophisticated, but they don’t have any information, ... no displays.”

Christo explained he was aware of the Berlin Wall as a kid, but he lived far away from it, “This whole business didn’t touch me, no connection. I never went to it while it was up. ... But still, I remember the day (when it came down). ... friends and family who couldn’t see each other ... “ His thoughts turned again to how people forgot, “You know how people ... all the things have been better, they don’t understand. ... inside, they didn’t let yo u meet them ... they arrested, they even shot. ... It’s been nineteen years now. Of course people born under a united Germany they don’t know what it was like.”

“I’ve even have someone ask when Hitler built it,” Christo remarked of how little some people knew about it, “I don’t see them as stupid. For instance, North American History, the Civil War, I don’t know what it was about. ... Second Life ... we have plenty of malls and clubs ... we need more educational areas ... debates ... it’s one thing to read a %bout it, but if you see a movie or docudrama ... “ Second Life was in turn a better media, he told, “gives you a chance to walk along it.”

The exhibit itself consisted of the Wall with bare dirt, wire fence, sections of old brick wall (presumably buildings caught in the path of the Wall) and tank barriers on the eastern side. With the western side marked by graffiti, the eastern has information signs and pictures for visitors. In the middle of the Wall Section was a replica of the American Checkpoint - Checkpoint Charlie, “The most famous one, being in the movies.” He mentioned as the entire Berlin Wall was constructed on East German territory, the American soldiers at the checkpoint were technically on the other side of the border, “but no one shot for that.” 

On the East German side were & a couple cars, East German Trabbi, “symbol of the inferiority of the East German economy. ... plastic, not steel, body was a hard plastic shell.” An East German worker often had to wait ten to fifteen years to get one of the “stinky and noisy” vehicles, “But people still love them,” Christo saying they were now a rare collectors item.

We walked along the displays to those of escape attempts across the Wall. One was a picture of the East German soldier who made a break for it, and safely made it without being fired at from either side. Another picture was of a woman who dropped from a high window in a building straddling the Wall zone to reach freedom, later dying from her injuries. Christo talked about what he felt was the most famous death at the Wall, a teenager trying to make a break for it , getting through no-mans-land, and getting shot just before he could get up the West side of the Wall. He bled to death in front of everyone, Christo saying the soldiers on both sides were afraid of starting a fight. 

Then there was the fall of the Berlin Wall, “The border all around was armed, but Berlin was the symbol ... divided streets ... finally people were able to sit on the Wall. No one knew about the soldiers, who still were under orders to secure the border. But none of them fired ... we were very lucky. In 1953, East Germans protested ... Soviets sent troops in, smashed the uprising down violently.” Christo felt the Perestroika movement under Soviet leader Gorbachev helped pave the way for the fall of the Wall, but that it would not have been possible without the lessening tensions between Russia and the West.

Pictures showed the wall coming down, Christo giving Dec 22 as the date. He also put up comparison pictures of how bare places looked just after the wall was torn down, and years later when they were covered with buildings, “Look how it is fifteen years later, it’s amazing. ... Wounds can heal, but scars never go away.”

At the end was a streaming video, pictures related to the wall, with Pink Floyd music, and Regan’s famous phrase, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Christo says the Berlin Wall will not be permanent, but will be keeping it up for a week or two, depending on how many people visit, “Sometimes you get tired of all the shopping. I’m not saying one should go to a vitural museum every day, but once in a while.”

The Berlin Wall exhibit is at Ciel (60. 50, 24).

“Thank you so much.”

*  *  *  *  *

Addition: The Berlin Wall exhibit (I later found out the Communists called it the "Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart") would go up one more time the following year in 2009. When I went to the location in 2010, it wasn't there. Sad as it was a fitting reminder of the most visible location where Europe was split in two by the Iron Curtain, The Wall dividing not just a city, but people, friends and family whom felt they would never see one another again.

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Silverscreen: "Home of the Movies in Second Life"

 By Bixyl Shuftan

 One of my friends from the Second Life Tour group, Delaynie Barbosa, told me about one interesting sim, Silverscreen.

At the teleport point, (145, 147, 33), one finds a huge amphitheater with a four-sided media display screen, which dominates the central island. Currently, it plays media of a trailer for the "Iron Man" movie. Four other islands  make up the sim. Besides flying over, one can also take a tram to and from there to the main island, which can be called over by posts at the edge of the islands (don't forget to sit in them).

The island to the southeast has an "Iron Man" prim statue and a free Iron Man avatar and AO (which you can also find behind you at the teleport point), as well as another media screen for the movie trailer. The southwest corner has a scene from the "Transformer" movie of two of the robots in a fight, Bumblebee and Barricade, as well as two free avies of them.

The northwest island is for the latest "Die Hard" movie, a scene of a fighter jet firing at a truck on a bridge. To the side are a few freebie items and teleports to other parts of the sim. The map shown suggests there were more "Die  Hard" exhibits in the past, but about all that is left of them is the free "Warlock Room" building under the central amphitheater. The northeast island is for the movie "300," a scene of some Ancient Greek buildings. One can find a free Spartan warrior outfit there, and look for the helmets, spears, and the shield elsewhere there. And like in the movies, I found a "blooper" there. On the floor was a smoldering cigar - not exactly something one is supposed to find on an Ancient Spartan set. ;-)

Silverscreen also has a group of the same name. The group charter says "Silverscreen is a multi-purpose event and exhibition venue developed and managed by Picture Production Company (PPC). Silverscreen opened to the public in March 2007, and has since hosted Q&As and expos for movies ..." The founder of the group, Danyboy Lightfoot, calls himself the manager of Silverscreen, "I've been involved in bringing movies including 300, DIE HARD 4.0 and Transformers into Second Life." He is also with the "Transformers" sim group.

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Addition:

"When Second Life went to the movies" is what one might call this place and time. The place was made at a time when real life companies were looking to the virtual world as a place to advertise. Within months, places like this would be pretty much a thing of the past. Yours truly still has the "300" outfit and "Bumblebee" avatar, though the latter has become glitched.

Bixyl Shuftan

 

Opening a Can of Wyrms

When I had heard about Baron DeSantis getting arrested, I was as outraged as anyone else. I thought of giving him a visit, but not exactly looking human, thought those Ghul jokers would lay charges on me for being an illegal alien. But as they were willing to let him go if enough was donated to the American Cancer Society, I went ahead with a contribution. I guess it was enough, they let him go.

After finishing up some business in my office, I thought about IMing Baron to say hello, see how he was doing. But someone called me first, my friend Sparklin Indigo. She invited me over, so I agreed and was teleported over ...

And I found myself not next to a tall beautiful blonde (a smart one), but a huge golden dragon. The next thing I noticed was that it seemed to be dancing to the music around us. There was snow on the ground, and nearby three Easter Island style statue heads dressed up whimsically with hats and scarves.

The dragon smiled, and spoke in Sparklin's voice, "Hi there, it seems wherever I go, people want to have a party." Around us, I could see other dragons, some large, some small, also dancing away. Other than one winged pixie, I was the only non-dragon here. Or rather, non-wyrm. A nearby sign read "Isle of Wyrms."

Sparklin had gotten herself a charm that allowed herself to take on the form of a dragon. And as everyone around us just wanted to have fun, I went ahead and joined in the dancing. It must've been quite an odd sight, a pixie, a foxfolk, and all those dragons dancing away.

Sparks and I talked about a few things, including Baron getting arrested and being let go after enough cash was donated to charity. I went ahead and IMed him again to see what was going on. I didn't get an answer right away, but he eventually did. I greeted him, and asked how he was now. Baron answered he was okay, all things considered, but was worried about the Ghul-ish police. It seems he had made a friend among the prisoners he couldn't turn his back on, and smuggled in something to help the inmate. He was now worried he might have been found out.

Concerned, I suggested to Baron he go somewhere the Ghuls couldn't reach him and contact legal help. He didn't think it was that simple, feeling that he'd have to keep looking over his shoulder. Then I heard him scream, "Noooooooooo!" Fearful he was going to go through that nightmare all over again, I tried to offer him a teleport, hoping the magic of this land would allow it to work against whatever those Ghuls had. Then I saw him appear in his tuxedo in front of us. He was safe.

So I thought. "Where am I?" he asked, looking around worriedly. "This is the Isle of Wyrms" I explained, telling him everyone around was friendly. It was then I realized he might still be in a little shock from his experience. And suddenly being dragged off to being in the middle of a bunch of big dragons, with sharp teeth and claws, might not be exactly comforting to his mind. I wondered if he might run away screaming. But instead, after making a few barely comprehensible statements about the cops closing in, he fainted.

Sparklin soon had to go, another friend of hers needed a hand, and then I noticed the pixie pushing Baron off to the direction of the river. I got between her and the ice-cold stream, "Where are you taking him?" She just winked at me, "I was only going to show him the fishies." Maybe the magic in this land would allow him to breathe, but even if so, I doubt waking up underwater would be the best thing for Baron's psychological well-being. So I wouldn't let her through, and she pouted and walked off. I pushed my fellow newsie a short distance to safety.

Seeing a nearby store, and thinking Baron was safe, I went over to check on something. Maybe it had a charm that would allow me to take on the form of a local for a decent price. I didn't find anything I needed for the moment, so I went back, and Baron was gone. He wasn't in the river, so apparently he had woken up and ran off.

Did I really help my friend? Maybe instead of the Ghuls, he was yelling from a figment in his imagination. Maybe what he really needs is a good therapist, minister, or bartender. And of course there's me. If he really is running from the Ghuls, they could try going after me for "aiding and abetting," as well as the kind of bovine by-product charge they slapped on Baron to throw him in to begin with.

I may have opened up a "can of wyrms" here.

Bixyl Shuftan

STA: Follow-Up

The STA sim may be gone (see Explore - January 27), but a piece of it lives on. Sparklin Indigo, one of the members of the STA staff, had the Orientation Island globe and a few sets of chairs and tables brought up to the roof of her club Sparks Ignite for "a little STA-esque hangout." On a nearby wall is a picture of the main STA building. Next to the globe is a screen flashing different scenes of the STA every few seconds, the images contributed by a number of people who took pictures.

And there's a DJ spot, made for the STA's #1 DJ in mind, Blarion Gazov. Next to the equipment is a sign, "No Thriller, No Green Day," two things people are asked not to request.

Former head of the STA GlobetrekkerBob Lane will not be around to see it for some time, though. He sent us a note saying he'll be gone from Second Life for a while.

Bixyl Shuftan