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.”
* * * * *
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
