A Midnight Train FROM Georgia: A Pip's Journey
William Guest & Lady Dhyana Ziegler, PhD (Branden Books)
It started as a simple book party, a celebration of sorts, to honor book author/musician "Pip" William Guest, and his co-author Lady Dhyana Ziegler. It grew into a major event that will be remembered as part of Second Life history.
Let's start with a short machinima that wraps up the events on YouTube - A Pip's Journey.
All that to say, the band's stature is comparable to "Royalty" (to
quote DJ Miles Eleventhauer) in the record industry. Miles opened the
show with his well-informed DJ set that paid homage to those great times
with his personal stories and historical context.
* * *
Lady Dhyana and William Guest go way back. William became part of her family when he married her sister, and at the time Dhyana was a little girl. She used to follow him around, as well as "Pip" Edward. All were close friends. William was cousin to Gladys Knight and Pip Bubba. So yesterday was history in the making. Guest wrote "Midnight Train FROM Georgia: A Pip's Journey," a book with his "lil" sis Dhyana, and through her help as a professional journalist/educator, he recounted life back then, and even announced an upcoming solo project. The book is a honest account of "A Pip's Journey." He is a grand storyteller, and the more than 50 avatars (12-1: 46; 1-2: 53; 2-3: 40) that attended became aware, if they hadn't been already, that a legend was in their midst. He was now among them within the virtual realm. William Guest is part of the SL community. That is history!
Thanks also to Definitive Rock Concerts and especially Luv2 Brandi (pictured above in the sassy hot pink gown). She choreographed the Gladys Knight and The Pips Tribute Concert, complete with lighting and animations. This event was produced by SoNice Productions, RingMyBel Productions, & Lowe Runo Productions. Also it is important to note that this event was held at the co-partnered sim, Virlantis (Southern Illinois University & University of Western Australia). Thank you to UWA's Jayjay Zifanwe for his hospitality, and being there to support us. And special thanks to blogger Kara Trapdoor for helping out in so so many ways!
I would like to thank all those who attended. It was a special event. Dhyana had flown
"A Pip's Journey"is available at all major outlets, Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, as well as its publisher, Branden Books. We hope you read the book to get to know the family better. The intimacy that they share is refreshing. And William is the master storyteller! We also hope you got your "framed" autographed book cover. And now that William has an avatar, we really hope he comes back soon. There were mentions that he would, and that a theatrical production of their book was in the works already. Our deepest thanks to William Guest for coming into Second Life to share his real life. We are honored!
Excerpts from his speech will be hopefully posted this week.