News Flash, Crazy Woman on Ski Slopes

Belinda Barnes is back in the news. the woman formerly known as virtual Marilyn, and the hit of the children's story book classic A Steambook Classic (info later in this blog) was caught in this rare film footage that coincidentally she shot and edited herself.  Watch below.....

For higher quality, go to her vimeo site.

Season's Greetings.

:) Soni

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A Steampunk Classic: The Adventures of Bel and Soni
Hard copies are available in Second Life at
Lowe Runo Productions LLC on the Island of Fame
A Flickr in Time Gallery

see prior blog for more information.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

BOSL Radio, the super station that it is, came in as the hometown favorite in the Avi Choice Awards 2011.  The station staff is taking a well-deserved break in real life over the holiday season.

So I found a way to occupy my time - by creating a children's book as my Christmas card to you all.   A Steampunk Christmas:  The Adventures of Bel and Soni.

Enjoy.   - And Happy Holidays to all, whatever you celebrate this time of the year or on a daily basis.   :)

Special thanks to dear friends who helped - Kara Trapdoor, Lowe Runo, and the lovely actress Belinda Barnes - starring in her role as Bel - the steampunk teen!   Below, her tribute photo to Marilyn Monroe.

The versatile actress is featured in this soon-to-be holiday storybook classic.  There she is on the cover - with Soni.  

A Steampunk Christmas:  The Adventures of Bel and Soni

Catch Bel on Flickr (Bel's World) and around the Second Life grid. 

Sonicity Fitzroy on vacation in REAL LIFE.   Yes, I do have one and like it! 

Happy Trails!

A Lot Like Christmas

Her name is Annan Dreamscape.  Her voice is lovely, and she carries a note and herself well.  She is comfortable with her audience and interacts well.  I had the pleasure of listening to her sweet sounds, with her accompanist Norith Westland.

Being this is the holiday season, her voice is a joy to listen to for all the classic holiday tunes.  But that aside, Annan does a wonderful Adele!  Some of her recent adds include tunes from Norah Jones, Ingrid Michaelson, and Rumer.   She's worth the time!  I caught her at For The Love of Music, http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Nile%20River/216/210/23

After Annan, I hopped over to Key West to hear Dark Shoreland (a.k.a. Troy Shoreland of The Follow fame).   It was a great hour set, as to be expected with the usual FOLLOWERS as well as others.   Key West was decorated festively, and the venue was packed. 

I caught some pics of Jenna Dirval, AJ Darkwatch, Powers Avon, and even the Retropolitan Editor Phideaux Mayo, among others.

Note that this Saturday, your favorite live musicians will be performing Christmas and Holiday favorites at Key West,  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Key%20West%20Island/64/63/23
(Click on image below for larger view.)

Yours truly,

Sonicity and Belinda

Merry Christmas 2011

Grand Opening of Sediments

When it comes to rockin' the grid, it's Sediments.  Okay, so sort of a pun.   After months of preparation, a  new dance club provides another option.   The Sediments DJs offered up an interesting mix of underground music throughout Friday night, with DJ Delish Kellish D igniting the big G.O.  The venue promises a variety of industrial, punk, EBM, rock, dark cabaret, dub step, techno, psy, trance, hip hop, aggrotech, etc.   The second dj set, by Germany-based Simor McMillan, featured some alluring alternative beats to complement and complete the late night in Second Life.  I didn't anticipate hanging around through two dj sets.  But I did.  Quite a few people checked out the club, and the staff was in full force, interacting with everyone, for its grand opening.  

The surroundings - all holidayish - offer some photo opps and some eclectic shopping.   It's just a worth a visit or two, and the staff is wonderfully hospitable.   I don't really want to categorize Sediments;  it's going to grow into its identity.   It will be interesting to go back now and then to check on it.

And there's even public restrooms with a bit of graffiti.

It's the extras that sometimes make the difference;  nearly clean restrooms.  All kidding aside, with such a committed staff, it is likely to stay around for awhile, or as long as they want to, given that there are some creative types involved in putting together this venue. 

Every now and then, I like to recommend some non-live music venue options.  Sediments is located on Mystic Isles.   

The Staff on opening night included:
Sediments DJs:  Founder/Co-owner Delish Kellish D (Kelandra Shoreland) and Simor McMillan (also builder).  Sediments Host (Co-owner) Lillith (Lillithmei Heron) was there to the end!

 http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mystic%20Isles/92/94/22

Thanks to Belinda Barnes everyone got fire torches and some glow rings!

Catch ya later, 

Soni

Ugh! Classic Rock Live at Gutherie's

Guthrie's is a 100% Live Music Venue.   I decided to run by early Tuesday morning (SLT) to see what's up, and of course to catch the European time line-up (because my AM is Europe's PM, right?!).    I popped in the middle of Ugh Yeu's set.

Strumming his guitar, and singing ballads, he was working the crowd with two Buffett songs back-to-back including Margaritaville and Cheeseburger Paradise (the latter being a request).  The crowd is comfortable, not too many, not too small, but just right for requests.   Things like that make Second Live live music fun! 

Ugh followed the Buffett set with one of his originals, The Sand Under My Feet.  He tagged it, by saying, "I grew up along the coast of North Carolina with sand under my toes." Ugh converses gently between songs, acknowledging those among the audience throughout his show, ensuring everyone is involved.

He played around with Lynard Skynrd's Sweet Home Alabama, substituting "Alabama" for the names of the cites, states, countries that people were from in the crowd - written in chat for him - France, Australia (Tasmania),Germany, USA (Georgia and Illinois), and so forth.

He covered Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight, Jim Croce's Leroy Brown, Marshall Tucker Band's Fire on the Mountain, and the classics that work great acoustically in a live venue.  He wound down his set with David Allen Coe, You Don't Have to Call Me Darlin' and then closed the show with Tom Petty's Free Fallin'.    He added he likes to sky dive in Second Life, joking he was amazed when he enterd SL that he could teleport.  He had been walking all over the grid! 

In his profile, he writes, "At first it was difficult to find my niche in SL, but the SL Live Music Scene is where I belong. I play accoustic guitar and sing 70's and 80's classic rock."  Check his profile for a link to his google calendar.

So a big hug for UGH!   You can hear he sings from his heart and understands the roots of rock.  A folksy Southerner streaming live from the USA into the world-renowned Gutherie's of virtual fame.

He hung around after the show for the next performer, Tim Anadyr, a talented folksy classic rock singer, with smooth vocals, streaming from the Netherlands.  

Here's a sampling of him -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUgEX2tvbx8
He is also co-owner of the live music venue, Spice -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9beppRaAGdk&feature=related

I especially liked Tim's rendition of the Animal's House of the Rising Sun!

I am sad to say I had to go to work and miss Matthew Perreault, who was next up!  But I have blogged him before, and I regularly play a couple of his songs on Slow Bake, my BOSL Radio show, Saturdays 11AM SLT.

[The BOSL Radio Web site is being updated, but the land stream info is:  http://krominancia.com:4600/]

A great way for this Chicago girl to wake up on a Tuesday morning - hanging out at Guthrie's!

:)  Sonicity

Happy Birthday Autumn Willowind

Autumn is here!   Magnificent colors and summer's last breath fades.  November ushers in the holidays, and thanksgiving is around the corner.  One young lady has much to be thankful for, perhaps having an encouraging mother at her side and having a beautiful sense of music.

Sunday, November 6th, the House of Blues presented Autumn Willowind, a talented young musician who made her debut in Second Life less than 6 months ago.  In fact, she made her debut at HOB in July.   She played to a full house Sunday evening, following her RL mother, Gina Stella, who is among the top female talents in Second Life.

Gina Stella and her RL/SL partner Anek Fuchs (another talented musician - both represented by Sher Salmson, SpiritFire Entertainment in SL) are the contact persons for booking Autumn.  They have brought the Second Life music scene in full force to Chicago, and have been instrumental in bringing live music out of world for an annual music festival in RL, streamed back into SL venues.

Autumn puts her spin on contemporary tunes, like Paramore's The Only Exception, Adele's Someone Like You and Taylor Swift's Story of Us.   Barely 15, with her RL birthday this Saturday, November 12th, she has been a musician her whole life, it seems.  Gina explained to me, "Angela has been singing since she could walk, and plays guitar and sings everyday.  She's had a few lessons but is pretty much self taught - .and you can feel her heart and soul in all her songs."  

Autumn was in good company on this Sunday night, in between her mother and Phemie Alcott, two seasoned performers and excellent role models.  Not bad for a freshman in high school.

Be sure to wish Autumn a happy birthday! 

:) Sonicity