Avatar Orchestra Metaverse on the road and in the sky

My old friend Gumnosophistai Nurmi invited me along to the latest gig by the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse (AOM). I had seen the orchestra late last year and was keen once again to experience their beautifully constructed audio sound sculptures.

The TP supplied by Gum landed me on an oil rig floating adrift in a clear blue sky. On the main deck stood the usual interesting looking AOM performers and audience, though it is always tricky to know exactly who is which (or which is who).

The first set was an experimental number which I missed much of due to finding myself engaged in a number of IMs with the many imaginative looking avies on display.

For the next number we TPed en-masse to the Art Think Box. The set was, apparently, being webcast simultaneously to a Berlin club and we were exhorted to ‘dance for Berlin’.

I paid more attention to the music this time and thoroughly enjoyed what I heard, evoking memories of Cabaret Voltaire and industrial jazz funk (whatever that is).

For the last number we TPed to the Island Youniverse. The orchestra assembled themselves within a technicolor mountain while the audience hovered and danced in the sky.

This was my first experience of sky-dancing and most enjoyable it was too.

3 compositions, 3 venues, 1 orchestra, 1 evening. The AOM have the balance just right, go check them out!

Cafe Moreni

The Cafe Moreni in Second Poznan is one my favourite places to sit and chat with friends.

It’s a Polish café and frequented mainly by Poles. It’s intimate, well designed and very friendly. The walls are a pleasing orange that suits my blue skin just perfectly, the vodka is served extremely cold and the pastries are a delight.

I love to sit in one of the comfy seats and watch the steady rise of Polish drifting up like ticker-tape from the chat box. The Polish is often interspersed with the odd English word or phrase, usually along the lines of ‘linden’, ‘freebie’, Last Call’ and ‘Sex Gen’. Ah, our old friends, shopping and fucking. It is nice to see that we are, after all, a united Europe sharing the same needs and desires.

Cake and I turned up there one evening last week and quickly started a conversation with a self-confessed ‘shy Pole’ by the name of Alien Lynagh

Tess joined us for a hot chocolate and showed off her Polish vocabulary.

Café Moreni, a fine café, most certainly worth visiting…oh, and smoking is permitted, joy!!

Sacrifice of the Sun Prince

It was Cake’s idea. Well, it was she who teleported me to deepest Mexico in search of dragons, and that is where the events I am about to relate took place.

On arrival in Mexico we encountered a Brazilian vampire who I talked to in Spanish until running out of phrases. He didn’t know of any dragons but did recommend the disco club.

We bid farewell to the vampire and strode onwards and upwards in the direction of the great Aztec temple of Chichen Itza that dominates the sim.

After much huffing and puffing we reached the top of the temple and stopped for a breather.

I looked out to the bright sun, sitting like a huge golden coin in the sky and felt myself transported back to the days before Cortes and his bloodthirsty crew arrived on the scene. Back to the days of Tonatiuh, the Sun god and the uncountable rites enacted on this very monument.

At that same moment a young man, one Benton Hoch, appeared. Benton was wearing a t-shirt with the word Sun emblazoned across his muscular chest (well, in truth it read ‘Sun Microsystems’ but that is a minor detail). I knew immediately that he was THE ONE and Cake and I were the ONES who were meant to DO IT.

I looked at Cake, I could see she also knew.

“Hello Benton I said, “We’ve been waiting you, the time is right for the DEED that must be done”. Benton looked confused.

“The sacrifice” I clarified. “Tonatiuh must be fed, appeased, obeyed. He is asking for you, the Sun Prince”.

Cake unsheathed her hunting knife. “This way Sun Prince, follow us to the sacrificial chamber”

The Sun Prince was in a trance. Bewitched by our presence and the momentous occasion, he followed us without question into the sacrificial chamber and climbed up on to the altar.

I began the invocation and Cake started chanting, the noise echoed through the chamber, louder and louder. Then, as we reached a crescendo of sound, Cake took her knife in both hands, reached behind her head and brought the knife down in one swift, sure movement.

Then silence.

The Sun Prince left this mortal life to join his father in the sky. Tonatiuh was pleased with our labours and his smile reached out across the dusty Mexican plains.

Cake and I shared a cigarette and surveyed our handiwork, a good day’s work completed. At this point Therese turned up and scolded us for having a fag in a non-smoking zone. She had a point.

We stood outside the temple for a group photo, the reincarnated Sun Prince wisely keeping some distance from us (see left of pic)

Minutes later it all felt like a dream. Cake swore blind that she had committed no such slaughter and I protested loudly that I had not broken my one month abstention from ciggies.

The only thing left to do was take another group shot

(with thanks to Benton for being such a good sport!)

Retreat to La Reve

I love the mystical, blueish island of La Reve. It has a dreamy, rich, lush quality about it, a beautiful land full of things to find by chance or accident…

I like to come here on my own…to escape and recoup

I like to come here with a friend…to explore, to talk

I like to come here with friends…to chat, laugh and dream together.

La Reve, my retreat

(With thanks to the multi-talented Lash Xevious).

Blue leopard antler girl

It all started at the World’s End Tavern on the island of Tanglia.

I was dancing with Cake Kidd and Therese Carfagno when I noticed a girl with a pair of beautiful antlers poking out of her hair. They were wonderful, giving her a wild, mysterious, shamanic look. I IMd the antler girl and discovered they were designed by Neon Pooka and available in the mall above the World’s End.

So, the very next day I TPd to back to Tanglia and purchased two pairs of antlers and here’s how they look:

Antlers at La Reve

I looked further around the Tanglia mall and my eyes were quickly drawn to a leopard spot skin created by Glass Earth. Actually it’s not a skin at all but clothes layers with spots, most clever. I’ve been on the look out for animal markings for a while having long been an admirer of Vint Falken’s beautiful avie.

So, armed and dangerous I TPed off to my current favourite nite spot for some serious snapshot taking…

Dancing at the Not To Hot club

Posing at the Not To Hot club

And that’s how I became the blue leopard antler girl.

Khâny et Poky - blue girls in space

My friend Daniel Schumann sent me this link to Khâny et Poky, a couple of characters from an odd French cartoon strip. They are intergalactic blue girls, friends of one Yoko Tsuno.

Khâny (on the left)

The strip is in French so I shuffled the paragraph on Khâny and Poky through Babel Fish (always a fun exercise) and came up with the following:

“Khâny and its twin sister, Poky, girls with the blue skin resulting from the Vinéa planet towards which Yoko is very often involved in its adventures, become for our heroin, of sincere truths friends. Khâny and Poky were put in lethargy to resist the long voyages through the galaxies, and were awaked at different times. Poky is thus now much younger than its binocular.”

Poky (on the left)

So, here we have a couple of blue space girls with a slight ‘thing’ for binoculars…oh and they are lazy.

We need these gals in Second Life pronto, just my cup of tea!

Cars

Some things that just don’t interest me in First Life can, at times, grab my attention in Second Life.

Cars are a good example of this phenomena. In FL I can’t drive and have no intention of learning. Discussion of this or that car by friends or colleagues can only inspire yawns and drooping eyelids from myself (except, of course, when said vehicle is an instrument to ferry me in comfort from X to Y) .

Buzzcocks put it nicely with the track ‘Fast Cars’ (hear MP3):

“They’re so depressing going around and around
Ooh, they make me dizzy, oh fast cars they run me down
Fast cars, fast cars,
Fast cars, I hate fast cars”

On the other hand, for reasons I have yet to uncover, I kindda like the things in SL. I find it nearly impossible not to leap upon an empty seat or click a strategically placed pose ball. The latter bring to mind a line from a great Elastica track, ‘Car Song’ (hear MP3):

“Sometimes I just can’t function
My heart’s spaghetti junction
Every shining bonnet
Makes me think of my back on it.”

Though my guess is Ms Frischmann meant something other than my innocent posing.

The pics below were taken outside the Kitties Lair store.

Cartrouble (You Tube)

White Car in Germany (You Tube)

Let’s Build a Car (You Tube)

So, three cheers for SL’s autos and their poses. If you know of any more cars with good poses please let me know.

Greenie blue

Ok, ok, I know I’m the last avie in the whole of Second Life to visit the Greenie sim and I won’t go on about it too much.

It really is as great as everyone says, an excellent use of the SL environment.

I especially enjoyed a face-off with the big black cat!

Blue Friday

Blue Fridays in Second Life traditionally start for me with a gig at Kyle Beltran’s Meatspace club. On this occasion though, I started off by trailing Marion around a couple of gallery openings.

Then, at 9pm GMT I TPed off to Meatspace with Therese, Peter and Marion for a swinging session of the swingingest blues-jazz in all of SL.

As Tess and I danced the Lindy I spied a female avie, by the name of Femmebleu Indigo, with blue skin. I IMed Femmebleu to congratulate her on her blueness and requested a snapshot of the two of us together.

Femmebleu joined my Blueist group and we discussed the provisional manifesto of the Blueist International.

Sigh, blue nights in SL make me happy.

Satan hates me!

So there I was, harmlessly shopping with Therese when I spied Satan and his wife.

Well, I’m always keen to talk to celebrities and one cannot get much higher on the ‘A’ list than the Prince of Darkness ™ . I strode over, said ‘Hi’ and asked if hell had frozen over yet.

Ok, all things considered, maybe it wasn’t a good quip to make but did it deserve what was to come? (caution: rude words coming up).

Satan glared at me and snapped ‘Fuck off’, while his wife called us ‘tussies’, which is German for bitch, or someone who is shallow, superficial or just plain boring.

What is one to make of all that?

Actually, I’m pretty chuffed. As I said, one cannot get much higher in the grand chain of command than Mr Satan, I mean he is only a tiny number of steps away from the big G her/himself. And it’s not like i was struck down by lightening into the fiery furnaces deep down below.

If I can get away with the wrath of Satan’s displeasure, what is there that I can’t get away with!!?? The possibilities are endless (as is Satan’s displeasure but never mind that for now).

Afterwards Therese and I retired to the Blue Peppermint lounge for Sushi and popcorn, it was the least we could do to calm our frazzled nerves.

Long live the Blueist International!