The Dirty Grind Independent Artist community is celebrating its sixth anniversary over the weekend of Friday, December 6th through Sunday, December 8th, 2019 with a Carnival of the Arts. The weekend will be marked by live music sets throughout the three days, and an installation by artist Bryn Oh.
At The Dirty Grind, artists and patrons are family and when one visits, one is a welcomed guest in their home. Everything from the décor, landscape and building design is intentionally planned to enhance visitors’ experience. While visiting when live shows are not going, be sure to listen to the commercial-free independent radio station, Radio Grind, featuring the musicians of The Dirty Grind family. Spend some time strolling through The Hollow and enjoy the whimsically eclectic mix of Adirondack and Steampunk design and style.
The Dirty Grind Independent Artist Community has been awarded Best Unique Venue and Top 10 Live Music Venues by Showtime Magazine.
– From The Dirty Grind website
The music event kicks-off from 14:00 SLT on Friday, December 6th, and at the time from writing, the schedule looked as follows:
Time
Friday 6th
Saturday 7th
Sunday 8th
13:00
—
Wald Schridde
—
14:00
Naga Flow
Rosedrop Rust
Zorch Boomhauer
15:00
CelticMaiden Warrior
Shannon Oherlihy
Ren Enberg
16:00
Lexus Melodie
Suzen JueL
The Matthew Show
17:00
Grace McDunnough
David Csiszer
Effinjay
18:00
Jed Luckless
Dimivan Ludwig
Twostep Spiritweaver
19:00
Jamba Losangeles
Senjata Witt
The Vinnie Show
20:00
Gypsy Dhrua
—
—
However, given that events can always undergo last-minute changes, be sure to check the Dirty Grind website for updates or changes to the schedule.
Bryn Oh: Eliose’s Dream
For the event, Bryn Oh is presenting Eloise’s Dream, featuring a scene from her 2018 installation Jane and Eloise, a story of two sisters who go fishing on Lake Superior.
Sadly, theirs is not a happy tale, as they are caught by the changing weather, their boat capsizing and Jane drowning. Afterwards, Eloise is left tortured by guilt that she survived and nightmares. You can read more about that installation in Bryn Oh: Jane and Eloise in Second Life. The inclusion of the piece is somewhat fitting, given that Jane and Eloise made its début a year ago, on Saturday, December 8th, 2019.
So, do make a point of hopping along to the Dirty Grind over the weekend to appreciate the region, the installation, the music and to wish the folks there a happy anniversary.
The annual RFL Christmas Expo opened its gates on December 5th, 2019, and will run through until December 15th. Located on eleven regions (plus 2 Linden regions) adjoining the American Cancer Society’s in-world headquarters, this year’s expo offers a wide range of shopping opportunities, entertainment and more, all presented around the theme Believe in The Magic of Christmas.
Over 170 merchants from all fields are participating in this year’s event, while the schedule of entertainment provides a day-by-day breakdown of the 100 hours of live entertainers, DJs and dance performances. which include live performers and DJs, all of which culminates in the Holidays of Hope Gala Ball.
2019 Christmas Expo
Special Events and Activities
This year’s Expo includes a number of special events and activities, including:
The Gift of Hope Mega Raffles: new for 2019 are the Gift Of Hope Mega Raffles for both Christmas Expo and Non-Expo Merchants. These are high end, high-value raffles, located at the SL Christmas Expo Welcome Region. Winners will be drawn Sunday, December 15 starting at 18:30 SLT.
The Gift of Hope Mega Raffles
The Holiday Shopping Spree Raffle: several Expo merchants graciously donated to the Holiday Shopping Spree Raffle offering one lucky winner the opportunity to walk away with more than L$150,000 in gift certificates and prizes. Tickets are L$250 each or three for L$500, and all certificates are Transferable, so they can make great Christmas Gifts. The draw will be held on Sunday, December 15th, 2019, at 19:00 SLT at the Holly Jolly Café.
Lights of Hope: now in its second years, Lights of Hope features a number of Second Life’s home builders (and Lindens!) who have decorated the outside of one of their houses in holiday style and brought it to the Expo. Stroll the Lights of Hope neighbourhoods – the Linden region features Premium Linden homes decorated by staff and members of the LDPW – and vote for your favourites by donation to the Relay For Life kiosk in front of each home! 100% of all “votes” goes directly to the American Cancer Society.
The ACS Ebbe Linden bear, designed by Magic Mole, in a golfing pose and available through the special Ebbe Linden Bear ACS kiosks (shown inset) for L$250 – all proceeds to RFL of SL / ACS
The ACS Ebbe Linden Bear: designed by Magic Mole and presented playing one of Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg’s favourite pastimes and complete with his ACS Gold Together cap, is the ACS Ebbe Linden bear. Available from kiosks at L$250 (all proceeds to ACS), you can also find the little fellow about to tee-off at a snow-covered ninth hole at the Bear Creek golf course at the Expo, so you can see him up close!
Linden Homes 4th Theme Reveal: an opportunity to preview the Victorian Theme of Premium Linden Homes that will be available in the Linden Homes continent of Bellisseria in the near future – and have the chance to win one and a 6-month Premium subscription / extension to your existing Premium subscription. You can read more about the theme and the styles of houses it offers in The “Victorian” Linden homes theme and a chance to win one.
Linden Reveal and the 4th new Linden Home theme at the SL Christmas Expo
By taking part in these events, and in the Expo as a whole, Second Life users can help provide funding for VR Headsets for childhood cancer patients. Along with Linden Lab, the ACS partner for the event, and the Expo’s sponsors and participants, ACS and RFL of SL are working to reach a goal of US $20,000 to help fund the Society’s Virtual Reality Programme for Paediatric Cancer Patients undergoing cancer treatment. You can read more on this work here, or by watching the video below.
There is a huge amount to see and do at the Expo, so be sure to check out the official website for more information.
It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.
Monday, December 2nd 19:00: Teacher’s Pet / War and Peace
Gyro Muggins returns to Larry Niven’s Known Space universe and the Man-Kzin Wars series to bring us two short stories from that series written by Matthew Joseph Harrington, and which appeared in the Man-Kzin volume 11 (edited by Niven), first published in 2005.
Set after the end of the war, the stories within Man-Kzin XI are predominantly set during a period where the Kzin are down (but not necessarily out) and having to adapt to no longer being the masters of all races they encounter, and are in roughly chronological order.
The two stories by Harrington follow the trio by established writer Hal Colebatch, and marked his début as a published author at the age of 35. They are regarded by many as being strong studies in the Man-Kzin lore, whilst also drawing on other literary sci-fi sources. The stories are also noted for Harrington’s ability to round-out a number of “loose ends” within the Man-Kin wars as well as offering new slants on the broader carves of Niven’s Known Space universe.
Both stories use a play on words in their titles, with War and Peace doing so both in the manner it reflects the period of peace following war, and also for the way it focuses on the life and work of Peace Corben, a human female Protector, who returns in Harrington’s sequel story, Peace and Freedom, published in the 2009 volume Man Kzin Wars XII.
Kayden Oconnell returns to the tales of sheriff Walt Longmire, reading the ninth volume of Craig Johnson’s tales about his laconic US Marine-turned-lawman protagonist.
It’s Christmas Eve, and Longmire is reading A Christmas Carol in his office when he is visited by a ghost of Christmas past: a young woman with a scar across her forehead. He doesn’t recognise her, but she clearly knows him and his predecessor, sheriff Lucian Connally, under whom Longmire started his career as a deputy sheriff in 1972.
His interest aroused, Longmire takes the the young woman to see Connally, now a resident at an Assisted Living Home. But Connally, a former US Army Air Force pilot who flew B-25 Mitchell bombers in the Second World War, fails to recognise her. This is in some ways hardly surprising, given Connally’s frequently inebriated state.
Disappointed at the two men’s reaction, the young woman whispers a single word, “Steamboat”. In doing so, she embarks on a tale that tales Longmire and Connally back to Christmas Eve 1988, when Longmire had been a deputy sheriff just two months. The holiday season had brought with it a record-breaking blizzard – and a road accident that left Longmire and the (again inebriated) Connally with no choice but to pull a B-25 out of mothballs and make a dangerous flight through the blizzard to Denver, Colorado, in order to save a life.
Thursday, December 5th
19:00: Rock Crystal
Seemingly the simplest of stories—a passing anecdote of village life— Adalbert Stifter’s Rock Crystal opens up into a tale of almost unendurable suspense.
Young Conrad and his little sister, Sanna set out from their village high up in the Alps to visit their grandparents in the neighbouring valley. It is the day before Christmas but the weather is mild, though of course night falls early in December and the children are warned not to linger.
The grandparents welcome the children with presents and pack them off with kisses. Then snow begins to fall, ever more thickly and steadily. Undaunted, the children press on, only to take a wrong turn. The snow rises higher and higher, time passes: it is deep night when the sky clears and Conrad and Sanna discover themselves out on a glacier, terrifying and beautiful, the heart of the void…
With Shandon Loring, and also presented in Kitely (grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI).
21:00: Seanchai Late Night
Contemporary Sci-Fi-Fantasy with Finn Zeddmore
Friday, December 6th 22:00: The Dickens Project
Idle Rogue Productions present The Midnight Dinner in the Opera House.
The Dickens Project 2019: the Museum of Dickens Projects Past, the Dickens Library and the Listening Room
The 2019 edition of The Dickens Project formally opens its doors on Sunday, December 1st, 2019, ready to offer a month long celebration of the Christmas / holiday season and the life and works of Charles Dickens in Victorian England. Centred upon a series of reading of what is perhaps his most popular novel – and one which still resonates with meaning today – A Christmas Carol, the Dickens Project present a full region of events and immersive activities for visitors to enjoy.
To summarise the Project, one could bullet-point it as including:
Over 60 hours of live music, spoken word, dance events and performances.
Self-selectable interactive elements, including:
The “Urchins in Dickens’ London” role-play/game/experience, and opportunities for both RP and Non-RP guests.
The Story Path: an audio-assisted walk through the Project and A Christmas Carol.
Tours of the region by carriage and balloon.
Free period costumes, so you can explore the region “in character”.
Dozens of performers, presenters, and special guests including Patch Linden himself.
Educational and interpretive content to encourage questions like “What was Tiny Tim suffering from anyway?”
As is traditional with the Project, the region is broadly set out as a set of interconnected area reflecting the various parts of A Christmas Carol: Christmas Past, Christmas Present, Christmas Yet to Come and The End of It All. Each area offers various points of interest and activities, some of which I’ve highlighted below. To help you find your way around, this year’s event includes a map of locations, which I’ve reproduced here.
The Dickens Project Map – click for full size, if required
The Dickens Project Highlights
Region Tours: Take a 20-25 minutes tour of the region via horse and carriage or hot air balloon.
Bay Rum Royal of Canterwell, the stylish horse and carriage tour supplied by Elite Equestrian returns to The Dickens Project for its 3rd year. Offering a 25-minute double loop tour of the region for up to four people at a time, regular stopping points on the route allowing riders to hop on or off as she waits. She may even also offer the occasional gift or give and advice and information about the locations as you pass them.
Tour the region by carriage with Bay Rum Royal of Canterwell
The Hot Air Balloon allows you to explore the region for the air, and includes a special ascent to The Opera House, the region’s skybox events area.
Of course, you can also walk through the streets and alleys of region, or if you prefer you can enjoy a self-guided pony-ride, courtesy of Merrylegs the Shetland Pony. Provided by Elite Equestrian, he can generally be found in their stables in the region, unless someone is riding him. Just sit on him, turn off your avatar’s AO, and use the normal movement keys as if walking. Please return him to the stables at the end of your ride!
The Story Path Voices Audio Tour: collect your free HUD from the kiosk at the landing point and ADD it (it will wear invisibly and operate automatically), then follow the Story Path markers through the region (including into and out of some of the buildings) at normal walking pace to hear over 40 selected voice clips from A Christmas Carol, as well as music and sound effects as you step over the markers.
The Story Path kiosk and one of the route markers (l); a story plinth note card giver (r)
Hearing and Reading A Christmas Carol: drop in at the Dickens Reading Room, sink into a comfortable armchair, turn on the audio stream and hear A Christmas Carol read by the storytellers of Seanchai Library and their friends any time you like. Or if you prefer, look out for the plinths set out within the various parts of the region and touch them to collect parts of the story on note card.
Role-play with the Urchins’ In Dickens London or free-form: Created by Aoife Lorefield, a Dickens Project co-creator Urchins In Dickens’ London will be available throughout The Dickens Project 2019 run. Residents of all ages are welcome to participate. Look for the Urchin Information kiosk and click on the poster offering the game HUD. Inside the package, you’ll find instructions on how to get started. Also check the Urchins in Dickens’ London web page.
Charles Dickens was ever a champion of children, writing stories about those who were poor and unprotected,” says Lorefield, “His child characters are often triumphant, finding ways to build lives of purpose and sometimes even happiness in a difficult time.
– Aoife Lorefield on Urchins In Dickens’ London
The Dickens Project 2019
For those who fancy free-form role-play as a character from Victorian London (you don’t have to be a specific character from A Christmas Carol or any other Dickens novel), then check-out The Dickens Project role-play page and jump over to the region and grab a free period outfit (or just use one of your own!).
The Dickens Resource Centre and Dickens Library, presented by the Community Virtual Library (CVL): the Dickens Resource Centre features research exhibits on Charles Dickens and elements of his historical era created by CVL volunteers, many of whom are professional librarians or information technology specialists. It will also be the site of the San Jose State University VCARA School’s Dickens Read Along, and numerous tours by educational interest groups from across Second life.
The Dickens Library focuses on the canon of Charles Dickens, and connecting guests with the scope of his work: including all 15 novels, five novellas, and connections to sources for the hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles. The Dickens Library makes the connection to an entire world of literature for guests.
Events and entertainment: throughout the month, The Dickens Project will feature dance, music, and theatre, both on the ground and up in the Opera House overhead. Once again, Idle Rogue Productions and Misfit Dance & Performance Art will be presenting performances, and the Project will again feature contributions from Ce Soir Arts, Radio Riel, and Innsmouth SL. Fantasy Faire Radio also joins in the events for the first time this year, broadcasting music from Dickens Square on December 18th, and presenting an encore performance of its radio drama The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (see Jekyll and Hyde in Second Life for more on this production).
The Dickens Project 2019: Inside the Opera House
And, of course, there will be the readings of A Christmas Carol, including the popular “Carol Week”, with a section of Dickens’ novella presented live each day in a tour of the sites on the region inspired by the story. Also, Saturday, December 21st will feature Fezziwig’s Ball, and the Christmas Week culminates in The Big Read on Sunday, December 22nd. starting at noon SLT, this will feature a relay-style reading of A Christmas Carol involving 9-12 voices.
Full details of all events can be found in The Dickens Project calendar, below. All times SLT.
So, get set for another Dickens of a Christmas in Second Life!
It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.
Sunday, November 24th 18:30: Ann Mary; Her Two Thanksgivings
Calaedonia Skytower reads Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman’s short story. First published in 1892, as a part of the short story collection, Young Lucretia and Other Stories. Though Thanksgiving preparations are often stressful, what’s most important is celebrating with family!
Monday, November 25th 19:00: Teacher’s Pet / War and Peace
Gyro Muggins returns to Larry Niven’s Known Space universe and the Man-Kzin Wars series to bring us two short stories from that series written by Matthew Joseph Harrington, and which appeared in the Man-Kzin volume 11 (edited by Niven), first published in 2005.
Set after the end of the war, the stories within Man-Kzin XI are predominantly set during a period where the Kzin are down (but not necessarily out) and having to adapt to no longer being the masters of all races they encounter, and are in roughly chronological order.
The two stories by Harrington follow the trio by established writer Hal Colebatch, and marked his début as a published author at the age of 35. They are regarded by many as being strong studies in the Man-Kzin lore, whilst also drawing on other literary sci-fi sources. The stories are also noted for Harrington’s ability to round-out a number of “loose ends” within the Man-Kin wars as well as offering new slants on the broader carves of Niven’s Known Space universe.
Both stories use a play on words in their titles, with War and Peace doing so both in the manner it reflects the period of peace following war, and also for the way it focuses on the life and work of Peace Corben, a human female Protector, who returns in Harrington’s sequel story, Peace and Freedom, published in the 2009 volume Man Kzin Wars XII.
Tuesday, November 26th 19:00 Spirit of Steamboat
Kayden Oconnell returns to the tales of sheriff Walt Longmire, reading the ninth volume of Craig Johnson’s tales about his laconic US Marine-turned-lawman protagonist.
It’s Christmas Eve, and Longmire is reading A Christmas Carol in his office when he is visited by a ghost of Christmas past: a young woman with a scar across her forehead. He doesn’t recognise her, but she clearly knows him and his predecessor, sheriff Lucian Connally, under whom Longmire started his career as a deputy sheriff in 1972.
His interest aroused, Longmire takes the the young woman to see Connally, now a resident at an Assisted Living Home. But Connally, a former US Army Air Force pilot who flew B-25 Mitchell bombers in the Second World War, fails to recognise her. This is in some ways hardly surprising, given Connally’s frequently inebriated state.
Disappointed at the two men’s reaction, the young woman whispers a single word, “Steamboat”. In doing so, she embarks on a tale that tales Longmire and Connally back to Christmas Eve 1988, when Longmire had been a deputy sheriff just two months. The holiday season had brought with it a record-breaking blizzard – and a road accident that left Longmire and the (again inebriated) Connally with no choice but to pull a B-25 out of mothballs and make a dangerous flight through the blizzard to Denver, Colorado, in order to save a life.
Wednesday, November 27th 19:00: What’s Cookin’?
A favourite food stories and recipe exchange with Caledonia Skytower and friends. This week, the Thanksgiving Edition, with Turkeys and stuffing galore. All are welcomed to bring some of their favourite recipes to share, on note card.
Thursday, November 28th 10:00: Alice’s Restaurant Massacree
A Seanchai Library Thanksgiving tradition.
via Wikipedia
You can get anything that you want
At Alice’s restaurant.
You can get anything that you want
At Alice’s restaurant.
Walk right in, it’s around the back,
Just a half-a-mile from the railroad tracks, And you can get anything that you want
At Alice’s restaurant.
As Thanksgiving arrives in the United States, Shandon Loring presents singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie’s famous 1967 musical monologue, Alice’s Restaurant Massacree (also popularly known as Alice’s Restaurant, and the inspiration of the 1969 Arthur Penn film of that name, starring Guthrie himself).
Aside from the opening and closing chorus, the song is delivered as the spoken word accompanied by a ragtime guitar. The story is based on a true incident in Guthrie’s life when, in 1965, he (then 18) and a friend were arrested for illegally dumping garbage from Alice’s restaurant after discovering that the town dump was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
What follows is a complicated, ironic and amusing story told in a deadpan, satirical tone, which encompasses fines, blind judges, guide dogs, 27 8×10 copiously annotated glossy photos related to the littering, frustrated police officers, the Vietnam War draft and, ultimately, the inexplicable ways in which bureaucracy moves to foil itself, just when you’ve given up hope of foiling it yourself.
Also presented in Kitely (grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI).
It’s time to highlight another week of storytelling in Voice by the staff and volunteers at the Seanchai Library. As always, all times SLT, and events are held at the Library’s home at Holly Kai Park, unless otherwise indicated.
Monday, November 18th 19:00: Teacher’s Pet / War and Peace
Gyro Muggins returns to Larry Niven’s Known Space universe and the Man-Kzin Wars series to bring us two short stories from that series written by Matthew Joseph Harrington, and which appeared in the Man-Kzin volume 11 (edited by Niven), first published in 2005.
Set after the end of the war, the stories within Man-Kzin XI are predominantly set during a period where the Kzin are down (but not necessarily out) and having to adapt to no longer being the masters of all races they encounter, and are in roughly chronological order.
The two stories by Harrington follow the trio by established writer Hal Colebatch, and marked his début as a published author at the age of 35. They are regarded by many as being strong studies in the Man-Kzin lore, whilst also drawing on other literary sci-fi sources. The stories are also noted for Harrington’s ability to round-out a number of “loose ends” within the Man-Kin wars as well as offering new slants on the broader carves of Niven’s Known Space universe.
Both stories use a play on words in their titles, with War and Peace doing so both in the manner it reflects the period of peace following war, and also for the way it focuses on the life and work of Peace Corben, a human female Protector, who returns in Harrington’s sequel story, Peace and Freedom, published in the 2009 volume Man Kzin Wars XII.
Tuesday, November 19th 19:00: What’s Cookin’?
A favourite food stories and recipe exchange with Caledonia Skytower and friends. This week Cale shares the P.G. Wodehouse story “Best Sauce.” All are welcomed to bring some of their favourite recipes to share, on note card.
Wednesday, November 20th 19:00 Spirit of Steamboat
Kayden Oconnell returns to the tales of sheriff Walt Longmire, reading the ninth volume of Craig Johnson’s tales about his laconic US Marine-turned-lawman protagonist.
It’s Christmas Eve, and Longmire is reading A Christmas Carol in his office when he is visited by a ghost of Christmas past: a young woman with a scar across her forehead. He doesn’t recognise her, but she clearly knows him and his predecessor, sheriff Lucian Connally, under whom Longmire started his career as a deputy sheriff in 1972.
His interest aroused, Longmire takes the the young woman to see Connally, now a resident at an Assisted Living Home. But Connally, a former US Army Air Force pilot who flew B-25 Mitchell bombers in the Second World War, fails to recognise her. This is in some ways hardly surprising, given Connally’s frequently inebriated state.
Disappointed at the two men’s reaction, the young woman whispers a single word, “Steamboat”. In doing so, she embarks on a tale that tales Longmire and Connally back to Christmas Eve 1988, when Longmire had been a deputy sheriff just two months. The holiday season had brought with it a record-breaking blizzard – and a road accident that left Longmire and the (again inebriated) Connally with no choice but to pull a B-25 out of mothballs and make a dangerous flight through the blizzard to Denver, Colorado, in order to save a life.
Thursday, November 21st 19:00 An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving
Louisa May Alcott is best known for her novel Little Women (1868), a semi-autobiographical account of her childhood years with her sisters in Concord, Massachusetts. However, she also penned numerous short stories, particularly for children, and an Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving is one of them.
It’s Thanksgiving Day, and the Bassett family’s kitchen is in the midsts of preparations for a traditional dinner. But things go awry when news comes that Mrs. Bassett’s mother is ill, so Mrs Bassett and Mr. Bassett are forced to take the sleigh and attend to her. This leaves the children, led by Tilly, to complete the preparations for the dinner, and Tilly is determined to have everything ready for her parents’ return.
However, cooking a major meal unsupervised is more of a challenge than the children imaged, and soon the kitchen is filled with an assortment of smells, some of them a little odd. And then Mr. and Mrs. Bassett return – bringing with them grandma and several other guests they have invited to dinner…
With Shandon Loring. Also in Kitely – find teleport from the main Seanchai World grid.kitely.com:8002:SEANCHAI.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 