I’ve always loved dancing in Second Life; I especially loved going out to a really good ballroom and spending the evening with friends and loved ones, begowned, bejewelled and dancing under the stars.
For a good while, my spiritual home in this regard within Second Life was Birdland, a beautiful build by Alma Fushikizoh. This was a wonderful place to pass the time, dance, converse, and have fun – and it was an awesome build as well. Sadly, as with many things in Second Life, Birdland was lost to us, and I’ve never really found anywhere to replace it.
Until now.
Now there is a new venue for romantics to enjoy. Set in formal gardens, surrounded by trees and offering quiet love seats and water-side benches, Secrets is one of those rare finds and an absolute delight.
Secrets Ballroom
The ballroom is a wonderful piece of architecture, graceful in its simplicity and providing the opportunity to dance under a glass dome etched with stars; tables and seating are provided around the edges of the main dance floor and open doors invite those so minded to take a walk through the gardens and admire the water feature by Followmeimthe Piedpiper and marvellous sculpture of a dancing couple by Pumpkin Tripsa.
I regard Duché de Coeur as a fabulous destination within Second Life, and an example of what can be achieved in creating a virtual community find out why.
This weekend, from Friday 29th through 31st July, the Duché de Coeur’s Academies Royal de Musique and Peinture will be holding their second annual music and arts festival in Second Life.
The festival will feature more than 20 artists during the course of the weekend, performing in a number of venues that showcase the Duchy’s beautiful sims. Artists attending the event include:
Champagne Rain
Waltkeys Faith
Miles Eleventhauer
SaraMarie Philly
Yuki Hutchinson
Tip Corbett
Miriam Forsythe
Trowser Boa
As well as music, the festival will feature dance and act as a preview of the Academies’ upcoming season of events (commencing September 17th), including the grand opening of the Duche de Coeur’s own art gallery, featuring the works of some of SL’s most talented artists.
Travel between the venues can be facilitated via the Surls above, or if you prefer to travel in keeping with the theme of the Duchy, using the available horse-drawn carriages, which also include options for touring select resident homes during the festival and traveling to merchant locations offering freebies.
About Duché de Coeur
Duché de Coeur is a fictitious area of France that comprises the real life regions of Provence, Languedoc, Aquitaine, and Poitou, Normandie, Touraine, and Franche-Comté. It is an accurate depiction of a world of friendship and romance as it might have been around the Age of Enlightenment of some 225 years ago, in an idealistic world where all classes live together in harmony. Further information on Duché de Coeur can be obtained from Bedrich Panacek or SkyeRyder Varriale.
It’s no secret I love music. My tastes are wide and varied – eclectic would very much be the word – ranging from classical (including modern composers such as Karl Jenkins), jazz, new age and film soundtrack composers. One of my particular favourites – thanks again to paternal influences (and he inherited it from his Dad) – has always been the Great American Songbook; a theme that is very popular within Second Life as well, where it features at many a jazz-oriented club and ballroom.
From the end of this week, there will be a new name to add to the list of such venues; well new in a very familiar way, because it is really the return of an old favourite in a new location. This is because on Friday May 20th, Tony’s Jazz lounge re-opens in Second Life.
For those unfamiliar with the jazz / club scene in Second Life, Tony’s Jazz Lounge and Piano Bar was run by Absolut Smirnov, who was also responsible for the romantic Rivers of Venus club before that (which is where I first got to know her well over three years ago). The “old” Tony’s was one of the venues that hosted the Martini Lunches, featuring music from the Martini in the Morning radio station during a two-hour session hosted live and on-air by MTIM’s own Brad Chambers (Martini Philbin in-world).
The new Tony’s is located in a slick skybox build above Chindo. In keeping with the original Tony’s, the club provides an intimate environment well-suited to a romantic evening’s dancing, with a dance floor backed by a bar area and galleried lounge.
The bar and dance floor
The ambience of the club is enhanced by the careful use of colours – a deep blue used on the wall, and bar-area furnishings, dark stonework walls, a rich wooden floor, black ceilings and a very atmospheric cityscape backdrop along one wall.
The dance floor is spacious and flows around a central stage that is ready for live performances and which is itself framed by blood red drapes that further enhance the intimacy of the place.
The gallery lounge
The bar area offers a mix of barstool and armchair seating, and is slightly elevated above the dance floor to provide a good view of it for those coming to the club to enjoy a chat and take in the atmosphere. Upstairs, the gallery lounge provides further seating and the homely touch of a stone fireplace.
Lighting throughout is unobtrusive, and the pictures and wall hangings all contribute to the ambience, creating a friendly, cosy environment – which is precisely what Absolut wanted. “My aim is to create a place where you can come to listen to good music, relax, meet friends, see incredible live acts, have a laugh when we have our comedy nights,” she explains, “And just generally get a feeling like Cheers – where everybody knows your name!” She certainly intends for the club to buzz, “I plan on having comedy nights once a month, or weekly as Tony’s grows,” she continued, “Plus weekly blues DJ, and a live musician/jam session weekly, and who knows what else!”
So why is Tony’s back after what has been an extended break? “It was something that was really just beginning to take off when I had to take a leave of absence from SL,” Absolut comments, “It had become a popular spot, and had the ‘right’ feel I think, for everyone who frequented it; I wanted to bring a bit of that back.”
Absolut’s enthusiasm is as infectious as it is genuine; her passion for creating a stylish venue with good music was the key ingredient that made Rivers of Venus an outstanding success, and helped to establish the original Tony’s.
With a relaxed dress code, centred around semi-formal wear, although Absolut admits to liking styles from the 1920s and 30s, couple with a warm, friendly atmosphere, the club looks set to establish itself as a very special place within Second Life.
Why not discover Tony’s Jazz Lounge and Piano Bar for yourself? The club is holding an opening event on Friday 20th May at 5-6pm SLT. The Surl is listed below, so why not slip into your best dancing shoes and grab a limo to what promises to be the coolest place in town?
I’ve posted previously about my love of music. Well over a year ago – probably nearer 18 months – I was looking for a suitable audio stream to play at Fallingwater. Until that time we’d had a couple of channels we alternated between; one was classic rock standards, the other more contemplative New Age stuff. Both went out the window when they went commercial.
So Ina, bless her, dived into the search as well, and came across an Internet-based broadcaster, Martini in the Morning, hosted by Brad “Martini” Chambers and Michelle Briddell. Describing itself as “Rat Pack Music”, the station had me hooked from the start.
I grew up hearing, among other things, the great songs of Porter, Rogers and Hart, Berlin, et al, sung by some of the greatest voices of the 20th century: Julie London, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat “King” Cole, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Junior and, of course, The Voice himself, Frank Sinatra.
Martini in the Morning (MITM) brings this marvellous world to the Internet, featuring not only the greats mentioned above, but also the likes of Michael Finestein, Michael Buble, Harry Connick Junior, Barbra Streisand, ….even Rod Stewart!
And MITM isn’t restricted to the Internet – it is perhaps the most popular music stream within Second Life – and this is unsurprising. MITM is ideally suited for playback both and home and within any business. The music is bright, uplifting, soulful, moving and sung by some of the greatest artists spanning more than 60 years. It is utterly timeless and pleasing to any ear.
When so many vendors seem to opt for the most bizarre choices of music that would – if actually listened to – send customers teleporting right back home hands clapped over ears, MITM provides a stream that is guaranteed to the get customers tapping their feet and humming / singing along – if not in the store itself, then certain under the desk as they sit with their computer – as they shop.
Brad and Michelle themselves are also active within SL; once a week they pop in to a selected MITM venue to host 2 hours of music and dancing in the Two Martini Lunch. The station even has its own loyal following in the Lounge Lizards In Exile Group – an extension of the station’s real-life fan club.
If you’ve not taken the time to listen-in on MITM you are simply missing out. Simply set your media tab and have a listen to http://209.51.162.162:23384/ – you won’t regret it. To join the MITM Group, look up Lounge Lizards in Exile in search.
And if you’re away from SL, don’t forget you can tune-in to the music via MITM’s website.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 