Double Threat, Baby

Every week I read Strawberry Singh's blogger challenges and tell myself I am going to start doing them. The idea, if you don't know, is that she posts a "meme challenge" and encourages people to do their own and link to hers in the comments section of her blog. They are fun little ideas, especially if you're a blogger who is struggling for new material, which I am not, because I mostly ignore my blog, as you all know.

But I have some big news to announce this week, and I am hopping on Berry's meme to do it. The theme of the meme is "Double Threat", and I'm part of one! Starting next week, Meegan Danitz and the crew from After Dark are moving to Idle Rogue!

Double Threat

Two online screen names you’ve had: 
Meegan: embee21.  Usually some form or variation of embee. I can't think of another besides Meegan
Chry: I have been chryblnd since 1997, but I do use other screen names, including, of course, my Guild Wars 2 main, Artje Orestes. Wild-eyed Crazy Mary was an alt I used in the first chat I hung out in.
Two video games you’ve played: 
Meegan: LOL. I'm actually not much of a gamer other than SL.  I played a mean centipede back in the day but I think I'm exposing my age by saying that.
Chry: I like to say I play Guild Wars 2, but the truth is I don't find time much any more. I tell myself every day I will be back, but this Guerilla Burlesque thing, it's time-consuming.
Two things you love about Second Life: 
Meegan: Dance and Music.  It's pretty simple
Chry: The way it uncovers creativity in people who might not even know they have it; and the way you can immerse so completely in beauty.
Two things you’ve done in Second Life: 
Meegan: I'm a business owner and a performer.  Neither is anything I ever would have tried in RL.  I'm really quite shy.
Chry: Well there's naked parachuting. I also played roller derby for about five minutes
Two things you still want to do in Second Life: 
Meegan: I want to learn how to take better pictures.  I also want to learn to make particles.
Chry: I'd like to publish a really cutting edge media outlet. And learn to live mix as a DJ.
Two things you like about your Second Life avatar:  
Meegan: Meegan's ass. It really is fierce. I also think she has a sweet face and I like that.
Chry: Chry is muscular but still curvy. She looks strong, and I love that. She dresses well too.
Two of your Second Life Pet Peeves: 
Meegan: Forced landing points at shopping venues and random people asking me what's going on tonight.  Is your event search broken?
Chry: "I'm leaving". You are not, nobody leaves. Also conference calls summoning me to your event. C'mon. I already have you on my friends list, I am in your groups, and all the other music groups, I have you on facebook ... I know what you're doing, quit that one last spam shit.
Two things you did as a newb that you’re embarrassed of: 
Meegan: wearing boxes but I still do that.  Oh and wearing instead of adding clothes. I ended up nude on more than one occasion.
Chry: I refused to wear an ao for months because I didn't understand what they did. Now I can't even bear to look at someone else who hasn't one. Also, fell madly in love because I didn't know it was possible and didn't have my customary walls up.
Two of your closest friends in Second Life:  
Meegan: TheaDee and Chryblnd Scribe. I would have picked Cori but I'm closer to her in RL.
Chry: Oh this is a tough one. I'm not encouraged to have friends, in case it feels like favouritism. Plus the nature of my work is that I am more or less emotionally involved with people according to their needs, and it's a two way street. If someone I am working with needs extra emotional support, then I am often very close to them, but sometimes it's just for that period.
I will say this - Meegan Danitz has carried and sometimes dragged me through some rough days over the last year, and she does it with a kind of generous calm that I really respond to. I am also, of course, very close to Lingual Markus, who tells people I am his best friend when in reality he is much better to me than I am to him.
Two of the most beloved things in your inventory: 
Meegan: My obscenely large dance collection and my new mesh bodies
Chry: Jet, my dog, and the lip piercing made for me by that first love.

What does this merger mean for Idle Rogue? After Dark run a stylish and cool live music venue, where the attention to detail is perfect. They treat their musicians well, establishing productive relationships, nurturing their talent and promoting their endeavours. They treat the fans well, providing a warm and inclusive atmosphere in which to enjoy performances. So for Idle Rogue, this means we get live music run by people who care at the same high standard we do.

Additionally, over coming weeks we will move the Metaharper Interactive Gallery to it's own environment, making use of Gloriana Maertens graceful "Mayfair" build to house the cutting edge interactive dance stages. If you have not discovered these yet, they house fully-realised version of some of the best-known dance acts in SL. You just select the one you like, and the props and choreography will be rezzed for you as the music begins to play. Jump on the poser, and you are the dancer - it's a really great way to be part of the thrilling things happening in dance entertainment today.

I am beyond excited, and I hope you guys will make yourselves part of the new and vibrant community that can grow around this fusion of music and dance. Double threat? You bet we are! We are about to open the doors to the best entertainment sim in Second Life.

Mastering The Ring

As we put the finishing touches on a new round of Le Cirque de Nuit, I find myself reflecting on this creative process of mine. The mind map for this production is labyrinthine, it stretches back many years, and has been hand-drawn, shaded and re-coloured according to my personal belief system and the influences that have passed over that.

I always wanted a Circus. I thought burlesque and circus could work so well together, and that was the motivation behind The Beautiful Freaks Burlesque Circus. Beautiful Freaks was to be a kind of melding of circus, burlesque and dark cabaret influences. It worked too, but I let it go in a moment of self-doubt. Lesson One: Don't let that happen again.

 The story of how we came to The Night Circus is part of the annals now, and has been included in more than one interview: newly arrived at Guerilla Burlesque and on my Facebook friends list, Gloriana Maertens recommended a novel to me, and I was so caught by the imagery within it, it was easy to imagine it in Second Life.

It wasn't my first foray into an event production. Mark Moffre and L.David Hesler had both very generously allowed me to work with their original music to create dance entertainment productions, and I'd learned a great deal about managing my own team and piecing together the elements of a show on their time.

But Le Cirque De Nuit brought it's own magic with it. It arose at a time when I needed very badly to work, and at a time when Arrehn Oberlander's work towards scripted cameras began to show results. And, of course, at a time when Gloriana was available and willing to do the work of building it.

This is what I enjoy most in these projects. Imagining a notion, and drawing together the people who can profoundly influence it. I cannot now imagine a circus project as compelling, as satisfying, as the one Glori, Arrehn and I have majicked together - and I use the term deliberately. Cirque is charmed, I am convinced of it.

The original story, if you do not know, is a tale of two illusionists - one naturally gifted and born into The Business. One carefully selected and trained to it. They were raised to compete against each other, with the ultimate goal of proving which method is the more powerful.

I don't actually believe in magic, of course. But it's not hard to imagine the three of us casting our different energies at that sphere in the sky above Idle Rogue.And then came the dancers, every one of them on target despite a very soft brief. I hadn't known what we could have until they brought it, and it was an indescribable joy to watch it unfold.

I am not easy to work with. I choose people based on their talent, and then let them alone to work up their part of the process. I figure they'll call me if they need me, and I can move onto another part of the plan.

They hate it.

My mission, it transpires, is to try and manage creative people who are capable of a high level achievement. This requires a serious humility, and I sometimes fail at it. I do not doubt I take it all too seriously. But there is fun, there is wonderful fun, when it all comes together - and it comes together this weekend. I hope you can make it!

Style Notes

Body:
Skin - Amber Fair "Smokey" by League
Body and Hands - SLink Physique
Hair: Zaara in Black Amber (modified for hat) by D!va
Makeup - Circuit in Black by Beautiful Freaks (link to blog)
                 Harley by MUA
Eyes - Promise Oxidation by Ikon
Tattoo - Bohemian by Letis
Nails - Dante's Daddles by Koffin Nails

Clothing:

Coat: Alvira Frock Coat by Dark Passions
Chemise: from "Chantilly" by Boudoir
Pants: from "Applause" by GlitterMonster
Boots: Anakre from "Raine" by The Plastik

Accessories:
Monocle by Yasum
Hat by Timelines Vintage Couture
Cravat by Ladies Pleasure (marketplace)
Nose-ring by Zaara
Garter by LouLou & Co
Cane by Creative Insanity (marketplace only)

Let's Go Shopping!

Anyone who follows my tumblr or facebook pages will know that I am attempting to transfer to a completely mesh body. I think, as a (sometimes) dancer, this is the right choice. The avatar movement is so much better, and the horrible texture distortions of the system avatar are greatly reduced. It's a better look, but it has to be said, it's a big challenge right now to clothe my avatar.

This is, in part, down to me. I tweaked Chry's shape from the beginning. For example, I have bigger breasts in first life, and it's always been a problem styling, with blouses and tops. So Chry has a smaller bust in SL. When she became a dancer, I made her legs more muscular. And I have always liked the look of broader shoulders on women, "swimmers shoulders", so that's what I gave her. Of course, like every woman born, I bring my own body issues to the table, so she has a super flat stomach.

Suffice it to say, she's not the Standard Size. I can tweak her a little to fit, but sometimes the changes are too great, and I am not prepared to create a shape for every outfit, given that I change a lot.

I wear the SLink Physique body, and one idea that I think is totally under-developed is the appliers. These "paint" the clothing onto the body - like system clothes, but drawn onto the mesh body. No gaps, no weird holes where your armpit ought to be, and the clothes fit perfectly.

For my Second Life, I need:

• Business style clothing for meetings and other professional situations
• Urban clothing because that's probably my favourite casual look
• Great jeans, cus I'm a rockstar dontcha know
• At least one formal gown eaach week for Guerilla Burlesque shows. Yes I do re-wear, but I do think Chry is in the kind of position where she ought to be cutting edge in formal fashion
• Steampunk clothing because steampunk plays a large role in my life
• Costumes for stage and circus work
• Knickers. Many, many knickers.

So I hunt for these appliers quite regularly on Marketplace. I will also buy good mesh pieces, but these tend to be specialty pieces - a classic coat, a pencil skirt that fits like a skin, a leather jacket or a pretty dress to wear to a party or wedding.

All this to introduce the things that annoy me about shopping for clothing right now.

I just feel bad for them. Like I should slip them
a fiver and talk to them about good nutrition
(image courtesy of marketplace.secondlife.com)

1. This body. This body shape convinces me that all the women in SL are men, and that this is a vicious parody outlet for their misogyny. There, I said it. And I don't think I need to say any more...

...


... okay, one more thing. If you advertise stuff like this for sale, I don't even look at it, because I don't even know if it would go on my normal shaped body. This isn't even the worst example, there are shapes with extended gap, outrageous ass sour faces and ginormous boobs. I mean, I really believe in body positivity, I do. But I ... don't ... I can't even ...

In real life you'd need industrial strength
double-sided tape to keep this cardie from
flapping about. Good thing it's got that
"grandma made it" sexy going on
(image courtesy of marketplace.secondlife.com)

2.Why So Slutty? Ever since I have been in Second Life I have heard women bemoaning that their only choices are slutty clothes. I'm calling bullshit, because we are in a new era now, and still with the slutty clothes. By the way, I am a big defender of the S word, and I totally get that it's nice to wear clothing that emphasises your beautiful body without putting you in actual danger of physical harm. But some days I do yearn for pages and pages of well-cut blouses.

Nice Sunset
(image courtesy of marketplace.secondlife.com)

3. Your bad ad. If you can't use photoshop and your camera well enough to create a nice looking advertisement for your clothing, then what chance is there that the clothing (also made in photoshop) will be any better?







Also rans:
Stuff that isn't the stuff I searched for. Seriously, if you make jeans and wardrobes, stop being lazy and posting a slab of keywords that covers both.
Using the SLink (or other) logo when your product isn't specifically SLink-orientated and also using the SLink logo to mean your system lingerie has SLink hosiery. Looking at you, Blacklace.

But since we're on the subject, thank you, Zaara Kohime, for transferring all of your lovely lingerie to SLink (and other) appliers. You literally made my day. Now ... Nena? Nena?

"Sumana" in gold, by Zaara. So much love (chryblnd Scribe)

In which we uncover the existence of an actual entourage

I have been in the entertainment industry since I first took up my own land in Second Life. I have run the same venue – Idle Rogue – since 2008. I’ve hired musicians, planned events, dealt with disappointment, faced the idea of closing (more than once). I’ve managed musicians, good ones, and I’ve performed myself. I currently balance the competing needs of more than thirty highly creative performers who generate fresh content on a weekly basis.

I know Second Life audiences, I know how venues work and the jaw-droppingly crazy stuff that happens in live music. I have watched, speechless, while venue owners blatantly proposition and sexually harass musicians (I don’t doubt the reverse also happens, but I am confident my musicians have not done it). I’ve known way more crazed fans than seems entirely fair, and I have known them to actually sabotage the musician they claim to love, just to prove they love them most. 

More than most people, I enjoy the idea of living out some “fantasy” adventures. Settle, you guys in the cheap seats, not those fantasies. I can totally “get” exploring being a model, a dancer, even an escort, as part of your Second Life. Why not? As I always say, what would you be, if you could be anything?

Some adventures, however, are a transaction, in which more than one person, you, is involved. If your fantasy is to be a rock singer, for example, you probably need a modicum of talent and you definitely need an audience. You can't really be a courtesan to a King without someone willing to play the King.

If you have fantasies of living the life of an A-List celebrity in Second Life, you’re probably in for some dashed hopes. Celebrity is a specially constructed ecosystem. It requires, for one thing, a cohesive media, somewhere to send your publicist with her press releases, magazines and newspapers who will herd into the PR tent to grab an interview, or who will write the reviews that make you famous. You need somewhere for your quotes to drop, and your photos to be seen, some mass way of advising the population of the necessity of your existence.

In SL, anyone can be anything, and the media, as with everything else, is a collection of indie publishers each catering to their own small audience. The audience, indeed, is not much interested in what the other outlets are doing. The “second” part of your Second Life means there’s not much time to read several gossip mags, you probably choose one – or even more likely none.

Believe me, I have pondered this matter across several years. I know whereof I speak. I’d love my dancers to be famous, they’re amazing at what they do and have stellar personalities, too. But they will only ever be “famous” to the people who have watched them perform. 

Of course, you can roleplay your fame, and it could be enormous fun. But if you want to act out your fame, and claim the privileges of fame, you have to find other people who agree you’re famous. Without them, you’re just a little bit sad.

 =======================================

NOTECARD: NOTE TO CHERRY

Hi Cherry as you know [moderately well-known musician], [her partner] and I will be in attendance at Mayfair tomorrow at 2 and Sunday at 5.  [Musician’s partner] had asked [Rogue Staff] earlier if she would do us the honor of asking [another moderately well known musician] to be [moderatlely well known musician]'s escort, she said she would do this.  [Musician’s Partner] also asked for her two top favorite SL clothing designers to be invited, [Influential Merchant] and [Moderately Popular Designer].  It is [Partner]’s understanding from [Staff] today that [Staff] has been too busy with Mayfair and has not been able to accomplish any of [Partner]’s  wants, to [Partner]’s  and my disappointment, as she was hoping to inspire these designers to want to create for your troupe and to show them what is possible. 

That being said we love the work that you and your troupe are doing at GB, [Partner] loves the arts as do [Musician] and I.  We are all excited to see what special magic that you have in store for us and are extremely honored to be GB guests, would you please do us the honor of sitting at our table with us tomorrow at 2pm, or Sat at 5 pm. instead?

Thank You Very Much

[One Woman Entourage]

=======================================

A little backstory: I don’t know these people, not even a little bit. I like the musician well enough, not entirely my style, but competent . I’ve been to a half dozen of her concerts. I have dealt with [Entourage] when she was booking a musician I used to manage. I don’t know [Partner] at all.

I have been oddly approached by a couple of people to book [Musician], and both times they offered to pay [Musician]’s fee. I have no issue with sponsored gigs, they are often troublesome, but I will always consider them, and I’d told [Musician] I was happy to book her to open for a show I am planning for some time in 2015. Obviously that got misconstrued, that happens, but it wasn’t even a firm enough plan for me to be speaking to these people on any level, and to my knowledge, the only favour between us was she plays, I pay.

I don’t know [Designer] at all, but as it happens I have [Merchan]t on my contact list – possibly because I would never hit her up with ridiculous shit like “escort these batshit crazy people for me?”.

So I hand the notecard to [Staff], who has been working her ass off for us all week, and doing it brilliantly. I am confused. I don’t know where these weird ideas have come from, I think maybe [Staff] knows the people [Entourage] were expecting to be pimped, or it was one of those “oh we should all get a table together and go to Mayfair” things. I like to let the people who do the job do the job, with the instruction that we try to give our audience what they want, within reason.

[Staff] has no idea what’s going on either, and really how would she? Who does this in anything like the real world? I am sure Jeffrey Epstein can dial a number and have anyone he likes ordered to attend upon him, but it’s not been my experience that this happens in Second Life. Because believe me, no matter how big you think you are in Second Life, there are going to be hundreds of thousands of people who have never heard of you.

I move on with my production, which has taken months of work by 30 people to bring to the stage, and which requires precision and skill to bring off. At the end of the show, another card drops on my head:

======================================= 

Notecard: Cherry

Just between us girls Cherry, [Musician] is pondering a new album and is dropping hints of a video and that she likes the GB Troupes for, for her [Well-Known Song], Partner is also wanting to invite the Troupe over to Some Venue for a Venue exclusive, she's also considering [Staff]’s Partner for an exclusive DJ Set and maybe some album work, we are just mere humble servants to the beautiful Musician after all grins *wink Oh and please don't be hard on [Staff] we love her and know she has been extremely busy.

Unsigned, but created and delivered by Entourage

=======================================  

So … I’m sorry, what? What the actual fuck? No, really, I don’t know you, I don’t need to pimp for you, I don’t need your venue or video or a “maybe” album. I'm not part of "us girls". I would happily recommend [Staff]’s Partner for more work, she is very well-loved on my sim, but you and I, [Entourage], we have never spoken about these things, because if we had you would know that we run a sufficiently successful dance show based on our own hard work, and we have no need of any of the things you are waving about.

There are musicians we work with, and we are delighted to collaborate with them. It’s just an idea, but maybe that’s because they don’t ask us to go beg others to attend upon them.

Your sense of entitlement astonishes me.

chryblnd Scribe - famous amongst 23 people

And by now, of course, I have seen IMs from [Musician] to people I know, asking for funds to be transferred to paypal accounts to pay real life bills. I’m looking a little side-eye at you, [Entourage], and at you, [Musician]. You smell like grifters to me. I see nice people being conned into giving you things that benefit you, and yes, that happens with online friendships. But these aren’t friendships, [Entourage]. You and [Musician] and [Partner] are bullying people into paying your way.

My PA, whom I treasure, talked me down from responding to this faux-intimacy, because she knows 0 to nuclear is a thing that can happen to me. It especially happens where I see people playing RL games with “my” people.

So we decided not to say anything, and let these people go on their way, and get on with our show. And they came back, today.

======================================= 

IM from Musician’s Partner:

[2015/01/25 16:17] Partner: Cherry, I am trying to have [Completely Unknown Avatar with aristocratic name] be invited to escort [Musician] for this production 5pm , does your troupe want funding, Heads should be rolling your girls are losing sight of what is important.  Have your girls invited [Aristocrat] to have the honor of escorting [Musician] to night or not, I can't be expected to have to ask Aristocrat myself, who is in charge of protocol over there.  He's French

[2015/01/25 16:18] Partner: Do you want me bowing out?

[2015/01/25 16:18] chryblnd Scribe: we have no room, and you people need to stop this intolerable behaviour

[2015/01/25 16:20] Partner: Good to know that you have no respect for your A-Listers

[2015/01/25 16:20] chryblnd Scribe: I will ban and mute you if you IM me again

======================================= 

No more was said, and [Partner] left the sim. As far as I am concerned, there will be no more dealings between my group and theirs. But I want to ask you, out there in Second Life, are you letting these people think this is acceptable behaviour? Are you encouraging them by scrambling to attend to these wish lists and delusions? Normally I get a bit mad when I see people sling the old insult around, "you're taking your Second Life too seriously, you need to go outside and get some sun". Why not just live and let live, all hobbies are valid and they separate us from the random mundane bullshit that life turns out to be.

But I think that crowd are nuts. For real.