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.
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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.
But I think that crowd are nuts. For real.
