For quite some time, Tuna Oddfellow, “Fish the Magish” in real life, has run the Odd ball with his partner Shava Suntzu. They’ve entertained many crowds, as well as helping others through occasional fundraisers. Now, Tuna and Shava are in need of help themselves. Recently, Second Life Newspaper conducted an interview with them.
Some time at the end of 2009, I received a notice about a research study being conducted in SL. I have no idea how I got on the list, but it certainly piqued my curiosity. We were asked to complete a survey to determine if we met the criteria for participation in the study. The study, by People Path LLC, was being conducted to investigate the overlaps and impacts of SL on RL and vice versa. As one would expect, the questions on the survey centered around that theme. After submitting my survey, I was informed I had been accepted to participate in the study. 
Wiz Nordberg is the founder and CEO of Treet.tv, a virtual television company in Second Life. I recently had the opportunity to meet up with him, shortly after he attended one of the snail races covered by his network, and ask a few questions.
I had heard some interesting events were planned at M&M Creations for the holiday season. A visit there recently revealed a unique shopping experience. They offer a variety of items for landscaping, as well as sculpties and items ranging from lanterns, furniture, gazebos and animals. The creative people behind M&M Creations are 10 and Marcthur Goosson.
10G: Next to that we fill the gift box at the X-mas plateau every day with another gift, an item from our shops around the main store.
By Nazz Lane An instant message awaited my arrival in-world and when I replied with a brief “hey” she sent a TP request rather than a text acknowledgement. I accepted the request, and arrived at Ravenhart SIM where the Fierce Tibetan Gods were performing. A large crowd was on hand and the band sounded great. I sent her an instant message thanking her for the ride over and asked what time had it started to which she replied that it was nearly over.
“It’s a benefit fundraiser; it would be a good story for you to cover Nazz.” She said and then added, “Money is flowing in … just had one for 10K and one for 15K. The money is going to Artists 4 Mercy.”
I was about to ask her who I could speak to about the event when I spotted Anu Papp, who wore a group name tag “Artists4Mercy”. So I thanked Robin for the lead and clicked on Ms Papp’s name, opened an IM window and introduced myself. We had a brief exchange; she was rather busy at the moment wrapping up the event activities and thanking the band and crowd for their generosity. She suggested that I come back the following day and she would be happy to talk about the Artists 4 Mercy and give me a tour of Ravenhart.
She’d also sent me a link to the organizations web site where I discovered that Artists 4 Mercy is a subsidiary of the Gaia's Lap Foundation Inc., a non-profit charitable organization founded by Anu (aka Lori Anu Lesch) where she serves as executive director. The foundation’s primary purpose “is to provide assistance to orphanages globally based upon a thorough assessment of their immediate needs for wellness”. The subsidiary is an all volunteer program that provides artistic and non artistic members an opportunity “to connect to each other through arts”, increasing awareness and providing assistance to the “needs of children in orphanages”.
I arrived at Ravenhart where Anu and I exchanged greetings. We stood just outside of the foundation’s headquarters, while I waited for the site to come into view. We then walked up the few steps through a wide opening and onto a black and white checkered floor in the foyer. On the right was an open area with desk and chair along with information on the foundation and several of Ms Papp’s other activities. I turned my view slightly to the left, noted a staircase leading up and a video room adjacent to the stairway.
“When we met yesterday, I knew your name sounded familiar and I think I’ve seen you perform.” I commented.
“I’m a musician in real life and have released three albums … the last one in 2002. I perform live, me and my piano … just not as often. We also have a radio station, its commercial free for Indie artist’s … at its height we had over 35000 listeners in 100 countries ... it’s not a public station now. It can be heard at the Lost Garden of Apollo. We make it available to SIM owners for $50 USD per month.” She said.
“This is a nice build Anu. By the way how did yesterday’s fundraiser go?” I asked.
“The concert bought in $200 USD and we have another concert set for next Sunday. Come upstairs, there are some things I’d like to show you.” She replied.
On the way towards the stairway I commented about the placard on the wall with the Gaia’s Lap Foundations mission and vision. I asked her. “When did the foundation start?”
“The foundation started in 2003, its non religious and a nonprofit. It is about helping the kids out and keeping the arts alive … it’s not about money.” She replied then added, “I’ve owned Ravenhart for a year now. I’m passionate about what I do and pay for the SIM out of my own pocket. The SIM consists of artists who donate their time and their work. There are a lot of people who have their hands in it. They've all contributed to making it what it is. Here’s a list of those who are involved.”
She passed me a note card with the following information on who is involved and what they do:
Barton Dowd, Video and Sound Engineer
Ulysses Cabaret, Artist and Creator
bark Aabye, Photographer
Trasgo Beaumont, Clothing Designer
Jenne Dibou, Builder of the Taj Mahal
Eleynora Wisent, Furniture Creator
Gaius Luminos, Fierce Tibetan Gods
Raielien Ackland, Clothing Designer and Builder
We then toured the second floor, which contained both a small gallery and a room where she makes cards, using the affirmations that she’d written. Having gone back down to the first floor and on the way to our next stop, I asked her how Artists 4 Mercy had started.
“Well it’s an artist’s network and it developed out on the internet. The arts can inspire and heal … we want it to be an important part of children’s lives … enhance their minds and spirit. It’s all volunteers and we’ve connected to each other … to make music and arts a more significant part of their lives.” She replied.
Having made our way across a stone walkway that sat alongside a canal the Indian Palace came into full view and it was an impressive structure. The pale colored stone texture took on a pinkish hue when I set the environment to sunset. We entered the building and made our way to the top floor where one could view the surrounding structures that included a coffeehouse and the events area where Sunday’s performance had been held.
“I understand from an article you’d given me that you’re planning a trip to Uganda. Is that one of the foundations projects? ” I asked.
“Yes, the Mercy Home of Children Orphanage in Kampala, Uganda. Our process begins with a needs assessment ... to look at and make sure that the basic needs are taken care of before doing anything else. We may end up procuring a school bus so they can travel safely. The arts will be a component of the trip as well.” She replied and then added, “We’ve worked here locally as well … a community center in a traditional Navajo dwelling … using it for art and then there’s the recording of songs performed by the students. The foundation provided finance for the project and equipment along with providing expertise.” She replied.
Our last stop on the tour was up and into the Linden sky, to visit the location of the Royal Family of the Court de Boheme. It is an elaborate complex of buildings that included; a grand ballroom which was reminiscent of one I had visited in Vienna, a palace with bedrooms for the royal family members and replete with a throne room for formal receptions, a small but highly detailed church and a courtyard where the changing of the guard ceremony is performed. She explained to me that in the role play she is Anna Jagellonica, Reine de Bohème and Hungary, and that her role is based on a real life persona, who had been born in 1503. It is the longest running role play court in second life.
By Nazz Lane Several weeks ago, I received an instant message inviting me to special event at the Athena Writers Island to meet and listen to the noted author Marjorie M Lui (aka MarjorieMLiu India in Second Life) to talk about her latest book, “The Fire King”. She discussed the book, which is the latest release in her Dirk & Steele Series and talked of her other series, Hunter Kiss along with being a writer and author. I took the ride over to listen in and enjoyed the next hour scrolling through the chat lines of questions from the dozen or so avatars assembled and Ms Lui’s replies. I unfortunately had to leave before the events completed, but shortly after, I was contacted by her in-world representative, Cheepoka Laval and we discussed my meeting with Ms Lui in-world for an interview.
After an exchange of e-mails the scheduled date and time arrived as did Marjorie after accepted my teleport request. We met at the headquarters of the SL Newspaper.
Nazz: Hello Marjorie, it’s nice to meet you.
MarjorieMLiu: Hello, again! It's great to meet you, too. I'm still trying to get a hang on this thing.
Nazz: I’m assuming you'd not spent too much time then in second life so far.
MarjorieMLiu: No, I haven't been back since that last chat.
Nazz: I saw in an e-mail that Cheepoka (aka Taughnee Stone) wasn’t able to join us.
MarjorieMLiu: I saw that, too. She's great -- a wonderful person, and a fantastic designer.
Nazz: She's handling your PR in second life?
MarjorieMLiu: Yes.
Nazz: How did you find out about second life?
MarjorieMLiu: Through Taughnee. I tried to use it more than a year ago, and got scared away by the avatars themselves -- I just couldn't get mine to work. In preparation for that book chat, though, Taughnee worked with me.
Nazz: You weren’t scared away by rude behavior I hope.
MarjorieMLiu: Oh, no, just the technical aspects of it all. And, of course, SL is the same as RL in the sense that if you don't know anyone, you'll still feel awkward.
Nazz: Yes, that's true. Have you done any exploration of second life, like going to a live music event, an art exhibit or shopping yet?
MarjorieMLiu: No, none of that.
Nazz: I wasn't able to stay for the entire book chat when you appeared, how did that go for you?
MarjorieMLiu: It was fantastic. I loved the forum, and the ease of reaching out to so many people from the comfort of home. And the avatars! Everyone was so beautiful! I mean, seriously -- in RL, how many chances would a person have to chat about books in a beautiful library on the sea?
Nazz: Not very many. Are you aware of some the writing groups that exist in SL?
MarjorieMLiu: No, I'm not. Are there many?
Nazz: There's several ... the Written Word is perhaps the largest ... in fact there's a large event coming up next month where they are the sponsor … Autumn Writers Exchange.
MarjorieMLiu: What kind of event?
Nazz: It’s basically a three day event ... one can set up a virtual booth ... there are writing and poetry competitions … live readings by authors … concerts.
MarjorieMLiu: Sounds very cool! Do you participate, or just cover it for the SL newspaper?
Nazz: Both, I wrote an article on it and did a reading last year
MarjorieMLiu: What did you read?
Nazz: Some of my own fiction and a piece I did for the SL newspaper.
MarjorieMLiu: Nice, any particular genre?
Nazz: I use SL as a backdrop for my characters ... the main character is a lawyer from Chicago. He meets and falls in love with a woman in SL.
MarjorieMLiu: That's very cool. Do people publish books in SL?
Nazz: Yes they do, I've published five chapters of my serial novel.
MarjorieMLiu: Is there a bookstore type place where you keep them, so that people can browse through the fiction?
Nazz: There are several different types of venues in SL, bookstores are one of them
MarjorieMLiu: Are there virtual books -- in essence, where people can "live" the story? I'm not sure that makes sense, what I just wrote.
Nazz: There are role play SIM’s, areas where people take on the guise of a character … wild west days, like Colorado and Deadwood and science fiction SIM’s. Some are quite extensive in their set up, like the Dr. Who series for example.
MarjorieMLiu: Sci-fi SIMs sounds cool. Wow! Dr. Who? Love that show … and Torchwood.
Nazz: In your latest book, “The Fire King” is set in central Asia, you'd commented about being fascinated by that region of the globe, what’s so intriguing about it for you?
MarjorieMLiu: I've always been fascinated with nomadic cultures, and that area is rich with history -- partially because of the Silk Road. Many cultures and people passed through Central Asia and you can see it in the faces of the men and women who still live there.
Nazz: Have you visited the area?
MarjorieMLiu: Close. I've been near the border to Mongolia. The region is beautiful.
Nazz: I think I saw some where were you'd commented on character development by thinking of the character and after then where to set them, is that a fair representation of how and what was it about Soria that said silk road and central Asia?
MarjorieMLiu: Yes. I'm a very organic writer. In the case of THE FIRE KING, I had originally thought about setting it in the American Southwest, but it wasn't isolated enough for what I thought the characters had to go through.
Nazz: You'd also commented on listening to loud music while developing your characters, what were you listening to with Soria?
MarjorieMLiu: Gosh, I need to pull up iTunes! I think I listened to a lot of Imogen Heap and other stuff. I'm all over the board from Alternative to R&B to Greatest Hits of the 80's.
Nazz: You had commented in your appearance at the book chat, that your next book is set in the South China Sea, what drew you to that area?
MarjorieMLiu: My research on piracy. That area has a lot of trouble with pirates.
Nazz: It does have that reputation.
MarjorieMLiu: Yup. One of the most successful pirates in history was a former Chinese prostitute who sailed those seas several hundred years ago.
Nazz: Oh wow!
MarjorieMLiu: That's what I said! She needs to have a book written about her.
Nazz: Are you planning for more appearances in SL or other virtual worlds?
MarjorieMLiu: I hope so. No specific plans at the moment, but I would guess that around my next solo release, next year...I'd like to come back. I actually have an anthology coming out at the end of October, called Never After. Then, another anthology in January, called Inked.
Nazz: I know you're just about out of time … any closing thoughts or comments to share with my readers?
MarjorieMLiu: Just that I think this is a wonderful place, with so many creative possibilities. I think you've made a wonderful community here.
One of the more famous (or infamous) characters in online comics is Zig Zag, the owner/star of an “adult” movie studio. Created by Max Blackrabbit, the character was adopted by Eric Scwartz into his popular Internet strip “Sabrina Online” - the title character answers a want-ad for a webmaster and to her surprise finds it’s to a "blue movie" studio, though takes the job despite her embarrassment, leading to a number of misadventures. The comic itself has a PG/PG-13 rating, with no nudity and one swear word in over ten years of online publication.
By Nazz Lane While working on a story, I’d been introduced to Renfew Sperber who along with her brother msw Tomorrow own the Callidora SIM in Second Life. As we chatted about the upcoming event, she told me of her brother’s struggle with cancer and of their efforts on behalf of the “Relay for Life” activities in Second Life and of their ongoing fundraising activities for the American Cancer Society. I found their story compelling and had hoped to meet with both for a conversation. We exchanged e-mails and in-world IM’s to set up a date and time for the three of us to meet. It was unfortunate that msw was unable to join us as his real life job interceded, but he agreed that Ren could speak for him since she was integral to the efforts at Callidora.
Nazz: What was it that brought you into Second Life?
Renfew: Initially I came in to research the viability of the second life platform for my real life work. I was challenged by our engineers to come up with a way to provide more worldwide communication and peer-to-peer collaboration opportunities to them. We are dispersed ... seven countries. So this was a big challenge. I bought a copy of Wired to read on the plane trip back from France and stumbled on an article about IBM and what they were doing in second life at that time (2007). Light bulbs started going off in my head and after a couple of months I built up the courage to come in to research a bit more.
Nazz: Does your company still use second life?
Renfew: My company never bought into the idea … a little too new and untested, although they did seriously consider my proposal. It is really following this initial testing of the waters that the story of our lives, mine and my brother’s … and our evolution in second life begins.
Nazz: When you started, had msw already been diagnosed with cancer?
Renfew: Yes, he had been diagnosed with colon cancer in January 2007. In fact, he spent his birthday that year in the hospital room after having had this diagnosis and three feet of his colon removed. He was in chemo at the time that I found out about second life and came in. I needed a partner in crime, and could not think of a person more likely to support this and see the potential of the technology and least likely to laugh me out of the room. I told him about it and the next day he had an avatar and was here. He has been amazing and inspiring.
Nazz: Is that when you both became involved with Relay for Life?
Renfew: Yes, we had purchased the islands and developed them to create a test site for the work project. During that same time msw joined the survivors group in second life. It was amazing for him. He had not responded well to his chemo and was very sick. In real life there was not a local survivors group within easy commute distance, so the second life survivors group became a lifeline for him. In the group he met many people and through them he became involved in Relay for Life. Also I need to mention Dolcebella Zabaleta. Dolce is msw's real life wife. She also came in and comes to most of the concerts. So this is real family thing. She has been incredibly supportive of him, me, and this entire journey. Ishtar Roux has been our team captain for the past two relays. After the work project fell through we seriously had to reconsider what we wanted to do with the island(s) and our second life journey. We decided to use the islands for hosting benefit concerts to raise money for RFL. This started in early 2008. After the relay ended, we decided that we wanted to continue to raise money year-round for the American Cancer Society. msw contacted them and made arrangements for special kiosks to be made to allow us to make direct donations year-round. We launched these benefits October 2008 to supplement the RFL season.
Nazz: How many islands do you own?
Renfew: We have just the two, Callidora and Kleio.
Nazz: Callidora is for events?
Renfew: Callidora Beach is the home to our benefit concerts. We have had the great gift to be able to work with some amazing talent and this just would not have happened without them. From October 2008 to July 2009 we raised just a little under $6,200 USD for the ACS.
Nazz: With the end of RLF, will you be doing same this year?
Renfew: We plan to kick off in October again. Finalizing the schedule now, but typically we've run the events the third Saturday of every month. We will continue through July 2010 and the take August and September off as we did this year. Our goal is to break $8,000 USD this year.
Nazz: How is msw doing, he’s still in remission I hope?
Renfew: msw is doing great. He is still in remission and we are incredibly thankful and humbled by this. I wish he was here to tell you about his experiences as a survivor in second life. A number of months ago the survivor group pulled together a number of survivors and had them share their stories with the rest of the survivor groups. msw participated and told his story, along with a number of others. I was totally blown away … sitting on this side of the screen, just listening and watching the chat, truly left me without breath. The power of the ways that second life can provide community and support to individuals that are in such situations was very clear and incredibly moving.
Nazz: It sounds like an incredible journey for you both.
Renfew: He is my only brother and we are very close. I was there with him and his family after the surgery ... to be able to have him here is an amazing gift. We live in different parts of the US and second life was a way to keep very close during this time in his life. We joked that we talked more in a single week after second life than we had in a month before that. Put on the headsets and there you go! It has been so very wonderful, being able to share all of this with him. And look at what he created … this beautiful … beautiful place. An architect in real life, this was a way for him to really exercise his imagination and became a healing place for him. I wish I could find the words, you know, to really articulate all of this … there is a great deal of emotion involved.
Nazz: Any closing thoughts or comments you'd like to share with my readers?
Renfew: I think that the one thing that comes to mind is that the journey in second life is not always the one you think it will be. Serendipity steps in and the process you, the vision you have, the work you do evolves. msw and I talk about this a great deal. We found things here, and in ourselves through being here, that we could not have possibility imagined. Being open to possibility and embracing it is a big part of the second life experience.
Usually you will see Nazz here at SL-Newspaper interviewing various people, one of his specialities, Nazz is a great interviewer.
By Nazz Lane On Sunday, August 9th at 3 pm PDT/SLT, the band “Fierce Tibetan Gods” will hit the stage for its sixth appearance in second life.
Founded by Perry Geyer and Andrew Woolf in 1996, Fierce Tibetan Gods (FTG) recorded its first CD, “Dreams of Earth and Sky” a year later with the help of ex Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes and recording artist Rie Imai. The group recorded a second CD, “Forbidden Frequencies” in 2001 and they are working on a third, “Monks, Tanks and The Saffron Revolution” which is planned for release later this year. This sixth performance of the Virtual 09 tour will be held at Devils Moon SIM, which is themed after the Sci-Fi Movie 'Bladerunner.' Band members are planning to perform dressed as the principle cast members and are encouraging audience members to wear ‘future noir’ outfits “reminiscent of the denizens of Los Angeles, 2016,” as depicted in the movie.
I’d been introduced to band member Gaius Luminos (aka Andrew Woolf) though a publicist and we made arrangements to meet and chat about the band and the tour. I arrived at the appointed time with a TP request from Gaius and landed on the stage where Gaius was busily preparing for Sunday’s performance. We exchanged pleasantries and then began the interview.
Nazz: This is the stage for Sunday’s show?
Gaius: This is the set for Sunday … Bladerunner show. Our staging is always different; it’s better to have a new set each time that matches the theme of the SIM, even though that's a much bigger challenge.
Nazz: A new stage every time would be a challenge. How long does it take to set up for a performance?
Gaius: It depends on the particular SIM. This one is a more complex example ... it took maybe ten or twelve hours. I’m getting better at it ... this is the 6th show of our virtual worlds tour 09 in SL.
Nazz: The band is named, Fierce Tibetan Gods ... what inspired the name?
Gaius: I'm a Tibetan Buddhist … 25 years. The music partially draws influences from that.
Nazz: Influences from the teachings and practice?
Gaius: Yes, definitely, also from the spirit of the Tibetan people. I think it’s something we can all learn from.
Nazz: Besides the Tibetan influence, how would you characterize the band’s sound?
Gaius: it’s a mixed bag; with some … I suppose more core elements ... which are just things we like. Greg is a big Beatles fan, as are Perry and I ... the rest stems I guess from our mutual interest in world music, especially Indian, Middle Eastern and African...we're not genre specific, but somehow it ends up having a readily identifiable sound. As to how that happens, I have no idea it just does.
Nazz: How was it that you four found each other to form the band?
Gaius: Well, we'd known each other from various studio recording work in the past, here in Boston. It’s a smaller and tighter circle here, so people tend to know each other anyway. Perry and I had been working on and off together for several years. Perry knew Greg because he worked as a producer at the Cars old studio in Boston, Synchro Sound. Greg tended to pop in and out as you’d expect to listen to various sessions, and one night he popped in and heard FTG, which at the time was just Perry and I, and the rest was history. We're very lucky to have Mr. Hawkes, he’s a consummate writer and performer.
Nazz: The band’s performances so far have only been in SL, are there plans for other virtual worlds?
Gaius: In the past we've done a few sporadic live shows in RL ... then personal commitments truncated that. Now we have more time to do RL coming up, so the idea of being in SL is to ramp up exposure faster and more expeditiously here than we could in RL, preparatory to doing RL shows.
Nazz: How many more SL shows are planned?
Gaius: It’s a good question ... we're kind of feeling our way thru to an extent, and that’s good because it allows us to be intuitive ... definitely another twenty I'd say at least.
Nazz: So using the series as tuning and for increasing awareness for the RL performances?
Gaius: Yes exactly ... there are many parallels and congruencies between playing in SL and RL ... and none of the hotel, crew and gas bills at the end of the day!
Nazz: How receptive have the SL audiences been to the band and the sound?
Gaius: We've been fortunate, we've been very well received and I’m making a lot of new friends here ... it’s a great place for us to be it seems.
Nazz: Have you experienced any technical problems?
Gaius: Yes, but only the predictable ones in-world lag and so forth. We had over a hundred people at Dance Island ... things got a bit sticky.
Nazz: That’s a lot for an SL event.
Gaius: It was a surprise ... it was the third show of the tour… a nice surprise
Nazz: Live music is a big part of the SL experience. Most of us can clearly recall our first concert.
Gaius: It is indeed, and the more we explore that landscape, the more richness and diversity we are finding. There are many world class innovators and talents here.
Nazz: How has the reception by the SL musical community been for you and the band?
Gaius: Again, it’s been very warm, very friendly and very encouraging.
Nazz: That’s good to hear and I’m not surprised, you all are accomplished and professional performers.
Gaius: Thank you that’s very kind. We're newbies, but we're focused somewhat from RL, so that helps and yes … we all have industry track records … notably Mr. Hawkes.
Nazz: Since the first performance have you had to make any changes in the technical or musical side of things?
Gaius: Yes definitely, it’s something we do in RL to … the project itself is structured or de-structured such that things like intuitive thinking and free styling so called are encouraged ... we're open ended as it were, in both a creative and technical sense. It’s a work in progress!
Nazz: Do you have any closing thoughts or comments for my readers you'd like to share?
Gaius: Sure, we'd like to thank the SL community for embracing us as they have, and we'd like to embrace them in return … Tashi Delek.