Gettin' Punk(kitty)ed!

Thursday night, Paige Heckroth was not able to do her set at Oz, leaving the evening open for other avenues of invention. I quickly IMed Punkkitty Clipper to see if she would be interested to do a set together, one that Ruby Scissor had named "Double Edged." The idea was that she and I would alternate playing little 3-song mini-sets with some good-natured trash-talking thrown in, but that it would not be a contest in any sense of the word.

Boy, did I get this thing wrong.

Let me just start off by saying that Punky played a great set. No, wait, that's the understatement of the year. She was flat-out awesome. It was, without a doubt, the best set I have ever heard her play, and she is always good. But, on this night, she was out of her mind. She was out of control. And she completely dominated me all night long. If I did not like and respect her so much, I would have been flattened. Wait. I was flattened.

I learned some pretty important lessons Thursday night. First is, this is a great idea. The interplay between Punky and I in styles, challenges, selection and panache was an incredible experience. And from all reports, entertaining as hell, too. We ended up playing for five hours, and there were many who were there start-to-finish. Second, I learned not to mess with this girl. I don't really talk trash well; in fact, I don't talk particularly well in general. She whipped this Texas-boy's ass all night long. Her infectious laugh, witty put-downs and songs aims straight at me combined to make yours truly grin and wince all at the same time. We had a war and I forgot to bring a gun. Thirdly, I learned how important it is to closely listen to another DJ. I mean, really listen. I think Punky also did the better job in this regard as she consistently answered each challenge I threw down and left me fumbling when she posed the question.

All, in all, however, it was just a fantastic evening. I believe that ideas like this are going to carry both DJ and SL listener to new areas yet unexplored in this game. And, yeah, it's definitely going to happen again. Punky and I are what I would consider to be very close friends and supporters of each other's cause, but, at least on this night, she made this man into her boy.

DJs

I am certain there are plenty of good DJs out there in SL. Problem is, finding them.

This is the task which has been assigned to me to fill out the roster at Oz. I have purposely not taken an evening slot because my goal is find the most unique and talented DJs I can for the club.

As a sidenote: just because Oz arose out of the ashes of Lonsdale does in no way indicate that Oz is a "punk" club. In fact, "punks" will be disappointed to know that their simplistic, single-minded ideas of music have been cast out the window with their narrow-minded and backwards ideals. So, ya know, quit your bitching and get the fuck out of the way, because the times have passed you by. Your ideas are dead, just like punk for over 30 years.

So far, two DJs have been signed. Punkkitty Clipper, despite her moniker, is a DJ who throws down a mind-boggling array of music from all sorts of styles, mixing in her own unique wit in between songs. The scary thing about Punky is her developement. She's gone from hella-good DJ to amazing in a very short amount of time. The girl can throw it down with the best of 'em now, and assurely, if you appreciate a wide variety of musical styles, you'll be amazed how seemlessly she meshes them all in the course of a set. Punky plays Tuesday nights at 7pSLT.

Our other new regular act is Paige Heckroth. A Jersey-ite who throws down an electronica jam that will make you wish your headphones went to 11. Paige's music is a mesmerizing, carefully planned and manicured set that will make your ears demand you shake your real life ass as much as your SL avi. You will not find a more unique blend of music anywhere in SL. To miss her is to miss out. Please come and listen in on Thursday nights at 7pSLT.

I'll promise you, more unique and amazing DJs are on their way. Oz is a music club; the open minded are going to find themselves animating their avis happily night in and night out.

Lonsdale Dies, The Emerald City arises

The last month or so has seen an amazing thing happen in SL. Lonsdale, the largest so-called "punk" community, bit the dust. It seems that the owner of the sim, Kalik Stork, did not only have a passion for his alleged "punk" ethos, but also of the real-life possession and distribution of child pornography, for which he has been charged on over 20 counts. Good riddance, Lonsdale, good riddance, Kalik.

I, personally, came to detest Lonsdale long before it's demise. It had become a haven of Hot Topic "punks," whose narrow-minded views and cliquish behaviors had made a once nice place to visit into a high school of people who never aged beyond mopey, dopey high school children. Not all of them, mind you, but enough that a person always felt they were being judged on whether they were "punk" enough to exist there. Stupidity reigned supreme.

Now, one specific and notable exception to the rule was the manager of Lonsdale, Ruby Scissor. I admit my bias for Ruby because she also happens to be my very closest SL friend. What many of you do not know is that Ruby and I had both plotted and dreampt of the say Lonsdale would pass away. Kalik's personal lack of humanity allowed us to fulfill what seemed to be a fantasy: the creation of a community- not a "punk" community. And a club.

Two other people helped bring that dream to bear: Ingo Rosenberg and McCabe Maxstead. Ruby, Ingo, and MC all chipped in with the design and general contruction, with the fabulously selfless and wonderful Pushbutton Skolnick providing most of the major contruction.

These are people you should know. If not know, then know what they did. Ingo designed the general layout of The Emerald City. McCabe built, textured, and lent all sorts of support to Ruby. Ruby oversaw it all as well building Oz with help from MC and Ingo. And they all worked together selflessly and tirelessly to build a beautiful, comfortable sim out of the ashes of one of the ugliest sims in all of SL, Lonsdale.

Special mention should go to Lily Tripp, owner of the Big Star sim, who is not only happily one of my very best friends, but worked with Ruby to secure a future for The Emerald City. That girl has a real heart, she does.

There are others left out, and for that, I apologize. You know who you are, and I am sorry my memory fails me. There are also many of you who donated thousands and thousands of Linden to aide the project along. Thank you.

Boredom achieves new heights!

Hello and welcome to Barely Bloggin', my latest lame-brain attempt to provide something of interest to the SL community. As my friend Antie Marat would say, "Ce'st le poop."

As you may know- and may even care- my primary "professional" purpose of existing in SL is as a freelance DJ and halvsies owner of Oz (with the fabulously wunnerful Ruby Scissor), the music club located in The Emerald City, the gorgeous new sim that arose from the ashes of Lonsdale. Hence, you are going to be getting a lot of talk of those ventures in these posts. Sorry, I have nothing of value to offer you for sale, so you receive my opinions, anecdotes, trivialities and other somesuches as I see fit. Maybe you'll enjoy it. Or maybe you'll look for something that is actually interesting.

In either case, thanks for stopping by. You have officially lost minutes in your life you could have used for something positive.