As they say, all good things must come to an end. Here at The Rails station this is true, as real life is taking one of us away from Second Life in the near future. The cause is a happy one for this player, but it’s a sad thing for live music lovers in Second Life, as we believe we are the only four-member band, coming together regularly in the same studio, playing all-original music, each with our own microphone, and a full avatar show in SL. It is uncommon because it’s very difficult to do. We benefit from the technical educations and experience of Nick Andrews (aka Jeremy Barracuda in SL).

Don’t miss your chance to see/hear this noteworthy achievement.

Today, Wednesday June 29th, at 5pm EST (=9pm GMT, 2pm SLT)
The full avatar show will be at The Rails Nightclub
Anyone with a media player can listen by plugging http://gold.slserver.com:8026 into your player anytime between 5 EST and 6 EST (the show is an hour long).
(if you don’t have one, many versions such as the Windows Media Player, are available for no charge download)

Thanks
<3

(ps: the band IS staying together for real life shows, recording etc. What will be effected is our regular Second Life show)

I have been in Second Life since 2006 and this is the first time I attempted a look that reflected a rl photograph, when I wore this outfit for last week’s show.

The real life picture was taken when Nick (aka Jeremy Barracuda in SL) and I performed at The Mod Club Theatre in Toronto, back in the days when we were gigging live regularly. (This show was before Niall and Jenn joined us so there’s a different drummer.) Since then we discovered the ease of performing in Second Life and have migrated to on-line live streaming. At times I do miss the live rl shows but thoughts of them bring back memories of the amount of work and stress they involved, from booking the gig, promoting the show and worrying that we’d draw enough people so that the venue would be satisfied and invite us back, to loading/unloading/loading/unloading tons of extremely heavy gear. It was fun for the 45 minutes we were on stage, but all the stuff that went along with live shows was very difficult. This having been said, I’m sure one day we will get back out and do live real-life shows. No doubt, playing every week for a live-stream has left us in a tip-top performing condition! Pardon the pun but we are as tight as a drum!

Here are some more photos from that show ..

Thanks for reading

We met our bass player Jill Garnet (aka Jenn in rl), 2 years and 2 weeks ago, when we had invited her to the studio thinking that she’d take a look at what we were doing in Second Life and then decide if she was interested in joining us. To our surprise she came prepared to actually perform with us that very first day! Her avatar didn’t arrive until a week later, but the audience heard the sounds of what would become our new bass player / harmonist that very first day.

Here we are two years later and delighted to mark her second anniversary with the band! It’s been a lot of fun having her here

Drummer Chops Baxton couldn’t be at the show today so we made do with our Oberheim drum machine. Here are some photos of Jeremy and me after the show.

Our friend Greg Ellis stayed afterward for a chat. If you’ve seen our posts over the past couple of months you will have seen Greg transform from a newbie-newb to this fine looking avatar!

“I’ll take your brain to another dimension“.  You might recognize this lyric from the 90s song called Out of Space, by Prodigy.  It was an all-time favourite of mine and whenever it came on it would take the party to another dimension!  That was a decade before Second Life, where brains (and parties) can quite easily be transported to another dimension, without the use of mind altering drugs!

And so it is today, that little Farmville farmhand Lolly-Lou will take off her soil-stained jeans, and put on a pretty party dress becoming Lolly Gladstone in Second Life, while real-life Loulou performs a live show from a studio in Toronto, with a four person band called The Rails, for anyone from any dimension to listen to!

And this show will be extra special, as it marks the second year anniversary of our beloved bass player Jenn, aka Jill Garnet, joining the band! toot toot

Please consider joining in this mind blowing scenario today Wednesday June 22 at 5pm EST (=2pm Second Life Time, 9pm GMT).  People with a Second Life avatar can attend the show in-world at our club The Rails Nightclub

Farmers (and anyone else) interesting in hearing the audio while they tend their crops and milk their cows can listen-in via our website TheRails.ca

We can’t tell who is listening in from the ether, but if you let me know you’ll be coming, we’ll give you a shout-out during the show.  We do joke around quite a bit and we never know what topics will come up, but we do ensure that the discussion is ‘relatively’ family friendly 13+

Wishing you an enjoyable trip!

Thanks

Word was that bass player Jill Garnet looked particularly pretty for our show last Wednesday, wearing a dress by Kellie Iwish .

It was a past gift that I wanted Jill to wear because I love those flowers. Added was the tee shirt under the orange tube top because that top would definitely not hold up during a gig with a bass strap and all.

And so it was that it inspired the style of our outfits for this show.

When checking the credits for the look I clicked Kellie’s profile and found this very pleasant message … ‘ I’m never too busy to help you, and you’re never ever “bothering me.” Ask away!’  Such a sweet attitude prompted me to drop over to her main store called Elite .   I found the clothing shop to be under construction, however discovered that Kellie is multi-talented and makes houses and furnishings as well, which were still set up.

Here’s a photo of me sitting in her Beach House. (Funny coincidence was that I happened to be listening to a band called Beach House at the same time!)

And as I like to seed interesting little nicknacks and art pieces around our club to add an extra dimension of entertainment for guests, I had to have the little wooden hummingbird statue. You can see it the next time you come to one of our gigs … Every Wednesday at 2pm slt!

Additional credits:

Jill’s shoes by Bijoux Lafavre of Heart & Sole.  Earrings by Yumix Noel of Y.M.X

Shoulder Bird by Tyr Rozenblum . Branch with nest by Sienia Trevellion of sur+

Lolly’s dress is a vintage (no longer available) piece by Neferia Abel of Ivalde .

After our set on Wednesday I got a couple of snaps of some guests who hung out for a chat. The first one is of Noodlze Thorsveld and Krakov Letov. We can always count on Noodz to be creatively attired. His inventory must be massive!

Looking at him made us hotter than we already were though, as the (real life) day was very warm in deed and the air-conditioning in the studio was broken.  Suffice it to say that it was a hot time at The Rails Station that night!

Our monitor view was made extra hawt by several male avatars in the audience taking their shirts off, trying to help cool us down by using the power of suggestion!  I’m sorry I didn’t get any pictures of that for you

[14:19] SlickWill33 Resident: There we go! I’m shirtless and ready to party

Keeping their cool even with their shirts on were Gold Cazalet and Dottie Idlemind, the music blogging team at Live Music In Second Life . They wrote a positive article about our band a little while ago, and have since become friends. (It’s worth noting that we didn’t know them back when they wrote their favourable piece… A good review is only truly meaningful when written by an unbiased source!)

This having been said, we are very happy to now call them friends, as they are very entertaining company. Here’s to the McWoot McSpurtles!

I love Jeremy in the background of this shot.  It looks like he’s splashing in a puddle

We logged off shortly after taking these shots, to cool off a bit outside and have a rl band meeting/drink together.

But I logged back in later because I particularly wanted a photo of Jill as she looked very pretty, prompting this comment during the show …

[14:22] gregellistoronto Resident: wow, very pretty today Jill! Is this your “softer side”? Like it!

To be continued …

Hello!  All four members of the band will be on-line today to perform an hour long live stream / avatar show, beginning at 2 pm Second Life Time (=5pm EST , 9pm GMT).  If you use Second Life, drop on over to The Rails Club for the added visual aspect, or listen-in from anywhere using an audio player found on our website.  Thanks

In Second Life teleport -> The Rails Nightclub

Not in Second Life listen -> Hear it!

Guitar player Jeremy Barracuda (aka Nick) taking it easy before the show.  It may look like he’s sleeping but be assured that come showtime he will be wide awake and rocking!

Thanks

Our show last Wednesday was hit by a group of griefers, who ransacked the room with blazing beams of fire, managing to knock me clear off the stage and right into another sim! It was spectacular, making the show memorable and interesting for those who were there, with no major harm done. Two things to be said about this incident .. (1) It looks like the Lindens have done something to make things on the grid a lot more stable against these types of trouble-makers. In the ‘olden’ days of Second Life, such an attack would have crashed the sim and ended the show. (2) We have an excellent helper in our hostess Brucie Lusch <3. She and Jeremy expertly took care of the perpetrators and the show quickly resumed!

I didn’t get photos of the band before we dispersed but got some shots of myself later, while out shopping at one of my favourite places called ‘The Dressing Room’, ( set-up by Linka Demina and Jocelyn Anatine ). The pictures were taken outside the shop, beside a pond decorated by their landlord, Mimikri Kit.

I am wearing the outfit I had on for the show, which happened to include a shirt that I’d purchased on a previous visit to this particular boutique, where you will find an excellent assortment of nice women’s clothes and accessories, which completely changes every couple of weeks or so. You never know what they’ll be offering but I always find something I like, at a very good price.

I joined their subscriber-group when they first opened and am happy whenever I receive a notecard announcing a new collection is available. On this particular shopping trip I got a cool summer dress and a set of jewellery, which I’ll be wearing for a future show.  I wish I had “The Dressing Room” in real life!

Here’s a close-up showing the lovely necklace and earrings I wore, made by Second Life jewellery designer Mouse Mimistobell.  Her shop is called Dark Mouse.

Credits:  Jacket by Machang Pichot of AOHARU , Pants by Asli Barth , Belt by Beanster Potato , Shoes by December Larkham , Skin by Heather Beebe (Rockberry) , Hair by Helena Stringer.

Hi   Happy June!  All four members of The Rails will be performing an hour long live-stream today, beginning at 2 pm SLT (=5pm EST, 9pm GMT)

For people with SL avatars, teleport on over to The Rails Nightclub.

For anyone interested in listening-in to the live stream from anywhere there is a player to click anytime while we’re playing, at our website: Hear it!

or you can plug this stream URL into your preferred player http://gold.slserver.com:8026

If you were at the show 2 weeks ago, you may recall a moment in the middle of the set where Lolly (rl Loulou) grabbed her camera and quickly took a photo of each member of the band.  Those snapshots were used to make this poster!