The RAILS Band Gig Diary - Entry #26 Show Date: April 15, 2009.  Venue: The Bushy Beard Pub

Was it time to shave or time for a Bushy Beard?  Why, it was Wednesday so it was time for The Bushy Beard Pub for us!  As always, a good time was had.  Quite a few new names in the audience … hope you enjoyed the show and the pub.

And speaking of enjoyment, there is another band who play in Second Life, whose shows we like to go to.  They are called Friendly Fire and the players are Case Munro and Mackenzie Rasmusen.  They perform glam punk powerpop music.  Their tunes are head-stickers for sure.  We’ve had the pleasure of doing a few double bills with them and they’ve been lots of fun.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I saw a listing for a show they were having at a place called Gibson Island, so I teleported over.  As always they put on a great show, but another high point of the event was the chance to see Gibson Island.  It is run by the Gibson Guitar Company, and while there is quite a bit of advertising around, the place is really very well done.

From above, the whole island looks like a guitar, outlined by a train trolley track that is made to look like it’s made from guitar frets and strings.  There’s lots of guitar related things to see including a huge amplifier.

It’s well worth a look around Gibson Island, where these photos were all taken.

Please keep reading for details.

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The RAILS Band Gig Diary - Entry #25 Show Date: April 8, 2009.  Venue: The Bushy Beard Pub

Oh, there were good times to be had at The Bushy Beard Pub this Wednesday.  Everyone was in high spirits, and after our set there were many turn takings on dj Lohoha Chestnut’s sexy dance pole.   She keeps the party going, that’s for sure.

No doubt, people in Second Life certainly enjoy celebration, and Easter week was right up there.  There were more eggs to find and lovely gifts to open, than you could actually get to in time for Easter Sunday.  I’m sure those of us who are into the hunts will be going through inventories pulling out treasures for a long time!

Newcomers are very lucky about the quality of prizes to be had around Second Life nowadays … back when I came (Oct 06), pretty well anything you got for free was not so good.  Think micro mini skirts and lots of boustiers, and navel rings that poofed Betty Boop.  There were exceptions, and my ‘vintage’ Easter basket is a item from them MIA … way back when we used to fly 10 miles to get to school lol.

And as you can see, Chops is not averse to wearing hunt finds!  Actually, I dressed him for today’s show as he was on the fly.  When he saw himself his comment was … ‘Hey, you dressed me just as I would dress myself in real life’.  That was until he turned around and saw the bunny undershirt he had on

All the props in today shoot were gifts from various hunts.  Please see the people we give thanks to after the cut

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The RAILS Band Gig Diary - Entry #24 Show Date: April 5, 2009.  Venue: The Notes Shack Pub

Every time I’ve been to The Notes Shack Pub it has been a fun time and today was no exception.  The owner Krakov Letov presents music every Sunday and has an knack for picking out great indie artists, who perform original music.  Today, we were preceded by Krakov himself, playing his own psychedelic-synth-guitar music.  Following our set, we all got zorched, as Zorch Boomhauer played an entertaining set of his poetic originals.

Readers of this blog will have noticed that our photographs, while taken of us wearing the exact outfits we wore for the show that the post is about, are always taken before or after the show itself.  This is because it’s impossible for us to take a shot while we’re actually on stage without disrupting the show.  So, today it was a pleasure to receive this artwork from a friend in the audience, Danana Dodonpa, who took the picture and did the treatment.  Thanks for being you, Dana!

We had some time to kill before the show, so we decided to take in a matinee.

So many choices … ‘What should we see?’

‘Here are some good seats.’

‘I’ll save your seat but hurry, the movie is about to begin.’

Hope you enjoyed this post.  Please continue reading for details.

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The RAILS Band Gig Diary - Entry #23 Show Date: April 1, 2009.  Venue: The Bushy Beard Pub

A busy show with many friends and quite a few new listeners.  Thanks to everyone for coming out.  We appreciate you sharing your time with us!

Last December, someone who attended one of our shows said we were a ‘SteamPunk’ band.  This designation seemed to make sense because our musical roots are firmly planted in punk, and our rhythm and sound is reminiscent of trains, not to mention the sound of steam engines that we use as backdrop throughout our shows.

But this term Steampunk was new to me, and I was curious to find out more.  One evening,  I poured myself a glass of wine and logged in.   Searching the sl engine and peeking into profiles, I was lead away on a journey of discovery.  Taken back in time, I found myself among cogs and gears, flying airships, monocles, barrels and slowly turning propellers.  Lush fabrics and beautiful muted colours with plenty of iron and steam.  It was a whole new world and very enchanting in deed.

The most memorable interaction of the trip occurred in a place I now know to be called Babbage.  As I took a moment to allow things to rez around me, on a cobblestone road under a gas lamp, I realized I was not alone.

Coming out of a shop was a gentleman.  Clearly a man of society, he was wearing one of the most amazing outfits for a male avatar, I’d seen.  The shirt was a beautiful deep red with a frill at the collar; the jacket dark and debonair, with flowing tails.

He greeted me with ‘Good evening, Madame’.  Trying to fit in with the mood of the place I replied, ‘Good evening, Sir.  I quite admire your attire’.  He told me that his suit had been designed by his true love, the fine lady who ran the shop from which he had just come out of.  After a little chat about the lovely evening and what had brought me to New Babbage, we bid our farewells, and each continued on our respective strolls. It may be a false memory, but in my mind’s eye I recall that there was a light dusting of snow falling, and he left footprints as he walked away.

Then I was alone to explore.  If I’d been wearing the same footwear in real life and walking all over on cobblestones like that, my feet would have been killing me, but hey, in Second Life you can dance in pretty shoes and take walking tours in stiletto heels without getting a blister.

I explored all over the seven sims that make up the region, but then forgot to take note of where I was and teleported away, with only the memory of this dark and mysterious place, borne of a different point in time.

I was taken in by this world of Steampunk.

Following attempts to find Babbage again came up empty, because I couldn’t quite remember what it was called.  I searched “Baggage?” …  Nil.  “Barrage?” … No luck.  I was destined to live with a dream-like vision.

That is until, one day months later, I read a Second Life Fashion blog, stating there was a shop offering a gift of a beautiful ‘period’ suit for men.  I followed the lead and was delighted to find myself, once again under the gas lamp on the same cobblestone road, in front of the same shop.

So, for this show today, Jeremy wore the vest and pants from the gifted suit, and since we now know where Babbage is, we went there to take the photos for this post.

Please read on for details.

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