The RAILS Band Gig Diary - Entry #48 Show Date: July 17, 2009.  Venue: Four Bridges Cafe

Not long ago we met a friendly woman named Vanity Sugarplum.  It turns out she is with The Four Bridges Project, an organization involved with charitable works.  Their mission is to “work with nonprofits that are dedicated to the issues of human rights, multicultural understanding, and the advancement of peaceful enterprise.”

Vanity invited us to play a show in benefit to their causes, one of which is Amnesty International’s efforts against Child Soldiering.

The cafe we played in was lovely, situated on the water’s edge, with a wonderful lighthouse adjacent to the deck.  We performed outside with the sky as a back drop.  Very nice!  Before the set we got fueled up on some of the coffee choices they were offering.  There were also some nice looking cupcakes, but we resisted.  You know … we’re watching our little avatar waistlines, lol.

For this show, I dyed my hair red, as I am thinking about doing so in real life, and this is a great way to test the waters!

After our set, there were some poetry readings, but alas we didn’t have the proper equipment hooked up to hear them, so we sat politely on the sofa.

Please keep reading for details.

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The RAILS Band Gig Diary - Entry #47 Show Date: July 15, 2009.  Venue: The Bushy Beard

The textures for the blocks in the following picture is from photographs that I took of the actual toys I played with as a child.  And I have a magnet with the same artwork of my sl dress, on my desk in real life.  Then when Jill saw the outfit she was wearing for this show, she quickly logged into her myspace to show me a photo of herself wearing the same shoes in rl.

It’s cool how the cyber world has gotten all mixed together with real life!  This blog began with our first show of 2009, and is an effort to document all the shows we do in Second Life during the year.  And, inevitably, it also tracks things that are going on with our band in real life too.  When I set out in January we had no idea that we would have a new bass player by the end of July!  What a fortunate turn of events.

Jeremy, Jill, Lolly, Chops

Who knows what other wonderful things this year will bring, in rl and in sl, for us and for all of you!

(Note: I’m still working on Jill’s avatar.  In this photo she is relatively bigger than she should be  …  could be those killer heels though!)

Please keep reading for credits.

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The RAILS Band Gig Diary - Entry #46 Show Date: July 10, 2009.  Venue: The Freakheim Funeral Home

We let our gothiness show for this show, as we were playing for Rykk Ferraris and his gang of friends at his funeral parlour.  What could be more goth than partying amongst the dearly departed?!

We always enjoy the company of Rykk and his wife Kaedy.  They are such fun and creative people, with a wicked sense of humour.  Thanks for having us back to play for your happy group of freaks!  (I’m not calling them names .. that’s what they’ve called themselves!)  And friendly and stylish freaks they are.

We took our photos for this entry at a site called Crimson Shadow.  This is an awe inspiring place, which combines a shop, selling very nice goth fashions, a dance club, and lots of cool nooks and crannies to look around in.  A really great place to explore with it’s stained glass galleys and blood filled moats.

However, I have read recently that this amazing build is coming down very soon.  This is sad news.  It would be great if it were bought by the Lindens and declared a public place.  I’m not sure if they do that type of thing, but they could consider having a preservation fund.  And Crimson Shadow should be at the top of the endangered and deserving of protection list!  But then again, if this were to happen, maybe the spot would lose it’s mysterious charm.  As it stands, it will live on in the memories of people who saw it, and in the many photographs that I’m certain have been taken there over the years it was open.

Watch your step Jeremy!

Thanks for reading … please keep going for details.

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The RAILS Band Gig Diary - Entry #45 Show Date: July 8, 2009.  Venue: The Bushy Beard

(Q) Why was Six crying?

(A) Because Seven Ate Nine :’(

It was the 7th month, on the 8th day, in oh-9, which was a Wednesday, and as drummer Chops says  Wednesday is the new Friday! We do our regular weekly show with the whole band on Wednesdays so it feels like a Friday to us!  Partay

But, hold it … on this particular Wednesday, Chopsy was a no show, as he had another engagement!  That didn’t stop us though … Jeremy’s dream came true and he got to play with two girls at the same time!

If any readers are interested in seeing a show with the full band, you’ll find us every Wednesday at 2 pm slt, usually held at The Bushy Beard Pub.  An added bonus is that the charming Brucie Lusch, in her cute sexy costumes is our hostess for the show, and we are preceded by the amazing music choices of dj Lohoha Chestnut!  Party on!

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The RAILS Band Gig Diary - Entry #44 Show Date: July 4, 2009.  Venue: ClubHub

We were invited by Freefall Ninetails to do a second show at ClubHub.  He and his friends are real audiophiles, so we were honoured to be asked back.

A wonderful feature of Second Life was highlighted at this show, in that it was July 4th; while it was a day of big celebration in the United States, several of our American friends were there to watch us, a Canadian band, performing at an event hosted by people in the United Kingdom.

It is so great to be able to spend time getting to know and learning from people from all over the world.  While the main way to speak to one another is by typing, you can still make out a person’s unique accent by their phrasing and word choices.  Often something has a totally different meaning in one country than it does in another, leading to funny situations.

Like the first time I heard something described as being pants.  It is a British term … to quote a blog entry I found on the net, ” Pants means bad. From now on whenever you don’t like something, instead of saying, ‘I don’t like that’ or ‘That’s no good’ say ‘That’s Pants’.  For example: ‘This computer is acting funky. It’s being totally pants.’ or ‘Your haircut is pants’.”

Thanks to Freefall for the chance to play this gig, and to everyone who came to the show … while it is terrific to have the opportunity to mingle with people from all over in Second Life, it is pants that we can’t just go out for a beer together in First Life.

Please read on for the credits.

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The RAILS Band Gig Diary - Entry #43 Show Date: July 1, 2009.  Venue: The Bushy Beard

It was Canada Day, marking 142 years since the joining of four British North American colonies to make a country.

At the time of this union, Canada was called a Kingdom, although we never had our own king.  We do however have ‘kings of the party ‘ ! I shall explain …  Jeremy has a story about walking through the streets of Toronto one summer night.  As he approached a house, where clearly there was a party going on, he overheard a conversation on the porch.  One guy saying to the other, “I could take two hits of acid right now, and go back in there and be the king of that party“.

Long live the king!

After our show, we were invited for a picnic on a yacht.

Ready to get on board.

Enjoying some refreshments.

Happy Canada Day!

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The RAILS Band Gig Diary - Entry #42 Show Date: June 27, 2009.  Venue: Glamnation Open Air Theatre.

Second Life residents are very generous when it comes to supporting charities, holding many events and sales to benefit a multitude of causes, from small to big.

Today we were happy to perform at such a function, which benefited diabetes research.  (see www.bid4aCure.org for more information)

And we are fortunate enough to call one of the lead organizers, Mackenzie Rasmuson, a friend too.  In addition to being a hardworking fundraiser for this cause, she and her partner, Case Munro, make up one of our favourite musical acts in Second Life, Friendly Fire.  They also performed at the benefit concert, leaving the audience to deal with the residue of their head-sticking tunes!  Woot Friendly Fire!  Love you guys.

Jeremy decided to get a hair cut before this important show.

Later we went to this great site for photos.  The window was broken, so we just slipped inside to take some shots.

Thanks for reading.  Please see the credits following the cut.

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The RAILS Band Gig Diary - Entry #41 Show Date: June 24, 2009.  Venue: The Bushy Beard

This entry has no photos yet because our equipment has failed!  We were pushing things, getting 4 avatars, 4 mics, 4 instruments & sound effects, all from one studio.  We blew a minor piece of equipment, which was a major necessity for photographing all 4 of us in one picture.  As I write, Jeremy is out getting a replacement.  Amazing how the smallest things can stall things!

The performance however, went off without a hitch.  Jill just came right in, quickly got herself ready, bass guitar in hand, in real life and in second life.  A quick study, for sure! <3

I will hopefully be able to take the pictures soon ….

Read what we were wearing, in all our purpley goodness, and keep yourselves in suspense for the visuals

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