Hill Top Blues Club

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

Recently a friend suggested I check out a certain Blues club, Hill Top Blues in the Sandy Creek sim. Heading there, I ran into it's owner, Remo Williams (Remo1Williams Resident). Among the first things I noticed about the club building was it's appearance. From above, it looked like the lower half of a guitar.

"I am a real-life blues musician," Remo told me, "And I wanted a club that reflected that. As you can see, the club building is a guitar." He pointed to the door under the "Open 24 Hours" sign and invited me in. He pointed out pictures of various musicians on the sides, "I am from Chicago where there at one time the home of all of the blues greats. Many of them are displayed on the walls. The club never closes and there is always good music playing. I begin streaming the moment I log into Second Life, as I am at this moment." Besides his avatar picture on the music stream board, there was a real life picture by the DJ booth of an older man with a guitar and a beret. Remo confirmed it was him, "That was my signature look."

Bringing up the shape of the venue, Remo pointed out, "Everything here at the club is guitar based." He pointed out the pool, which was in the outline of one, "Even the pool is a guitar. We have a lot of fun here and I have some awesome people in my group." He did add that while blues music was played most of the time, it wasn't all the time, "But not only do we play the blues here, there are many times that we jump genres." While we were talking, songs were playing such as "It's A Sin To Be Rich, It's A Low-Down Shame To Be Poor" by Lightnin' Hopkins, "Love Should Never Lose" by J Sintoni, "Chill Out" by Melvin Taylor, "Wrong Side Of The Road" by Claudia Bettinaglio, and "The Blues Ain't Never Gonna Die" by Mike Griffin.

The club has been around for only a few months, "I first opened (on) 11 June of this year." The club itself was built on day one, "I did all of this in one night." But on the recreation area just outside the venue, he had added some games and other details over time, "I just added something new last week. It's a crazy game that people love. ... But we also have Greedy, and a couple of other games to play. I will show them to you." We went to a couple just outside the club, him pointing out one that looked like two identical pictures, with one split into many squares that were scrambled, "Okay, this one is a take off of an old childhood game. You have to slide the squares about until you make the complete picture. It is just a time waster. BJ finished one in 17 minutes." He then pointed to the other, which was a picture of a lady avatar on a base with the words "Strip Dice." Remo commented, "The other game is just pure luck of the dice. The object is to undress the stripper. My people seem to love it."

"This is a very nice place to just hang out." Remo told me, "I have a few members that work from home and they come here to just sit and listen to some blues while they do work. We have parties both inside and here on the deck. I'm still growing. It all takes time." He pointed out the nearby shore, "The overlook of the sea is very nice. We are very social here, everyone gets along."

When Remo's friend B.J. D'Angelo (BJAngel Resident) came back after being away from keyboard for a while, he asked her for a hand. Then he showed me what looked like a boxing ring, "I made a boxing ring , and there is a free mallet and we beat hell out of each other. The women are the most violent (laughter)." They both stepped in, got huge plastic mallets, and began wacking one another, with Remo getting the worst of it. He would comment over voice, "She's always kicking my *ss." Speaking in text, "Like I said, we just have fun and a lot of laughs here. And always good music."

Remo would say that he had "over 300,000 songs in my drives. I am constantly adding to it. So far there are only 2 dj's here , DJ Wolfy and myself." B.J. would speak up at this point, "We like to play stump the DJ, but that man hasn't been stumped yet." He grinned, "I don't see that ever happening." "Plus with his knowledge of all the people in the industry he can come up with an educational time as well." "But it is fun when they do try." "Haha, especially when he pulls out two or three different versions of it."

He would say of the club regulars, "The members here are from the world over. I am quite proud of this place because it is so different and out of the norm. I have been playing music for all of my life, even while I served in the army I would always find a band to play with on my off duty times. ... I get many song requests, and for the nost part the requested song is there rapidly. I never turn down requests. I make sure that anyone that comes here is made to feel welcome. There are no strangers here at all." B.J. would say, "Oh and a big thing about Remo. When your here, you're like family."

Remo pointed out a car next to the club and deck, a Mini Cooper, "There are two things that I have great passion for: my music and my Mini Coopers. ... I own a couple of them in real life as well." Talking to him, on the occasions he leaves the club, it's usually to drive his Cooper around.

Of what Remo plans for the club, "My long term plans are as follows: I want to expose as many people as I can to great blues music. The blues is worldwide and a style or genre of music that will never go away. And from my travels I have seen this first hand. My other this is, that I am not trying to compete with other blues clubs here in Second Life, because there (are) plenty of blues to go around. I have talked about opening a blues club for nearly three years. ... Its a very cozy place. The members and visitors seem to make it that way. I have never heard any complaints about this place. Even some of the hard core blues fanatics have given me a nod of approval.

"And another thing. My sets seem to always go over the two hour time frame, a six hour set is the norm around here (smiles). Well, when the people are digging the music, it gets me going and I dont quit. There are times when I have stayed here for 20 hours ... my dear friend BJ forces me to stop and at least go eat some food. That's the kind of fun that we have here." B.J. grinned, "Yea, sometimes you need a stick to get him to stop and eat."

"Like I said, I am quite proud of Hill Top Blues," Remo stated. "This is a very social place," B.J. added, "and Remo is a social person, and he loves to share his music." He went on, "One of the cool things with my people is that they always look out for me. Most know that I fought cancer just one year ago." "And won," B.J. reminded. "And I so admire that they do look out for me," Remo responded, "It is another reason why I made this club. I don't ever want the blues to die."

It was soon time to end the interview, and Remo would wish me well, "My club is open to all people, There are no borders here. You are welcome here anytime."

Sandy Creek (204, 208, 35)

Bixyl Shuftan