Mardi Gras for Team Fox

By Bixyl Shuftan

Team Fox is getting a touch of "The Big Easy." As February approaches, the Creations for Parkinson's sim now has a "Mardi Gras" area, complete with a street parade.

Grab your Krewe and head on down to New Orleans. FrannyDJ Dean brings the French Quarter to life. Ride 100 interactive floats in this spectacular parade. Dance to live music and get crowned King or Queen at the Hot Clubs on Bourbon Street. Don't miss the thrilling carnival rides.The party never stops. Have the time of your life while helping to find a cure for Parkinsons.

Teleporting to the place, I appeared in a small welcome center building beside the parade street. There was a display of food on one side, and on the other masks one could pick up. There was also a bead thrower available to take. From there, it was just a short talk to the street, where one could see the floats passing. Many, if not most, had their own music playing from them. People could also hop on and dance on them, becoming part of the parade. In a few places, there were also cubic kiosks with a fox on top, where one could donate Lindens to Team Fox for Parkinson's research.

There were a number of avatars watching the parade, or taking part, when I arrived. Among those watching was Barbie Alchemi, the owner of the sim and the head of Team Fox. She told me this was the third year the Mardi Grads parade was here, and some of the floats were reproductions of originals from the parades in New Orleans a century ago. Each float's music was chosen to go with it's particular theme.

A notecard I found stated that there were over 90 different floats, balloons, and other items in the parade here, and they took an hour and a half to go down the street before starting all over. More would be added as time goes on up until Fat Tuesday on February 9. It was also recommended people keep their scripts down to avoid lag, and that AOs might interfere with riding the floats.

Besides the parade, there was also a carnival ride area in the "Croc Docks" where one could get on the rides and enjoy other attractions there. Nearby was a restarunt, "The Bistro," which offered food and dancing. Near the parade start was "The Crazy Leprechaun Pub."

Once again, all donations made to the parade kiosks go to fund Parkinson's research. The parade will be up until at least Ash Wednesday, possibly for a day or two longer..

Creations for Parkinsons (54/175/1163) - for the Parade

(76/25/1163) - for the rides

Bizyl Shuftan

Jay's Club

By Wesley Regenbogen

The idea behind Jay's Club is a very extraordinary one.

JayMaze Yao’s real life son died 10 years ago. His son was a real life DJ and he loved music. It was his life. About a year later, 9 years ago, he created his avatar in Second Life, in memoriam of his son. His son's DJ name was DJ JayMaze. So JayMaze Yao decided to put it as his first name in Second Life.

He made the venue like a tribute to his real life son whom died in real life. Even the photos in the club are from his son. A noble cause, don’t you think?

Jay’s venue consists of a club, ballroom and live stage. JayMaze Yao was the creator of most of the venue, and he decorated the place by himself. Jay’s Romance ( the ballroom area ) was built by Dorothea L. It was created a few months ago in November 2015.The venue plays different genres of music, with different clubs having different styles. Jay's Club offers rock / blues / oldies / and today's music. Jay's Romance has Jazz and Ballroom music, and formal attire is requested here. Jay's Mainstage offers music of all genres.  Sometimes live artists will come and play at one of the clubs.

The venue's staff communicate to their visitors through group notices, the events page in SL, and in the schedule. And you can find also find more information in JayMaze Yao’s profile.

Personally, I like this club. It is a nice tribute to JayMaze Yao’s son. JayMaze Yao did a very nice job in creating this tribute for him!

So, if you want to join the fun, head over to this location in Second Life :

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SCACCOMATTO/82/81/701

Wesley Regenbogen

Dancefloor Alandra

By Wesley Regenbogen

Dancefloor Alandra was created back in 2007 by Fig Valeska, and was then remade in 2010. Shortly afterward, the place was offline for 2 years. On March 9^th, 2012 the club was re-opened in its current design. The current owner is DJDien Bailey.

The interior is special because it’s a spinning long playing record where you are standing on. It really moves, so you are both dancing and moving around. Your avatar seems to move on it and the same time you are still standing there. The rotating long playing record is really fascinating and intriguing at the same time. The nearby scenery is nice too. The club is on a sandy beach, with a half-sunk pirate ship nearby. Pretty neat.

There are live DJs playing most of the time and they usually take song requests. The music played in the club is mostly oldies and the 80s. This is a 100% Dutch club, so the language spoken is Dutch.

The club only uses group notifications as a form of communication for their members inworld. But they have a Facebook page as well where readers can find more information and view photos of the theme events.

The club is part of a sim where there are many things to do on a number of beach islands, although I have just visited the club itself for now.

Here’s a list of the evening theme events that will take place in Alandra in 2015 :

JANUARY : 03 – It’s cold outside, right?, 10 – Old Holland, 17 - Angels & Devils, 24 - D.I.S.C.O., 31 - Police academy

FEBRUARY : 07 – Star of the Evening , 14 - Elvis Look-a-like, 21 - Robots, 28 – Geezes, you look ugly

MARCH : 07 - Russian Night, 14 - Travo-Night, 21 – The Prehistoric Era, 28 - Flower Power

APRIL : 04 - Your Mum Party, 11 - Tiroler Evening, 18 – Mexican Nights, 25 - Moulin Rouge

MAY : 02 – Star of the Evening, 09 - Moustache party, 16 - Hollywood, 23 – Rasta Time , 30 - Jungle Fever

JUNE : 06 - Zombies, 13 - Black & White, 20 - Tiny Party, 27 – Silver Party

JULY : 04 - Disney party, 11 – The Flying Dutchmen, 18 - Hawaii Party, 25 - Monsters Inc.

AUGUST : 01 - Star of the Evening, 08 - Casino, 15 – Animal party, 22 - Egypt, 29 – Fairy tales

SEPTEMBER: 05 – Foam Party, 12 - Gangsters, 19 - Underwater World, 26 – Party Evening

OCTOBER : 03 - Sports, 10 – Back in Time, 17 - Indians, 24 - Pirates, 31 - Halloween

NOVEMBER : 07 – Star of the Evening , 14 - Dungeons and Dragons, 21 – Gala Evening, 28 - Beauty and the Beast

DECEMBER : 04 – Sinterklaas ( Santa Claus - on a Friday ), 12 - Gold Party, 19 – Christmas Evening, 28 – New Year’s Eve (on a Monday )

Personally, I think this place is special because of the unique dancefloor they created. Another club to add to my list ( just kidding, I don’t have a list ).

So, If you are a Dutch speaking person reading this, we could meet in the club and have fun there !

You can visit this club at the following location :

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/TierraSanta/57/201/22

Wesley Regenbogen

The Magic Of Trance Club : A Club for Trance Lovers !

By Wesley Regenbogen

 The Magic of Trance (MOT) Club is an open air club, which only plays trance music. The club was created by Maluyy Resident in December 2012. It was always Maluyy’s dream to create a place where trance lovers would unite and enjoy the best trance music out there. Her goal was to create a “trance family” and a community of trance lovers all around Second Life. 

There are always live DJs that will play in the club. They have a group called “Magic Of Trance Gang”, so Trance Lovers will enjoy this group and get notified when there is an event or something going on. The “Trance Lovers” group is also a group created by the owner. The “Magic Of Trance Gang” group has 2000 members and the “Trance Lovers” group has 1000 members at the moment of writing. Aside the in-world group, they also have a Facebook group and page and there are boards in the club that announce an event too.

The club gets an average visitor traffic between 17.000 and 20.000 visitors a day and they aren’t open 24/7 yet. Maluyy Resident thinks this is a victory, because they aren’t a generic music club, but a specific music genre.

On Friday February 13^th, 2015 there was a Valentine’s Day event, where 12 DJs  played 12 hours with the best trance music. They are also going to support the “SLuminosity Beach Festival 2015”, created in SL by DJ Dave Cold. It will be 70 DJs and 4 stages, a great Trance Event. It will be held during the period 10-12th April 2015. MOT Club will support it because they are a Trance Community without any barriers.

Personally, I like this trance club a lot, because it has the best trance music and the fact that the club is also streamed live through the internet, through their website. So, maybe we could meet up in the club some day and enjoy the club together.

My favorite club list has grown once again. But that’s because there are great clubs in Second Life that I happen to find everytime.

You can find the MOT club at this location :

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Relaxation/36/133/25

Their website can be found at: http://www.magicoftrance.com/ . You can listen to the livestream from the website too ! Or you can add it to your webradio software program and play it from there.

* * * * * 

On another note, some sad news about “Club Transation” which I reviewed a while ago. The owner notified me that the club has been closed, due to real-life problems, the owner told me. He also closed down the group which came along with the club.

It’s sad to see a club go away, but I hope the owner goes well now in real life. I liked this club very much and when I visited, I always had fun and enjoyed the music.

Goodbye Club Transation !

Wesley Regenbogen

The Queen of Hearts' Farewell

By Bixyl Shuftan

It's always a little sad when a club closes down. Each represents an idea and a dream, to provide others with a place to have a little fun. Many last less than a year, sometimes just weeks. One, however, lasted for about sevreal years. For eight years, the Romance-themed sim of Mystery entertained visitors in Second Life, with the Queen of Hearts riverboat club as the main area of events for most of this time. It's owner Tygeria Mirabeau and it's manager Amythe Moonlight kept it going year after year through many happy times. But in late June, Tygeria announced to her staff that problems in real life were making her unable to keep up the sim. Friday June 27 would have the last events. So it was with heavy hearts that the staff prepared for one last day of music and dance.

10AM SL time was the start of the "Memory Lane" event, a "come as you are" party, with Amy herself DJing the music. And people came in, not just the regulars, but people whom hadn't been over for a while, including former staff whom had moved on. "Black, I missed you." But they still took things with a little humor, "Aim better next time." Moria the hostess called out, "TP your friends, your man, your girl, your eye candy, and anyone in between."

Amy told everyone, "We are having some dedications to the club and the family we have here tonight ... how I feel about what we build and have built - it's the journey where you meet all the people and help them on the way- that's what makes it special. ... The Queen has been a home to many of us for a long time and some of us for a short time but it's the YOU the people that make it special. ... TONIGHT IS FOR THE PEOPLE!!!!"

The normally 250 Linden prizes for best male and female were raised to 500L each. There was also a jar of candied gummi frogs for anyone to take one. Once in a while, fireworks were placed on the ground, to lauch and explode near the ceiling.

At 12 Noon came the second and final show, and Amy turned over the music to DJ Mac and hostess Aislinp for the "Best in Red" event. There were all kinds of outfits in theme for it. Mac wasn't showing any red at first, so someone joked that it was his underwear that was red. The playful banter continued, between two ladies, "pour some sugar on me." "If you pour sugar on your underwear dear it will not be nice at all, though it will be sweet." "Sugar on underwear....yikes."

Eventually, Mac closed things off with the Club's adopted tune, the last song for an official event here.


Miiiiidnight,
and I'm a-waitin' on the twelve o' five, 
hoping it'll take me,
just a little farther down the line.

And moonliiiiight,
you're just a heartache in disguise,
won't you keep my heart from breaking,
if it's only for a very short time.

Playin' with the Queen of Hearts,
knowin' it ain't really smart,
the joker ain't the only foo-ol,
who'll do anything for you.


"Thank you Mac for a wonderful send off!" Amy told the DJ, then she turned to the crowd, to both the staff and the regulars, "Keep your eyes peeled for notices and IMs. Just give me a couple of days to sort things! We have the staff meeting on Sunday and maybe there will be news then. On Monday we will go to my sim Condunrum as a temporary home."

"Thank you everyone. Look after yourselves and I'll let you all know soon what's happening."

And so ended the last event at the Queen of Hearts riverboat club. As of the day I was writing this, the club was still around, just with no one aboard. It has seen much over the past several years from live music events by a number of singers to costume balls, and of course the scene of romance as couples came for parties both while dating and committed. Then there was the "masked lover" whom for months pursued the object of his affection while still keeping his identity hidden.

The Mystery sim remains up, for now, and there is much to see across the place from the "Alice in Wonderland" exhibit, to the train ride, to the little village tucked away in the valley. But eventually it will fade away into the virtual nether, leaving nothing behind but memories.

For now Amy's sim of Condunrum will take over as the new home for the Queen of Hearts staff and fan group, the Cape Hope club at Conundrum (213, 10, 22),  But for the fans, there's only one true "Queen of Hearts," and she will be missed.

Bixyl Shuftan

Castaway Cove

In the virtual world of Second Life, lots of clubs seem the same. Contests to draw regulars or new blood, the same DJs or events. Human and furry clubs both have to think of new and innovative ways to make itself stand out, to draw the furry and/or human clubber.

Nydia Tungsten has done that with her new club Castaway Cove. And she did say humans are welcome just like the furry crowd the Nydia aims to draw to her sim. Her main goal is create a common area for the residents or outsiders to come and relax.

The first thing I noticed after I used the landmark Bixyl gave me is that I land on the beach. Not many clubs are located like that. Then I see, "Ooo neat looks like a pirate ship sliced in half." And indeed there are two halves of a pirate ship laying on the beach as if it was in a shipwreck.

Another thing that Nydia brings to my attention is the Psicorp vender that one of her employees Sylnaya Windlow brought to Castaway Cove. Psicorp in the furry world of SL is a big deal for various furry products. Local builders like Fortunas Sands and Lsai Aeon also have shops here at her club.

In addition to the basic dance area I saw many other attractions on Nydia’s sim. For one example the game "Primtionary," which happened to be in an earlier article of the SL Newser but I asked anyway, "Primtionary, what game is that?"

In Nydia’s own words, "Well if you have ever heard of pictionary, it is like that, but instead of drawing the clues you build them with basic prims."

"So if I wanted to build an apple it would be a red sphere with a stem at the top?"

Nydia said yes, and she gave one hard example of Lsai having to explain jet lag, which she did accomplish after a lot of hard work. Each correct guess wins a small linden cash prize.

On top of having a unique new game on her sim Nydia also has jet skis to zoom around on and board games to goof off playing with friends. Also there was Bruce, a large crab at the bottom of the ocean. It was a big daddy! Be sure to ask Nydia about her special tub and to view it at sunset.

After I finished this interview I had fun playing the SL version of the game Clue with Helios and Rua. Besides Clue I also saw Greedy Greedy.

So next time you want to try out a new hangout spot just to try something new. Go to Nydia's Castaway Cove, located in the Kalmeere Paradise sim (18, 184, 21)

Grease Coakes