DJ Matt Raises Over 110,000 Lindens At The CRFB DJ Competition

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

Matt Carlton, aka DJ Matt, already has a record of being one of Team Sunbeamers top DJs. But her performance at the Relay Rocker's CRFB (Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back) DJ Competition on Tuesday April 13 went over the top. By the end of her one hour event, she had raised over 110,000 Linden dollars. The event was held at Arinultra Cay's Pond Stage.

"100% of the dollars raised in-world goes to the American Cancer Society," Trader WHiplash would say, "with the lions share going to fund research. The Society currently funds nearly half a billion dollars in research grants. Other funds go to maintaining patient services and to helping our global partners around the world.  Some of it even comes back to Second Life, where the American Cancer Society region  is THE Official 'virtual office' of the Society, offering residents support, information and other resources to aid them in fighting and avoiding cancer. The American Cancer Society is one of only 2 charities officially 'vetted' by Linden Lab and all donations are directed by secure scripted kiosks and vendors to the Society's own Avatars and Accounts."

Matt had some personal reasons to Relay, notably her grandmother whom had passed away from cancer. Plus earlier that day, she had gotten some bad news. One older family member over the weekend was tested for cancer, and he'd just gotten a phone call that the results were positive. So from her point of view it was a personal reminder how important the Relay was. Her goal for the night was $60,000 Linden dollars, which was both the average raised at last year's DJ competition by each DJ and the most she'd ever raised at an event. A number of her friends dropped by to support her for the event. This included two she met in VR Chat whom had only just come to Second Life. 

Matt's usual appearance is that of a "tigersune," an anthro half tiger/half nine-tailed fox. Normally it's reddish-orange. But due to a "Bid Me" event she took part in, she had pinkish fur for the event. Her music included a number of country tunes, among them, Randy Owen's "Braid My Hair," "When I'm Gone," Randy Travis' "Forever And Ever Amen," and others.

The money started going in right away. Trader announced he was adding 1000 Lindens every 10,000 Lindens starting with 5,000. And in ten minutes the total had passed the 40,000 Linden mark. By 7:20, her goal had already been passed with over 65,000 in the kiosk. At 7:28, the total was up to 75,000. Sienna (Sienna Thor) then challenged the crowd to get the total to 90,000 and she would add in 10,000 more. That was reached at 7:49, and with Sienna's addition that made for reaching the 100,000 mark. But that wasn't the end as the money kept coming. "How high can we go?!" Trader challenged.

Finally the hour was up, and Matt had passed 110,000 Linden dollars raised. "L$110,205," Nulaa Maracas cheered, "$440 US in an hour!" A friend of Matt's commented of her grandmother and other family, "They would be watching you Matt, watching you from above and so happy. ... My Nan would be so proud of you Matt too since she does this stuff too and I help her."

Amazingly, Matt's total wasn't the highest of the DJs in the competition. One other, Stormy Dench, raised 200,000 Lindens.  There are five more left to go of the thirteen DJs in the preliminary rounds. If Matt remains among the top four, she moves onto the semifinals. But having raised over $110,000 Linden dollars, she has raised more in just one hour than many Relay teams raise in the entire season. Which makes her, as well as her Team Sunbeamers, a force to be reckoned with.

Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Various Relay Events in February

By Bixyl Shuftan

 It's been about two weeks since the Relay for Life's season Kickoff on Saturday February 15. As soon as it ended, other events began happening right away. Among the first, at 11:30 AM taking place within walking distance from the stage where the Kickoff took place was a "Family Feud"  game between some of the Linden Moles and some noted Relayers.

While the Relayers were in the lead while I was there to watch it, the Moles were not going down without a fight, "Mole powah!"

Later that day were other events. This included "RFL Celebrates Mardi Gras." It took place at 4PM at "The Club" in the Yes sim.

A few days later on the evening of February 18 at 7PM SL time, Matt Carlton DJed in front of a crowd at the Home and Garden stage.

Matt played a number of country songs, such as "Live Like You Were Dying," "I'm Going To Love You Through It," "He Rode All The Way To Texas," and "What Do You Say."

"Another good one was 'Braid Her Hair,' Nspire, lesser-known singer that I always forget about and he's really good. But it's kind of like Rascal Flatts' 'Skin,' about a young girl that has cancer. But this one tells about how she dreams about all the things that she can do if she wasn't sick, and it's really pretty people liked it really well too."

The following night, Matt and I were chatting, and decided to stop by the Relay Hard Cafe. Located high above the Woodloch sim and run by Team Shadow, it had it's last scheduled event the night before and was to be taken down soon.

"We are not renewing our tier," Gem Sunkiller would later tell me, "We have a new place for weekly dance parties. We will be at the Washburn on Wednesdays." She would tell me the Cafe had been operating since 2014, "Before that it was weekly pool parties or weekly parties on the dock. The Cafe saw many great events, and the sense of community there helped some Relayers form lasting friendships." Of the events, "Most all of them were interesting.  I remember an evening where rock was the theme and most people were jamming on their guitars. Last Strides season it was home for our Strides campaign. All that pink was interesting." She had a hard time picking out a favorite event, though one had something spontaneous and unplanned, "One night we were jamming away, and the cheerleaders from one of the high school teams took over with a drill formation. I forget which team that was, but it added so much fun." Of the team captain, "(Sasha) says her two favorite where the night we dressed as an airline crew, and the Latin/Salsa night.

"We never knew what form our fellow Relayers would take, some were human, some were animals, some were fantasy creatures, and all were welcome. The friendships that were formed, the spirit that was ignited, and mutual respect and care between those who attended over the years is the most memorable part.  We hope to continue those same values at our new location, and take it higher.  We are ready, Game On!

"We may be back with the Relay Hard one day."

Most days, there was a Lantern Release Ceremony, in which numerous Asian paper lanterns were lit and let loose to float into the night sky.

Nothing is more beautiful, and a wonderful time to reflect on those we have lost.  One person commented yesterday, " It is like sending little prayers or kisses to heaven."   

Friday night February 21, the Steelhead Salmons had their first event, which was "Sims themed." Held in Steelhead Bay, Fuzzball Ortega, the estate owner, was the DJ. Almost 3000 Lindens were raised that night, bringing the team total to almost 11,000 Linden dollars.

On Saturday February 22 was "Roll for a Cure" by "We Are Dragons," high above Moonlight Caye, "If you love D and D come on over."

Come join We are Dragons in rolling Initiative against cancer!! Located at Barkuloo Retreat in the game room at 3pm SLT!! Open player seats to the earlest an willing for adventure!!

It was amusing, and a bit ironic, seeing dragons roleplaying an adventure game as humans. In the game, the characters are tasked with dealing with a bad of goblins that keeps making trouble. Their job isn't necessarily to kill them, just deal with them so they stop being a problem. Getting creative, they get some liquor, and persuade the goblins there's a big party in town. The goblins end up getting drunk, and the town guards easily toss them in jail. While some wonder if this was a waste of good ale, the characters are complemented on their cleverness.

On Sunday February 23 was a "Show and Tell" by Saffia Widdershins. It was at 2PM the Theater at the Hope 3 sim.

People could show off either old items, or interesting items they'd gotten along the way. One of Saffia's favorite's was a "Big Apple" hat. "I can hear the taxi horns and sirens on your hat Saffia," someone from the audience mused.

While I've collected plenty of stuff over the years (mostly notecards and landmarks), what stood out to me was the six inch "microkitty" avatar made by Lomgren Smalls several years ago.

But what stole the show were a couple miniature builds by Cassie Eldemar (Cashew Writer).

 "It's a replica. Well, my interpretation, of one of the Carnegie libraries."

For a little comedy, Saffia rezzed a large coffee cup, which had been made into a kind of hot tub. Would hot-tubbing in coffee be a java addict's dream?

These were just a few of the various Relay for Life happenings in the past two weeks. Be sure to watch for more in the next few months, peaking in early June with the Relay Weekend.

"Game on Cancer!"

Bixyl Shuftan