The Luskwood Tribute Party

On Thursday November 29, The Happy Vixen club held a tribute to the Luskwood community. For those who don't know, Luskwood was the original furry community in Second Life, and probably the oldest one still active. They're also the people who came up with the first company to make and sell furry avatars instead of each one being custom-made, also called Luskwood.

The exact date in fall 2003 of it's founding is unclear, but it had always been celebrated every October, their LW10B being a particularly big event. The last few anniversary events have been combined with the Trotsdale community of which the two share ties, the last one being the LW14B/TD6B celebration. But this year, a series of events in real life took up the time of the founders and others that would have otherwise organized another anniversary celebration. So after about a month of waiting, the people of the Sunweaver/Angel community decided to take matters into their own hands with a "Luskwood Tribute" party.

On the day before the Luskwood party, Wednesday November 28, Trotsdale was given it's own event with a "Trotsdale Tribute." The Vixen's own pony DJ Applebloom played the music. While the beach club had pony parties before, this one had more four-footed residents than usual, "All these little ponies! I think I'm gonna die from a massive overdose of cute."

The chat went from pony sims, to the music, to food, "I know Kirins don't have cutie marks but I really do love Cheesecake a lot." "Good cause I want everyone to know how much I like Homemade NY style cheesecake with cherries (smile)." "You're making me hungry for that, silly pony!"

There was a "Best in Pony" contest, of which the board had two pages of entries. Crim Mip and Six String (Roleplayismylife Resident) split the prize, "had a good crowd of ponies in here."

On Thursday at 8PM SL time, the Luskwood Tribute began. The club set out a couple signs with the community's symbol on it. And besides the regulars from the Sunweaver/Angel community, such as chieftess Rita Mariner and Nydia Tungsten, a number from Luskwood dropped by as well. "As the Queeen of Hearts said!  'Off With Her Head!' " "But Rita, we already have the Lusk head logo (grin)."

It was fifteen years ago that Second Life's first furry community (and oldest still around), and the makers of the first furry avatars, came to be: Luskwood. So tonight, we're holding a tribute event for them. Dress up in any furry avatar, Luskwood or otherwise. Our furry bunny DJ Snowbuns plays the tunes.

One of the four founders of Luskwood, Michi Lumin, was there. Michi was thankful for the tribute event, "Sorry guys I just been -completely- slammed lately, that's the only reason we haven't done LW15B yet... (I say yet because I still intend to do it late, but we just haven't had time 'because life')."

Michi is known for her skunk avatar (and steampunkish top hat), and there were a few other black and white avatars around."Beware of the Skunk ..." "We're gonna need more air fresheners." "This is turning into a stinker of a party it seems..." "It's the Fetid Inner Core (grin)."

For the first time ever at the Happy Vixen, a Linden showed up at an event: April Linden. Needless to say, the reactions from most were positive, "A cute purple bunny," though one guy reacted, "OMG, a Lusk Avatar older than mine!" April just giggled, "Hehe, yeah."

DJ Snowbuns (Skylark Lefavre) played the music for the event. Nikkita (Aubrytia Resident) did hostess duty, "If everyone's having a rockin good time, Let's make some NOISE for our Rockin Dj....The One....The Only....The Lovely....The Awsome, Dj SnowBuns!!! as she rocks the club with her tunes for you here at, The Happy Vixen Beach Club!!!"

There were a number of tunes playing, such as "Numa numa." April reacted, "Ooh I haven't heard this song in forever." Someone else went, "This song is jsut as old as SL."

Cynthia Farshore and Shockwave yareach, the latter in a Luskwood Jogauni, which that comes with a quest to find a staff, "I'm wearing a CLASSIC Luskwood avatar."

April Linden soon moved from the edge of the party to in it. DJ Skylark Lefavre ended up with one of April's bunny bears. As more people came by, they commented on April, "You are the first Linden that I've seen and met." Michi remarked, "Heh, I've seen so much, in so long, that to me, Lindens are just more folks, now, with jobs to do.... and I know jobs to do x_x ." April responded, "Luskwood has always had a special place in my heart. (smile) " <3 br="">
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As time went on, there were more than a few jokes, "If SL years are like dog years, we should turn this place into a nursing home." Michi responded, "Eh, people remind me that I'm old (grin)." Rita commented, "You're in nice shape for old."

There was some talk about the early years of Second Life and Luskwood, which Mich described in her 2012 interview. At the party, Michi commented, "Heh I remember standing looking at the map when they were about to add 22 new sims. I think at the time there were like,  9.  And we were standing there thinking all about the future like, 'I wonder what the world will look like with 31 sims. wow.'"

Cynthia commented, "You know if you think about it, it is the furries who made SL happen." Michi responded, "Yeah kind of, most of the people really doing the early work in the community, a lot of them were furries. To the point where it annoyed some people (big grin)." Snowy suggested, "I think the proof in all of this lies outside of SL. The other Grids where there were no furries showed little promise of good content." A fourth added, "I think furries have more reason to be interested in virtual worlds than other people. Gives us a chance to be furry without having to get a fursuit (grin)."

The party would go on for two hours. The contest prize would be won my Cynthia Farshore.

Before leaving, Michi did tell that the Luskwood anniversary wasn't canceled, only postponed. They would have it later on when things settled down in real life for the planners.

With about thirty-five people at the place at one point, it was the most successful event at the beach club in a while, and the first time a Linden dropped by. It was a party that no doubt the Sunweaver/Angels will remember for a while.

Bixyl Shuftan

Luskwood and Trotsdale's Anniversary Celebrations

By Bixyl Shuftan

Luskwood is the oldest known furry community in Second Life, probably the oldest community still around. It was founded in September 2003, just a few months after the virtual world was officially opened. They've been pioneers in many ways, including the first line of furry avatars, and the founders and been around longer than practically all of the Lindens. Trotsdale is Second Life's best known and largest pony community, fans of the "My Little Pony" cartoon. The community's current sims came about in September 2011 shortly after the collapse of the original ones. Luskwood has celebrated its anniversary in October, and beginning last year Trotsdale began having it's anniversary at the same time.

LW14B/TD6B/DL5B Celebration
It's anniversary time!
Luskwood has been around 14 years!
Oldest community in Second Life.
Trotsdale is having its 6th anniversary and Derpyland their 5th as the oldest running Pony Sims.

On Saturday October 21, both communities had their anniversary events. Like last year, Trotsdale would go first. But instead of one hour of music, the ponies had four. Derpyland, one of the other pony sims, used to celebrate it's own anniversary up to it's fourth a year ago. But it was decided this year to combine their efforts and expand the Trotsdale event. At 12 Noon SL time, DJ Cassandra started up the music, and it was party time on a disco dance floor that a distance away was obscured a bit by a Halloweenish dark mist.

Contrary to what one might expect, there was little music from the cartoons. Instead there was trance, 80s rock, and other kinds of tunes. There was a 'sploder in the room. Unlike most around Second Life, no one had to contribute a Linden to it to be eligible for a prize, so it was a few free Linden dollars given out to several residents every time it went off about every ten minutes. There was no tip jar next to the DJ booth. If anyone wanted to pay a tip, it was suggested they instead put a few Lindens into the sim payment fund board nearby. Later in the Trotsdale events, there was a "Caption This" game in which people were invited to make up captions to various pictures.

There were a number of people I recognized. Some I knew from Luskwood, such as Death Berger, and the popular Michi Lumin. Michi wasn't in the black stovepipe hat with goggles and black pants with purple suspenders I had kept seeing her in, but a burgundy dress and her hair dyed a shade of burgundy as well. During the event, she would briefly change to a pony form which had a smaller version of the hat. One person I recognized from a year earlier at Luskwood was Tiger Kitchensink, or "Pumpkin Spice Soprano" as she calls herself now. Some neighbors of mine from the Sunweaver/Angel Estates, such as Skylark Lefavre, were also there.

At 1PM, Cassandra handed the DJ booth to DC (Death Berger) to play for an hour. At 2PM, DJ Crayzee spun the tunes until 3PM. Finally came DJ Cera, who played for the last scheduled hour. As Cera played her last tune, people began heading over to Luskwood for it's events. Once the hour was up, Skylark offered to DJ for those who remained behind, and the ponies were happy to let her play some music for a little while longer.

The Luskwood half of the celebrations that day, the LW14B, began at the Retroskunk Cafe, located in northern Tehama southeast of the Lusk sim, at 4PM SL time. Shannon O'Herlihy was the singer at this event at the open-air venue, which had some fallen autumn leaves on the wood deck, on which a mix of furs, ponies, and human avatars listened to. Mounted to the side was a poster of the event, the Luskwood symbol in grey in the middle of a triangle with some lines from a document of some kind, some words blacked out, and stamped "Classified" in onr corner. In this conspiracy/secrecy theme, some had taglines such as Michi's "Double Agent," and Shannon was refered to in one or two of Luskwood's announcements as "Agent 0014."

We're very lucky to once again have Shannon O'Herlihy performing for the Luskwood birthday celebration! Shannon will be onstage performing her gorgeous music at the RetroSkunk Cafe in Tehama (landmark included) from 4-5 PM SLT today, to be followed by Keeba Tammas at the Amphitheater at 5.

Shannon sang for a while, then at 5PM the people headed over to the Luskwood Amphitheater in Perry. This location would see the most of the celebration time, two hours. From 5 to 6PM, Keeba Tammas and her Tiny Maniacs played for the crowd. This live band of a human and several tinies got cheers from the crowd, "My face is hurting from smiling too hard.  I love this!" "~*~ W00T!! It's KEEBA! W00t! W00T! KEEEEEBAAAAA!!!~*~" Some of the tinies were in costume, including a ghost, skeleton, "rattle dose bones!", and vamp. Keeba herself was wearing a "Bride of Frankenstein" hairdoo and a bloodied dress.

When the act was over, they got off stage and the tinies did a "tiny riverdance," with the sounds of stepping feet. Someone wasn't so sure if the structure could take even their small feet, "I'm not sure this balcony can handle riverdancing." But after the footwork, there was something missing, "Ohoh morton, someone stole your blue suede shoe." "Look, they gone." "We hafta buy him sum new wuns."

Woot, we're playing at 6pm for Luskwood's 14th birthday, and Trotsdale's 6th!  It's a bit laggy due to all the folks but hope you can make it.

At 6PM, the live music duo Jaycatt Nico and Frogg Marlowe got on stage. But they weren't in their usual feline and amphibian avatars. Instead, they looked like shaggy monsters, Jaycat the pianist as a white creature, and Frogg the guitarist as a black one with a huge mouth that looked more like he was eating the guitar than playing it: Specimens E92 and E30. "I am doing things for SCENICE!" Jaycatt tried to explain. Frogg responds, "No, things are being done TO you for SCIENCE!" "They said I'd get a cookie," Jaycat stated as his reason for volunteering, "when the testing starts, I hopes there is no needles."

Keeba, who was still around and listening, exclaimed, "no one said there would be testing! I was told there would be no math!" Michi gave an uncharacteristically sinister laugh, "Just a little pin prick. Keeba. there'll be no more... aaaa-aa-aah." "You can't test on my band! NO ANIMAL TESTING!" But not all of the tinies were alarmed, "Wot awesome monster up dere." Despite their very different forms, Jaycatt and Frogg would go on to play the good music they're known for.

At 7PM, it was time for the last act of the celebration. The crowd headed to a "Restricted Area" somewhere in Perry. The place was a mock-up of the legendary "Area 51" government facility that the authorities continue to refuse to acknowledge whether it exists or not. Nearby was a flying saucer abducting a cow and a smaller building in which an alien was on an examination table. There were a few other aliens about, including one next to a "take me with you" sign wearing a tinfoil hat. And there were "No Trespassing" and "Photography Prohibited" signs which were ignored by the crowd.

Haley Maruti, the busty squirrelgirl DJ, spun the tunes for the event, next to an alien with his own DJ headphones, "Dig through the ditches and burn all the witches and eat a big bowl of Count Chocula!" The floor was packed, and occasionally a 'sploder like the one for the Trotsdale parties would rain down a few Lindens on a few partiers. There was also a bomb, presumably defused, hanging from the ceiling. Behind the DJ booth was a mounted shark's head, not something normally associated with a military facility.

Besides Michi, Liam Roark was there, but he was becoming less active due to sleepiness. Others I recognized included Hagalaz Nilsson, Fury Rosewood, Tengu Yamabushi, and Ardy Lay. Cynthia Farshore, a friend of the Newser, came by, "Just left another place that was steampunk having a 7th annual Halloween ball, and (it) had half the size of this. ... Glad I made it here to see this first hand, was really busy tonight, first DJed a club, then ran over to another to dance, then drop in here" People danced to the music, chatted about things like what happened to the Munsters, or looked at photos of Luskwood's early years on the back wall.

The event had no set ending time, but as it went on and on, people began heading to bed. Eventually, Halley had to hang up her headphones, "Gonna need to pass out soon, but goodness this was a fun time tonight." Michi kept up the music a little longer. But unlike some previous anniversary celebrations, she couldn't stay up past Midnight. Well before that time, she told everyone she had to log off, saying she had to make a trip tomorrow. And with the popular but tired skunkgirl gone, the crowd soon dwindled to a few. The party was pretty much over.

But for those who missed the event, don't fret too much. Luskwook is sure to have some goings-on at Halloween. And next year marks Luskwood's fifteenth anniversary  And Second Life's oldest community will have it's pride on the line to make their celebration grander than ever.

"Happy Birthday Luskwood!"

Bixyl Shuftan

Star Wars Tribute Events at Luskwood and the SLCS

By Bixyl Shuftan

Unless you've been on a deserted island, you've heard about the new "Star Wars" movie, "Episode Seven: The Force Awakens," having recently hit the theaters in December 18. It was descended upon by it's highly enthusiastical core fandom, and casual fans alike, giving it the biggest box office opening weekend of movie history.

Second Life had a few tribute events to celebrate the movie fans have been waiting years for. On Saturday December 19 at 6PM, Luskwood had a tribute event somewhere in space high above the Perry sim.

The place took on the look of an Imperial station's hangar, with it's dim lights and TIE fighters,"Oh we're in an imperial bay?" But there was no shortage of people dropping in.

DJ Dash (Shurikenangel) played the tunes for the event, "Let me know if you have any requests! Does not have to be just Star Wars!" Many were from the movies, such as the music from Jabba's den, "I dunno what George Lucas was smoking when he thought up this song." "This is a pretty nice wretched hive of scum and villainy, though." When it turned out that the music had been given the name "Jizz," it brought no shortage of snickers, "Pfffft!" "Unfortunate name." "Let's fill the room with jizz!" "Jizz Music... Damn you, George Lucas. (grin)"

But there were other tunes played, such as the theme to Mel Brooks sci-fi parody "Spaceballs." And when that started playing, so did the jokes, "I have a Mr Coffee/Mr Radar I can rez." "Y'know I work on security systems fairly often, and it's amazing how frequently the pin "1234" works (grin)." "Prepare ship for Ludicrous Speed! 

There was no shortage of Star Wars themed avatars, as well as outfits, such as this BB-8 droid avatar and Mandalorian armor.

Behind the DJ booth, Satch Flan had rezzed a few freebie Star Wars avatar and outfit vendors. Disney's owning of the trademark means no one else can legally make money off it without their okay, though fan-made items given out for free are another matter, "I always upvote protective gear."

One of the avatars was an "Imperial Critter," a mesh furry avatar in an Imperial uniform.  One vendor was for Stormtrooper armor, the folder in one's inventory simply called "Armor." A third was for a larger mesh furry avatar in modified Stormtrooper armor made for a digitgrade, the folder simply named "Trooper."

In the novels, the Empire was described as having a policy against non-humans due to the Emperor's prejudices. Though that didn't necessarily stop other races from serving in it's ranks, especially in lesser-known space, "Live long the Empire!"

Michi Lumin, pictured here, told everyone as the movie had just come out, anyone giving out spoilers would be booted out of the party, "Spoilers will get you kicked. I'm not joking." She did allow one Stat Wars spoiler to be shown, though. Satch joked, "Only thing I want to know, is Jar jar in the movie? And is he the Sith Lord (grin)."

A few came as Jedi with their trusty lightsabers, though since they couldn't actually cut anything here, "I guess I do have this goofy lightsabre glowstick."

Unlike some other sci-fi at it's start, "Star Wars" aliens were not just "humans with bumps." That's me in the center left as a Zehethbran smuggler, some interpretations of this race's appearance being skunklike. So the story universe fit quite nicely in mostly furred Luskwood. 

But the near humans weren't absent either, such as this T'welik lady.

With Trotsdale's close relationship with Luskwood, there were several ponies who showed up. One wondered how feasible it would be to make Stormtrooper armor for them. Someone joked they could always put white lacquer on a horse coat.

The next day on Sunday December 20, there was another Star Wars tribute event. This one was for the Relay for Life, organized by the Second Life Cheerleading Squad.

Jedis, Sith, Droids, Smugglers, and Bounty Hunters rejoice Star Wars is back. To honor this great occasion The SLCS Cheerleaders are having a Star Wars Party today to honor the opening of the Force Awakens. It will be a 12 hour concert with all sorts of Cantina Band Singers\ With a stellar presence, her voice sultry and smooth, Starrfish Ohmai is pure sweetness with a touch of fun.

The place high in space over the Cheertopia sim resembled a space station with a YT-1300 Correllian light freighter parked just outside. Though some cheerleaders joked to people dropping in, "Welcome to the Death Star."

The event would go on for several hours, with a number of DJs and live performers. The Newser has yet to find out how much has been raised, as I was at the event only briefly, but it was certainly in the thousands.

To core and casual Star Wars fans alike, "May the Force be with you."

Bixyl Shuftan

*Addition* Someone posted this link to a number of pictures also taken at the Luskwood party: http://imgur.com/a/Zq46P .