Jamm for Genes Raises 667,000 Lindens

By Bixyl Shuftan

From 12 Midnight early Friday morning August 1 to 10AM Sunday morning August 3, the "Jamm for Genes" event took place at "The Pocket." Except for a few hours on Friday afternoon, a series of musicians performed live on the Australian club's stage, one taking over right after the other signed off. The event was run by club owner and singer OhMy Kidd.

"Jamm for Genes" has been taking place every year in Second Life for several years. The event raises funds for the "Jeans for Genes" fundraiser by the Children's Medical Research Institute in Australia. In some previous events, other Australian clubs took part in the Jamm. But OhMy recently announced "The Pocket" would be temporarily closing after the fundraiser. This may have gotten others involved to let his club stand alone in the spotlight. OhMy had the help of Cellandra Zon and Bundy Scorpio (Bundy Xue), thanking those putting Lindens in the kiosk, "Thank you for your gene-erous donation." And explained those dropping in what the event was about, "Thank you for supporting Jamm for Genes.  With your help, the Children's Medical Research Institute can continue to unlock the mysteries of genetic disorders such as birth defects, cancer, and epilepsy.  You are helping to make miracles." People were invited to take some free t-shirts of the event from a box near the stage.

OhMy Kidd started things off with the first live music event. Following him were many more live musicans, such as Rosedrop Rust, Max Kleene, Beth Odets, and many more. Avatars of all kinds dropped by to dance, or just to listen. And the donations continued to come in as well. Occasionally there were some jokes and general funnery. One musician's microphone and cord was mistaken for a whip, which got a couple crack comments. At one point, a kangaroo av was hopping around to the chuckles of the Australians.

The event went on all day Saturday, Saturday night, and early Sunday morning. Finally as Bara Jonson and Free Balan finished up their event at 10AM, the total donated was 666,000 Lindens, which in a few minutes was raised to 667,000. The event's organizers hugged one another in celebration. Cellandra cheerfully told me , "It's been a fun event and Everyone has been so very generous.

It was late in Australia, and people whom weren't heading elsewhere were retiring to bed, Bundy saying, "Ok time for some much earned sleep, will pick my stuff up tomorrow when get up." I asked OhMy Kidd if he had anything to say. He answered, "Thanks everyone, especially all the musicians, and especially Bundy! I'm very grateful for the generosity of Second Life musicians and music lovers." So what were his plans now? "I am going to sleeep for 10 hours!  And I can say one thing for sure - Jamm for Genes in SL wil be back next year!"

And with that, OhMy Kidd went his way, and the 2014 Jamm for Genes was over.

Bixyl Shuftan

Happy Australia Day at "The Pocket"

By Bixyl Shuftan

"Happy S'Traya Day!" That was the greeting people dropping by "The Pocket" got when they dropped by Friday night on January 25th. January 26 is "Australia Day," and with the time difference, the club's Aussie staff, singers, and regulars were already celebrating in real life and ready to take the fun to Second Life.

When I first got there, there were a few dozen people around, and the place was grey with lag to me. I took a club-wide picture later in the night after some people had left, presumably to real life holiday events.

 Several live singers performed for the night of the national holiday. Among them were OhMy Kidd, who performed on stage with "percussionist" Saraine Sands. Also on stage was Lexi Luan, whom sung while strumming her guitar strings.

As the day went on, so did the greetings of "Happy Australia Day," "Happy S'Traya Day," "Ozzie Day," "Oz Day," and more. There was a little joking around, one pretending to be confused, "So STraya day is Australia Day, right?" Someone also joked, "When *** has finished having my child she'll be right back, honest." Another quipped in response, "Hope it's a SL pregnancy, I can't keep this up for 8 more months! 8 weeks maybe (grin)."

 For a couple people coming by the Pocket, it happened to be the anniversarries of when they came to the Grid, one saying, "Today is my Rez Day. OK, so it's not. It's A-DAY." "That means it's your UnRezz day" hostess Cellandra Zon joked in response.

A few unusual avatars showed up, including a tiny hedgehog, a steampunk "spider" avatar, and a kangaroo that hopped around for a bit before stopping to dance. It was a fun night for all.

"The Pocket" is at the eastern edge of the Fendahl sim, with a small part extending onto the Cassandra sim for busier nights. The sims are on the southern tip of the triangular-shaped mainland continent of Satori (also known as Malebaia or the Japanese continent). There are several live musicians, usually some or all of them Australian, performing every night at 8PM.

Fendahl, (242, 82, 31)

Bixyl Shuftan

Jamm for Genes Raises 380,000 Lindens

The “Jamm for Genes” is an annual event in Second Life. Every year in early August, musicians get together on the weekend to raise money for the Children’s Medical Research Institute. Although the charity is in Australia, the benefits are global, " ‘Jamm for Genes’ is all about live music raising money, for research into cell biology that helps with both prevention and cure of childhood, congenital and genetic diseases.”

Lacey Lohner called the event “an initiative of ‘Jeans for Genes Day’ here in Australia. Wear jeans to work for a donation - many workplaces run it!” With OhMy Kidd leading the organizing, the event took place at four venues: Lacey’s Place, The Pocket, Endavour Cove, and B&B’s.


Welcome to our Jamm for Genes event! We are raising funds for the Real Life charity "Jeans for Genes" in Australia. All proceeds go directly to the Children's Medical Research Institute: http://www.cmri.org.au/ . Jamm for Genes in Second Life has been running since 2007, and has raised over $4,000 for the Children’s Medical Research Institute. That's right - over 4K! Thanks to all of you - the Second Life community. Let's make 2011 our best.


Dropping in on “The Pocket” at Freestar Bay on Friday night August 5th, musicians and audience alike were ready to “give it up for down under.” Musicians such as Freestar Tammas and Kentucy country music singer Ande Foggarty were on stage at the Australian club once owned by the late Delinda Dyrssen, now run by Cellandra Zon. By this time, over 50,000 Lindens had been raised, and the audience was chipping in more. Ande entertained the crowd with songs like “Horse with no Name,” in honor of the musician who wrote it passing away recently, and “Little Red Riding Hood,” which brought a number of howls and other wolf gestures from the audience. At 11AM, the “Army of Ignorance” played, but instead of their avatars coming on stage, the tricksters instead put up cardboard cutouts of themselves.

“We worked very hard on this jam,” Cellandra told me, “Ohmy Kidd did most of the prework. ... I miss Delinda. She was instrumental last year. ... We work very hard to get the musicians lined up for people's enjoyment so they get something back for donating. And so many musicians are so generous with their time. I LOVE the musicians in Second Life, most of them are so open and generous.”

By 11:30 Friday night, 64,000 had been raised. By Saturday 7PM when Ichie Kamachi was singing at Endeavour Cove, the 150,000 mark had been reached. On Sunday August 7th at 1 AM, the event moved to B&B’s in the Utopia and EnGedi sim. On the final day of the Jamm, musicians such as the SOAR band (who played earlier this week at another benefit). Starrfish Ohmai, and Rock Doghouse played. Dropping in at 5PM, KevinMThomas Carpool had joined Onehempcat Oldrich on stage, and the frisky girls in the audience demanded the two guys take their shirts off if they donated a certain amount more money. The 300,000 barrier had been passed, breaking last year’s total, and soon it was at $322,000, “Kevin for 325K do the pants come off?”

By 7 PM, the 350,000 mark had been reached. At 9PM, the last singer, Veronica Wekster, got on stage, "maybe I need to do my Britney Spears impression - haha!" As she sang, the amount continued to climb. Near the end, Veronica herself chipped in 5,000 Lindens. B&B owner Bundy “Fluffball” Xue blurted, “Oh my God! I don’t know if I want to slap V or hug her!” At 9:58, the total was 367,000. Last minute donations poured in, some after Veronica left the stage. At 10:05, the total was $380,457 Lindens raised. With the event over, the musicians there took a few moments to congratulate each other, OhMy Kidd calling it, “an absolutely amazing weekend Jamming for Genes.”

For those wishing to donate to “Jeans for Genes,” you can visit their website at: http://www.jeansforgenes.org.au/ .

“Thank you ALL for donating your time, talent, Lindens, and ears to this wonderful cause!”

Bixyl Shuftan