DJ Cynthia Raises Over 40K Lindens For Team Sunbeamers At Relaystock

By Bixyl Shuftan 

The weekend of Friday May 13 to Sunday May 15 marked the Relaystock in Second Life. Organized by the Relay Rockers, this tribute to the 1969 music festival that became known as the "Summer of Love," is a multi-team event in which other teams are invited to take part. 

Numerous campsites are available, with either a tent or a bus, and a team can usually get one just by asking. There are also slots available over the course of the three days for DJs and performers. For Team Sunbeamers' Cynthoa Farshore, her slot was on Saturday at 2PM, following Keeba & the Tiny Maniacs.

 Nuala Maracas: 2pm - On the RelayStock stage - DJ Cynthia Farshore for the Sunbeamers Relay team.  It will be a groovy time !

But it wasn't going to be just any DJ session. Team captain Rita Mariner and several others from the team, Scout Snowpaw, Liska da'Lantros, Mato, and Nydia Tungsten, were going to be dancing on stage alongside Cynthia. Gathering at the Sunbeamer camp before the time slot, all were dressed in 60s-themed outfits, such as the flower-pattern bell-bottom jeans, and tinted glasses made by late Sunbeamer Alleara Snoodle. 

As the time got closer, we walked to the stage. Keeba and her band of whimsical tinies soon finished up and hopped off. Then Shockwave and the girls stepped on, the wolf soon stepping aside. For a couple minutes, there were some technical difficulties, interrupting the music. Then everything began running smoothly.

As DJ Cynthia did the 60s-themed music, all danced to the tunes to an appreciative audience. Every time someone made a donation, the kiosk on stage would chime, "Thank you for being a hero! Your donation makes it possible for us to provide support and services to cancer patients in Second Life at the American Cancer Society island." Behind the scenes, Shockwave Yareach, with some help from Nydia, was making sure all went smoothly with the music stream. "Why isn't Shock dancing?" someone from the audience asked. The wolf just smiled, "Oh, I'm just the recording engineer." One Sunbeamer in the audience having just arrived would comment, "My real life half-sister was a hippy, gods I so disliked her attitude (grin)."

Shockwave would express his appreciation to the crowd, "All of you, thank you so much for coming out.  We love entertaining you and fighting cancer." When a latecomer to the party asked what all the 60s decor was about, Shockwave answered, "This event is a recreation of Woodstock," then mentioning his furry friends, "with even MORE hair. ... I wasn't at the real thing.  But I love this one more, because all of you are here. We are getting close to a real cure for cancer.  So tantalyzing close. I may yet live long enough to see a cure for cancer and bases on the moon. My kids get to have the adventure I wanted."

Shockwave then brought up the team's weekly event, "For those in the audience, the Sunbeamers have a dance on the moon every Thursday.  Everyone is welcome. We have a variety of music. And the aliens haven't hurt anyone yet. Come join us if you want -- no pressure." Shockwave grinned, then noticed his joke about the lack of air pressure on the real moon might have gone unnoticed, "That pun was bad, eh?"

Among those in the audience were a few from team "Roos With A Dream." When one latecomer arrived, another would say, "Glad to see my Roolief arrived." Another would give the tail of a Sunbeamer in the audience a big hug. Then another turned to the stage, " 'roos love the beamers!" Then she would comment about the dancers, "Wow! its Cynthia and the Cynthettes!" Shockwave would comment, "Cynthly Irresistable!" "Ooh, I like that! Cynthia and the Cynthetics." "If you like the music of the past," Shockwave went on, "let's try making Cancer a thing of the past also. Jump in the mud! Kick up your heels! So this blast from the past is the next big thing -- Cynthia and the Cynthetics!"

(click here to see the video, from Nydia)

Cynthia being an anthro nannygoat in a group of foxes, wolves, bunnies, and felines got a small amount of friendly ribbing, Shockwave musing, "And her DJings not baaaaaaad." Another remarked, "Guess sometimes you gotta take, life by the horns." "You people are the best!" One of the 'Roos went along with the pun and with a compliment, "I think Cynthia is the Greatest Of All Time." Shockwave then smiled, " Look, she's blushing." "How can you tell?" "I can tell (grin)."

Shockwave would comment of his Relaying, "It's  a fun escape though. ... You guys keep me sane. Scary, huh? Hehhehheh." One of the Sunbeamers commented, "Not sure about 100% sane... there's always the inner mad scientist?" The wolf grinned, "They figured if I was gonna blow stuff up, make it useful. REmember, Cynthia and the Cynthetics are available for Bar Mitzvahs and Wine Stomping."

Earlier, Shockwave commented that he felt raising 15,000 Lindens was a reasonable goal. But as the event went on, the Sunbeamers met that, and then some, "We made the goal, and doubled it!" One of the 'Roos cheered, ***Wewtwewt *** "'beamers are over 600k." Shockwave grinned, "For that stretch goal, I will NOT sing for you now." Noted Relayer Bain Finch would comment, "Was just looking over the team leader board. WOW!" Shockwave would then challenge, "Anyone got a spare 10K to put a stake in Cancers' corpse?" To his pleasant surprise, the money quickly came, "All of you have contributed so much!!  Thank you so much! ... The sunbeamers have a small camp this year.  But you're welcome to relax with us."

Near the end, Cynthia would say, "Okay I'm wrapping with a more modern tune but has the meaning of what we are doing here!" It soon appeared, "I Run For Life."

I run for hope,
I run to feel,
I run for the truth, for all that is real,
I run for your mother, your sister, your daughter, your wife,
For you and me my friend,
I run for life.

"We  are the Sunbeamers!" Shockwave shouted, "Thank you all for sharing this time with us.  And Go Relay!"

By the end of Cynthia's session, the Sunbeamers had raised a total of 40,416 Lindens in their kiosk. "That's one of the highest amounts I've seen raised here so far," one of the 'Roos commented. "Thank you all of you contributing," Shhockwave told the crowd, "It means a lot to all of us -- we have lost SO many." Cynthia sighed with relief, "I can breath now." Nydia cheered, "Let's hear it for Cynthia! You did good." "And Nydia as choreographer," Rita told the crowd. One of the crowd cheered, "I loved your show. Who knew the beamers could do that?!" Rita would tell the dancers, "Mato, Shocky, Cynthia, Scout, Liska, Nydia we did good, thank you all." "Next year, we'll use my server though," Shockwave would comment. He would later say some were listening in from outside the sim, giving Cynthia a larger audience than anticipated.

There would be other events later that day and on Sunday, concluding with Trader Whiplash DJing the final event. 

With over 605,000 Lindens raised inworld, The RFL in SL site puts Team Sunbeamers at ninth place of 137 teams. But with the Winter Expo and Fantasy Faire counted as teams, Seventh Place might be a better assessment.

Next weekend is the Sunbeamer Air Show, at  Saturday May 21. The Sunnies will also be among those with a campsite on the Relay track for the Relay Weekend, Saturday June 11 to Sunday June 12.

Go Sunbeamers! Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan
 

Woodstock Then and Now

By Gemma Cleanslate

Peace Not War.....  Arms are for Embracing.....Free Love.... and the Beatles!! This is what I found when I went over to check out the setting for FrannyDJ Dean’s Tribute to Woodstock! Everything is set for this weekend music festival in memory of the original Woodstock actually held in Bethal NY on the Yasgur Dairy Farm.

The old barn is there too. Psychedelic art is in place along with porto potties and a shower. Some are already there practicing and I joined a guitar lead on the stage for fun! It has not rained yet but there is a pond in front of the stage.

   “ Richie Havens. Minstrel From Gault. High Flyin' Bird. ...
    Sweetwater. Motherless Child. Look Out. ...
    Bert Sommer. Jennifer. The Road To Travel. ...
    Tim Hardin. Misty Roses. ...
    Ravi Shankar. Raga Puriya-Dhanashri / Gat In Sawarital. ...
    Melanie. Beautiful People. ...
    Arlo Guthrie. Coming Into Los Angeles. ...
    Joan Baez. Joe Hill.”
 and so many more were in the original lineup.! Not sure of this lineup but I know it will be great!

My friend , Bayou Diesel sent me a heads up that he is putting out on Facebook and notecard,
”Coming this Saturday, August 18, 2018 is Woodstock '69 Tribute, brought to you by FrannyDJ Dean, who does the Mardi Gras parade sim and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade sim too. The Woodstock '69 Tribute tribute will run for three days of Peace and Love and Music , circa 1969 and then will become Woodstock Summerfest 2018, an updated 21st century event. and will run run through Labor Day Sept 3, 2018“

Frannie dj says, “Ever wonder what it was like to be a hippy back in the day? Here's your chance! Join us on Aug 18th 19th and 20th for a groovy time at our 3 day tribute to Woodstock '69
Then starting on the 21st we travel into the future for our Woodstock Music & Country Fair 2018 Summerfest. Woodsock as it might be today in the present modern music and bands (smile)  Don’t miss this FAR OUT event !!! “

The second part of this fun will be at another site . http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Enchanted%20Estates/100/157/2999

 Frannydj is still looking for dj’s for the three day event so contact her if you are interested! As you can see this event site will be open until Labor Day. Lots of history here.
  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/MiddleEarth/98/112/1205


Gemma Cleanslate

Scenes From The RelayStock

On Saturday May 22 and Sunday 23, the "Relaystock" in Second Life took place in the Relay dAlliez sim, with some unplanned parties taking place on Friday May 21. The third of what has become an annual event in the Relay for Life's season, the event is a tribute to the 1969 "Woodstock" festival, considered by a number to be a major pop-culture event in history.

Although organized by Trader Whiplash and the Relay Rockers team, it is a multi-team event where multiple teams sign up for campsites, either a tent or a van done up in 60s colors and patters, and for hour to 90 minute long periods on stage for live musicians and DJs representing them.

The event was set up in the Relay dAlliez sim. Unlike the "Three days of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll," however, being an official Relay event there was no sex, and this being virtual reality there were no drugs (although there were a few jokes that if Tuna Oddfellow was performing some would be getting high). But there was plenty of great classic rock n' roll music by the various DJs and live musicians on stage.

Among the teams there was the Sunbeamers, whom had a tent. One of our numbers whom was around at the time commented that the tents at the real Woodstock were much plainer, for those whom brought tents at all as most just brought a sleeping bad or nothing at all. But the design was all in the name of fun, some Relayers born much later chucking at the designs.

There was one sad detail, Nikoli Redmayne of Team Spirit of Sherwood Forest had been murdered when his plane was lost in what is believed to be an act of terrorism. His Relay team put up a picture of him for others to remember his contribution to the team and the Relay.

There was a hospital tent, where some information about the Relay for Life's mission was available for newcomers dropping in.

There were a number of musicians each day (click here for the schedule). Those earlier in the day had smaller numbers watching.

But as time went on, more people would drop in.

 With the mud, many were ankle deep while dancing away, though didn't seem to mind.

Those dropping in for a little music and dance came in all varieties of avatars from normal human to pixie, to tiny, to furred, to pony, to children, and a certain dark unicorn.

Rita Mariner and some of Team Sunbeamers were there, the team coming out of it's slump. and would reach Gold about a month later.

The weekend would see the team nearly doubling it's total raised so far this year, 50,000 coming from one donor. The Sunbeamers would reach Gold almost a month later.

Among the musicians there was DJ MrsSpooky (Spook Maroon).

After her was Dolleyes Barbosa, whom started her hour as describing the 60s as an adventurous time with the Civil Rights movement, the space program, and of course rock music.

With large numbers of avatars, some had problems with slow to rezz objects and other technical difficulties. Some such as this fellow made the best of things with a little humor.

At 3:30 PM was the Relay Rap, with the Committee members on stage.

Later, Trader Whiplash would take the stage.

It was that moment the rain started up again.

But eventually, it would stop.

It was a great Relaystock, and part of a great Relay season this year.

Bixyl Shuftan.

Reader Submitted: Relay Rockers' Relaystock - A $1.5 Million Linden Weekend

This past weekend the Relay Rockers hosted Relay Stock a multi-team event headlined by the conclusion of the team's Celebrate Remember Fight Back Top DJ Competition.  The event which raised more than L$1.5 million, was held in Relay dAlliez, the team's Relay For Life dedicated sim. The sim was transformed to a 60s era outdoor rock festival complete with Hippie VW buses, tie-died tents and yep.. Mud!

More than 30 teams participated with vendors and kiosks galore.  Teams hosted DJ shows on the event's concert stage and the sim was filled to capacity almost all weekend!

On Saturday afternoon the Rockers took over the stage with the semi final round of their signature CRFB Top DJ Competition.  The event which is in its 3rd year drew 18 DJ's from 14 different teams. Each DJ competed for 'votes' in the form of donations to the RFL kiosk or team convio during a series of 1 hour sets.  The semi finalists were Jay Sparrowtree of Goreans For Life, Chevelley Silentghost of Hearts Hands Hope, Dee Wolfe of the Relay Rockers and Jordan Morgenrote.  Jordan had set a preliminary round record raising more than L$531,000 in 1 hour. The top 2 DJ's would move on the Finals on Sunday. Jay set the bar high, raising L$241,050, but Dee Wolfe responded with L$250,500.  Anticipation was high for another incredible turn out for Jordan, but she withdrew after 15 minutes fighting a major software error that prevented her from continuing..

On Sunday, the festival goers discovered the 'rainmakers' and mud tattoos available for free in the sim, and the skies opened up.  Throughout the day relayers danced in the rain and mud, most eschewing umbrella's.

By 1pm the crowd was again swelling to near capacity and Jay Sparrowtree took the stage for his 2 hour final.  He played many inspiration songs, explaining his reasons to Relay and by the end of his set his total stood at  formidable total of L$370,555.

Dee Wolfe took the stage with a difficult task ahead of her and she opened her set with driving rock n roll.  The 2012 Champ was not going to let up, and donations began to pour in. With 'matching' challenges being announced regularly she quickly passed L$150,000 and again L$200,000.  About 90 minutes into her set she eclipsed the L$300,000 total and her supporters didn’t stop. With still more than 30 minutes remaining her kiosk total soared to L$400,000 and the Trophy was hers. She finished the day with an amazing L$422,501.

The awards ceremony held at the conclusion of the event recognized each Competitor, all of whom received an award.  Ariel Stormcrow, Trader Whiplash and Nuala Maracas were joined on stage by RFL of SL Event Chair Nikki Mathieson as the team recognized not only the competitors, but also presented special thank you's to Richardina Petty and Kiff Clutterbuck of Junkyard Blues and Sue Peregrine of dAlliez Estates, who hosted preliminary rounds at their Venues.

The 4 Semi Finalists received their awards: Purple Marble trophies topped by a glistening gold microphone.

The 2014 CRFB Top DJ Competition raised more than L$3,333,000 and the top fund raisers were Dee Wolfe, L$933,601; Jordan Morgenrote L$805,801 and Jay Sparrowtree L$726,355.

The weekend finished with a "Bring Your Own Kiosk featuring" Trader Whiplash of T1Radio and his ever popular Time Machine 60's Classic Rock radio show and dozens of happy Relayers dancing in the mud surrounded by their team's Kiosks.

Trader Whiplash

SL Woodstock - 12 Hours of Peace, Love and Music

By Grey Lupindo

 The SL Yasgur’s Farm was the site of a SL Woodstock festival of peace, love and music this past Saturday.  While its RL historic counterpart was held over 3 days in August, 1969, the SL version was held for 12 hours on June 1.     Although both events were filled with music, fun, and good times, the SL version also helped raise money for the American Cancer Society.    At one point I saw that $612,570L had been raised, and the amount was still growing.  
 

       I stopped by a couple of times during the day long festival, and it was always crowded.  Late in the evening I saw there were 74 avi’s on the site, although there may have been more at other times during the day.  SL’s Jimi Hendrix (Charlz Price) was thrilling the crowd with his music and good vibes.     Many folks were dancing while others sat on the grass and listened to the tunes.      A decorated VW was being auctioned off to the highest bidder while other smaller items were available for a donation.      

       The site had been carefully constructed to pay homage to RL Max Yasgur’s farm.   A barn, an old farm truck, and some animals were located on one side of the site.   There was even a cow that could be milked, which was a nice touch since the RL site was a dairy farm.   On another part of the site was a hippie camp, complete with tents, old VW’s, and a drum circle.   There was even a mud slide for those who wanted to re-live all the memories of that rainy weekend in New York.    

     A notecard sent out earlier by the Woodstock Production team stated that they would be playing “...every artist that played at the original event. Included are several full performances including Janis Joplin, Santana, The Who and Jimi Hendrix. All music is presented in the historical order in which it was played at the 1969 festival.”   They did, of course, edit some performances for time. 

       The festival was produced by BennyTunes Woodstock.   The team included  Benny The Boozehound,  Audio;  Charlz Price,  Build;  Fiona Harworth , Scripting; and Runa McMillan, Multi Media Textures.    

Grey Lupindo

Music Notes: Greg Colburn and Pillowfish

Recently, Greg Colburn (aka Greg Colossus), via a note to his group, announced his retirement from music in SL. He began performing in SL in 2006 as Greg Colossus. Frustrated that he couldn't choose his own last name, he petitioned the Lindens to have it be so. They finally agreed and Greg Colburn (his real life name) was born in SL.

Sadly, I didn't become aware of him until early 2010. I had the pleasure of meeting him in person and seeing him perform live at the Hartford Jam last May. He is a terrific guy. All of Greg's scheduled shows were cancelled as of the time of his announcement but he still planned to attend and play at the April Jam in Maryland. As of 15 April, Greg Colburn will log in "once in awhile," but will not perform. He is pursuing his budding music career in real life and has many happy things happening personally, as well. Greg will most definitely be missed and remembered as one of the many fine performers in SL.

On a happier note, Pillowfish returned to SL for a mini tour of the Internet. Their return performance was at the venue Woodstock. Pillowfish is a rare treat as they are usually quite busy performing and recording in RL. They are currently in the process of recording their second album but to the delight of their fans, they decided to take a break for a spell. Pillowfish consist of Thom Martinsyde and Rowena Sideways. They are a UK-based progressive folk duo and their sound is uniquely Celtic to the ear. Their instruments include a 10-string bouzouki, viola, fiddle and guitar, joined by their melodic voices singing perfect harmonies. Keep an eye open for them over the coming month. They are well worth a listen.

Attending the event at Woodstock, I was saddened to learn that it was one of the last shows at that venue. Others played at this farewell concert to a most loved venue. Woodstock symbolized everything 60's, hippies and, of course, Woodstock. The ambiance and decor was truly psychedelic and beautiful. I personally will miss this awesome venue.

Source: Greg Colburn's picture from SLMusicListener on Youtube

Shellie Sands