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
 

Scenes From Fantasy Faire's Last Weekend

By Bixyl Shuftan

From April 23 to May 10, the Fantasy Faire took place in Second Life. A fundraising event for the Relay for Life in Second Life, only the Relay Weekend is larger in terms of people attending or sims involved.

There was a lot to see, and a lot to shop for. Yours truly took more pictures of more scenes than I have time to post, so I'm going to try and concentrate mostly on what I did in the past few days.

I had fun exploring the sims. One guy commented of what I thought was the "Mistakes Were Made" area, "Good lord, this sim is like a bad trip through Willy Wonka's nightmares."

On Wednesday May 6, there was a centaur parade in Heliodor.

Okay, so it was before the weekend. But how often do you see centaurs in large numbers?

And in such a variety?

A common sight was various DJs playing somewhere on the map. On Friday May 8, it was the tune of Team Sunbamers' DJ Matt to play at Auxentios' Pass.

Matt had modified his Spirit Fennec avie to look like "Carbuncle" of Final Fantasy.

A variety of avatars showed up

From the tiny,

To the large and the winged,

To the equine,

To the gigantic. Yes, Ceri Quixote was wearing undies. She was also wearing a facial mask, a nod to 2020 reality.

 Sunbeamer team captain Rita Mariner and her friend Gil Otaared were among those cheering Matt on.

At the end of her two hour set, Matt had raised 60,000 Linden dollars. While these had gone into general donations and not part of the Team Sunbeamer total, an anonymous donor gave about that much to the team sometime that day. So everyone came out ahead.

And there was the Fairelands Quest. This was more relaxed than the previous two I was in, one year looking for the Bard Queen's father, the next helping out a wizard whom had been turned into an owl. This year, the objective was planting a garden for the Bard Queen.

One needed to items at the start, the backpack that was magically enchanted to carry all the sacks of seeds.

And there was the almanac, which gave you a little info about the plants and how to plant them. Much of the time, Matt and I teamed up to search.

 Some of the sacks of seeds were easier to find than others, such as the rose seeds in Zodiac found next to a large rosebush.

Zodiac was pretty, with those sparkling globes all around.

And this one was more ore less out in the open, though easily overlooked.

X marks the spot.

One was in a cemetary.

Other times, I had a little help from Skylark "Snowbuns" Lefavre.

After getting all the seeds, it was off to Queensgarden.

Where I had to look for various pots of water.

And various pots of soil.

After getting them all, it was off to the garden area.

 Players, once they had all the soils and waters, were transported to a garden skybox, where they would mix soils, waters, and seeds to get right combinations.

Succeed, and the player was rewarded with the sight of a beautiful garden.

The Bard Queen herself appears, explaining why such a fuss over a garden.

And for helping out, the player would be awarded. There were so many prizes, my screen was temporarily flooded. I had to copy-paste the list to keep track, though this website helps.

Saturday May 9 was the last day of the roleplay in Kuruk. The plot was that the bear chief had been found dead, and it was suspected a number of the cubs were the cause.

No doubt the whole story would be worth an article of it's own right. The short version was that the cubs did end up killing the chief, but from an exorcism. The Unweaver, the lasting villain of the Fantasy Faire over the years, had possessed the chief, and the cubs had finally freed him of it's grasp, but at a terrible cost: his life. Not Guilty.

Sunday May 10 was the last day of the Faire, and "The Final Ravedown" party.

From 11AM to 11PM, the party took place at various sims. When I was able to visit, I was needed elsewhere, so I sent an alt, which made things a bit laggy. But I did catch some things, such as DJ Madonna wearing something other than her trademark suit.

The flyer for the party commented, "No glowsticks allowed after The Incident." I never did get a straight answer as to what "The Incident" was.

In the Faire's last few hours, I never could get into the Ravedown as it was packed, so I explored a few places with friends.

Nothing like spending the last hour of a great event with friends.

Thank you everyone for your wonderful company and support not only for the Faire but for Relay for Life. We have had a wonderful 2 weeks and you have raised over 73,000usd! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We will be back next year

It was a great event, but like all good things, the Fantasy Faire would end. After Midnight, the sims were closed to anyone trying to get in. Many in the group expressed their sadness. But for some Relayers, the sadness would only be temporary. The next month promises many events, such as the Relaystock, the Sunbeamers Under the Sea party and Moon Dance, and of course the Relay weekend.

For those wanting to check out more pictures, head to the Flicker page:

https://www.flickr.com/groups/fantasyfairesl/pool/

Wildstar Beaumont's pictures: https://www.flickr.com/groups/fantasyfairesl/pool/wildstar_b

Ishtar Kiss's pictures: https://www.flickr.com/groups/fantasyfairesl/pool/ishtarskiss

Bixyl Shuftan