The Last Hurrah at Urban Furry

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By Bixyl Shuftan

 After several months of operation, the Urban Furry club was closing down. The decision had been made around mid-January, and the final week saw more people than usual dropping by to get a few last looks at the venue. Saturday night would be the final event, starting at 8PM SL time.

It's a sad duty when it comes to having to announce the closing of a great club. Sadly, Urban Furry will be closing after Jan 30. DJane Maliit will be the closing DJ that night. Please, come out, show support and help Whiskey turn the lights out one final time in a great SL furry club that will surely be missed by all. I hope to see you all there.

DJ Maliit played the music that night, with Brandi Streusel as the hostess.

 A number of people would show up this final night, some regulars, a few coming by to wish everyone well.

The Newser first heard about the venue owned by Whiskey (Thorrin Resident) in Summer 2018. It made news that year for it's "Furry Prom" event, taking part in the FCA Halloween Club Crawl, and it's winter area.

But the club would close it's doors in March 2019. About a year and a half later, it would reopen in July 2020. It would make some news in the winter for it's Christmas globe and taking part in the FCA New Year's Eve Club Crawl.

After the event was officially over, people were invited to hop on stage. Some were sans clothing or topless. So a little covering up was needed for this picture. "Thank you all sooooooooo much for joining us." Maliit would say.

From behind, not so much covering up needed.

For some moments, some hung around and chatted.

Then Whiskey began taking the place down, piece by piece.

Before long, it was down to just one prim left, the floor.

When it vanished, people fell down, or they flew.

And everyone left met on the ground.

And there were some final goodbyes before parting. "Thank you all for being a part of this wonderful place," Maliit would say.

So ended the Urban Furry club. But is it truly the end? I've heard some wonder if Whiskey might bring it back sometime in the future. But this is all speculation. For now, all that's left are documented pictures, stories, and memories.

Bixyl Shuftan

Gallery Graine's Closing Party

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Sunday August 5 at 1PM, the Gallery Graine in the Blue Curacao sim held it's last event. In July, it's owner Graine MacBain announced she would be closing closing down the sim and the gallery due to pressures and developments in real life and Second Life, which she explained in a reader submission to the Newser. Anibrm Jung, whose nature photography was being featured there, announced the event.

Join us at 1 pm for the closing party for ANIBRM JUNG at Gallery Graine. The gallery is closing and with it we are saluting our last exhibitor,  ANIBRM JUNG. Ani's rl nature photography is done in camera with no post-production modifications. It's just nature captured live. Ani has been our guest her at the gallery now for some time and we were proud that she made it her home. Music  provided BY the always exciting DJ CYNTHIA MAINE! Greetings Graine MacBain.

Dropping by the gallery, Graine and Anibrm had several supporters at the event whom had come to give the place one last look and wish the location owner well. "No worries," Graine told me when I mentioned the closing, "It saw its glory days."

Cynthia Maine, who DJed for the event, had "Twilight" as the final song. Graine thanked the people for dropping by, "Thanks to all for coming to this last closing event at Gallery Graine. ... Feel free to look around ... Feel free to explore, this will still be here for another day." Anibrm still had until the following morning to collect her artwork.

Graine had to depart once the event was done, "I hate to seem rude but I must run to real-life. ...  Thanks once more and be well!" Anibrm thanked her for the use of the place to show off her photography, "Thank you for being so nice all the time ... thank you for your kindness!" When I asked Anibrm if she had another project she wanted to mention, she answered, "Not yet, but I will let you know of course!"

And so, the Gallery Graine's last hurrah was basically over, with the remainder of the day left for anyone who wanted to to drop by to give it a final look.

Bixyl Shuftan

Tantari Kim And The Last Call For Lupus Prime

By Bixyl Shuftan

Monday September 5 was the last event at the Lupus Prime Space Station, a multi-story structure high above the Blues Beach sim that was apparently used as a roleplay area with one deck doubling for use in music events. Tantari Kim announced a "Going Away Party" for the station in her group.

The space station is being dismantled!  But before it comes crashing to Earth, let's give it a send-off to remember. Theme is Robots and Sci Fi outfits.  I'll be playing suitably robotic music. C'mon down!  Explore the station!  Rock out!

Tantari was happy to see yours truly at the location, "Heya Bixyl. Welcome to Lupus Prime! Tonight, I've taken it over!  Muhahahaaaa!" She told the others, "Bixyl is my favorite news fox. He does the SL Newser, SL's finest news source." One of the dancers there spoke of the place, "This is the best space stations I have ever seen." There were well over a dozen others dancing along with Tantari many dressed up in sci-fi looks, such as futuristic outfits, cybernetic parts, or both. At one point, a cyborg collapsed, the batteries for it's mechanical legs having run out of power. Fortunately, someone was willing to press the button for reserve power.

Tantari would announce the music titles, and spell out some of the lyrics of the songs. At one point, she did something a little different, "And a TMBG track.. here's hoping you don't Become a Robot! ... My daughter and I changed the lyrics of this song a little... Foxes are great!  Foxes are good!  Foxes are taking over in your neighborhood! Three cheers for our vulpine buddies, handsome, intelligent and strong!  You might as well prepare for assimilation by singing along!" One of her fans went along, cheering "Yaaay for vixen scouts!" referring to a group Tantari founded.

Other songs included anime tunes, music from Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Portal, and other computer and video games, Deadmau5, and other tunes. One Deadmau5 song was The Veldt, "Ray Bradbury wrote a story called 'The Veldt.' It's about a super robotic nanny that cares for the children.  But the parents think it's wrong, so they try to take the children away. The children flee into the machine. The parents go in after them and see a veldt, a grassland.  The machine made it for them. Lions set upon the parents and tear them to pieces, so the children can be happy forever and ever in the machine. If you listen closely, the lyrics follow the story. 'The world that the children made.... outside the lions roam, feeding on remains.  We'll never leave, so in love that we are.  In love with the world we made.' I thought this song was so lovely and peaceful until I researched it!"

One other song was named after supposed top-secret group of a conspiracy theory, "From Serial Experiments Lain, this very high tech song is MJ-XX, a play off of MJ-12 or the Majestic 12 classified project. In UFO conspiracy theories, Majestic 12 (or MJ-12) is the code name of an alleged secret committee of scientists, military leaders, and government officials, formed in 1947 by an executive order by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to facilitate recovery and investigation of alien spacecraft." One guy in a dark suit and glasses nearby whispered into his shirt collar "She knows..."

Tantari ended her set with the opening theme to the anime "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex," "I am calling, calling, spirits rise and falling... To become myself once more." It wasn't lost among the lapine fans in the crowd one of the songs in the anime was "Rabbit Junk." After the song, she commented, "Looking over this station, I'm thinking of another brave space station that served proudly, and then was destroyed.... 'Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal .. all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last, best hope for peace. -- This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5.'

"If you're a Babylon 5 fan, I have a treat for you.  This song was written for an unreleased Sierra fight combat game that was never released.. but I got it! By Christopher Franke, the original composer of the series. This song is EPIC. Lupus Prime, we salute you!"

One of the crowd commented, "Watching everyone dance as I imagine the station crashing down onto Earth...." One red vixen stood and saluted as the song played.

Tantari was soon finished, "Thank you all for listening." The red vixen who saluted, presumably one of the crew, spoke, "For being here, Dankeschöön! " The stream was then set on automatic. People were invited to continue dancing, or look around the place. Many did, taking the elevator to various floors. There was a command deck, a docking airlock, a personel airlock, a shuttle bay, a reactor floor, and a deck with rooms that were presumably once crew quarters.

And so, baring a last minute save by someone willing to buy the place, Lupus Prime is set to fade away into the virtual nether. But it would not be forgotten.

Bixyl Shuftan

"Last Call" - Club Zero Gravity Closes

It was on May 31st 2010 that it was announced Club Zero Gravity had reopened in the Purrfection Estates sim. More then four years later on August 14, 2014, the club held it's final party there.

After over four years of being in orbit over Purrfection, Club Zero Gravity is closing it's doors. But rather than mourn, we chose to hold one last bash, the "Last Call." The contest theme is "come as you are." We at the "Party among the stars" wish to thank you for being with us for the long journey, and it is now time to say goodbye.

"That's all, folks."

Nydia Tungsten, the owner of Club Zero Gravity and the Purrfection sim, took to the DJ booth herself for this final part. She had gotten her start as DJ "Naughty Nydia," and her selection of tunes went from popular classics to comical to cheeky and riskee.

 Miyuki Naidoo, the hostess of the club, changed to her popular but seldom-seen Felicia avatar.

Many people attended this last party, a few whom came back to Second Life after a hiatus for this occasion. Two showed up for the first time, saying they were sorry they were not here for earlier events. A couple would later tell me they would have come if it wasn't for events in real life.

Club Zero Gravity was created in 2007 in the Pockwock sim in the early days of the Sunweaver community, built by Shockwave Yarreach. Shockwave would say that night there was only a limited amount of space available for the club, so he put dance balls on the wall and ceiling, which quickly led to the name.

The club would later move with the community to the Sunweaver Estates, going through two more reconstructions, a "borg cube" look, and later the blue and steel space station look by Ranchan Weidman that many feel was it's best look.  It was closed in 2009, to be reopened in Purrfection several months later.

The crowd was sad to see the club go, but was determined to have a good time. People reacted to Nydia's friskier tunes by cracking dirty jokes. And talked about various happenings in Second Life.

There was a 2000 Linden prize up for grabs that night. But as Nydia invited the staff to enter for it as well, she was talked into putting her name on the board as well. When the voting was closed and the results announced, she ended up with the most votes. She reacted with surprise, then a humble bow.

After the official end up the party, some hung around for a little while, posing for a few pictures. One lady, whom lives at Purrfection, asked friends not to stop coming to the sim.

 But this may not be the end for the space station club. There's already talk by Sunweaver Estates onwner Rita Mariner of finding a place for Zero-G somewhere. But where to put all those prims so nobody's land gets lagged? Rather than risk dashing raised hopes, not even a guestimate date has been announced. But the general feeling is it will be back, someday.

In the meantime, two clubs are reopening in the Sunweaver Estates to fill the time slots once held by the "Party among the stars." The Vinyl Museum, built in 2009 as "Perri's Xanadu" over what is now HV Community, will he holding events Tuesdays from 6 to 8 PM. Little Dove, the Zeppelin club first built to hold Relay events for the old Passionate Redheads Relay for Life team, will be holding events Thursday nights from 6 to 8 PM. The Happy Vixen, Zero-G's sister beach club, is closing and the group and possibly the name, to be used by the new surfing hangout and beach club at the Sunny Beach sim, Mondays from 6-8.

"Goodbye, for now."

Bixyl Shuftan

CNN iReport Island’s Last Event

On Tuesday December 27th, CNN producers Nichole and Henry iReport announced that the sim owned by the popular real-life news network would be closing down. There would be one last official event, a farewell gathering, two days later on Thursday December 29th.

I showed up early, ten minutes before the event. Only Daniel Voyager was around at the time. But then Pooky Amsterdam dropped in, followed by iReporter Janey Bracken, whom had written about the closing for CNN. And as 2PM arrived in came more people. Nichole and Henry iReport showed up, as did other iReporters and others in Second Life media. There were a few other noteables such as DJ GoSpeed Racer. And there were just plain folks whom had heard about the place and wanted to see it. Close to two dozen were attending at one point.

For the first hour, we talked about various subjects, notably the island’s limited time, many of us seeing it or an event here for the first time. Someone called it sad in another way. In it’s heyday, a number of real life companies had set up a place on the Grid. And now the small list of those that remained was getting still smaller. But there were happier topics. Someone mentioned Daniel Voyager’s birthday had happened just a few days earlier, and there was joking around of getting a cake, with or without a dancing girl inside. There were also jokes about Henry iReport’s “noob” appearance. Some mentioned how they first found out about Second Life. People also talked about the upcoming year, and were hopeful.

A few minutes before 3PM SL time, the meeting moved to the dance floor set up in the northern part of the sim, with Grace McDunnough playing the tunes. Someone changed into a 18th century naval uniform, looking pretty odd next to the disco & rave lights. Someone else mentioned fireworks, and a few were set up outside the dance area. For those with their viewers set to midnight, they were a colorful sight.

From about 3:30 to 4 SL time, people began leaving, thanking Nichole and Henry iReport for helping to keep the island there for as long as it was, as well as iReports in Second Life. Nichole reminded that while this would be the end of CNN iReport Island, the group itself would most likely remain. She told more information would be available later.

The sim itself is still up, and will remain until sometime in January when the tier runs out. People can still go there and pick up the iReports package, which includes a CNN T-shirt and baseball cap (default wear position on “nose” for those with attachments there). The island itself has an “i” shaped structure just west of the teleport entry area, with a small meeting area with seats making up the dot. North of that is the dance area. The middle of the sim has a small drive-in theater where one can see a few old news reports. The rest of the sim contains various outdoor scenes, hills, waterfalls, and bridges.

Daniel Voyager has his own article on the event, as well as a number of pictures on his Flickr (note: Daniel’s total number of screenshots there just reached 20,000). For any questions regarding CNN or CNN iReport’s plans, Nichole iReport says she will try to answer them the best she can from her email address at nicole.saidi@turner.com .

Bixyl Shuftan

Greenies Home Closes, Moves to OpenSim

Wednesday June 23rd was the last day of the “Greenies Home” sim in Second Life. On June 15th, Rezzable, the owners of the sim, announced they would be closing the area, and moving the contents to their grid in OpenSim. Since then, a number of visitors have given the noted sim a last look before it’s scheduled end.

For three years, the sim stood as an example of creativity and humor in Second Life. The area consisted of two rooms in a house that took up the entire place, visiting residents looking about the size of mice in comparison. In fact, one walked into the rooms from a mousehole. The human owners were nowhere to be seen, but who was around were numerous tiny green men known as the “Greenies.” They could be seen in various amusing situations from trying to figure out something, to riding one of the household toys, and occasionally getting in a bit of trouble.

The whimsical little aliens quickly became the talk of Second Life, and the place was recommended to newcomers as a must-see location. And over time, Rezzable made little changes to the place, such as an occasional new Greenie, temporarily adding in games such as the roach-zapping pest control, once the mothership appeared in the sim, accessible via the Greenies small saucers, the family TV and scanners on the ship broadcasting a 1950’s alien invasion TV show. There was also a sequel sim, “Greenies Lawn.” And of course, the little aliens appeared in Relay for Life sims, such as one depicting the accidental death of dinosaurs from them, and appearing in Second Life’s Fifth Birthday celebration. Rezzable did other noted sims such as “Carnival of Doom,” but Greenies Home remained their most famous.

Almost a year ago on July 7 2009, Rezzable announced it would be withdrawing it’s sims from Second Life, and moving the places to OpenSim. But Greenies Home would be staying, at least for the time being, as Rezzable’s last sim of 40 at their peak.

And on June 15th, came the news Greenies Home would soon be gone from the Metaverse as well, "now it is time for the Greenies to come home."

Taking a look last week, I found a few new aliens I hadn’t noticed before. This included one next to an ad for their OpsnSim grid. Then again, it had been some time since I was last hear. At the Greenies store, I went ahead and got one of their avatars as a momento. Over time, there has been quite a variety of costumed Greenies, such as pirate, vampire, and even Gorean (showing their sense of humor again). Yours truly just got your basic Greenie. There were also a number of freebie items up on vendors.

The final week had various events at the sim. There were a couple fishing parties, the second on on Sunday from 1 to 3 SL time. On Wednesday the final day, from 1 to 4 PM SL time there were two live music events by Thumper Boucher and Truelie Telling. After the partiers dispersed, people continued to drop in for a final look. Some locations had copies available for sale, marked by a red tag. For a price, fans could take a momento home with them.

Most people this reporter overheard were sad to hear of the little green fellows leaving Second Life. A few commented they had never heard of them, scratching their heads at the fuss. But they were a minority.

And so a piece of Second Life disappears, leaving behind memories, a few Greenie rings and other souvenirs, and of course those Greenie avatars. So perhaps they did not truly make a complete exit.

“Live Green and prosper.”

Bixyl Shuftan