This post is going to involve fake names for real people and real names
for fake places. The odd thing about Second Life is that's how
everything works. Clubs are a lot like chat rooms and what brings people
to spend time in one is based on several factors: the atmosphere of the
club itself, what kind of music is played there, and the type of people
you're likely to interact with.
You
look at a club like the Rainbow Tiger out in Furnation. Okay, it's a
furry club, so you're going to run into furries. The place has dark
walls with bright splashes of neon and the music tends to be 90s dance
tracks.
Or there was Smooth, a jazz club. It was mostly modern
smooth jazz, and the place looked like a hotel ballroom. It wasn't
uncommon for folks to show up in fancy dress.
Junkyard Blues is
outside, in a junkyard. There's spool tables and the music is blues. The
crowd there is a little older than in a lot of other clubs (like,
they're talking about their kids going to college), but they're also
very casual about sex. It's a friendly group, but some might find it
offensive.
The Velvet, where I play, will be turning five years
old this October. I've been with them since day one and my group tag is
unique to me. It looks like an old movie theater, but the ceilings are
very high and there are skylights. This only matters if we do something
on the roof, which is not often.
When Push first opened the
Velvet, there was an event almost every night. We had frequent contests.
Eventually, we didn't need the contests because we had a strong core
group of people who enjoyed each other's company and we liked listening
to the same kind of music.
There were other clubs. The
Winchester was a sister club to the Velvet, sharing the population and
tastes. There was Emerald City and that was a similar situation.
When
the Velvet left the Iron Fist sim, there was a brief period of unease
and the Silo opened (a whole story unto itself). The Winchester had a
brief uptick in attendance and there were two other clubs that opened. I
don't recall their names because they did not last long.
The
Velvet reopened in Romero, which was going to be a zombie sim. The club
floated some several hundred feet over the sim while things were being
worked on below. Jasper took over as manager.
The Winchester went
through some drama and closed, then re-opened in another location and
with a new configuration. Then it moved again. Then it was in Emerald
City's backyard (which was very nice of them). Then it closed for good.
The
Velvet finally landed in Romero, which was no longer a zombie sim
because some backers pulled out. There were still places to explore and
an abandoned strip-mall (with laundromat) down the street. We would have
sets in the parking lot there if we felt like it.
I think this
is about the time the Crow's Foot opened (the Crow for short). I know
they just had a three-year anniversary, so I'm trying to keep the
chronology straight. The Crow is unusual in that it is one of the few
clubs that's on "mainland".
In Second Life, the sims are 1000 by
1000 meter squares. These knit together to form the world we inhabit.
If you look at the map, you'll see two large continents surrounded by
many islands. Furnation is an island that has grown larger over the
years. Iron Fist was an island.
The Welcome Areas (where new
users appear after they crate an account) are on the mainland. You can
walk or fly from one end of the mainland to the other (I did once in
'05), but you cannot fly to an island. There is nothing between the
mainland and the islands; there are no sims to pass through. You can
only teleport there.
What this means is the mainland is more
likely to experience griefing. Woodrow, the owner and manager of the
Crow, has had to throw people out before. Woodrow has managed the Crow
since it opened.
Emerald City shuttered its doors. The Silo blew
up (literally). The club down the street from the Silo, the Double
Daughter, closed down.
The Velvet moved from Romero to a new
sim, Downtown. That's where it is now. It has never changed shape or
size, the posters on the walls are the same ones from 2006. I have been a
DJ there since 2007 and played nearly every Friday night, throughout it
all.
Late last year, Japser handed off management to Astrud.
Azadine, who used to play before me, stopped playing around November.
This is about the time the Workhouse opened.
I took April off
from Djing. I did play a show for Applecross (which is a roving show
that could be anywhere; there's no set schedule). When I came back,
things were getting sluggish. I figured it was the nice weather.
Why did I think that? Because I am an idiot.
What
was really going on was Astrud. I don't know what she was doing because
I never saw it directly, but she was running people off. DJs weren't
showing up to sets, folks were telling me that she had pissed them off
and they would not come back. It just went on like that.
I did
encounter this behavior once, but I blew it off as Astrud being Astrud.
She'd been a DJ before and always carried a little attitude, because she
has a pretty girl's personality. I didn't know she was ejecting people,
as was reported to me later.
In June, Pique took over as
manager. A giant UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT sign was figuratively hung outside
and the Velvet had a "re-branding" party. Please come back. Pretty
please.
I was not invited to play.
At the time, I blew it
off. The event was going to be on the weekend, and I'm generally not on
SL during the weekend because I am Doing Other Things. I wasn't going
to get high-school huffy about it. Did I feel a little slighted? Well,
yeah, but it was a "re-branding" and that means out with the old! It's
going to be hard to sell yourself as something new when someone's who's
been there since day one is there.
Darn from the Crow said it was bullshit and offered me his slot. I said it would be fine and to not worry about it.
This
is about the time when I decided the best way for ME to keep up
attendance at a show was to start an hour later. Darn plays at the Crow
from 7-9 SL time and people would wait until his set was over before
they'd meander to mine. I'm cool with that. I let Darn know what I was
doing and would go hang out at the Crow before going back to the Velvet
to start my set. This has worked out for us, as cooperation is better
than competition.
And, to be honest, the Crow has been my plan B for a while. Back in January, when it looked like the Crow might close, I played at the 3-year party. Darn's been bugging me to move over there and I've really been thinking about it for a while.
I
haven't made the move for a number of reasons. I think the main problem
is pride. I saw the Velvet open and, goddamnit, if it was going to go
under, I was going to be there to watch it. And I kept hoping that
things would turn around.
It used to be that I could get on late
at night and there was always something happening at the Velvet. It has
not been that way for a while, and things shut down by 8 (10 my time).
There is no one scheduled to play Monday nights, so if I get on, the
only thing going is at the Workhouse.
Now, I like the
people at the Workhouse. I like the DJs there and I like the people they
attract. I had considered a move there, but I think their schedule is
pretty much filled, so there's not going to be a space for me and I'm
actually cool with that. It's a new place filled with new faces and
names and I can understand the appeal. People want new. People want to
be excited and I think the Workhouse is doing a great job with that.
There's also a lot of old Velvet people playing there and, considering
what happened earlier this year, I'm glad they could find a welcome port
in the storm.
And if I was going to quit, I should have done it while Astrud was running things into the ground. It would have meant something then and now it's just an empty gesture.
I'm
loyal and stupidly so. I don't like giving up on things. This is why I
have a house full of old computers (that all still work!) and why I was
stuck in that marriage for so long. I will not give up on things because I want it to work. I want it to get better. And that's my pride again, telling me it has to work. I refuse to think that I could have wasted my time.
And wasting my time is a mortal sin.
Jasper
is still around, sending out little notes from time to time or letting
us know about new stream info. I have a note from him in March of this
year, talking about how attendance has dropped off and people are
missing sets. He could see the club was hurting and wanted things to
turn around.
While I was hanging out at the Crow,
listening to Darn's set before my own started, Maht made his
announcement that he was taking over as manager via group IM.
Some random person I've never heard of said, "aw, i thought there would be music tonight :("
Yes,
there is music on Friday night. There is always music on Friday night.
THERE HAS BEEN MUSIC ON FRIDAY NIGHT FOR FOUR YEARS.
I was beside myself. I was fucking beside myself and it really took just everything in me to not go off on a rant.
And most of the folks at the Crow Friday night are also in the Velvet group, so they saw that.
I was standing there, surrounded by people who do come to my show, who know I've been unhappy and worried, and they asked me, “How much longer are you going to play there?”
Some
random jackass is going to make me quit? Some stupid idiot who can't
read the group notices THAT I PUT OUT EVERY FIRDAY NIGHT is going to
make me end it right there and then? And this was after I had sent the notice.
I
let Maht know why I play at 9 instead of 8. He agreed that it was the
best course of action. Maht played for a while before I went over to
start my set.
For all the hurt and angst and bullshit leading up
to it, it was a great set. Everyone enjoyed what I played and we had
some great conversation and there were many tips to be made. It was like
it used to be.
Oh Velvet, why can't a quit you? Because you
pull stunts like this. You knock me around and grind me down and just
when I think I'm going to walk out the front door, you give me what I've
been asking for. If it continues like this, everything I've said up to
this point will be moot.
I am I a sucker for sticking to it?
Yes, but I'm going to have a good time until it crashes down around me. I even have the final notice pre-written:
I was here when it started
The drama comes and goes
And quiet is what I chose
As I watched while founders parted
I'll be here when it all ends
When the whole thing implodes
And everyone picks different roads.
If we're lucky, we stay friends
But all throughout the years
I've sent out my little rhymes.
I won't include a landmark for this
And for all the laughter and tears
You have to say we had good times.
Jesus, you know where it resides.
