THE SLE BUZZ:Meet Jenna Odisark; Editor of The Tombstone Epitaph in the 1800’s and active SL Community Member.

Jenna Odisark

Jenna Odisark lives in the United states and joined Second Life in 2009. She has been involved in many things but her real passion is Music. When asked what Second Life meant to her Jenna shared,

“To me SL is a chance to do things, even if virtual, that I probably couldn’t do in the “real world”… like own a live music venue, build and rebuild all sorts of things. I used to own airports and marinas – that would not happen in “real life”.

Jenna continued, There also is the opportunity to live out being in a different time and place. For example, I’m the editor of The Tombstone Epitaph in the 1800’s”.

SLE Buzz Interview

SLE Buzz: How did you discover Second Life and what was your first reaction?

Jenna: The first time I heard about SL was while attending a folk/acoustic music conference in Memphis called the “Folk Alliance”. They had an auditorium with a video projector showing a live music venue in SL, and a group known as “The Duhks” (pronounced ‘ducks’) were performing live from a studio – and each band member had their own avatar. After that I read an article in a broadcasting magazine (I worked in radio at the time) about live music in SL, and thought I’d check it out. Have been SL ever since.

SLE Buzz: What are three special things you wished everyone in SL knew about you and or your club (your event,/ your performance).

Jenna: I’ve been working with friends on a project called Pictascope, which produces film (video) of various subjects in SL. Many are of the era of the silent film. There are plans to organize an SL film festival in the near future.

Also have enjoyed writing and reporting for various publications, including the SLE for a time. Currently am the editor of The Tombstone Epitaph in the western role play sim of Tombstone. The paper mixes stories about events happening in the SL Tombstone, along with stories from RL from the time being portrayed to give some historical perspective, and background.

The most current project is putting together a ‘tour’ of live musicians to recreate a bus tour which happened in RL back in the 1960’s. It had been written about in articles, and chronicled in Tom Wolfe’s “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test”. This bus, named “Further”, was painted in psychedelic designs and traveled all over the country spreading anti-war sentiments and doing much to establish the term “hippie”. Of the members who were traveling on the bus was a musical group who called themselves “The Warlocks” originally, but changed their name to the “Grateful Dead”.

This project in SL will take a bus to various places in SL that doesn’t regularly have live music. The idea being to spread live music to places and people in SL who aren’t familiar with live SL music and hopefully will have them want to listen to more.  Right now there are four performers who will be taking part, and it’s expected there will be more as the project progresses.

Some of the performers on board are  Barby (Celticmaidenwarrior Lancaster), Vinnie (Acoustic Rhapsody ) Etherian Kamaboko, and myself.

SLE Buzz:Can you tell SLE what inspired  your involvement in the SL community?

Jenna: The music. There are so many very talented people doing so many different kinds of music, many who also play the instruments that back them up. In fact it was singing regularly in SL that gave me the confidence to perform at fairs and festivals in RL.

SLE Buzz:What are your thoughts on the SL culture? What would you change to improve the quality of your experience?

Jenna: One thing that has always bothered me are those that seem to think that all of SL is only a game, and the others who are in SL are there exclusively for their own personal entertainment, or completely ignore the fact that there is a live, living person on the other keyboards. It would be nice if more people realized that fact.

SLE Buzz:What have you learned about yourself in SL?

Jenna: Mostly I’ve gained confidence in myself.

SLE Buzz:What is your most memorable moment?

Jenna: There was a time right after I got involved with the live music in SL that one of the musicians was diagnosed with cancer in RL. The music community came together to do fundraisers for him and his family to help with the medical expenses. There is no way that what was raised would cover their costs, but I’m sure in some way it helped. That struck me as a very memorable time…. and it has happened more than once where people in SL have come together to help someone or a cause (like Relay for Life, Breast Cancer research, etc).

What are your favorite places to visit in SL for entertainment?

Jenna: There are so many – generally live music or dance venues such as:

The Merry Pranksters - Prankster Isle (144, 131, 55)

The Acoustic Cave, Isle of Azariah (170, 79, 22)

The Empire Room (burlesque dancing – artistic, not stripping) Copperhead Road (74, 64, 2753)

Moulin Rouge (burlesque dancing) , Moulin Rouge (88, 195, 21)

Avilion Grove Ballroom, Avilion Grove (136, 128, 52)

SLE Buzz:How would you describe your personal style in three words?

Jenna: Shy. Positive. Trusting.

SLE Buzz:Where do you like to shop?

Jenna: The Paris 1910 sims;  Paris 1900 (191, 80, 24)

Additional Information:

Preferred contact: Jenna Odisark (in world)

SLURL:Prankster Isle (36, 98, 24)That’s my SL “home”

Facebook: Jenna Odisark