Canipanic Maslow and the ongoing legacy of the ~O~ Lounge - Wendz Tempest Reporting

    The history of the  ~O~ Lounge is rich and colorful with humble beginnings, a love for all music genres, and an appreciation for all types of voices. Novice, intermediate, professional, these titles do not mean as much as the fun and camaraderie experienced in the wonderful world of Karaoke entertainment.

   In the front and center, managing the ~O~ Lounge is Canipanic Maslow, veteran producer & performer on the fly, who has recently moved the lounge’s location to another region, complete with a new and larger venue. This year, the  ~O~ Lounge turns 16 and continues to open its doors 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, still the prime location for discovering Second Life’s latest and greatest on the live music scene. 

  Here we ask Cani a few questions about himself and questions about what his greatest work in Second Life is.

WT- Please tell the readers a little about yourself, how you came to Second Life?

Canipanic Maslow (CM)- Initially I came to Second Life because I was playing Tiger Woods Golf on my computer. And I saw something that mentioned this 3D Virtual World, and I thought, ‘Wow, that’d be neat, I’ll see if they have golf.’  So I signed up for it and came in. They didn’t have golf. I found a golf shop in my search, but they only sold clothing. So for the first year or so, I just walked around visiting people and hanging out at different campsites, learning how to do simple things. And that’s about all I did until I decided to start the  ~O~ Lounge.”

WT- How about telling the readers how you were personally involved in the creation of the  ~O~ Lounge?

CM - I was hanging around this girl, named Bell Clellon, and she was a KJ (Karaoke Jockey) in real life. She had a thing she did every week in her town, where she went out there and ran the karaoke thing. I was hanging around with her and I said, “Well let’s do it here!”.  So she was the inspiration for it. When we tried it back then, there was no voice (in SL) so we tried it on Skype, and anybody that wanted to join us had to join Skype. It was really problematic. Basically, I gave up, thinking it couldn't be done.

One day I was hanging around a girl named Mitzi, we were on voice, and she told me, “Cani, mute your mic. I love this song!”. I didn’t know what she meant, but I muted my mic. And then she turned her speakers on, and she sang.

And that was the day the ~O~ Lounge was born because then everything was in sync. It dawned on me that as long as the microphone could hear the voice and the speakers at the same time, it’ll be in sync. Because before, we could never get everything in sync. That was the day Karaoke was born in Second Life. Open Mic Karaoke. There was nothing like that before. There were performers, but nothing with Open Mic.

And it took off right away. Mitzi was the builder so she built the lounge, and I went all around and was telling people about it. Nobody believed me. I’d say, “Next week we’re going to start Karaoke.” And they’d say, “Karaoke, what are you talking about, you can’t do karaoke here.”

Our grand opening was a hit, there were 28 people there because everyone was curious as to how we were going to do Karaoke in Second Life. We only did it once a week at that time, but people wanted more. It became 2 days a week for a few hours. Then more days and more hours, and people weren’t leaving after 5 hours. It was just a matter of 3 months when we decided to make it full-time, 24/7, because nobody would go home, they just wanted to sing and sing. And we’ve been like that ever since.

WT - What else do you do in Second Life to promote the Live music scene?

CM- Elvera and I, (Elvera Lerner is the co-owner of the  ~O~ Lounge with me), she is the co-owner of the ~O~ Lounge also, and The Music Hall of Fame Group. She keeps me firmly planted in reality and my head out of the clouds. 

The Music Hall of Fame Group was started by a woman named BringitOn Paine. She was one of the biggest promoters of the music scene in Second Life. She became ill and couldn’t continue on so she asked Elvera and I if she could take it over for her. In most groups with singers, all they’re able to do is send out notices for their shows. 

WT- Please elaborate on what the Music Hall of Fame group is?
CM- The Music Hall of Fame has a resource center. These performers can add their names to be hired and venue owners can come in and click on a board. There are three buttons which are, fees or tips, the genre they want, and the day of the week/time they need them to perform. There are 170 top performers on that Music Hall of Fame board and only the ones that fit that category or criteria, are going to be shown to them.

There’s also a board up there with all the open mic places and karaoke places I could find in Second Life because new performers need to get established. I always bring new performers to the resource center, and I show them that board and tell them they need to go to as many open mics as they can, to become established. Venue owners go there looking for people to hire, and that’s the way people get to know you.

There are other resources like where to get your stream, Soundcloud links, ReverbNation, or youtube, wherever they have their music.

I encourage people at the  ~O~ Lounge to start performing when I hear someone that I think can do it. Plus I also help people learn how to stream. That’s what I do, and everyone around me tends to be the same way. They have the same passions. 

WT- The  ~O~ Lounge continues to be a haven for novices and professionals alike, and your work with the Music Hall of Fame has helped so many performers. Tell us a little bit about what you’re currently working on?

CM- I have an  ~O~ Karaoke Lounge website that’s being worked on right now that is going to promote a lot of people as well as the  ~O~ Karaoke Lounge Podcast that I’ve reinstated which started in 2012.  I’ll be doing interviews, teaching people how to stream, making videos on how to stream, and dual stream, as well as making videos on the various broadcasters and how to set those up. 

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Playa%20Brava/32/58/22

Group: ~O~ Lounge VIPs

Preferred contact: Canipanic Maslow