Trinity451 – Not your ordinary singer in the Matrix Brooke Blackburn Reporting:

                                          

They say “Music hath charms to soothe a savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak”. That’s part of a poem by William Congreve that conveys the essence of Music. Music is all that and so much more. It’s been proven music has health benefits that can affect heart rate and blood pressure and can possibly prevent future heart attacks. Music can bring a tear to your eye or make you feel you are on top of the world.

One of the performers that can invoke that kind of passion is Trinity451 or “Trin” as she likes to go by. She is a wife and mother of 3 from the US and not only does she have an angelic voice but can win over the crowd by making it a personal experience like she is singing just to you. Few performers in Second Life have that type of ability. It’s a treat for the ears to hear Trin sing and I am one who was able to get that chance.

On December 16, 2016, Trinity451 arrived in Second Life. A “late bloomer” in the music world as she describes herself, but after you hear her you’ll understand she is here to quickly take it by storm. She can certainly hold her own with top performers in Second Life and has a more rounded song library than most. She can sing songs from Soft Rock to Modern Pop and her first song of the evening was Superstar by The Carpenters. That was such an appropriate song because right away you’ll be able to tell she is a “Superstar”.

Her 2-hour set that night consisted of:

Superstar – The Carpenters

Somethings got a hold on me – Christina Aguilera

25 or 6 to 4 - Chicago

First time ever I saw your face – Roberta Flack

A Broken Wing – Martina McBride

I’ve got to see you again – Norah Jones

Landslide – Fleetwood Mac

Dreams – Fleetwood Mac

Sweet Dreams – Eurythmics

Turn me on – Norah Jones

Uptown Funk – Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars

Glitter in the Air – Pink

Crazy – Patsy Cline

Interview with Trinity451 (Trin): 

Brooke Blackburn (BB)   At What age did you first start singing?

Trin: So young I really don't remember but all in school...grade/JR and high school but I know I started well before that.

BB: So since you were a teenager?

Trin: Younger than that like 9, but yes, really started singing in Jr high in choir and solos.

BB: Have you been singing all your life?

Trin: I'm a Midwest gal. I got married and had kids and let singing slip away to my regret.

BB: How much of your life have you dedicated to music?

Trin: After I got married...I quit for many years with having kids. I felt I was missing something. I've been to many karaoke places and loved it. Then I found online places like Paltalk and Second Life. Especially Second Life! I really feel I found my niche.

BB: Did you come to SL to sing or was it something else?

Trin: I came from Paltalk and I heard about the venues here and singing live. So I came here and I sang in the open mic for about a year. So I didn't start singing in venues till just about 2 years ago.

 

BB: Do you perform in clubs in real life?

Trin: I don't perform in real life because in my earlier years, I had horrible stage fright that kept me from pursuing further exposure, but that SL has helped me overcome a lot of those fears and I hope to be able to expand.

BB: What artists have influenced you or who are your favorite singers?

Trin: Barbara Streisand, Patsy Cline… I love Christina Aguilera.

BB: How long have you been singing in Second Life?

Trin: Just a lil over a year… no, it's about 2 years.

BB: Do have any type of songs that are your favorite? 

Trin: Well, Patsy of course... a lot of hers. I have some new favorites that I just learned and some contemporary songs. I have to say...ballads are my thing.

BB: Do you sing any original songs in your Second Life sets?

Trin: I've thought of lyrics, but no, haven't written any…. poems mostly and would like to put it to melody.

BB: For bookings who can fans contact?

Trin: I have a manager, her name is crearwy.bugaboo. She handles all my bookings and if you want me to sing at your club, please call her and she will make sure to set you up.

BB: What is your fee?

Trin: I ask the venue for L$1500 - 2000 per show.

Trinity451 has a bright future ahead of her. I’ll end this the same as Trin ends all her sets with a Patsy Cline reference… You owe it yourself to hear her sing and you are “Crazy” if you don’t. You can catch her at the Mountain Lion, Sweet Genesis, or The Night Owl. She performs at each weekly so call ahead and see when she is scheduled.   

" I love singing, it is a passion " – Trinity451

Additional Information:

Join my group in Second Life!

Group Code: 4e2bbc98-836d-d992-b51f-83b63996d89e

Calendar: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=lkps6kqqbcoau2ce4t1h4g8oh0@group.calendar.google.com&ctz=

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Trinity451

Bookings Contact: crearwy.bugaboo

 

Read More

Roxanne Ysabel – A Rising Star in the Music World-Brooke Blackburn Reporting

                                                 
 Music influences so much of our everyday lives we take it for granted. From turning on the radio in our car to slipping on a pair of earbuds to go for a jog, we all need music to entertain us. This year has been one for the history books and incredibly hard on the vast majority of people in the world. It is at this time we need music to lift us up and invoke the emotions needed to get us through these difficult times. Music has been a great passion of mine, and to get a chance to experience some of the world’s great singers is a dream of mine. I was at Coachella in 2006, I was at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary in 2009, and I was at the Fleetwood Mac “On with the show” tour in 2014 to name a few. But with real life venues canceling concerts and social distancing concerns, finding an outlet for great live music has been a challenge. So many of us need to have music to provide us with the entertainment and hope for a better future. But more than that we need it from great singers that can convey that with the heart and soul that touch us emotionally. 

One way to get that live music fix is to attend the myriad of music stages Second Life has to offer. Almost 24 hours a day you can be entertained with exceptional talent from around the world. One of those rising stars is Roxanne Ysabel. She has a vocal range few can match and although she prefers to sing Jazz and Blues, has a wide variety of songs on her list she has mastered. 

I was able to catch up with Roxanne one summer evening and with the vast number of talent Second Life has to offer, this is one performer you will want to go out of your way to hear. Her rendition of the song River Deep, Mountain High could give Celine Dion a run for her money! 

Roxanne Ysabel arrived in Second Life November 20, 2009, and quickly took to the music scene, starting to perform with a voice that is destined for greatness. Her lyrical style is more comfortable with Aretha Franklin and Frank Sinatra but can venture out to artists like Michael Bublé, Rihanna, and Beyoncé. 

Her set that night consisted of:

• Fire – Pointer Sister

• I wanna dance with somebody – Whitney Houston

• Give it to me right – Melanie Fiona

• Turn me on – Norah Jones

• River Deep, Mountain High – Tina Turner

• Chain of Fools – Aretha Franklin
  
  

Interview with Roxanne Ysabel (Roxy):

Brooke Blackburn (BB): At What age did you first start singing?

Roxy: Probably since I was about 6 months old lol. My mother said I would hum entire songs from the radio and commercials. But my first performance was of course when I was about 9 in church.

BB: So, you were encouraged by your family to sing?

Roxy: Yes, my father’s family all sang or played instruments in southern Baptist church. When they found out you could sing or play they would stick you right in front of the church and say “Go for it!!”

BB: How long have you been singing in Second Life?

Roxy: Since 2011, singing was the first thing I ever did in Second Life. The first word I typed in search was “Karaoke”.

BB: How much of your life has been dedicated to music?

Roxy: Most of it. I would say I was always in some type of chorus or choir, then went on to do my first year of high school in a performing arts repertory company. As a young adult, I also was in a theater group in my city and we did musical dramatic performances.

BB: Do you sing and perform in Real Life now?

Roxy: Not anymore, for a while when I turned 30, I gave birth to a special needs child and I felt my time was best spent at home with him and so Second Life is my main outlet for performing. 

BB: And Second Life allows you the time to look after you child and sing?

Roxy: Yes, it does, and I’m very grateful for this platform. 

BB: Is Jazz your favorite style of music or do you prefer something else?

Roxy: Jazz and Blues are like my forte, but I always believed in reaching. You can never better yourself if you don’t push your limits… River Deep is a really fun song. It’s my newest addition to the “Roxanne pushes herself secret song list”.

BB: What artists have influenced you or who are your favorite singers?

Roxy: Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Tina Turner, Chaka Khan, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin….

(BB) Do you write songs? Have you written anything original?

Roxy: There is actually an old song on my YouTube channel written by me. It needs to be revamped, maybe it’s what I’ll start with…

BB: Do you sing any original songs in your Second Life sets?

Roxy: Oh, that would be great but it’s scary too.

BB: Well you like to push yourself, and we are always the most critical about ourselves. 

Roxy: Yes I do and it’s something I will be considering over the next year. Believe it or not I’m very shy, so something like that has the fear of god in me and yes even after all these years I still get butterflies.

BB: For booking who can fans contact?

Roxy: I have a manager, her name is Sol Mercury, and she can handle all inquiries about me from bookings to my song list.

BB: What is your fee?

Roxy: I ask the venue for L$3000 per show.

 

Roxanne Ysabel is an act few can follow. Check her out at one of the many venues around Second Life and one of her goals is to perform at the main stage at Second Life Birthday (SLB18). I for one can’t wait to see that happen!!  

"Music is food for the soul." – Roxanne Ysabel

Additional Information:

Join my group in Second Life!

Group Code: 32aae73f-8265-5aeb-0532-55653ea58df7

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ItachiOkasan
Calendar: https://www.roxannerox.com/roxanne-s-calendar
Website: https://www.roxannerox.com/
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/188526654@N02/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roxanne.ysabel
Bookings Contact: Sol Mercury

Read More

ARE YOU A SECOND LIFE FAMILY GUY? – BROOKE BLACKBURN REPORTING…

For most of us, we logon to an online experience, wait for our avatar to materialize and away we go. We leave the physical world and all its responsibilities behind us. No thinking about making a hair appointment or what’s covered on our health insurance plan. Just relax, unwind and leave all our stress of the physical world behind. It’s time to move ahead to whatever your destiny has in store for you.

But what if your adventure was “responsibility”? In Second Life, the care of virtual pets and livestock is pretty commonplace now. Logging in everyday to make sure your Amaretto Horse or Dragon has been fed is all too familiar. But what if your responsibility was not for an animal but was the upbringing of a child? People have been able to partner in Second Life almost since its inception. Shortly after that, the ability to get pregnant and give birth became available. Avatar body modifications and scripting have led couples to experience virtual childbirth. But beyond that, the offspring was little more than a wire frame and polygons and that left an intellectual emptiness for new parents wanting to interact with their new bundle of joy. Now those voids are being filled by other avatars role playing as children. However unsettling age play is to some, it’s perfectly normal to others. A completely non-sexual plutonic experience with adults playing the role as minors. This might sound like something you don’t want any part of, but for those who do, the reasons are as diverse as grains of sand on a beach.

Is role playing as a minor that much different from role playing as a hundred year old mythical creature or possibly a newly born woodland animal? Those situations don’t seem far fetched but the thought of it being an adolescent human played by an adult is off putting to many. We have been taught to fear those people, that they have some secret hidden agenda. But the vast majority are and just have chosen to let their inner child come out. Of those that do enjoy this, some are compensating for a traumatic and abusive physical childhood or wanting to return to a time when they can only remember that life was good. And what about the people who choose to be parents? Some of these adults can’t have children of their own and the long road of spending hours wondering when they will receive a phone call from a physical world adoption agency can take a toll on their mental stability. Some feel a sense of guilt from thinking they are keeping their spouse from being a parent. These and many other issues can be eased with role playing filling that immediate void of parenting.

An incredible sense of joy from this symbiotic relationship can have a powerful impact in someone’s mental state. But does that experience need to end with only an immediate family? In the physical world we have many family members… aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins even God parents. All of them share, help and interact to make us who we are. Why can’t that be the case in Second Life? Lots of people make long lasting virtual world friendships with people of all walks of life. The Empty nester who comes here to express their art. The middle-aged builder who sees what kind of monument can be created. Newlywed couples seeking to spend time talking with other like minded couples. These people make friendships that turn into substantial family bonds. A sense of family from all over the globe helping, sharing and interacting in each other’s lives. These people have their own role to play tailored to their unique lifestyle.

Virtual world families, just like physical world families, enjoy spending time together. Grandparents may take their grandchildren to an amusement park SIM and try to get to know them a little better. Cousins who would have never met any other way, hangout and chat about how they cope with real life issues. And parents may confide with older avatars how different parenting techniques differ from years ago. The interaction is as endless as it is in the physical world.

This may come as a shock to some of you because it doesn’t fit your cookie cutter experiences. I for one didn’t know this entire genre existed until I started researching it. We are so used to traveling in our own linear directions we don’t stop and think there may be a path we haven’t traveled yet. But isn’t that what life’s journey has in store for us? We all start out with a plan in life, whatever that might be and very rarely does that plan become reality. There is truth in the cliché “If you want to make God laugh, then make a plan”. It’s these detours that make us who we are today. Life’s stumbles and how we cope with them makes us stronger. We all need a support network and not everyone has that in the physical world. Isn’t it nice to know that even if we feel alone, we can still have that support just a few clicks away? I for one am grateful for the friendships I have made here in Second Life. Their kind words of encouragement they express to me every day, standing by me in hard times, laughing with me when I feel silly and giving me some of their wisdom whether I asked for it or not! Isn’t that what families really are?

In my next segment, I interview children and parents of families to see exactly why they have chosen to become a Second Life Family. 

Read More

ARE THE EFFECTS OF COVID-19 REACHING BEYOND THE PHYSICAL WORLD? – BROOKE BLACKBURN REPORTING…

A whole new world.

It’s a new world in this age of Covid-19 and for many of us, it’s been a life-altering. Living in the physical world in complete lockdowns only to travel out for food and emergencies has been tough on so many. How do we function as humans and have our intellectual and emotional needs met? How do we keep ourselves entertained and not go crazy from loneliness and boredom? This Pandemic has had one significant difference from past outbreaks … the internet. Life’s highway of information made from copper and silicon running to every corner of the world. For many, this is the only way they can communicate with others. Having to cut back to stretch every dollar these days has been difficult but keeping internet service running and that window to the outside world open has been a necessity for most.

Reaching for something different.

Staying inside and running out of Netflix shows to watch, many are turning to other forms of online entertainment. The ones who crave more than then endless Xbox or Playstation shooting and destruction are looking for something different, a little more meaningful. They find their way to Second Life. With everyone’s First Life sheltered in place, Second Life allows them to reach out and fulfill the experiences they’re missing. Going to a club and dancing to live music, heading out to an amusement park, or whatever entertainment you crave, these things have all been put on hold in the physical world but they can be lived out in Second Life.

Who’s benefiting?

At the root of every experience are the resources to make it worthwhile. Beyond the basic infrastructure that Linden Labs has provided, are the businesses that make Second Life function. These businesses provide members with anything from a mesh body and clothes to the venues we go dancing and listen to music. Are these businesses benefiting from the additional people who are logging in to Second Life on a daily basis? Linden Labs last statistical figures showed in a 24 hours period 30 to 45 thousand people log in to Second Life but they have stopped reporting this information over a year ago. It’s difficult to see if these numbers have increased due to the lack of transparency. Is Linden Labs hiding this information from business owners to cover up the truth about the online activity? Are businesses wondering what’s going to happen to their bottom line while fees go up and just being told life is fine? If they are left holding the bag, I can tell you one thing, just like casinos, the house will always win.

  

Businesses speak out.

I interviewed several businesses to see if their sales have actually increased since the onset of Covid-19 and the lockdown began. The results are very interesting. While most music and dance clubs have not seen a profit, they did indicate an increase in visitors to their clubs. Guru, the part-owner of The Merry Pranksters, told me they have not seen a profit but their increased customers are more from old accounts coming back to life then new memberships. Some club owners like Melodee McDonnell of SongBirds and JAdmiral Maelstrom of Eclipse, couldn’t give statically data because their clubs are too new for comparison but it may be a good sign that new businesses are opening.

Some stores have not seen any increase in business at all since the worldwide pandemic started. Widget, the owner of Sahi Furniture, told me she has a loyal group of repeat customers that get her through the tough summer months but has not seen any new member sales since Christmas. That is her busiest time of the year for her beautiful furniture creations.

Some of the largest clothing retailers were unavailable for comment but a surprising business has shown a significant increase in sales since the beginning of the year. Teegle, providers of fine horses and equestrian products, have seen a nearly 400% increase over last year’s sales, with a remarkable 50% going to new customers. Whether this trend will continue remains to be seen, let’s hope their sales continue an upward movement.

Why are people joining Second Life?

Everyone has their own story and reason for coming to SL, but I spoke with several new members at the welcoming platform to see if there was some common ground. I interviewed about 10 new members at random and with ages ranging from 2 days to 2 months. None of them were premium members and most are reluctant to spend any money. With the uncertainty of the economy in the physical world, they prefer to hang on to their hard-earned income for necessities then spend it here. The few who have purchased items have done so to improve their looks. What became evident to me very soon after interviewing them was that most came here to find a human connection. To find someone to talk to. To help overcome being shy, to be more extroverted, or to possibly make a romantic connection. As most of the world has been quarantined in their homes and in the bleakest of times, people still need to connect with others. To get the reassurance they’re not alone. People need to express themselves and feel loved. Joining gives them that outlet and the ability to reach out and see there are others just like themselves who find it enjoyable to spend time together. So if they find it fun to go shopping together, ride on a carousel next to one another or sit on a couch and just cuddle, I’m sure the Second Life business will be more than willing to provide them with the means to do so…  

IMPORTANT LINKS

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Abaris%20dAlliez/97/33/22, http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife//208/223/22, http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Prankster%20Isle/116/128/52, http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Teegle/217/127/22, http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Andarah%20Island/203/185/22 

Read More