Its a Mod second life

Links Galore

2011-12-20T19:15:00.000-08:00

Nothing much happening in my Second Life its all kind of on hold due to the brutality of real life; but anyway there's also a lot of Northern Soul stuff going on in the real world. Great Radio 2 documentary plus a major film for next year check the links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b0186ss5

http://northernsoulthefilm.com/

Also noted from the messages popping up in my e-mail box that Slate is playing almost non stop with lots of impromptu nights happening. hope everyone is having fun and a Merry Christmas to you all.

Albion's gone AWOL

2011-09-13T03:40:00.000-07:00

A month on and the blog is even quieter, anyway basically my mum is ill and that's consumed a lot of time, she's been transferred from home to the hospital down here as its the place where they do this kind of treatment. Shit hit the fan and things went from bad to worse, after a lot of heavy stuff things seem to be back on an even keel, bizarre considering the seriousness of her illness because of what had occurred we are all quite upbeat. Anyway, visiting has consumed most of my evenings or I'm just not in the mood to laugh so I've been absent from my local and favourite virtual club. Indeed I have only done this update to let the sods know I've not abandoned my virtual life, I look way too good for that, and am sad to be missing the fun and madness but hopefully should be able to gate crash the club soon. Its unlikely I'll be updating much but do hope to be inworld soon, need my fill of scouser madness, spanish sophistication, cockney bovver, etc etc.

ciao

Whats going On...........

2011-08-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

So its been very quiet on this blog, reasons too many and all to do with reality biting me on the @rse, creating a myriad of obligations that have not left me much time for frivolous frippery. I have been popping along to Soul Mods, helps me chill and get away from stuff; also listening to the cool documentaries as part of the Soul Week, check it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00przy5

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00gkz4w

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b01300fj

Hopefully you can listen in, never sure if BBC links can be accessed outside of the UK but I'm sure you clever techy types know how to circumvent such issues.

Anyway, back to my virtual life - its hit another hiatus whilst things this side of the screen get resolved; there have been a few really fun nights at Soul Mods with various people on deck its still the greatest place for virtual mods on the grid and if you have not been,,,why the feck not!

Pretty bland post this but hope you enjoy the links and hopefully once this immediate issue is resolved things can get back on track virtuality wise, keep the faith!

ciao

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-07-23T05:31:00.000-07:00

A while back I bought a trio of cheap shirt from Aqua, they may have been in an end of season sale I forget. At the time I thought they looked pretty cool and for thirty lindens were a real bargain. Neat collar sharp thin tie nice colours well textured ideal sixties look. Anyway as so often they were bought thrown into the mods folder in my inventory and promptly forgotten.

Then as often happens I was at Soul Mods and dressed down when Lupo came in looking sharp as.... Now, although I don't Albion has a definite issue with vanity, I know you think I do too but err nope not much anyway; lets get back on track people. Anyway Lupo was looking good and it was just the push to get Albion looking a tad cooler. I saw the Aqua shirts and put one on then fumbled about looking for something to match up. Opted for a very loud gold Meriken jacket and some shiny pants from Beck and Carter, plus my favourites the classic FKNY Loafers in brown. I thought it was an excellent look and then thought I probably find matching Meriken jackets for the other two shirts if I rifled through my inventory enough. Sifting through the racks of folders I found two perfect jackets and also a couple of pairs of ideal Meriken trousers that would beautifully accompany each of the jackets. Yes colour co-ordinated to the max. I'm pretty certain most of this stuff is still available I bought most of these items at reduced rates, check them out or better still shuffle through your own inventory and mix and match some new stuff with some old to give yourself a nice sharp look. Or better still grab your own Lupo and copy his look...it works for me.

Ah that's a bugger they were so cheap as they were in the stores closing down sale, oh well at least I got them, so that's good. You could possibly tint your own modifiable white shirts. Also bare in mind I'm a profoundly idle sod so its possible these landmark SURLS may be incorrect as they are old purchases and unlike proper bloggers I have failed to rigorously check them, hey look on it as a gamble an adventure have fun!

Meriken
Beck and Carter
FKNY

A film Star is Pixelated*

2011-07-19T00:38:00.000-07:00

As I missed out on the uber cool Soul Mods film preview Seren kindly put together a little Albion mini-feature, thank you.

*Did you see, because I'm English and not American I said film rather than movie, because I speak English not an American version of it it so you can feck your 24/7 I prefer all day all week etc. Ta very muchly.

The Modfather truly has Soul

2011-07-18T04:37:00.000-07:00

Now many of us eighties throwbacks who sought mod rather than frilly shirts and kilts as our inspiration during our youth are firmly convinced of the immense soul on display during the Style Council years. And, whilst many yearn for a Jam reunification [err not moi I saw them as a kid why spoil the memory we are all older, greyer, balder and fatter] few call out for a revival of the classic Council line up. Yet, the Style Council oozed modernist class and their songs were soul monsters and perhaps the best way to illustrate this is not to link up some Council YouTube but instead to exhibit a few cover versions. Soul indeed...

Now if that cant convince you of the Style Council's quality, not sure what else can! And while I'm wittering on about quality any techy sods [like Kim Slate Eden et al] who know how to "capture " these tracks from YouTube I'd be very grateful for a copy ta very muchly.

However don't assume all covers are great.....Weller goes all Bon Jovi courtesy of Rod the plod, err I mean mod.

....and lets be frank the Manfred's don't do much better do they?

Now it would be churlish to leave this little post on such sour notes so chill to this better cover if you please.

ciao, more actual Second Life stuff next time I promise hahaha

Paul Weller- Starlite by IslandRecords AR UK

And much as we adore the past we also look to the future Weller single release for the summer, chill

But thats not Mod...

2011-07-14T03:30:00.000-07:00

....I know, but a lot of the virtual Soul Mods sods are big Beatles fans, and I have a soft spot for the mop tops myself so. Anyway I read Jellie's Warhol post over at Moonletters, which took me on a visit to a virtual NYC to have a wander around the Chelsea Hotel, this lead me to explore a little further and I discovered there was an Imagine garden just outside the hotel near the performance stage. Knowing there are a lot of Beatle fans in the virtual world I thought I would stick up a very brief post with a SURL for those interested in such things. It looks cool and there is a nice wooden box with suitable animations for you to sit on and strum your guitar whilsts absorbing the mood. A nice chill spot for you to explore your inner hippy.

the Imagine Garden

Bits of this and Bits of that......

2011-07-11T04:05:00.000-07:00

Despite my miserable posting performance and the fact I have missed a lot of Soul Mods nights out whilst sat in my chair; there have been a few cool things occuring in my somewhat limited Second Life.

First off, Shauna gave me a really groovy cap that matched my Hoorenbeek suit and Muism sweater perfectly, put a twenties spin on my modernist look but I thought it looked great and wore it whilst I grooved at Soul Mods a while back. Shauna is producing a lot of sharp designs at her store so I suggest you retro girls head over to Moonletters and check out all the stores as its a great place for retro clothing stores. For girls obviously, us blokes are as a rule too tight to splash our lindens on clothes,,,surely not! Looking at the sharp dressers at Soul Mods you think not but sadly they are generally the exception.

I bought myself another military mod outfit in my pursuit of the 1967 look, not sure if its quite right but I'll probably blog more on it at some point. Anyway, it looks kinda cool just need to find some trousers to set it in its sixties retro context. Also bought a wildly pink suit from Shiki, to show its not just Graz who does pink y'know. I'll blog more on this later too just thought I would mention it as an excuse for fiddling with throwing up a couple of snapshots.

Other madcap adventures followed reading Jellie's post over at the Moonletters blog which I saw as a challenge, okay I admit I cheated, whilst I went for a cuppa and watched TV I weighed down the page up key to gain height whilst I chilled, I felt it was only fair after Albion crunched his head on a floating platform, I realised how dull climbing to over 100,000m on your own can be and thirdly my finger dtarted to forget what its role in life was beyond depressing that key. And to be fair, there is really nothing up there, try it yourself, go on go on....

Albion chasing the moon, but eventually you leave all this behind and the sky is just full of stars, the guy who hit over a million meters must have gone crazy. Orbitting myself might get me to that hieght but as for flying there, werr I leave that to jellie, 103,000m give or take is probably my limit. If however you fancy it yoursef, feel free to fly high and send me a TP when you get there. Chilled in space, starring Albion Spitteler. Not much to do with virtual modernism, altho Mods in Space has a kind of freaky B Film ring to it, flying scooter anyone. Besides it gives me an excuse to post two awesome tracks, one is from the mid sixties pop art mod genre the other is mod suspect but a fantastic tune so what the feck. Have you guessed them yet, no? I cant hide my disappointment.

ciao

More Virtual Magic

2011-07-10T06:11:00.000-07:00

Admittedly it lacks a degree of Albionawesomeness but its my own fault for not getting my @rse into gear, and Seren did kindly give Albion a sequel all to himself.But this is the club I witter on about the most in this blog; and these are the wonderful people who populate our marvelous little mod metaverse with magnificent avatars full of good humour kindness and style. Roll film......

Its great isnt it!

Lets not forget...

2011-07-01T02:57:00.000-07:00

we all have real life issues going on. All the sods wish our dear friend Lupo the best and offer our condolences.

Now back in the virtual world Lupo had to cut his brilliant set short after some personal issues arose. Slate took over and was doing great right up until I crashed so I'm guessing everyone continued to have fun, whilst sparing a thought for Lupo.

I hate my computer, its typical i miss lots of Soul Mods events and thejn when I finally make it online the bloomin' thing crashes. Never mind Second Life I'm thinking of inventing terminal life for this poxy PC, curse you PC World for replacing my defunct faulty PC with this pile of poo. Ahhhh vent over, so lets see what shall I witter on about. Not much to say really, set cut short at Soul Mods followed by my crash, and that's about it. Hardly worthy of a blog post but I note I have been a bit tardy of late with the posting so felt compelled to put one up. I was feel slightly '67 mod yesterday so went with a mish mash of items to affect that kind of pop art dandyism sported by the Small Faces and Who amongst others, plenty of ruffles on show.

The jacket is an old favourite from Meriken, the shirt and ruffles are from the SF Design lord lace in black, the shoes were FREE from Kalin, [I am aware you cant see them but what the feck] and the stripey trousers are new from ,,,hmmmmI forget where but will update this post next time I log on and get the details. Anyway not much of a colour splash just greys and blacks but it still has a very '67 feel at least I think so, style over substance every time, but only in Second Life obviously. Typing this Saturday morning after missing another night at Soul Mods, I miss so much not sure I'm entitled to call myself a sod anymore anyway hope you all had fun at the Slate extravaganza!

Friday Night

2011-06-25T01:21:00.000-07:00

So how was your virtual Friday night? Hope it was kinda groovy. Mine? Well mine was shite!

The day started well I logged on to Second Life to have a stroll and received an IM from Dugi telling me Soul Mods was having a big party night for Jellie and Josie, plus there'd be a virtual guitar-fest. All sounded cool and I said I'd see him at the club later. Now Albion being so vain I teleported over and began sifting through my wardrobe keeping it simple I opted for a plain polo and jeans then grabbed my hidden treasure my Hawley guitar as played by the man on his tentative dip into virtual gigging. Yes my only encounter with real life rock stardom in Second Life [that's Albion in the grey jacket lounging in the deck chair]. So all was set clothing plus guitar now go and loiter in the cupboard, log off and take the dogs out cool.

However, I had not anticipated a bits of pollen floating about in the air which meant rather than listen to cool tunes and have a laugh with all the sods; I spent my Friday night lying on the bed in the gloom with my eyes shut, thinking I'll open them in a minute and log on. Then through the blur I figured I would give them another ten minutes to sort themselves out, I kept giving them ten minutes right up to 22.45 when I finally capitulated pulled the duvet over my head and went to sleep.

Anyway, hope all the party goers had a great time, hope those whom the party was thrown for had an even greater time and apologies for not making it, especially after I said I would. Would happily have swapped the eyes for marbles and plunged them in the washing machine last night,,itch!!!!!

So, missed another Friday at Soul Mods as a week early I was home for a Wedding, £9.25 for a Guinness and large white wine think I'll stick to virtual nights out, back again in three weeks or so I better start saving up.

As for Second Life my logging in is on the whim of the old eyes if they're good I'm in if they're not.....fingers crossed there'll be more good than bad. Oh and by the way Albion even made it onto the BBC for the Hawley gig. Stardom at last.

ciao

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-06-24T05:15:00.000-07:00

One of the great stores in Second Life is Style Extrem, Upper Man and Happy End who stock many items worthy of inclusion in a revivalist, casualist, indie NeoMod wardrobe. I have several items from here, and one of the best features of the store is its weekly FREE gift. Free clothing is always nice, and should always be appreciated but when its FREE cool and mod our gratitude should enter the realms of monstrosity. My latest cool freebie is an excellent track jacket very casuals or indie and thus an ideal NeoMod item. Worn with a classic pair of Hoorenbeek trainers and my favourite Unknown Boutique white jeans it helps create a very sharp casuals look. I have also received several cool sweaters, shirts and other jackets. All this can be yours if you join the group and teleport over to the store and grab the selected freebies as they are announced. Be sharp, be mod be free!!!!

Style Extrem, Upper Man and HappyEnd - Mainstore

Virtual London Fashion Week 14-18 June 2011

2011-06-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

No guarentee its mod, or cool. But the poster looked sharp its based in swinging virtual London so what the feck I'll give it a plug. Fills up some space, if you attend hope you enjoy, I'm a couple of days late but nobody here cares anyway, chill.

Virtual London Fashion Week

Check the blog

Real Talent...

2011-06-13T16:06:00.000-07:00

Quick reprise of the talents available amidst our wonderful little mob of sods. Unlike me many of the people who are regular attendees at Soul Mods are actually quite talented and able to do all kinds of things. What kind of things? Well, lets rifle through them..there's Kim and Eden who make wonderful clothes; joined now by Shauna with her Subculture range. You can find their store over at the Moonletters sim. Not only are they great sixties designers able to craft cool looking items all three of them can also DJ, no mean feat and way beyond my abilities. Then of course there's the mad hatter Mr Slate McLead - builder, clothes creator, DJ and I think he even understand scripts too. Yeah, Slate's a veteran of Second Life [2006 I think, OAP in virtual terms] and there are few skills in the virtual world he has not mastered, his greatest creation the much beloved Twisted Wheel is what brought most people together in the first place and inspired others to do likewise. And lets not forget Dugi much mocked for his love of denim and cheapness, its true he gets his clothes from virtual Oxfam, yet its he who built Soul Mods and created a small oasis of modness for us all to inhabit. So, despite all the mockery we are grateful to him and Aston, Aston's talent,,,putting up with Dugi, meet him and you'll soon understand why. D'oh more Dugi mockery its just a habit I cant break. I'm sure there are others, indeed I know there are all the varied DJs that have played at Soul Mods have exhibited talents and technical skills that bamboozle me. And last but not least lets not forget our favourite real life pop star our old mate Lupo the mod from Madrid. Not only is Lupo a great virtual DJ but in real life he can put his own tunes together. This is glorious its mellow its serene I just want to wrap myself in it...a great tune. Doesn't need lyrics its captivating...take it away Lupo.

Find more Tarik y la Fábrica de Colores songs at Myspace Music

Careful, its so chilled it might just bring a tear to your eye

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-06-13T02:17:00.000-07:00

Well there I was wondering what drivel I could scribble this morning and decided my mind was blank and therefore I would cop out and basically shove up a lot of links to items I'm too careful with my lindens to snap up. However if I had an unlimited supply there'd be a kerching all over the place. I have also tried to put up a lot of cheap items. Its easier to find virtual mod items for several hundred lindens but getting something for less than fifty is a tough trickier.

King : Lies - Black

Onix Couture Sweater/with sculpted prim cuffs and collar

Turtleneck Sweater [ Border ] for male

BalAni's Mountain Henley

Men's Blue Sweater

Turtleneck Sweater [ Indigo ] for male

Arie; retro sweater

Black Irish Pullover

nM The Prep Cashmere Sweater Fatpack 10L

Men's Black Sweater

Black Couture Sweater 1.2/with prim Collar; white under Shirt

Lazy blogging rules.
ciao

Its Thursday and I made it!

2011-06-10T02:13:00.000-07:00

I attended Soul Mods on Thursday for the first time in a couple of weeks, wouldn't say I was the most active member there but I strung together the odd line of chat. It was a treat just to be there and hear a great set delivered by the coolest of the cool virtual mods, Lupo the mod from Madrid. A very healthy turn out of sods heard some great music and delivered some great chat, topics this week were:smoking, Canon versus Nikon; oh and whether Stevie Nicks had coke blown up her @rse, yes we are eclectic in our conversations at Soul Mods. I was mostly a silent participant but as ever the chat was busy and funny and everyone was having a laugh. Shauna paraded another of her wonderful subculture outfits, those damn girls [Eden, Shauna, Kim as so clever being able to produce cool sixties outfits] and master fixer Slate was modelling a nice jacket based on a real life Weller jacket, surrounded by so many talented people - arrrgh makes me want to boil my head hahaha. Anyway head boiling apart I had a good time, forgive my silence folks I am honestly having fun I just find it easier to listen in these days, keep the tunes going.

ciao.

Mens Stuff Fashion Hunt

2011-06-07T02:23:00.000-07:00

Hunting prizes seems to be an endless activity in the virtual world, with hunts organised for fashion items on a regular basis. Some are themed for specific genre others are based around the stores on a sim and they are generally heavily biased towards items for the girls. However a while back a few hunts started targeted directed at men, the prizes all being for men. One such hunt is the Mens Stuff Hunt currently running until the 3rd of July 2011. Whilst these hunts are stuffed to the brim with items to find, spending hours scouring various stores to locate the gift item its not often that there are items suitable for the aspiring virtual mod. I had a brief potter about and located the odd one or tow items. So, if you're bored and fancy a look why not participate, join the group find the Blue T-Shirt symbol click on it and away you go.

So what did I find, I liked the Alphamale prize, the preppy sweater which had a revivalist feel to it, I also liked the trousers from another prize, the Brocade Tiger cargo shorts looked good for my Style Council Long Hot Summer romp, plus the Philo shades looked awesome contemporarydesign but so sharp I'd add them The Duh shoes look cool plus I'm sure there'll be a few other pieces out there just need to filter through the items to find them. Have fun.

Odd sods, us? Surely not!

2011-06-03T16:04:00.000-07:00

Shauna's Birthday

Amazing what a few days away from the screen does, missed Thursday at Soul Mods and a few other trickles of entertainment, but this IT abstinence meant I was in peak condition for Fridays fun fest at Soul Mods. And, it was Shauna's birthday so what a great night to return for. Slate was DJing, there were a good crowd to celebrate the birthday girls aging and the chat and action was nothing but fun. Dugi had a chocolate cake with a dancing pole installed and obviously went balloon insane....he likes balloons y'know. And, its amazing just how many avatars can fit on top of a large slice of cake. You just don't get this kind of present in real life. Shauna got to select pole dancers as befits a birthday girl and danced with lots of sods and seemed delighted with her birthday treat. Another fun fuelled fest at Soul Mods, everyone appreciating the hard work put in by Slate to DJ on these nights, after all he has a real life too, although how he fits it in with his dedication to the virtual life. Second Life stamina, few can match him,,,,party on like it '67.

I had a lot of fun and made it past 11pm for the first time in a while so that was good, great tunes great laughs great people and cool avatars. The future is retro, party til its ninety sixty nine!

Self Pity Grump over

2011-06-01T03:19:00.000-07:00

And so as its Albions rezz day I have decided to play DJ today and just pile a load of , what I think are, cool YouTube videos on here until I get bored of adding them. As Captain Oats said,,,,I may be some time.

Well ten seems like a good number, obviously its easy to fill up the entire blog with great YouTube tunes, but these ten were the first that caught my eye as I typed in Northern Soul to the search facility. Anyway listening to them made my foot tap. This DJing malarky its easy, oh yeah all I'm doing is copying and pasting this is virtual virtual DJing!

Grumpy, me?

2011-05-28T09:25:00.000-07:00

Okay well maybe a little. Whats got me so grumpy its the miserable array of items available to the male shopper looking for sharp sixties items. Specifically the options I'm provided with when I cycle sixties, apparel, men through the search facility at the Marketplace. When I do so I am given a choice of wild Aerosmith style rock leathers in vividly ugly patterns, or similar soft rock ankle boots, next to this dismal offering is some silky styled shirts. Obviously sixties style mean US style camp rock Morrison-lite; shoddy at best. Next to this rock bounty are the Austin Powers inspired frippery of velvet suits from circa '67. And so after again putting myself through the rather pointless task I hammer at the keys and sulk in silence. No, chaps not today; today I'm biting back and voicing my bitterness to all err three of you! And there you have it disillusioned and grumpy, ah well its Soul Mods tonight that's going to cheer me up a little.

Errr laugh a minute the mod from Kansas* take me home Toto.............

When I saw this I immediately thought, wow that's a challenger for the uber mod Lupo Lexington, no really,,,hahaha

*I don't think he is really from Kansas but it just felt like a Kansas moment.

Grumpy, me?

Missed last night and had to bail out half way through Shauna's set on Thursday; cant read all chat and am having to spend plenty of time looking away from the screen. Virtual life is a touch difficult at the minute and I'm missing most of the fun stuff, still hearing some great tunes, just its all become a little less easy than logging on and staring at the screen. Funny how easily I took all this for granted, few years back I was happy to indulge in 12 hour Second LIFE SESSION, PARTYING UNTIL 4AM, NOW i CAN BARELY MAKE AN HOUR AND A BIT TOO MUCH TV OR SUNLIGHT FECKS ME UP SO i DONT FEEL LIKE LOGGING ON. bOLLOX YEAH, i'M GRUMPY BUT IT'LL PASS. hOPE sOUL mODS WAS BOUNCING WITH wHOVIANS AND MODS GETTING GROOVY. tRY AND GET TO A FEW THINGS THIS WEEK AND WAFFLE INANELY ABOUT LIFE IN THE VIRTUAL WORLD.

See case in point eyes failed to register caps on and to be honest I cannot be arsed retyping. aLREADY HAVE ONE EYE SHUT AND SQUINTING WITH THE OTHER, KNACKERED, HAVE FUN AMIGOS. Just done it again arrrrrrrrgh!

YouTube Treat

2011-05-25T02:38:00.000-07:00

Sixties Fashion

Scooters

Tunes

Albion Spitteler's Newsround

2011-05-24T04:34:00.000-07:00

The sun is shining at last and yes I have taken this sunshine opportunity to sit on my @rse and type inane comments into a blog that has a readership of about half a dozen weary souls. But its a laugh! Anyway as I have nothing really specific that I could drag out for more than a ten word paragraph I have opted to lump all the little pieces together in this seventies style update, borrowing from my childhood this is my first ...and last, virtual mod newsround.

First up I was pleased to read Shauna' piece of on Moonletters concerning New Brighton, one of the coolest sims on the grid. All virtual mods should visit this place at least once for that essential mod snapshot with the pier. C'mon we've all done it, some of us more than once, don't blush. Its a fantastic build and the pier looks great complete with a promenade to parade along. I am still waiting that group call for a mod scooter rally along the prom, who knows maybe this week is the week. Shauna's piece however illustrates the difficulties of hosting a sim and the gargantuan costs involved, thought provoking as ever and perhaps the sim is still insecure. A great place to visit one that should definite be on your list. Blogged before but as I mistakenly mentioned that it has vanished this seems an opportune moment to recant such a statement and remind everyone that its still out there. There are more details at the New Brighton website, check it out.

Other stuff I have been up to, I went along to the Hangout club again on Monday which was cool; although Janis is unavailable for these sets due to real life commitments we had a great substitute who played a great blend of soul and sixties standards although how or why the Boyzone track got in there eludes me. I enjoy the tunes at the Hangout and was able to join everyone else on the dance floor this time as the dazzling particle lights were turned off, one [of several] drawbacks of the keratoconus is that my eyes struggle in bright light and so I have been hiding myself away up in the gloomy lounge, its also why I don't participate much in chat as its easier just to listen and keep my eyes averted from the screen. This means I miss out on a lot of laughs and get lost as I often have no idea how conversations have developed and they can be confusing as you read them never mind dropping in and out. But the music is great and at this stage I can read enough to have a laugh and join in occasionally.

Talking of laughs, blogged earlier Graz our favourite mocker held a rock 'n' roll night at the Killing Moon at the weekend and as he is such a good bloke several sods turned up dressed as rockers in our best fifties freebies, err well mine were. Keep it to yourself but I quite enjoy the odd classic fifties tune, unlike in my youth where my tastes were rigidly mod I now accept my rather catholic tastes and just enjoy tunes regardless of their origin. It was a fun night and everyone got involved and dressed for the theme, so many quiffs in one room however cannot be healthy, at one point I thought there was going to be an environmental disaster there was so much oil floating about. Albion succumbed and put on his best Elvis wig, said ahuh a lot, and donned some very cheap threads and free shoes and become a closet ted for the evening. As expected with Graz at the helm it was funny with great music and even the ignominy of dressing like a rocker wasn't to bad, surrounded by friends. Look forward to the next one.

Whilst I am discussing themed nights out in the virtual world I'll throw in a little fashion information. Recently I attended a Blues Brothers tribute and to blend in mix and matched various items to give me that Blues Brothers look. And yet whilst I was snapping the trainers at Hoorenbeek I idly wandered around the store and saw they had a complete outfit that is ideal Blues Brothers material. I believe its labelled Angus but surely Jake would be better. As its Hoorenbeek its unlikely to be cheap but if you're unafraid of splashing the lindens I think you'd struggle to find a better outfit. Even competing against specific Blues Brothers outfits I think this one is a tricky one to surpass. It has all the elements of a great costume, the shades, the hat, the suit and even the loose tie and shirt. Definitely worth a punt if you like costume parties or just like being a Blues Brother, go on treat yourself.

Well I think that waffle should suffice you can all go back to CBBs now.

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-05-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

Returning to an old chestnut here, trainers. Flipping around the grid I stumbled upon an urban street wear store, immediately bringing up some shades to protect myself from the glare of unreconstructed bling I decided to take a peek. And, was very pleased to discover a range of Adidas trainers for sale, priced at 290L each or a very reasonable 690L for the fat pack they are a nice option if your looking for something more mid scale than the brilliant but expensive SoReal or the mega store Hoorenbeek, much as I adore Hoorenbeek trainers sometimes its good to support smaller creators. So, if you're thinking you need to get more casual in your mod styling and are looking for a good, reasonably priced, range of Adidas check out the URBATIK *Urban store* and pick up a pair or more wisely grab the fat pack as I am sorely tempted too. Damn this new austerity covenant I made with myself. Anyway if your looking for a stylish slice of footwear grab a pair of these, judging from the product images they look a great buy.

URBATIK *Urban store*

Hoorenbeek are so fantastically crafting that its hard to blog against them so for those who seek reassurance from a grand virtual brand here are the Hoorenbeek options. But you'll pay 520L a pair for these trainers almost twice the price of the above so why not give them a go. Much as I love top end virtual fashion brands I am beginning to think the pricing of items is getting rather extreme. Or maybe that's the skinflint in me beginning to seep out.

So whilst the Hoorenbeek brand is rightfully highly thought of in these fiscal times I am tempted to try the cheaper option, I can get the fat pack for a little more than the price of a single pair of trainers. But, as ever you take your choice flip the lindens and get into the groove. Whatever option you select you'll acquire an excellent addition to your wardrobe.

Hoorenbeek trainers

QUESTION: Why do Hoorenbeek trainers feature so often in the blog.
ANSWER: Simplicity itself, because they're bloody good, despite the cost.

Grab It

2011-05-21T10:27:00.000-07:00

Uncut Magazine

Flicking through my Facebook links I came across some news that Uncut magazine was giving away a FREE Mod CD and also has a cover photo and lead article on the majestic Small Faces. So it may be worth grabbing a copy and having a read whilst you listen to all those free tunes. So while you're clicking your heels in real life wondering what to do while waiting for the next virtuoso virtual mod night in why not head off to the newsagents and grab a copy. Scanning the details on both the Facebook page it looks well worth a read and I shall be jogging off to get a copy in the morning. Reading the article will be a pain so don't look to me for quotes but hearing the tunes should compensate. I'm just too good to you three readers y'know.So, if your on Facebook check the link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Modculture/44295876670

And if you're not don't despair just head directly to the Modculture web site here:

http://www.modculture.info/2011/05/uncut-with-mod-soundtrack-cd.html

There are track listings and further details on the piece here, plus loads of other mod related items for you to catch up on.

What have I been up to....

2011-05-18T02:10:00.000-07:00

An odd week in Second Life shuffling along trying to find things to do. Logged on and visited Moonletters and had a wander around. Evelyn was there in her sharp looking E-Type she gave me a rather slow ride around the Moonletters streets. Then I rezzed my Porsche and we had possibly the slowest sports car race known to the virtual world. After a couple of laps and the rezzing of a few more cars Shauna arrived and rezzed her London Taxi cab and we took another trip around the wider Penny Lane sim. Not your typical taxi journey as we ended up in a pond, stuck down a ditch, and lost in a marshy jungle type prim mess; luckily for us Shauna was able to pluck us from our midden and plonk us nicely on a better piece of land until we finally found tarmac and completed our journey. A very interesting car journey, then Shauna informed me that there was a soul night at the Hangout with Janis Short as DJ.

So, I said my goodbyes and hopped on a teleport to the Hangout to listen in to some great tunes, there were a few sods present and Janis' usual crowd all enjoying some fantastic tunes. A great night and everyone had fun, some great chat in the chat line as people had a few laughs and jokes. A great night in; however, I retreated upstairs to the lounge bar to escape the particle lights which were a tad too bright for me now. Rather strange conducting a conversation from upstairs with those downstairs.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself at the Hangout listening to some marvelous tunes. Janis will be DJing less regularly in the virtual world as she has aquired a real life job, that damn real life interfering with our entertainment, how bloomin' dreadful. I dressed in my best Oirish paisley green mod outfit, and grooved away alone upstairs like a sad Billy no-mates. After a while all got a little tiring and I took my leave and logged out after having a great time. Having so many good nights in Second Life of late its almost a crime to get so much great entertainment for so little effort, log on and have a raft of great DJs play me great tunes. However being a greedy geezers and still like to call out for more, lots more soul lots more mod and more mod fashion but I'm a difficult geezer to please! Check out the flyers and attend the events as the DJs relish the support and everyone appreciates being appreciated! Sermon over....

I also jogged over to Soulsville to listen to a few soul tunes at the club on Tuesday. As ever I tended to stay quiet in the corner and just listen in to the great music. Marvelous music in the virtual world, just wish their was a lot more of it, oops I'm off on my rant again.

These virtual days lets hope they never end,,,,,

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-05-17T00:36:00.000-07:00

During my rooting through the over inflated inventory I found a great FREE shirt I picked up from SF Design, I thought it looked great with the black Meriken Napoleon jacket and the vibrant Armidi trousers. So I figured a green paisley would look even better, heading off to the Marketplace I did a quick search and found that SF Design had four versions of the shirt available. They come in an open shirt and closed shirt option, plus an underwear layer and prim kipper ties, very late sixties early seventies styling but can fit the mod criteria, especially the Carnaby Street styles of the midsixties. At a sharp hundred lindens its a reasonable purchase for anyone seeking to add a bit of classic sixties paisley to their mod inventory.

As it gets harder to find new mod items I have reverted to trawling through my inventory to find half forgotten items that are acceptable as mod stylings. Its amazing what stuff you can find in an inventory bulging with over 50k of items.

Not very Mod

2011-05-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

But Graz is barmy so its likely to be a great night out, take a punt and have a laugh, Friday mad house with Slate followed by the loon fest with chief mocker Graz on Saturday, I canna tak' it cap'n.

Killing Moon Pub @ Moonletters

So....

2011-05-16T01:28:00.000-07:00

whats been happening.

Well I missed Thursday at Soul Mods, had a lot of real life stuff buzzing around in my head. But, I believe Kim was on the decks so no doubt everyone got to hear some great tunes and had a lot of fun. I did make it to Slate's Friday madhouse and had a lot of fun. Some great laughs and great tunes, the usual sods were in attendance and the quotes flowed, that Seren is like a wikepesdia of Slatisms. Aye the poor lad was at it again, dafter than the Krankeys he types and Seren quotes, memorable. However, I did notice its mostly blokes who get quoted. Conclusion we are just more verbally stupid than our lady brethren. Anyway, next time you attend Soul Mods don't be phased by the amount of Slate chat, after all most of it is not him....

What else have I been up up too, rooting through old inventory items, obviously. Wandering around Moonletters and getting lost. Oh and grabbing thirty minutes at an impromptu party over at Soul Mods on Sunday. I had hoped to spend longer at the club but the missus demanded I spend time with her watching Mad Jack Sparrow on TV. I suggested I spend ages with her asleep in bed but she wasn't wearing it so I left the sods to enjoy the grooves and watched TV, which was nice.

Finally, anyone who reads all the drivel I put up on here will note I'm quite adept at the odd typo, as I am in world. Well I feel legitimised in my typos now as I've been diagnosed with keratoconus so its likely I will start to write less both here and inworld as things deteriate,just have to see how things turn out I'll still be a dedicated sod even if its all a blur.

ciao.

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-05-15T03:21:00.000-07:00

Enjoying my Carnaby moment I went delving into my virtual wardrobe to pull out an old favourite that met the pop art Carnaby mod criteria. A nice piece of crafting from Meriken, the "Napoleon" jacket comes with a sharp prim collar, hem and sleeve cuffs. All needed slight adjustments to fit Albion's Hyperion Studio Endymion shape. Its a simplistic design without too many frills but still very sharp and eye catching. The subdued black and subtle tones allow for a splash of colour elsewhere. Therefore, its well suited to the dazzling range of trousers supplied by Armidi. Both the flame orange and vibrant green are able to lift the dull black of the jacket and are a nice match. Worn with a cool mod graphic T-Shirt the Meriken jacket fills the pop art mod niche beautifully. Nice trainers/shoes from J's add to the look whilst the classic Strike bowling shoes [unseen] look as cool as ever.

Alles Klaar
were you Paul Weller in a previous life, perchance?

The T-Shirts from Action (The Jam) and Juice (the target) help the look achieve a stylish indie Britpop NeonMod style that looks cool and marries sixties fashion classicism with the more gritty indie look of the nineties. The Carnaby Street look popularised in the media is for several the mod look of the sixties, reinforced by the Austin Powers franchise, whilst not classic mod [as seen in Quadrophenia et al] its still a legitimate mod look as its what many sixties mod fashionistas developed as their style and so its suits my NeoMod fashion etiquette sublimely. As mod fashion moved into the brighter pop art period the classicism of the look may have been lost but other fashion possibilities were uncovered, and this is replicated in Second Life. Modernist fashion encompasses much more than drab grey and brown suits, with white shirts and ties; explore the fashion possibilities whilst remaining in the modernist culture and further fashion options become apparent. After all its not real life and we can afford to be far more daring with an avatar than you can with the frail ego of a forty seven year old.

Continuing the rummage through my engorged inventory I discovered other Armidi outfits, including a wonderful NeoMod styled leather jacket that Albion wears with the Armidi green trousers and Strike bowling shoes. Another neat mod visage following more nineties NeoMod design than classic early sixties mod, but nevertheless easily achievable and worth taking on if you're looking to expand your virtual fashion profile.

Was kind of fun rooting through old purchases to see if any would fit the mod style, and talking of fun Soul Mods regular Josie sent me a YouTube link of a great tune, with plenty of old scooter action, and I have been listening to it quite a lot. Check it I'm sure there's plenty of Soul Mods sods who appreciate this kind of tune. So 1..2..3...hit it!!!!

Absolutely top tune, have fun amigos

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-05-14T04:49:00.000-07:00

The Good!

Carnaby Street inspired styling using the "Prince Charming" dress uniform jacket from SF Design's Royal Wedding outfit, with the crazy Union Jack trousers from PXDTOXIC and the red trainers from a fatpack from J's, the new and old merged to create a sharp mid sixties look that grew out of the mod movement. Perhaps a little too bright for many it can be shaded by opting for less pop art trousers but the overall look of military fashion is very mid sixties, possibly derived from the flag fabric jackets of The Who. Anyway its an easily achievable mod style look ideal for the virtual NeoMod looking to catch the eye. Variation are obvious just find the one that suits.

Odd white shades from Cheerno, and my old favourite GL Menace hair style which has served well as a classic mod cut. Not for everyone but in my mind totally mid-sixties mod.

The Bad!

I have seen these suits crop up a few times as I forlornly tap the keys into the Second Life search option, so the suits are listed as Mod suits; but for me they bare no resemblance to anything mod I am aware of. Its because of my extreme negativity towards the suit that I have not blogged it, but as I'm having a jokey post and this fits the second label. Double breasted wide lapels its just so unmod I find myself cringing that anyone could view it as a classic mod suit. Basically its a faux mod suit based on the mid sixties hippy swing of the Austin Powers films, no harm in that but seems a touch disingenious to label it mod. It fits the mid sixties vibe but it can hardly be classed as mod, designers and creators put a lot of effort into their creations so its unpleasant to be critical, hence my bypassing of these item, I still feel bad slagging it; but if you type mod clothing into search this will come up, however there are far better mod suit options available. If its authentic sixties mod you are looking for, sorry but this isn't it.

The Ugly!

Due to the effort put in by designers it would be totally unfair to call any of their designs ugly, although there are several of them out there I'm sure you have seen a few of your own ugly designs. But I thought I would drag out a snap from years ago when I attended a party dressed in the worst possible taste, freebie skins shape etc.......now that's ugly! Its unlikely you'll see many avatars looking like this in the beautiful world of Second Life... However despite gaining a few pounds, needing extra support and having uncool shades I reckon Albion still looks cooler than Dugi!!!

Whatever mod fashion you choose, have fun: whether its classic, NeoMod or more mid sixties psychedelic its out there just difficult to find. Have fun finding it!

As quick aside I saw a link to a nice mod Mod website whilst I was ranting on Twitter so might be worth a quick peek. Enjoy!

My Tuesday Evening...

2011-05-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

... fingers crossed.

Frantic real life day abso-feckin-lutely knackered, looking for some virtual light relief so was delighted to read Shauna's piece over on Moonletters that there is a Blues Brothers Tribute taking place this evening at the Wu Wu Bar so I logged in earlier to discard my pirate clobber from Slate's great pirate themed night at Soul Mods; and, donned a cool black suit and hat, all I need now are shades and I'm your man! So if your thinking what can I do this evening grab a virtual taxi and get yourself over, I am hoping for a strong Chicago bluesy nights entertainment listening to some sharp R&B, so shake a tail feather and get on down.

See, I told you I was bloomin' knackered, I don't even know what day it is. Mentally frazzled I thought it was Tuesday today, feck me its Monday!

No virtual night out yesterday, I spent the evening ...asleep now tonight, Tuesday as Shauna has said, I'm putting my shades on and getting virtual, see you all there!

Well it was a truly spectacular show full of glitz and excitement, however on my arrival I was unable to hear the stream and so whilst it was a marvelous spectacular and yet without the tunes it was turning out to be a damp squib. Then triumph I got the stream the tunes roared through and the whole experience lifted off; Dugi and Shauna were present but both left early - other commitments, as I had myself and after just under an hour it was time for me to go too. But, it was a fantastic night, brief but great! Such is the virtual world a brief but bright shining star, top entertainment all over the grid just check it out.

Gremlins and Great Tunes

2011-05-06T01:53:00.000-07:00

The computer gremlins were out to get me yesterday and I fell victim to their evil ways several times. First they robbed me of the stream and I opted to relog; but then my modem or some other techy malfunction stuffed me and I lost my connection, reboot time. Following basic IT helpline procedure I turned the damn machine off then back on and waited. Click click log back on, errr no I got some waffle about DNS or some such techygarble not connecting, bugger repeat on/off sequence. Ahhh and I'm back in the room, lost the stream a couple more times and crashed as my Internet connection went down, ranted a little but my Thai Chi mentality meant I threw nothing out of the window. Eventually I got back, stream locked in and no further crashes, although there were a few clouds in the room. That just seems par for the course in Second Life these days.

So, why was I so desperate tom get in world afterall sometimes after such torment I say feck it and go and watch TV, or if I'm desperate talk to the wife [only kidding m'dear obviously I'd never voluntarily chat to you, OUCH!]* Simply because the couple of tunes I heard before my Internet ordeal sounded so cool I was desperate to hear more, and so like some strung out virtual music addict I thumped tables viciously stabbed at buttons and indulged in a little swearing all in the pursuit of returning to Soul Mods.

Anyway enough of my tribulations. Eden was up on decks for the first time in a while and blasted back in fine style. Though my listening pleasure was disjointed I heard enough and followed the chat sufficiently to endorse the set as another mod triumph. Some great tunes were played and a good crowd of people turned up to hear a great set. A lot of "wbs" were being typed amidst the usual mayhem in the chat line so perhaps it wasn't just me who was having problems. Surprisingly Soul Mods became wimmin central for the evening as Dugi and Albion were severely outnumbered. We did our best not to offend the chicks, no David Cameron blunders here, and thus rescued ourselves from a possible beating - although something tells me Dugi quietly regrets that! Anyway I mindlessly digress, its a dreadful flaw but its my blog so yer stuck with it, tough. Where was I? Yeah, back on track now. Great night with fantastic DJ, super tunes and wonderful people and despite the troubles I had still had fun and a few laughs. Next time Eden is on decks get your act into gear and get over its bloomin' marvelous.

Then to top it all Dugi announces that Slate Friday DJ and general loon wants to have a theme for Fridays soiree, PIRATES! Time to dig through my inventory and locate a few pirate outfits but who do i go as. As the girls bemoaned the lack of time I rifled through my inventory, I have plenty of junk in there so getting some pirate garb is not an issue, but....

However the dilemma is who do I go as? Do I go as the madcap Captain Jack, put on my neat Johnny Depp skin and woo the laydees; or do I opt for the more sinister Henry Barbosa, nasty pirate captain and spooky looking avatar. Or, should I go as the coolest of them all - my good self and merely slap on a hairy wig and some pirate clobber and scowl a lot. Whatever I opt for it looks like its going to be a night of mayhem. Slate's regular gigs are crazy enough and we were reliably informed he has a few surprises planned. It may not be strictly mod, but the tunes will be and the people too so if your feeling jaded, grab a pew throw on a cutlass type arrr matey a lot and join in the mayhem, see you there!

*I have no idea why I do these Dandy/Beano comic aside conversation, the wife's at school teaching and I'm on my own drinking tea. Is it early onset dementia? I 'll let you know,,,err what was I saying, do you take sugar?

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-05-05T00:15:00.000-07:00

A trip to the Marketplace

Another item that is not strictly mod but the iconography used the, George Cross, all very English yells Britpop circa '90 and thus has a great NeoMod feel. Worn with a suitable pair of jeans and a low profile shirt these nicely sculpted boots give a sharp dash of modernist graphics to your look. They are well made, beautifully textured and look very good on the dancefloor. Perhaps a little small for some but a little tweaking soon solves that tiny issue. Not one for the modernist fashion purist, of which there are several, but for the indie inspired NeoMod they are a great buy for a hundred lindens over at the Marketplace.

Stuffie's- England Sneakers

Another cool item available at the Marketplace is the Fenix 194 unisex hoodie, as with several other hoodies I merely drop the scultped hood to create a decent casuals style top, ideal for the NeoMod looking to flash his stanley whilst spending very few lindens. And as this item is free, well one linden but surely thats not shattering the bank, even if you decide its rubbish you have lost almost nothing.

Its a neatly textured item that evokes sharp memories of track tops, Lois jeans and adidas trainers, floppy fringes foreign beer in bottles, and trips to the football. For a single linden do not anticipate a wealth of sculpting, its a straightforward textured jacket layer but I think its a nice addition. It fits my memories of the casuals brief and fits neatly in the wider NeoMod fashion stable that is the staple fashion fodder of this rather pitiful blog.

FENIX-194, Track Jacket

One of my current favourites bought at the Marketplace are the wonderfully versatile Adjunct- Armando jeans. I have been wearing these a lot lately either with loafers and a jacket for a sharp classicists mod look, or with more NeoMod items, such as the above sneakers, to shape a sharp indie Britpop inspired look. They are a marvelous addition to your NeoMod wardrobe, or indie freak cupboard, go on treat yourself to a pair.

The jeans are low slung, not always ideal for the mod look but acceptable and really well textured. They come complete with prim cuffs as seems standard on most jeans or trousers now, there is also a scultpie belt which I have yet to use but looks nice enough in the promo images I have seen. The 185 linden price tag may seem steep but over the years the virtual economy has changed and whilst there are still some fantastic FREE options out there the dollar speaks loudly in Second Life nowadays and if you want a quality item there is usually a price to be paid. But as these jeans can be worn in so many different ways to help create several different looks and are a well cradfted creation the price seems reasonable to me, as ever we all make our own call on price, I think they are great check them and perhaps buy them!

Adjunct - Armando Jeans

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-05-04T01:04:00.000-07:00

Things are becoming somewhat desperate in my pursuit of new mod clothes in the virtual world. I seem to be regurgitating the same items with the addition of a different shirt or perhaps a different sweater but essentially its the same items. One factor is undoubtedly cost I have stopped forking out a couple of thousand lindens a month or clothes and tried to be more selective in my purchases. I occassionally feck it up and buy stuff I dont need to for several hundred lindens: such as a new modifiable shape that I tweaked severely and then on reflection realised I was attempting to modify it to look like my original shape, quick waste of 700 lindens there folks. However as I quite enjoy myself by blurbing away on this little virtual modphile blog I do look out for new pieces of mod paraphernalia just to keep the old thing ticking over, that and updates of my rather quaint virtual social life. But, finding those new mod items is getting tougher and tougher and so in a desperate measure I enrolled Albion into an elite corp of fashion hunters. Once inducted he underwent a severe bout of intensive training to emerge as an uber fashion hunter. Yes I am pleased to reveal him as I think the world's first virtual mod commando.

His mission is to enter the leather clad, denim soaked soft rock hell that is Second Life male fashion, to use his uzis of cool to blast away the dross of Bon Jovi inspied fashion faux pas and forge a path of mod fashion rightousness. He shall pentrate the den of the freebie T-Shirt with the naff sex pun slogan, reap havoc amidst the heavy metal bandwagon and spray the mob of bling laden wannabe rappers with the bible according to mod. All shall hail the soul and ska inspired tunes, they shall forake their ugly fashion errors and follow the path to true fashion cool, they shall bow at the feet of Lupo's cool; hail the throne of King Slate; kowtwo before the club icon of Soul Mods, learn at the feet of Moonletters and crave to be Albion ... yes I have seen it written by the mof astrologists, Second Life shall be a haven of mod hope. And then I woke up......

Mod commando's seeking out shite fashion and blasting it away!

Yeah decided to go a tad mental today and enter the realm of the crazies anything for a laugh, the trousers and beret of Albions Mod Commando are available at the Marletplace, they were not cheap but what is nowadays in the virtual world. But, they made me laugh and despite the silliness the fact remains finding good male mod items is getting harder and harder. The guns some old Uzis from Breach I had in my inventory. Be vigilant, the mod commando's are on the march, hahaha.

Mod Commando Beret
Mod Commando Trousers

Or check the store inworld: PXDTOXIC

And using the rather tenuous mod commando link I sieze the opportunity to raid YouTube and load up one of the most awesome tunes ever!!

Mad Nights Out in the Virtual World

2011-05-03T05:41:00.000-07:00

Its unusual for me to log into Second Life on a Monday but I decided to have a wander around the grid mid afternoon and received an IM from Dugi Rubble informing me that there was a sixties night at the Hangout Club with Janis Short on decks. It was a kind of retro battle of the bands formula with Janis only selecting tunes from the Small Faces, the Yardbirds and the Rolling Stones. Great music and some wonderful people in attendance which lead to a great night out sat in my armchair. Several Soul Mods sods were in attendance and we joked and mocked each other most of the night; I surely saw Seren and Shauna taking studious virtual notes and feel certain some of our less than wise utterings will find themselves gestured to all on subsequent Soul Mods nights out. I had a riot, the music marvelous and the company fantastic. Janis is doing it all again next week with a different selection of sixties artists, if you can be there I advise you too its great.

Virtual Cavern moves into AAi

2011-04-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

Top mocker Graz has constructed a great new club, the Cavern. not strictly mod [he is a mocker after all] but it is very sixties and our mod brief is wide and encompasses many things loosely sixties inspired. Graz has been helped in his creating by Clare Eglund and you can read about his trials and tribulations in debut club building over at the Moonletters blog. On Tuesday Graz and Clare through cool sixties party to celebrate the clubs opening. After two days ill in bed I didnt make it to the event, however I'm pretty certain everyone had a laugh and a great time listening to some fabulous tunes. I look forward to attending an event next time, once I'm back in the virtual world. I had a sneaky look around and its small and atmospheric a great sixties vibe in the club. Its well worth checking out so jump on the lm and have a laugh.

The Cavern

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-04-26T02:00:00.000-07:00

Tired of the same greys, blues and blacks I head into the SL Marketplace to find myself something new. After a long haul trawl through many items which were either unsuitable or awful or just more linden dosh than I cared to splash on a single small item. Eventually I found a great range of jackets from Giovanni and I opted to buy a white blazer style jacket. The jackets come in two variations one with a blazer style pocket patch and a second without. Its a classic three button style with neat prim cuffs. Worn with a black FS polo shirt and some neat black trousers it creates an effective mod look.

Finding different mod styled mod items is getting more and more difficult, I either find myself repeating items with slight twists or I grasp at straws using items that at a stretch can meet a NeoMod criteria.

..::Giovanni::.. Sport Jacket White w/ Logo

Paul Weller - Desert Island Discs

Found this old radio broadcast whilst flipping through the BBC radio pages, interesting musical choices and an insightful interview.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b008gh41

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/34730ec9#b008gh41

Bit of Northern Soul Literature

2011-04-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

Just discovered this on Radio Four a trio of short stories about Northern Soul at Wigan Casino; I enjoyed listening to them and hope you enjoy it too. Have a listen:

They say the floor at the Casino is amazing - a sprung wood floor! And they can fit 1200 people in the ballroom there. Twelve hundred people dancing!'
David's mate Batty converted him to Northern Soul: lending him obscure records, teaching him dance moves and describing the legendary club. The plan is to hitch-hike to Wigan to experience the Casino for themselves.
Between 1973 and 1981 Wigan Casino was arguably the ultimate venue for Northern Soul music. Young people from all over the UK regularly made the trek to Wigan to dance to the latest Northern Soul artists. Queues to get in were sometimes five or six people deep, and stretched quite a way up the road.
The highlight was the weekly all-nighter, with Russ Winstanley as DJ, which traditionally ended with three songs that became known as the Three Before Eight: "Time Will Pass You By" by Tobi Legend, "Long After Tonight Is Over" by Jimmy Radcliffe and "I'm On My Way" by Dean Parrish.
These three specially-commissioned stories by Laura Barton (herself from Wigan) hark back to a time when the town threw off the image created by George Orwell and the Casino was voted 'Best Disco In the World' by American Billboard Magazine.
Laura Barton was born in Lancashire in 1977. She is a freelance writer of features and music columns, notably 'Hail, Hail, Rock 'n' Roll' for the Guardian. Her first story for radio, The Carpenter, was broadcast in 2009 as part of Sweet Talk's We Are Stardust, We Are Golden series for BBC Radio 4. Twenty-One Locks, her debut novel, was published in 2010. Laura lives in London.
Written by Laura Barton. Read by Bryan Dick.
Producer: Jeremy Osborne A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.

Afternoon Reading - Tales from the Casino, 1. Ten Miles High

Rita works in the cloakroom of the Casino, and hasn't been on the ballroom floor since the days when it was called the Wigan Empress. But then Frank starts calling.
Between 1973 and 1981 Wigan Casino was arguably the ultimate venue for Northern Soul music. Young people from all over the UK regularly made the trek to Wigan to dance to the latest Northern Soul artists. Queues to get in were sometimes five or six people deep, and stretched quite a way up the road. The highlight was the weekly all-nighter, with Russ Winstanley as DJ, which traditionally ended with three songs that became known as the Three Before Eight: "Time Will Pass You By" by Tobi Legend, "Long After Tonight Is Over" by Jimmy Radcliffe and "I'm On My Way" by Dean Parrish.
These three specially-commissioned stories by Laura Barton (herself from Wigan) hark back to a time when the town threw off the image created by George Orwell and the Casino was voted 'Best Disco In the World' by American Billboard Magazine.
Laura Barton was born in Lancashire in 1977. She is a freelance writer of features and music columns, notably 'Hail, Hail, Rock 'n' Roll' for the Guardian. Her first story for radio, The Carpenter, was broadcast in 2009 as part of Sweet Talk's We Are Stardust, We Are Golden series for BBC Radio 4. Twenty-One Locks, her debut novel, was published in 2010. Laura lives in London.
Written by Laura Barton. Read by Melanie Kilburn.
Producer: Jeremy Osborne A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.

Afternoon Reading - Tales from the Casino, 2. What Shall I Do?

It is all about ritual. Saturday comes and Rob, a seasoned DJ at the Casino, is sorting through and packing his records for the night.
Between 1973 and 1981 Wigan Casino was arguably the ultimate venue for Northern Soul music. Young people from all over the UK regularly made the trek to Wigan to dance to the latest Northern Soul artists. Queues to get in were sometimes five or six people deep, and stretched quite a way up the road. The highlight was the weekly all-nighter, with Russ Winstanley as DJ, which traditionally ended with three songs that became known as the Three Before Eight: "Time Will Pass You By" by Tobi Legend, "Long After Tonight Is Over" by Jimmy Radcliffe and "I'm On My Way" by Dean Parrish.
These three specially-commissioned stories by Laura Barton (herself from Wigan) hark back to a time when the town threw off the image created by George Orwell and the Casino was voted 'Best Disco In the World' by American Billboard Magazine.
Laura Barton was born in Lancashire in 1977. She is a freelance writer of features and music columns, notably 'Hail, Hail, Rock 'n' Roll' for the Guardian. Her first story for radio, The Carpenter, was broadcast in 2009 as part of Sweet Talk's We Are Stardust, We Are Golden series for BBC Radio 4. Twenty-One Locks, her debut novel, was published in 2010. Laura lives in London.
Written by Laura Barton. Read by Daniel Rigby.
Producer: Jeremy Osborne A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.

Afternoon Reading - Tales from the Casino, 3. Three Before Eight

Northern Soul life in literature, not sure how much longer these will be available for but have a listen if you can, I enjoyed the stories and think they may trigger a few memories for some of you.

ciaio

The Virtual Bubble

2011-04-22T03:13:00.000-07:00

Been very quiet blog wise for quite some time, but its a lazy bank holiday weekend and before I plunge into the hectic maelstrom of real life Easter activity I figured I would blab on here about whats been happening in my virtual bubble.

Obviously most of this revolves around the great club nights at Soul Mods and the crazy wonderful people who bring the pixelated world to life with their music, their chat and their laughter. Lupo and Slate; Eden and Kim and now Shauna all entertain us with their great selection of tunes but those in attendance play their part whether its Josie dressing as a tuna, or Seren rifling back our idiotic sentences, yeah be scared of what you say the stupid within you will be revealed. Everyone in the club plays a role in making it what it is, and I for one appreciate everyone who turns up and contributes to making Soul Mods such a fun place to be. Right that's the simpering gushing praise over with I shall return to my ego ridden, grumpy self.

Before that though, I must comment on last nights set at Soul Mods. Last time out Kim had horrendous software issues that prevented her from delivering her set and we were very lucky that Eden stepped in to fill the gap. Last night was Kim's return to the decks with all such software issues resolved. And what a joy her set was; so many outstanding tracks were played Kim was really applying the pressure to Slate who is DJing tonight [expected the unexpected from him, as we are all too well aware, Ive seen the boxes of Bud so am anticipating a riot of fun and musical mayhem, but I digress]. I had a great time listening in ,the chat lost me a little on the computer game discussion as I am still struggling to come to terms with the demise of old favourites that I did understand. Go on treat yourself you remember these :

http://www.commodore.ca/arcade/asteroids.swf

Stand out track for me was a sharp French disc that I was utterly unfamiliar with, and that's the marvelous thing about Soul Mods Ive been introduced to so much new music, I am happy in my aged musical orbit and then the DJ will spring something new on me that sends me spiralling off into new sounds, its bloomin' great. Still grooving to this track today although its been replaced by the wonderful Redskins at the moment. Enjoy the tune and thanks to Kim for delivering it, hopefully see you all at the mad house that is a DJ Slate Soul Mods gig!

The Fabulous Wailers

2011-04-13T02:33:00.000-07:00

Tuesday had me rifling through the search facility looking for some entertainment, and I inadvertently stumbled upon the Fabulous Wailers gig at Hangar 39. Slipping on my slickest groove clothes I teleported over there. The Fabulous Wailers? Who are they, I'm no expect but they are a classic sixties US garage band, check them out:

Obviously the gig wasn't being performed by the real Wailers it was a virtual tribute band who had put together a set that their avatars mimed too. But, the tunes were great there was a decent crowd in attendance and fun was had by all.

The sound was gritty Rock 'n' Roll tinged with sharp Rhythm and Blues overtones, classic sixties garage, and I enjoyed the neat uniformed avatars strutting on stage with their array of instruments and attitude. A great little gig. I have seen tribute performances in Second Life before and can say this was one of the better ones, its not a live performance but it felt like it could be one. Most enjoyable and I think I'll be checking out this sixties treat again sometimes, if you get an opportunity I suggest you do too.

They have several video clips up on YouTube so check them out to see what they bring to the club scene on Second Life.

Awaydays

2011-04-12T00:33:00.000-07:00

Amongst the many things I find myself endlessly wittering on about in this loose collection of waffle is casuals fashion. Undoubtedly many people assume this is a relaxed kind of dress, easy enough to surmise that but its quite the contradiction. Casuals had extremely rigid dress codes, in essence they were little more than neatly dressed football hooligans; but their hooliganism oozed sartorial style.

Read this book years ago, rekindled some lost memories not on this scale but severe enough. Along with other sharp styles, over time casual dress codes become absorbed into the wider sharp fashion yearnings of the NeoMods. Although Second Life struggles to provide an array of suitable classic mod wear it is however bulging at the seems with aspects of the casuals dress code: trainers, jeans and track wear. Find it, wear it just leave the stanleys at home cheers.

Amongst the many suppliers of trainers, Hoorenbeek should be a first port of call. There is a wealth of finely sculpted trainers here. Classic retro eighties stylings are a specialist of the Hoorenbeek designers. This classic pair are on old freebie pair modelled along classic Adidas lines. Hoorenbeek rarely strays into reality fashion these days sticking to its own virtual branding, but the styling is close enough to please the virtual mod seeking to immerse himself in some casuals footwear. Also worn here are some khaki jeans with prim cuffs from ::Mr.Poet:: and a cool casuals styled jersey from [Sheep Door] , which is FREE just join the group and get your group gift. If Hoorenbeek is not ticking the correct boxes do not fret, there are a range of other footwear options. First to try is the uber cool Adidas branded trainers from SoReal. This is a very cool urban funk store, not cheap, but their items are well crafted and possess great scripts to help you tailor your fit. However there are trainers spread across the grid just ensure you select the correct style. Decent pair of jeans and a track top and your almost there, sharp hair and your casuals inspired NeoMod styling is complete.

As for the film and book, nostalgia of the darkest kind, read the book watch the film both are quite good, but I'm no film or literary critic I just like what I like, ciao la!

Charity, its good for the Soul

2011-04-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

Logged on to the grid on Saturday and headed off to the Acropolyse for a Race for Life Charity (a UK based cancer charity similar to the Relay for Hope US charity) event, a mammoth eight hour event hosted by three soul DJs, as I arrived I was given a great welcome by Baron and a friendly group of dancers. Joined by Aston and Dugi we settled into a groove to hear some standout tunes. Baron never disappoints on that score, and was soon throwing out the popular, the cool and the rare and entertaining us all, even some who were new to Northern Soul, Baron's set is usually an education as well as entertainment and once again he didn't disappoint.

Unfortunately, I was again a passive presence at a club that had great tunes and some lively chat, I'd expect nothing else if Dugi is present. Even if a club is quiet Mr Rubble soon puts an end to that. I occasionally dipped into chat but for the most part enjoyed the tunes and rested my old peekers, hahaha. But from the glimpses I caught on my HUGE chat text it seemed like everyone was having great fun. And, fantastically after a brief chat with Baron, that Real Life can be a real bugger, I later learnt that the event delivered a whopping 40k plus for the charity. Okay its confessional time. A weakling such as myself failed to last the pace and I logged off around 23.00 UK time, but I feel certain those that stayed had a marvelous time, each one a hero of soul.

ciao.

Silent Crashing

2011-04-09T01:11:00.000-07:00

For the second night in a row I secretly crashed whilst at Soul Mods, this happened a lot during my early virtual days but has not happened for many many months. Basically the musical stream continues and my screen shows the action of everyone dancing only there's no chat as I have been disconnected. In a quiet club this means you think you are still in there, luckily Soul Mods is a rowdy friendly place and so the lack of chat alerted me to the fact I was logged off. Linden arses!

Other than my crashing they were good nights at the club, uber Madrid mod Lupo played a blinding set on Thursday with a few stand out tracks, Wild Thing by Wilson Pickett from the Hey Jude album set my ears on fire and I have had a daily listen since. The usual nutters were in attendance, but something very fishy was in the air, and it wasn't just Josie. How often can you get a fish into your conversation, endlessly it seems, cant say the clubs not got sole!

On Friday, with Slate in Spain enjoy Sun Sea and Sangria [was that him in the back of the van on Benidorm*] Soul Mods played host to Janis Short on decks. Janis plays a mean sixties set and kept the troops entertained in the maniacs absence. I had fun even if I was quiet, the new non-reading regime. Then I crashed, bugger. Well hope the virtual world treats you kindly I might even post some more and stop being an idle git.

ciao

*Benidorm trivia, I know the fat lad who got his hat nicked in last nights episode, and was doing the Benny Hill chase near the end, Benidorm the sit com not the town, lol.

Ready Steady Go

2011-04-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

Hope you enjoy these two slices of classic sixties TV

A Quick Plug

2011-04-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

Failed to make it at the Killing Moon on Saturday, but you can catch up with events there here: http://slfix.com/?p=14242 . Have fun y'all.

Its all in the Eyes

2011-03-29T01:05:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from most things computer at the minute, I am winging about my eyes too much, so giving them a rest. Will blog even less frequently than at present and will probably turn up at clubs but just listen in, so I'm not straining to read text. Have fun in the virtual world.

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-03-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

As these are so easy to knock out, requiring little creative input and the technical ability to cut and paste and little else here is the inevitable PART THRE. The tunes today are from another mod compilation on my I-Tunes. Yeah I really do spend all day listening to music and hammering the keys. If only.......

And so to the fashion, I reckon if you dump the hood (cowl) this should provide an excellent 2Tone inspired track jacket but wow that cubist pattern certainly phases the eyes if you stare at it too long, sharp!

Sweatshirt cube

{AHC} Valenciaga - Tweed Jacket

Not really a mod item at all this more generic sixties pop but there are a lot of people who like that kind of thing who pop into the blog so this is one for all you sixties fans, the pretty fab Monkees, I'll hold my hands up I really like their tunes. Is that my mod credibilty [the little I had] fallen through the trapdoor, feck it, lol.

SL Monkees Groupie Jacket

e! Pea Trenchcoat

Cardigan in Blue

For those hugh like that PopArt '67 miltaristic style:

West Point Military Jacket

*O* RUDE BOY JACKET W/ BUTTONS

SHIKI-fall jacket

Well thats it for this third part I doubt there will be furher posts of this nature, given you enough hints on where to look and see whats out there. Second Life Marketplace is a cool tool but a touch labourious for the virtual mod: type MOD into the search engine and you'll see why if you've not already guessed. Anyway if you bought an item hope it pleases you, time for me to chill with some coffee and toast. Boy I work hard at this blog shite!

ciao

The Silent Dancer

2011-03-23T02:24:00.000-07:00

Last night I ventured onto the grid and visited an old club in a new guise. The Soulsville Club unveiled a new construction for PT's rezz day, and from the chat I think its to be a permanent fixture, fingers crossed. Its a great concept, the club is housed just off the platform of a tube station, on the Northern Line. The club itself is minimalistic fitting the stark tube architecture. Old school white tile [as used for the In the City album] with various suitable graphic posters dotted about. Personally I thought it looked great and is a welcome addition to mod architecture since we have lost so many great builds over the recent past. Anyway, enough architectural waffle, lets talk tunes.

The set was a soul inspired set, lots of Motown and Northern Soul, with a diva section from Miss Diana Ross, PT was DJ, for his own rezz day - best option then you get to hear all your favourites. I enjoyed the set was fun listening to some familiar tunes and a few new ones. As ever the early start at the Soulsville means I have real life stuff to attend to so I was my usual silent dancer in the corner listening in and enjoying the tunes, singing along on occasions, the wife loves that! There was a big turnout for the event and the club was buzzing, always nice to see a club full, or even half full, and judging by the chat rifling up my screen everyone seemed to be having a great time. I left as the party was still in full swing, great tunes and a fantastic looking club. I look forward to occupying that corner a few more times, maybe I'll even join in the chat.

Soulsville UK Club

Menswear Fashion Week 2011

2011-03-22T04:52:00.000-07:00

March 18th-25th

Check the following blogs:

http://madimage.wordpress.com/2011/03/18/menswear-fashion-week/

http://virtualfashionfeed.com/tag/menswear-fashion-week/

http://issuu.com/avenue/docs/avenue.mwfw2011exclusive

Teleport here:
Menswear Fashion Week 2011

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-03-22T04:41:00.000-07:00

St Patrick's Day Mod

For those of you who like to join in the festivities I grabbed a few treasure hunt freebies, some group gifts and a few old favourites plus the odd cheap item to create a kind of green NeoMod look to groove with the Oirish on their big day of booze laughs and the craic. This time of year there is so much green about its hard not to trip over it so if you want to green up for next year keep your eyes open for the freebies. Albion has a neat hat from StarChild, its Fedora Brown in Tartan and a gift at Menswear Fashion Week. He is also wearing some Role Optic shades which are part of the DIMH2 Treasure Hunt. Along with an old favourite the Meriken shirt, he is wearing a sweater from Acid and Mala Creations as part of the 49L$ Sale For Dudes, it has three colours available, and is multi-layered allowing multiple wear options. Next up is a great group gift from Gizza, the jeans from their group gift for St Paddy's day, and finally my classic Gos Dr Martin boots.

So, okay where can I grab this stuff:

StarChild
Role Optic
Meriken
Acid and Mala Creations
Gizza
GOS

Great Nights, Great DJs

2011-03-22T02:32:00.000-07:00

A couple of good nights at Soul Mods last week. Huge blow that Kim had some techy issues, as I love her heavy ska laden sets; but, lucky for us Eden stepped in and delivered a great impromptu set. The usual reprobates were there and a good time was had by all. Friday was the usual wacky weekender from Slate, with much craziness, great tunes and bizarre happenings as always. A Northern Soul heavy set this time out Slate delivered some really fine tunes that kwept us all bouncing in virtuality and in reality, at least I was bouncing, no mean feat at my age, I'm 87 y'know [applause...haha, wonder who really believes that]. Lots of Gene Hunt activity near the end of the set as Slate handed out masks and we dipped our toes in seventies Glam. I had to leave before the end [up at 7am for real life dad stuff Saturday morning] but am certain the madness and laughs continued for a while longer.

Its marvelous that the virtual sixties influenced entertainment carries on into Saturday at the Killing Moon, and Shauna's efforts to set up the event is much appreciated. Indeed Shauna debuted as DJ there this weekend and did a great job. Strong words of encouragement from old hands like Slate and Eden helped I think, and at least there was no swearing, kicking of computers or toilets interludes like one great DJ I could mention......

A great night with some great tunes, generic sixties rather than pure mod but no less entertaining with some fine tunes thrown into the mix. I really enjoyed myself and judging by the comments flowing through chat so did everyone else. Hats off to Shauna for providing a fresh venue and getting on decks herself,,,err Dugi, hahaha. I admire anyone who does this techy DJ malarkey as its so beyond my meagre techy talents they are like ancient metal smiths of the dark ages. Weird clever geezers and geezerettes capable of strange wonderfully magical feats. Good on you all, and thanks for the tunes. Time to rest my weary eyes, ciao.

The stylists

2011-03-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

Despite Albion's titanic ego I often get bored of blogging with myself as the central feature, Albion at club Albion buys this blah blah. And so for a couple of weeks Ive been plotting to do a splash on the stylists of the grid. So I decided I'd blog a few of you instead of me, don't be upset if you're in don't be upset if you're not, after all there's only a couple of us bothering to read this drivel, self deprecation nah its a symptom of profound Englishness.

There are some great virtual mod stylists on the grid who find some awesome mod style clothing and give the clubs a really authentic feel. Its not easy finding cool mod fashions and hats off to them for finding their items and helping the club look mod and not just another leather and tattoo fest. Therefore I have decided to slap up a few snapshots of some of my favourites. You all know them, know they dress great and unlike me have other talents too. I'm the only one trick pony around here, and that trick aint that great. So, yes I have been secretly snapping you; that sidling up to you is not to get a whiff off your deodorant its been to try and get a half decent snapshot. So, here are a few of the great dressers in the world of virtual mod.

First up is DJ and uber stylist Lupo, he always looks cool and introduced me to the fabulous Unknown Boutique. A stylist supreme rooted in the authentic mod look Lupo is one of the best dressed mods in the virtual metaverse. Next is Eden who always looks the business, having the ability to design your own clothes helps. Eden too is authentic sixties mod, with a bit of eighties revivalism tossed into the mix. Another great DJ she dresses sharp and is 100% sixties virtual icon.

Claie is next in line, she follows sixties trends and generally has vibrant dazzling colours and classic kinky boots... Another DJ she hosts the sixties night at the AAi. Gemma is the ska fashion monster she wears her skin.suede head styles or classic sixties styles at Soul Mods and often looks better than I do in stuff I've blogged she adds her own accessories to stuff and sadly still continues to look better than me, she is small and sneaky*, and stylish.

Its impossible to discuss virtual mod without mentioning Slate, he is the Kevin Cosner of the virtual mod scene. What? He built it and they came! When at Soul Mods Slate likes to dress the part and is assisted in achieving this by having the ability to make stuff, clever git. Slate is followed by his own army of Jimmy's [Ruths but cooler] sop don't mess with the king of the mods. Finally, lets not forget Kim another uber cool virtual mod whose dress sense is so sharp it'll slice your arm off. DJ and designer, along with Eden Kim runs Mod Squad Design, Kim wears so cool sixties clothes made by herself and Eden, fledgling modettes these girls are your route into mod fashion on the grid.

I could go on and on listing people but these have caught my eye with their dedication to maintain virtual mod style on the grid, there are others I could mention and probably will but am saving them up for a future blog post. So if you see me sliding up next to you its probably because I'm looking to get a sneak snapshot, or girls I could be camming up your skirt, although as is well known I mostly spend time camming myself.

ciao.

*of course she is not really sneaky, I'm English she is English we like sarcastic irony now bog off, have a nice day y'all.

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-03-17T04:39:00.000-07:00

Venturing away from the sombre styles and textures of the early sixties the mods of the mid-to-late sixties started to wear more flamboyant fashion and the standard suit and tie combination was replaced by more raffish alternatives. Hoping to follow this style I headed off to the Marketplace where I sifted through endless naff fashions hoping to locate those few gems of modernist fashion. Eventually I stumbled upon Gizza shirts, looking at the retro range they seemed ideal to fulfill the fashion criteria of the pop art inspired mid sixties.

However my desire for classic modernism remains undaunted and so amidst the array of colourful shirts I grabbed the monochrome white with black pin spots variety. The shirt comes in a jacket and shirt layer, with underpants layer too giving it a degree of versatility sadly lacking in many fashion items who stick rigidly to the single layer sales format. Along with the multi-layers, the shirt comes with prim cuffs and a prim collar. These items fit my avatar and required no shifting to achieve a measured look. Reasonably pricey but nevertheless great value the shirt when combined with a styling black scarf and some Armidi trousers, plus my FKNY buckled loafers produces a stunning mod look from pop art period. Less flamboyant than much of the fashion and far more subdued in colour it is a classic piece of virtual mod fashion. Think about buying one, but stay away from the spots they're mine!

Gizza Shirts at the Marketplace
Gizza Store

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-03-16T03:24:00.000-07:00

Discovering what an easy cop out this sticking snapshots up malarky is I have decided its time for PART TWO. So I have the Immediate collection on I-Tunes and am listening to this:

Whilst typing out this drivel. Right lets get too it, less waffle and more snapshots and links, a few here I'd buy myself but....Anyway hope its of some use to some fashion visitors and to others more madness and waffle soon, just chill amigos.

First item up is the fat pack, merely to show the full colour range, each item can be bought individually or you can dive in for a fat pack.

Class Affair - Coat

Anthony - Male Business Suit

B-Styles-Cotton-Coat

NeoMods wear leather too, check out this for your NeoMod styling:

::Schoen:: Leather Jacket (Tricolor)

*TSIX BOX 168 Track Jacket

s'LADE MEN - Sports Jacket

s'LADE MEN - Casual Blazer

Unplugged Suit jacket

So, that is this one done, quick sharp possibly very dull, but if somebody finds it of some little use its served its purpose. Besides its economy of effort I'm blogging whilst remaining ostensibly idle, perfect. Therefore, part three is obviously inevitable.

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-03-16T03:22:00.000-07:00

I was looking through the Marketplace [where else, I might as well set up residence in there] the other day when I saw a rather sharp looking rain coat. It was very much in the style of the thirties detective trench coat, I thought it looked kind of French. After thinking of capturing a snap and blogging it as a random fashion piece I changed my mind and bought it. Some might view it as not authentically mod and label it Albion's flasher mac; but, I stand by my original judgement and believe matched with the right clothes it has a very sixties European vibe pulsing through it.

The coat comes with both a jacket and shirt layer, which provides scupe for a little tinkering should you choose to. The prim cuffs and collar are a nice addition and all fit my avatar shape beautifully without the need for a touch of modifying. The texturing on the coat is very nice with no obvious flaws. Overall I am very pleased with the purchase and glad I added it to my mod wardrobe. Matching it with some brown Armidi trousers, a brown button down shirt from the Unknown Boutique and some nice brown shoes from FKNY I think it achieves a very cool French mod look, I'm certain Alan Delon* would be proud to look this sharp! Despite early doubts once the coat is worn with other classic mod styled items it becomes a very mod look in a traditionalist sixties style but also with NeoMod features. For a single item its not a cheap throw away costing just over three hundred lindens but it does provide a neat sharp look and an altwernative to the leather coat or parka that dominate the virtual mod scene. Be seen to be different on the scene if you want to catch the eye, its a truth y'know.

Ace (Face) rain mac

*who? French sixties film icon, uber cool. Google it you philistines haha

Virtual goings on....

2011-03-15T03:27:00.000-07:00

I headed to the second sixties event at the Killing Moon on Saturday to spend some time chilling out to some tunes. The DJ for this event was Magdalena Bing and she played some great tunes, mostly generic sixties rather than mod, with the odd seventies and fifties tunes hurled into the mix. A lot of Beatles and Kinks were played along with a few other standard sixties tunes and everyone seemed to be having fun. It was the usual Moonletters suspects in attendance at the pub, which is encouraging and hopefully means that the Saturday session will continue.

Other goings on over the virtual weekend were limited, grabbing a couple of freebies and getting some clothing from the Marketplace which undoubtedly I'll waffle on about at some point. Need to speed up though I think as some stuff I buy at the Marketplace seems to vanish soon after; a few items I had locked into my favourites section have vanished so apologies if I blog something and you follow a link to a vacant page. My procrastination begs your forgiveness, right time for some breakfast. I may log on this evening I wonder if there's anything worth attending, AAi maybe?

It was a quiet night gridwise and I ended up at the Soulsville club, there were not many there but I enjoyed a nice set of sixties soul tunes from PT whilst I attended to some real life issues. So I was pretty much a non-presence at least Albion bulked out the dance floor. A shame it was not better attended as there were some cool tunes. Later I did head off to the AAi, it was also very quiet here with one of the smallest crowds I've seen there fdor quite some time. Claire was playing some fine tunes and I was settling down for the duration when I was reminded of an early morning start and therefore had to cut my visit short, pity! Anyway, that was the virtual going ons in my Second Life over the last couple of days.

2011-03-12T14:22:00.000-08:00

This blog is nothing more than a flippant piece of fluff, devised to entertain the inhabitants of Second Life who have an interest in the virtual mod or virtual fashion scene. Therefore its merits are severely limited. However, I have noticed that it gets a fair amount of Japanese visitors so I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you well, hope you are all safe and sincerely wish that you all stay that way and are able to join us back in the frivolous world of Second Life soon. And, a quick point of note Micio Braveheart a stalwart of the virtual mod scene, glad to hear you are safe and look forward to your return to the virtual world, We mods should gather at your club to celebrate. And once again stay safe our thoughts are with you all.

Friday night Fun Factory

2011-03-12T08:24:00.000-08:00

Friday night, nothing on the telly, no babysitters so how do I fill my evening: only one course of action...Soul Mods! Friday is a fun night Slate plays great tunes, some old some more recent and his set list is lively and very entertaining; however, its the huge sense of fun he imbues into his sets that make it such a please to attend. He takes time out to create daft links, voice overs and other stuff merely to give us a laugh or put a smile on our faces. Absolutely fantastic, marry that with his excellent tune selection and it creates a marvelous atmosphere that all who attend enjoy. I left before the end but it was gone 11pm when I left, Slate is fairly flexible on that score and his gigs don't so much over run as flow on past the 11pm slot.

So, it was another great night although the new fad for gesture quotes leaves me a little confused, especially when there are dozens being fired off simultaneously I lose track of who is saying what. Ah I guess I'm just too slow to keep up. One quick reminder that Saturday now has a viable sixties/mod venue at the Killing Moon, its well worth supporting this event as there are too few venues playing what I like to call our kind of music*. To read more on tonight's event read this

*Bollox, I have morphed into David Jascobs

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-03-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

Tonight Mathew I'm going to be...

After looking around the Marketplace somewhat forlornly, finding a fair amount but nothing I actually wanted to buy, I saw this great riding jacket that reminded me of early promotional shots of the Kinks. Mods in hunting pink, seemed a cool sixties image so I grabbed one. Its not an exact replica as the Kinks jackets were tailored and more fashionable whilst the Second Life option is very much a riding jacket. However matched with some funky trousers and the classic mod bowling shoes I think its produced a decent homage to the Kinks early style. Marrying a plain white shirt/tie undershirt layer with the jacket gives it a clean sharp look that suits the modernist needs quite well. I'll be wearing it at Soul Mods tonight, how long until the first Tally Ho!

E. Watkins - Red Riding Jacket

Great Tunes, in my Real and Virtual Life

2011-03-11T07:47:00.000-08:00

This popped through the letterbox today, best four quid I've spent in a long time. Almost sixty tracks, some familiar [have to expect that with compilations] but most are new and join my I-Tunes canon. So as my fingers nimbly dance, I wish, OK lets be more honest: as my digit clods over the the keys I'm listening to some damn fine soul. And, talking damn fine soul that leads me nicely into Thursday at Soul Mods where Lupo was making a welcome return to the DJ booth, he has so much going on musically in real life that his visits are less frequent but no less warmly appreciated.

Lupo themed his set so the Hammond organ featured prominently in the tracks he played which kept the crowd very happy, Sadly, for me, I had to exit an hour in so I missed an hour of great tunes but such is life.

However, the hour I did spend at the club was great. There were some great tunes getting an airing, some classic originals others European covers of standards. There was a great cover of "Dancing in the Street" by a Spanish band whose name I've forgotten [blame early onset....] which reminded Slate of a travesty...the dreadful cover of this track by Bowie and Jagger. Now just because it was all for charideee let us not be fooled into thinking it was anything other than abysmal! Those long flapping coats, ugly dancing and the butchering of an upbeat soul classic...terrible. The consensus in Soul Mods was that each and every copy of this '45 should be demolished. Other interesting topics were the new wibbly wobbly boobs function in Phoenix, I saw no bouncing and believe me I looked,,,forensically. Great night shared with the lovely Stella, and her sister Stella, lovely Belgium emigre family but very unimaginative with the names, I was going to introduce a third daughter,,,but time eluded me and she remained in the fridge. So another night cut short I'm convinced that tonight Slate will entertain us royally, who knows what madness he has planned.

Modernist Fashion in Sl

2011-03-10T02:27:00.000-08:00

I often wake up early and bored, put the kettle on and click on my I-Tunes to idle away an hour or so listening to some cool Mod tunes, presently this is playing off a neat sixties compilation:

Tunes established I then have to decide how I'll fill in a bit of time sat at the computer screen; sometimes, I head off to the Second Life Marketplace as I've done this morning. Often during these trawls through the fashion morass I see items that I would not buy but perhaps have a degree of mod fashion potential, but I never list them as I dont purchase them. Therefore, this morning I figured I'd kill several birds with a single stone: I'd put up a lengthy post without actually having to type much at all. Also, I will highlight a few mod items that normally would not get blogged and also I'm not required to spend any lindens. So I have basically grabbed the snapshot of the item from its page at the marketplace and then added the link to the item below it. I neither recommend nor do I advise against purchase so the choice is yours I'm merely acting as a conduit into your lindens wallet, and all for free....are you listening designers, hahaha.

Last Eden Parka

One item thats very popular amongst mods, and especially Mod revivalists of the eighties is the leatrher trench coat, inspired by the Ace Face Sting [c'mon don't laugh] in the iconic film Quadrophenia. Anyway here is a selection of trench coats of variable merit and price. Seek and ye shall find.

B11 Men's long coat

Black Leather Trench Coat

MarcoD'AvanteTrenchcoat

As well as a coat every virtual mod is going to need a jacket or two maybe these appeal and can fill that hole in your mod wardrobe.

(NO) Brown Blazer

:: SD :: Old Army Jacket Green / khaki

*MZ* Grey and Dark Elegant jackets

*Zanzo* Cambridge blazer

And as the tunes wind down I think I'll leave this post and leave you to decide if there is anything here worth purchasing, I just dont have the funds to buy everything, despite all evidence to the contrary. Enjoy your linden splashing...I need a coffee refill.

ciao

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-03-09T02:40:00.000-08:00

Mix and Match

I like multi-layered clothing so much as it provides an opportunity to combine various fashion items from different designs to create a look of your own. Single layer full outfit textured item, ie, a sweater textured with both a shirt and tie, leave me cold as there is no scope for such an item; it is what it is and the opportunity to vary it isd non-existent. So I had a play around with some multi-layered shirts from Meriken whilst in the Moonletters photo studio* the other day. Using the undershirt/underpants layer for the Meriken shirt allowed me the freedom to use other items from different ranges to achieve the desired look. Mix and Match is the way forward, as Ib often see a shirt that I think would look great with a suit only to didcover it only comes in a jacket layer rendering it impossible to wear with a suit. I'm no designer its another technical task way beyond my talents but I imagine its not too odious a task to create items on jacket/shirt/undershirt and underpants layers to give the item full versatilty and a use beyond its basic fashion function. So get with the programme and open yoyur designs to real life, I mean its not like real life items are restricted to a single use so why should virtual ones suffer such a fate. Get with it.

Here I used a range of Meriken shirts, on the underwear layer, in tandem with ties from the Hasendow suits on the shirt layer and matched to a range of trousers from Armidi, the shoes are almost free a 20L$ splash over at DUH! I colour co-ordinated the clothes but mixing the colours would work well, I also opted not to wear a jacket as this showed the shirt/tie combination more clearly but after I had finished snapping I threw a black Meriken jacket on over the shirt/tie to complete my mix and match. The addition of a shirt on the underpants layer also means it can be worn with the low slung trousers, that dominate Second Life design, without having to resort to a jacket to cover up the exposed underbelly [the one failing of the fabulous Unknown Boutique shirts, which I think are fantastic and look sublime but do possess this irritaing weak link].

I also swapped shoes to cill outside Kim and Edens store, wearing my Jeepers Creepers Strike bowling shoes, classic mod footwear.

Meriken
Armidi
Hasendow

Whats on at Moonletters

2011-03-08T06:05:00.000-08:00

Saturday was the debut night of the mod sixties nights that are planned for the Killing Moon pub over at the Moonletters sim. Eden opened up this new venue with a sharp mod based set with a good sprinkling of sixties classics, the Doors to keep the girls lusty haha. There was an excellent turn out for the opening night and I'm sure Shauna can see it was worthwhile opening up the pub to DJ nights. Weekends can be somewhat barren for the virtual mod in Second Life; so, the opening was much appreciated by those virtual groovers seeking to escape the morass of disco, eighties and thrash metal rock sets that seem to dominate the search engine inworld.

Albion had a great time, and was out modded in the fashion stakes by the utlra groovy NeoMod style of Icabod Gealach. He was wearing some sharp NeoMod threads and had a very cool Akeyo dance animation, I forgot to tap him up for a landmark for the sharp jacket so if anyone can get it pass it on, cheers. Luckily I copped the landmark for his grooving moves and immediately set off for the store the following day to grab a few silky moves of my own. So if you want a few smooth of your own get yourself over to the Akeyo Animations store.

Relogging in a few days after the Killing Moon gig I decided to take a tour of the sim so I jumped on one of the sims rotating cars and was given a little tour of the sim whilst idly chatting to Dugi in IMs. Its amazing what follies you can uncover whilst killing a few minutes.

Akeyo Animations Store

Further details on the Killing Moon opening night can be found here

Royalty.....

2011-03-04T15:41:00.000-08:00

Well officially Soul Mods Friday session has ended, but as its Slate on decks time is flexible and he plays until he's had enough and that takes some time! So far its been a great night with some fantastic tunes getting played, few techy issues, wouldn't be a Slate set without those, plus the truly inspired and brilliant jingles/ composition that have become Slate's trademark: Gene Hunt/Bowie mix this time. Quiet night, a lively crowd but not so many tonight and I never did get my post 10 surge, only ridicule...they're a cruel lot at Soul Mods y'know.

Friday also solved one burning question. Who is king of the virtual mods? Is it uber cool Lupo, who dresses to impress and has the tunes to go with it? Or is it my very own Albion sharp as a tack and ego driven. Perhaps its Dugi club lord and all around soul blaster. Nope none of these three its DJ and scooter lord Slate, after all he has his own mod throne!!! Yep its difficult to defeat someone who can build a mod throne and so its now official Slate is the rightful heir to the Mighty Boosh and the lawful king of the mods. Its inevitable really, who could compete with that!

So, once again its been another barmy night at Soul Mods, so much fun its worth coming just for the craic even if your a metal head. But if you like the finer tunes in life, they tumble off the deck as quick as the DJs can load them, and that's pretty damn fast so get your dancing feet over here sharpish.

Thursday was also another great night, less daft than the manic Fridays but no less quality. Eden played a host of storming tracks that kept the room buzzing for a couple of hours where does she pluck these gems from. Definitely a DJ to catch, which is lucky for you all as she is playing an impromptu gig at the Killing Moon pub over at Moonletters,* starting around 1pm SLT so get yourself there and hear some of the best sixties music anywhere on the grid! Once Slate's finished playing I'll be tping to the pub to set up a SURL to make it easy to find, feck me I'm a generous old soul. I have already got my spot booked, after Slate and Maddie nicked my corner on Thursday, scoundrels.

* jobs a good un, nighty nite amigos.

The Killing Moon Pub

Quiet

2011-03-02T03:20:00.000-08:00

Apologies for my lack of posting, lack of inworld presence just been lots of real life stuff happening that's kept me away from virtual life and firmly planted in the real world. That seems to be happening more often, I need to return to idleness to fully engage with my virtual self.

So, as the Welsh allegedly say "whats occurring?"

After much thought the inevitable happened and I bought a Hasendow suit, in fact I bought two as I couldn't choose between them. Its a horrendous price to pay for some virtual stuff, 1400$L for fecks sake for the two; but, they look so sharp and ooze sixties styling that in the end I couldn't resist them. Besides they also encouraged Albion to grow his hair back so perhaps that's not such a bad thing. I opted for the blue and mercury [silver grey] suits and despite the fierce price tag can admit to being very happy with the purchase and just wish I could justify buying more. I added a prim handkerchief in the breast pocket and failed miserably to retexturing the colour, I'm just out of my depth which is a polite way of saying I'm bloody useless. My one tiny criticism is I was surprised to find the trousers had no prim cuffs, as they seem to be standard with most hi-end Second Life fashion items nowadays. The prim jacket cuffs add depth to the sleeves and prim additions to the trousers would perform a similar service; however, despite this small complaint I am happy with both suits and believe they are fine examples of sharp sixties styling in the virtual world. If you can justify the cost...buy one!

After splashing so much cash on a couple of suits I decided I'd hunt through the freebie blogs to see if I could pick up something for nothing, a favourite pursuit in Second Life. As the suit had encouraged hair growth I opted to grab some free hair styles. Checking out Yves Firlan's Fashion+Freebies for Men blog I discovered there were some cool giveaways at Savoir Hair I had a good look around and managed to find four hair styles that seemed to have a degree of NeoMod potential and besides they were free so even if they were not totally correct it would be no loss. My favourite was the very Beatleseque style which could even persuade Albion to forsake his blonde locks for a while. But I doubt it. Anyway if your looking for free hair check it out, there's plenty of styles for girls and geezers and they're all free so waste yourself and overindulge on prim hair! The snap also beautifully illustrates my inability to manipulate my virtual environment, although on reflection maybe its not too bad the hankie matches the blue tie I just couldn't get it to go gold but that's another tale.

As for life in Second Life, lets see I crashed out of Soul Mods on Friday which delighted me so much I hurt my toe kicking the desks. Intended to log in on Tuesday to see what was happening but fell asleep on the sofa, middle aged dog walking syndrome, have wandered around the web listening to cool tunes imagining my virtual DJ set list, nope that's not going to happen its a fantasy within a fantasy and gets way too complex,,,see I conceived Inception before they conceived it wonder if I can get a few bob out of it. Planning ahead I hope to be bouncing in Second Life on Thursday and Friday for the gigs at Soul Mods. I'm still trudging through the fashion quagmire trying to find gems of virtual sixties fashion but having to stretch the boundaries drastically just to get something that I can waffle on about. I ended up looking more like Adam Ant as I strove for a mid sixties pop art fashion look, need to remain vigilant on the fashion score. So I'm expecting a slow down on the fashion blog for a while which mean more modette stuff will get shoved up as I get bored and feel the need to post something. Besides it'll keep Graz happy that I'm a girly girl, hahahaha. And that my lads is about it, oops lasses too, time to make an early lunch and then shift some rubbish in the garden,,,what a glamour life I lead,,so lets keep it virtual, talking to myself again I'll get locked up one day!

Oh I forgot: Pop Art or Adam Ant? Answers on a postcard or that comment thing if you can be bothered I'm undecided but anyway its an indication of how desperate I have become in my search for new mod items to write about, bloody designers.......

Something to subscribe too

2011-03-01T05:26:00.000-08:00

Almost everyone in the virtual world drops into YouTube, I have even seen YouTube videos on peoples virtual TVs; so, bearing that in mind this looks like a great channel for virtual mods to subscribe too:

http://www.youtube.com/user/s2trash#p/a/u/1/jKZBPFb8zZQ

Check it out, full of great tunes and aging real life mods, just like me, chatting the breeze away. Just a tune taster, enjoy:

Been a little virtual lite of late, hopefully I will reverse that and start waffling again soon.

Opportunities for virtual DJs

2011-02-21T08:22:00.000-08:00

Not sure how many visitors here also read the excellent Moonletters blog edited by the wonderful Shauna but she has been wondering whether to open up the Killing Moon pub to DJs to provided a little entertainment: Killing Moon More than a Hang Out. After much thought Shauna has decided to throw open the doors of the Killing Moon to prospective DJs looking for somewhere to play, DJs Wanted Impromptu on an ad hoc basis, which keeps me smiling as the more possible mod venues the better.So anyone looking to DJ get involved check Shauna's blog and if you match the criteria I look forward to listening to your set.

Fashionable Updates

2011-02-21T00:50:00.000-08:00

I was again trudging, and yes it is a trudge to find anything really relevant to this blog now, through the Marketplace when I stumbled upon a couple of items when I entered "Carnaby" in the search engine. First up popped a skinhead inspired shorty skirt outfit that might appeal to some of the dancers at Soul Mods, not strictly mod or skinhead but this style appeals to many and so I've put up a link and a snap in case there are girls interested. Yes I am a nice chap, ta!

Jane Westminster

Next up were a couple of familiar faces and if you cant plug your mates stuff on your own blog your up shit creek. So I';m happy to once again punt forward Eden and Kim's clothes, which can be bought at their store on the Moonletters Sim and now also at the Marketplace. Their design style is probably the most authentically sixties on the grid, just need to get sewing a few geezers shirts. Check it out girls, if you want to look the part at the mod events I waffle on about this is an ideal starting point.

Kim's stuff :- https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/68479

Eden's stuff :- https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/69500

So there you go a couple of quick fashionables for all the girlies out there, better get some myself don't want to disappoint Graz and his conspiracy theory, hahaha.

Being Human

2011-02-20T13:38:00.000-08:00

Was the reason I found myself going virtual on Sunday night; which required some intensive searching to locate something entertaining in Second Life. Sunday is not one of my regular virtual nights and so I was somewhat lost. Eventually I teleported to the Old Cave to catch a generic soul set by the DJ Finn Askari. the beats are slower than my favoured Motown or Northern tune, but it was entertaining enough and the people there were very welcoming and all said hello. Thats nice for a new arrival, a friendly hello even if like me they then go quiet and just listen in to the tunes. Sometimes I want to be mellow and just listen other times I'm happy to dive into the swamp of manic chatter. So I was happy enough chilling in my own company listening to generic soul which I occassionally enjoy but wouldnt necessarily be throwing onto my I-Tunes. Very mellow, very nice.

The club has its own wesite, so check it out: www.oldcave-sl.com

Its been a busy Week...

2011-02-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

...full of mayhem and belly laughs, culminating in a bizarre night at Soul Mods, but I'll witter on about that later.

Touch of real life sobriety, as I was wheezing like a geriatric scaling Kilimanjaro early this week I avoid Second Life as I sat slumped in front of the TV occasionally sucking on an inhaler, steroids plus anti-biotics plus gloopy syrupy things appear to have me on the mend and so I returned to the virtual world. Sadly it was a Wednesday and just like real life nothing much happens in Second Life on a Wednesday.

As I was bored I opted to take a trip to Moonletters, as I sat there thinking I wondered if I could race down the high street dodging cars in my Ferrari. Well no point in thinking in the virtual world its all about doing. So, I rezzed a nice shiny red Enzo on the street and revved up the engine. Sitting in the drivers seat i wondered if I should let rip or play it safe, I opted for the latter. Ive let rip in virtual cars before on short tracks and found myself firstly flying through neighbouring Sims in a spinning car, before the car vanishes and I fly onto Sim limbo, so I figured I'd avoid that and go slow,,slow being a relative term of course.

At first I found it quite simple to slip past the trundling traffic, but as the speed increased it got slightly trickier and I began mistiming a few turns and began thumping into the odd car and sent them bouncing along the road. Shamefully I found this more fun than slipping around them and went crashing and smashing up and down the main strip at Moonletters. Eventually, however, temptation got the better of me and I and let rip on the road heading back up to the HQ; brakes were not so hot and I mounted the steps and smashed into the front door, sorry Shauna! I did think of leaving the car there as an exotic art installation but thought better of it and popped it back into my inventory.

So, a fair bit of waffling but absolutely nothing that relates to the virtual mod scene, just me whinging about being ill and smashing up Shauna's Sim. Hey before Soul Mods I lead a varied virtual life.

Thursday saw Lupo DJing at Soul Mods again, and he took us on a global tour of mod tunes. Lupo's knowledge of non-English mod music is so far ahead of the rest of us its a real education to listen to. The tunes are brilliant some original other covers of famous US or UK artists. Again we had a good turn out at the club and all who came seemed to be having fun. The usual mob of waifs and strays were in attendance and so the chat was its usual eclectic mix of mod music, real life whimsy and the bizarre, Kerouac's stream of consciousness has nothing on a typical Soul Mods chat line. One minute its Motown, the next virtual fashion and then dogs eating pork pies and flatulence, we should be on the bleedin' telly. However Thursdays daftness was dwarfed by Fridays events when Soul Mods went mini, no not German big little cars masquerading as British icons, this was more Shagadelic than that my swinging friends, oh deary me indeed.

Friday began as most Friday's do, Slate had a few technical issues then got going and began pumping out fantastic tunes. There was a good crowd in attendance and we were having plenty of fun laughing and joking, surprisingly at Lupo's expense, but its his own fault for rezzing in short with big feet! Then I crashed, first of several strange occurrences I've not crashed in an absolute age. When I relogged Lupo was no longer short, sadly. The evening continued more great tunes and further mad laughs and chat before the bizarreness exploded with the passing around of bebe. Wearing bebe shrunk you to a tiny little mini version of your avatar, soon the room was full of them finally Jelli and Seren got to tower over us all and bully us into submission. A room full of tiny avatars looked very odd, even odder when they opted to have an impromptu scooter rally soon there where dwarfy avatars and scooters everywhere, the tunes were belting out and everyone was in hysterics as the tunes continued to belt out and the banter went into overdrive. Eventually people began to revert back to there original size and shape leaving poor Dugi and Lupo stranded as the only minis left, Maddie and Slate were too but that was by choice rather than by accident. Dugi attempted to resolve the situation by donning a huge condom, and y'know what surprise surprise...it didn't. All he succeeded in doing was encasing lil mini Dugi inside it; meanwhile Lupo suffered in noble silence. Eventually they solved the mini riddle and changed back; not a moment too soon as some people were suffering from laughter fatigue. Then thinking we hadn't had quite enough insanity, Dugi threw on his pink tutu and hat....

What a night, great music; wonderful people, cool DJ, madhouse activities and all for free. As we stumbled off to our beds Slate put us to shame and tp'd off to further parties and further madness. I just don't have the stamina.

Oh I forgot to mention Albion's boxing Josie walloping Albion, Graz's cool robot, the cybermen all of which unleashed Slate's Dr Who fetish. Yeah Soul Mods is so much than a collection of cool people enjoying great music its a whole entertainment system in itself, see you there.

*ps thanks to Aston for the mini boys.snapshot.

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-02-18T03:53:00.000-08:00

Second Life male mod fashion items are a scarce commodity and so its usual to look outside of mainstream sixties British styles. One valuable virtual aid is to check the Japanese fashion houses of the virtual world. Japanese edgy fashion has some NeoMod crossover potential and I discovered this range of sharp looking blazers whilst muddling through the fashion options at the Marketplace. They come in a wide range of colour, variations and are scripted for sizing and the trousers also have colour scripting; a scripted tie is also included in the package. It seems a reasonable option for 400$l with various colour change options, as yet Ive not bought one but I might just treat myself. If your looking for a sharp NeoMod style with a splash of Asian flair this could prove to be a good option. Its available at either the Marketplace or the store inworld..

The Marketplace

*Edelweiss*

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-02-13T02:20:00.000-08:00

One of the most irritating aspects of my self imposed austerity pact, is when I see fantastic items that beautifully fit the mod brief but are just outside of the price band I've agreed with myself for this month. I have so many suits, most of which never get worn that can I justify buying a whole load more, however fantastic they look. So imagine the beating I gave myself when I stumbled upon Aragane Nishi clothing range at the Marketplace, not one not two but twelve beautiful suits designed and textured in styles that are ideal for the aspirant virtual mod. But with each of the two fat packs rolling in at a hefty 3000$l sadly there is no snapshot of Albion wearing them, its just the store snapshots that made it onto the blog.

Its quite difficult to write an accurate review of items when you don't possess them as the nuances of prim fittings and how the textures look and function are obscured from the reviewer if all he has to work with is a snapshot. But from what I can see and what I have read in the details the suits seem to be a fine addition to the virtual mods wardrobe. There are several variations, multi-layered clothing and the correct prim usage on the cuffs and trousers to give the suits the sharpness required of the typical mod suits. However, six grand for the two fat packs is very steep, even if its providing a significant discount on buying an individual suit. I think I'll opt to buy a single suit but the tough decision then is which one? At 700$l I want to be sure to get the correct one, in and ideal world I'd grab the lot, but I'm just not Chelsea y'know and so over the next few days I'll be wondering which one I should go for.

Now, if you're West London and have no qualms about splashing the cash and want a whole range of sharp sixties suits grab the fat packs, I wont be jealous, honest.

Aragane Nishi

Two Nights at Soul Mods

2011-02-12T12:09:00.000-08:00

Headed to Soul Mods on Thursday to listen to Eden deliver another great set, just when you think you're familiar with her track listing Eden goes off on a sounds adventure and hits you with a barrage of new tunes that blow your mind. This Thursday was one of those occasions and whilst some may know all the stuff I for one am willing to hold my hand up and admit to ignorance, but am much happier for having my ears opened to these great tunes. So it was a great night, lots of funny banter and some majestic tunes both old and new had us all stomping, and in my case coughing but a little bit of suffering is worth the price for such enjoyment, and before you ask yeah Albion is a better dancer than me.

Friday had a new face on decks, Janice Short, whilst well known on the DJ circuit this was her first outing as a DJ at Soul Mods and she delivered a thumping sixties set, full of classic Motown and white boy blues beat bands that kept everyone happy for a couple of hours. Another excellent turn out and the club, with over thirty people resident at some points thoroughly engaged by the music and having a laugh, the sole reasons for Soul Mods existence. It is y'know, just ask the man himself, Dugi's often said once its no longer fun that's it, so do your damnest to keep it fun people its one of very few refuges for us virtual mods lets not lose it. As often happens I got dragged off the keyboard to deal with real life stuff, whilst the missus attended to the post OFSTED mayhem that afflicts all teacher households every now again, but I listened in even though I wasn't at my keyboard. Lucky for me I arrived back before the dastardly Josie and Shauna shoved me into a cupboard; those girls you just cannot trust them Lupo said goodnight twice, I think he does it so everyone say goodbye and shows how popular he is,,,unlike me, boo hoo. Sean turned up as did Graz and they had a prowling contest just off the dance floor. Its not a real contest but it fills up another sentence, filling it served me well through University so why not here. Lots of new faces brought in by the appearance of Janice on decks hopefully a few will visit again, and all in all a great night had by everyone. Fun on a lindens budget, cool.

Whats On? Nuthin' Much.....

2011-02-11T03:07:00.000-08:00

So I spent an hour our so wandering the grid looking for groovy mod hangouts as I felt I may have been a little one dimensional on my travels of late. So as Dugi and Aston had been to a mods night at the WestEnd Club I figured I'd go check it out. Its a pretty standard design club some might go so far as to call it bland, but for the mod night they put up some really awesome graphics and it looks quite dramatic. As it was the middle of the afternoon in the UK the club was quite empty, which allowed me to have a good mooch about, nice big dance floor and a couple of DJ booths, ideal for a mod or soul stormer. Hopefully more mod nights will follow and I'll strut my stuff there under a Brighton skyline with mod graphics illuminating my virtual mod credentials.

Later I decided to check out Micio Bravehearts club, sadly as she is based in Japan Micio club misses out on much of the UK based virtual mod action. But her wonderful little club looks fantastic. She has a selection of great mod graphics around the building plus plenty of gadgetry things I don't understand but find very cool. The club was empty as it often is when I visit, timezone issues but there was a nice stream of music flooding in from a DJ on mod radio, so Albion put on his dancing shoes while I listened to some groovy tunes and chilled out. Empty clubs are cool places for chilling if the music is too your taste and empty clubs that look great and have plenty to look at are my ideal hideaway, leaving Albion to pose whilst I entertain myself listening to tunes and getting on with real life stuff, no chat line to worry about; no need to worry about causing offence by blanking people. Just cool tunes no irritating popster DJ talking over tracks, its like I-Tunes only somebody else is picking the set.

Micio does play sets at her club and the few I have heard have been very good, do if you see her flyers or notices in the search section, go check the club and tunes out. It wont disappoint and you'll hear some unique mod sounds, non-UK mod DJs bring an added bit of spice to their sets; often they play tunes us xenophobic Brits wouldn't get to listen too. Widening our tastes and letting us hear stuff that's very new to our ears, we should be very grateful for taking the time out to DJ for us, as I'm sure we all are! Hopefully my virtual life will stretch out a little I'll be online more often and catch a set or two from Micio, however at the moment I barely make the sets orientated around GMT, so I need to pull my finger out and get virtual. Hope to see a few good mod nights at a few different clubs. the punters are there, so are the DJs just need to locate club and a night and then entertain us.

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-02-10T03:00:00.000-08:00

I bought this cheap and cheerful selection of suit a long while back and obviously forgot to blog them; to be honest I buy too much stuff and so the likelihood is I forgot about them and therefore I doubt I have worn them more than half a dozen times since purchase. I grabbed the fatpack in store and was reminded of them as I was trawling the Marketplace and they popped up in my search selection. A neat range of highly affordable suits in some bright colours that have a nice sixties feel to them, despite being labelled as linen suits they fit a mod brief reasonably well.

To be frank in these days of prim cuffs and other attachments developed to give clothing a sense of depth these old school painted textured designs seem to lack a little bit of style. But, despite their old fashion creation they are well made, granted the lapels loook a little ropey but I can live with that. The colour range is fantastic - bright but not startling and matched with a classic white shirt black tie combination it propels the suits into the centre of early sixties fashion. I'm ashamed for forgetting all about them and fully intend to wear them more often.

So, if you're looking to bulk out your wardrobe and want suits with a splash of colour but are restraining your wallet look no further, 500$l for eight suits is a bargain or buy them as individuals for slightly more per item, 150$l for an individual suit. Find them either at the Marketplace or if you prefer inworld at the store.

Marketplace

NachtMusik: a Dandy shop

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-02-09T01:07:00.000-08:00

I first saw this suit on an advert for a complete Asian avatar and thought it looked extremely cool and very sixties in its styling. Since then I hoped the designer would opt to release it as a suit only option, and whilst trawling through the Marketplace for interesting stuff to waffle about I stumbled upon it and thought that's where the remains of this months lindens rations are heading. Its a neat black suit, with prim cuffs variations in the shirt layer and a decent pair of prim shoes [although I opted for my trusty FKNY loafers]. The jacket texture has a sheen to it that gives it a leather type look although its not leather which is quite different and allows it to step out from the morass of black suits. Its reasonably priced considering its a complete outfit including shoes. So whilst some might be thinking 300$l is very steep, prim work on the suit, plus its variant options plus the prim shoes makes it seem very reasonable in today's slightly inflated price market. Should you get one? No because I want to be the only one looking this sharp,,,let me have my wish for a week then get your hands in your virtual pocket and spread some linden lurve.

Buy it either inworld or at the Marketplace.

MrS
or
Marketplace

Whats with the YouTube-fest

2011-02-08T02:52:00.000-08:00

Why all the YouTube stuff and other fillers? You may be asking yourself that question more likely you're not. Anyway, I think a conversation with myself is often the most entertaining of the day and so I'll keep tapping the keys and explain to myself, if nobody else, why I keep stuffing up tunes from the vaults of YouTube. Primarily I want to keep the blog ticking over with fresh posts every now and again, but my dilema is that the virtual scene has gone into hibernation. This hibernating state means I am often repeating myself, indeed I think I am doing that right now as I'm sure I blogged this before, when I waffle about club nights. Therefore if I wish to keep a current posting schedule alive I have to come up with something and I decided that sticking up tunes or interesting real life mod news or trivia is an option thats both easy and effective and doesnt lead the blog away from its virtual mod brief. Well not too much anyway. So, the lack of posts for club nights and fashion too is the primary reason.

Its getting harder to locate decent mod style fashion items in Second Life, sure there's plenty of suits and a few dozen T-Shirts out there but distinct mod items are getting harder and harder to find, plus in the current economic climate I'm getting more reticent about spending real money on virtual clothing. I have plenty of stuff in my wardrobe and so am buying merely to give myself something to waffle about ... true vanity projects. So I have got choosy and therefore the purchasing, and thus blogging has slowed down.

However, there is a secondary less cynical reason for sticking tunes up on the blog. It too is wrapped up in vanity, like most of the blog,,,I mean must be a degree of vanity to believe anyone wants to read this rubbish. Not exactly Booker prize literature is it, more like bog door scrawl. Anyway, meandering and losing the plot.... Yes, the secondary reason is to throw out the kinds of tunes and music I would play at Soul Mods if:

I had the software
I had the brains to understand how any of it works
I had the drive to get my arse into gear and do something

On that basis I'll keep flicking yup the odd YouTube gem, in my role as virtual virtual DJ, wow thatrs complicated, have fun and see everyone later at the AAi for some cool sixties tunes.

Two for One

2011-02-07T03:27:00.000-08:00

Brighton Rock

2011-02-05T02:01:00.000-08:00

The Graeme Green novel and nineteen forties [I think] film has recently been remade and shunted forward chronologically into the sixties. The book and original film are great, violence and love intermingled combine this with some classic mod on film and it might be worth investing your pennies to catch it at the cinema. Its not the story of mods its merely the setting for a gripping thriller but interesting enough to be worth a punt.

There are loads of clips all over YouTube filmed by amateurs of the mod scenes so check it out. Hopefully these splashes of amateur footage give a sense of the mod feel of the film, whilst the official trailer identifies the plot in its setting. Right bacon and eggs and a brew here I come, two posts on a Saturday morning I'm bloomin' spoiling you.

* spot the classic mod film link up?

Kaleidoscope of Name Tags

2011-02-05T01:05:00.000-08:00

A very busy night at Soul Mods on Friday, lots of new faces, even some noobies and yes we were kind to them. It was Slate's regular DJ slot and as ever his blend of eighties revival and sixties standards had us all animating our pixels excitedly as we typed our typical stream of drivel and laughed away a couple of hours. Lots of sharply dressed mods in tonight and others whilst not mod looked wildly exotic and wonderful, a fabulous virtual night out whilst not moving from my chair, unless you count trips to the fridge and the odd stomp around the study to an old favourite or two. C'mon admit it, I'm not the only one singing and dancing in real life too, oh I am ... feck!

Regular virtual nights out meeting up with old friends and new has pretty much become my reason d'etre for inhabiting the virtual world these days. I rarely visit the track anymore so my legion of cars and bikes lie dormant; its not often I explore new sims and its unusual for me to go to new clubs,,I think my virtual life has become a little predictable, a good or bad thing? I'm unsure but so long as the predictable is as much fun as it was on Friday I couldn't give a rats arse.

It was also good to see my old friend Cough who jumped on a TP and spent an hour or so at the club, old friends and new its the crux of a virtual experience.

ciao

Virtual versus Real...only ever one winner,,,,

2011-02-03T14:52:00.000-08:00

,,,,and so, its time to log out, again

The problem with the virtual life is that its subject to the vagaries of the tandem existence of my real life which so often interferes with it. So there I was at the Soulsville clubhouse listening to a cool Northern Soul set which Marcus was valiantly streaming in, battling against the fragility of failing servers and other techy issues that bewilder me. As I listened to the cool tunes Albion funked his heart out on the dance floor. I enjoy the quiet relaxed atmosphere at Soulsville, I'm probably quite a dull presence as I am generally quietly enjoying the tunes whilst performing some mundane real life task on the web. Could be that the stream is an interactive radio where you and your avatar are part of the show. So there I am having fun when the call comes, real life intervenes and its time to log out and leave the fun filled virtual life for the task driven existence in the real world. Have fun soul seekers, see you all later at Soul Mods.

Soul Mods is the heartbeat of my meagre virtual existence, I have missed a couple of nights and am a failing regular as I am an unreliable member at the moment, the curse of real life affects me here too. Oh well fingers crossed I'll make it this week.

Arrived early and yet still ended up being a late arrival, thankfully Josie was kind of occupied so I didnt end up in a cupboard, aha how sweet. Kim was on deck and her set was very eclectic and very wonderful with some storming tunes that had everyone happily gyrating their pixels in a frantic dance style. A busy crowd tonight, with plenty of new faces and some very familiar ones too. From my corner it looked like everyone was having a blast and after all that's the ethos of Dugi and Aston's club for everyone to have fun with no drama while we chat nonsensically and listen to great tunes. Its still working for me so if you're roaming the grid get yourself over here. In fact there is a good ten minutes left so why not do it now! You know you want too, just watch out for Graz he is hunting for his prim I think some girl ripped it off, ouch! More fun needed in your Second Life, grab a scooter and get over to Soul Mods.

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-02-02T04:57:00.000-08:00

I was scanning the Marketplace looking for some interesting suits and came across a series of startling bright textured suits that had a real mid sixties feel. Finding something dramatically sixties can be difficult in the virtual world and these suits seemed to fit the bill; but, at 400$l I feel these suits are a touch beyond my virtual wallet. For non-prim simplistic styled suits this price seems a tad high for my taste and so whilst I think the fabric textures are wildly sixties and an ideal option for a midsixties mod suit sadly I wont be buying one. At half the price I'd take a punt but its too steep for me however if you have the cash to splash and want to make a dramatic mod statement these suit provide a very nice option.

Freda Fredriksson

Neglect

2011-01-31T18:05:00.000-08:00

Such has been my lack of dedication to updating the blog of late I feel I should rename myself Fernando and bugger off to West London in pursuit of a Kremlin financed pipe dream, bitter moi? Anyway this isn't really a post at all its just me shoving up more YouTube videos, which you could easily find yourself, lazy blogging for the idle. Anyway at least I have themed it, all Weller all covers, hope though that visit enjoy a bit of the modfather at his eclectic best.

Tunetastic

2011-01-25T18:28:00.000-08:00

Lacking all technical ability, not understanding SAM or Virtual DJ let alone possessing them the best I can hope for is blogDJing. Hey its not as good as the skilled technocrats at Soul Mods but its the best an idiot like myself can muster. Anyway if I knew what I was doing these five would probably feature on any current set list, hope you enjoy them and who knows they may crop up anyway if those more talented than I take a fancy to them

Such Dedication...

2011-01-22T07:41:00.000-08:00

...to the Soul Mods cause, even if I say myself!

I guess like everybody else I occassionally get TP requests from friends, who shuush Ive forgotten, and generally I blank them but todays whilst tarting myself up ready for the set at Soul Mods I opted to jump on the scooter and see where it took me.

Arrival was a pleasant surprise, a room full of delightful girls with me the only guy. Okay I'm not convinced guy was on the menu, but given enough time I feel certain Albions walking ego could glean a few converts. So there I am in a room full a half naked chicks and to top it all the tunes are great. The Feelgoods had my feet tapping and other heavy blues from John Lee Hooker etc had me thumping away. Great tunes, cool looking girls does it get any better? In the virtual world it rarely does, even if they aint interested, virtuality can be a cool spectator sport just ask.....

However such is my loyalty to Soul Mods and the coolest of tunes, I forsook this den of sexuality to listen to daft jokes and cool tunes, a soldier to the cause. So next time your thinking of going elsewhere rememeber the sacrifice Albion made, and get your arses there!

Typing this as Slate plays the magnificent seven, ouch you missed a chance there thats why I'm being quiet ...right at this minute, hahaha little in joke in chat there for my own amusement. Highlight has to be Slate's Camblewick Green Mod jingle, had us all laughing and the tunes they had us dancing. One of the advantages of a virtual night life is you can dance all night even when your feet are hammered with ugly blisters. As the stellas flowed and the DJ caught up with his runaway fridge the tunes got louder the foot thumping gopt faster and the fun grew and grew. As always there was a diverse mix of people at the club enjoying the tunes and joining in the bewildering chat that seems to flow endlessly throughout a Soul Mods night out, catch up with it if you can.

Aston, Albion, Dugi, Pusi, Slate, Suzi and Gil, Eden Honeyrose and finally Chocolate dancing up a storm.

At one point Dugi made the earth move for the ladies, sadly the men too as he shuffled the dancefloor, novel adaption of a sprung dancefloor. The software screwed with Slate's tune choice, and we just partied on having a laugh and enjoying ourselves. Naked avatars have their charms I guess but they dont beat a good laugh with yer mates, ciao.

*Remember almost all this is bollox and not meant to be taken seriously, its a daft blog not the Sunday Times, although as thats NewsCorp is there a difference, I'm not tapping yer phone thats one

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-01-21T01:54:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you have an item thats been sat in your inventory and you find that you forgot you had it and when you finally throw it on it opens up a wealth of fashion possibilities. I did this the other day with a simple but nicely textured white cardigan, I threw on a suitably mod T-Shirt with some wild free purple trousers I picked up free from the London Freebies Store and decided I was ideally equipped for that scooter rally to Brighton beach...sadly that sim is no more so I had to make do with a scooter ride around Moonletters. Despite the klack of a promanade I still felt cool on my Slate built Vespa, dressed in white like a mod icream-man, hell yeah babeee. One well made item can exhert a strong influence over several other items sharpening them up and imbuing them with a nice touch of class.

Then a quick change into the fabulous Armidi black trousers and a great black button down shirt from the Unknown Boutique, the all black look offset by the sharp white cardigan giving a more sophisticated look: sharper cleaner more cut for that dance at the local club cica 1964. The cardigan still retains the casualness of the look but the neat shirt and trousers upscale the clothing from the T-Shirt on the beach feel to a more,,all because the lady loves milk tray elegance ideal for a night at the Twisted Wheel, gone but never forgotten.

The shades are free too, a simple textured pair which look okay and suit these looks but there are better sculpted pairs of shades on the market but if you like them , they are yours at Alphavillain.

And, the cardigan, I almost forgot, thats available from Alienated.

Alienated
Armidi
Unknown Boutique

London Freebie Store
Alphavillain

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-01-20T03:08:00.000-08:00

This nice free coat is from +KiiToS!!+ and is available as part of the "for the Season" treasure hunt. just locate the snowman.

Its a very nice item and has a classic sixties feel wrapped up in a more contemporary style. As with most virtual coats and jackets it comes with prim sleeves, collar and hem. Its a simplistic design, and looks good as a mod item, especially a revivalist piece and is well worth seeking out, good quality free stuff should never be overlooked.

Its a unisex item and as with all prim items a bit of tweaking may be required [I only needed to slightly move the collar so it fit better] but that's hardly a difficult task, I mean I can do it so it cant be! A nice addition to your wardrobe go grab one, but leave it a while so I look individual for a while longer, hahaha.

+KiiToS!!+ Classic Coat (for THE Seasons Hunt)

The Idle Slacker

2011-01-18T13:28:00.000-08:00

So whats my excuse for dropping my regular post a day schedule to this new rather infrequent ad hoc post regime. Well the demise of several mod clubs and the general quietening the scene has rendered me slightly topicless, I cant really keep blurting on about the same half dozen people at the same club day in day out, its not a virtual soap,,hmmmm light bulb moment. Anyway in essence the quiet is due to my far less frequent voyages into the virtual world and the lessening of subjects for me to get my gums into. Say cheese. But here I am basically cobbling together a bit of a piece on the bits of virtual clubbing I have managed to cram in.

As I scribble this piece of tosh Albion is moon stomping his way to delirium at the Soulsville Club listening to a classy ska and rock steady set playing by DJ PT. The music sounds mellow, mixture of original and Two Tone revisions, the people are fun and the chat is lively. Obviously I am absent from the chat, why? Err because I'm typing here, duh. I often call in at the Soulsville but could hardly be called a hard core regular. They play plenty of good music here with a wide selection of DJs, ska is often on the menu as is northern soul and other soul inspired sets along with a few other odd and obscure selections such as their nineteen twenties night! Hey grab a tux and paste on your best Clark Gable tache. The club is run by Marcus Arkin and you're sure of a warm welcome so try it out there is general some kind of entertainment being delivered from 11am SLT onwards, its currently 1pm SLT and the music doesn't look like stopping yet.

Now, what else virtual have I been up too?

Obviously, I have attended a few nights at the Soul Mods Club, where Slate McLeod has taken up a Friday residency. As always its quality stuff on the stream, and wild diverse chat that roams across topics at will. A warm welcome awaits anyone who stumbles upon this secret mod haven, just leave the biker boots at home, okay wear them if you must. I have missed a few good nights too, Lupo on a Thursday is a sad miss but sometimes real life and kids interfere with my romantic virtual alter ego, Albion's life is so much simpler than mine. What life? Its not real y'know? Isn't it? Nope, bit like this conversation its just you typing out questions you answer yourself. Bipolar anyone, oh feck!

Anyway I think its Eden on decks at Soul Mods this Thursday so get your bum into gear and get over there, should be heading to the AAi shortly but listening to Gangsters before I rush off, see most of you there ciao.

Soulsville Club

Modernist Fashion in SL

2011-01-06T05:47:00.000-08:00

I have been out repeat buying again, as I grabbed myself yet another parka, that must make five of them hoarded away in my wardrobe now. This particular one was found whilst trawling the Marketplace looking for anything remotely mod amidst the mountains of fashion drivel that pours into the virtual world daily. Touted as a Gallagher Parka I surmised it must have its roots in the new real fashion range by the younger Gallagher Pretty Green, so I was intrigued to see how it would translate into virtual fashion design. On the whole its a very nice item, plenty of variations, plenty of well constructed prim work, hood up or down options; a heavy mod motif or a plainer option all very good. However one blot on the landscape is the rather shoddy work on the jacket layer that means my shirt constantly shows beneath the parka where it is meant to meld into the prim hood. No matter how much i tweak the hood I cannot correct this fault, most irritating on a 300l$ plus item. So a great item marred by a slight lapse in concentration, is it worth the 300plus? Hmmm with so few classically mod items on sale for men its a definite contender and I'm content if not ecstatic with mine. It looks good in the right pose and helps with your cool rating so why not give it a try?

The parka comes in a range of colours and in male and female versions, so options for everyone, being a traditionalist I opted for green but as a Britpop mod I guess you can choose whichever colour suits.

[NSD] Gallagher Parka

Beer is a dreadful Seductress

2011-01-02T17:39:00.000-08:00

So there I was January 30th 2010 scurrying around the metaverse trying to find something suitably cool for New Year in the virtual world, real life interest in going out on New Years eve waned years ago; but, from the comfort of my armchair Pringles and Stella at hand I quite enjoy virtual first footing. Anyway I located a very cool Hussars jacket, I already possessed one but this new one was sculpted with beautiful shiny prims rather than my old layered version. Bish bash bosh bought one and slapped it on, some cool beat trousers nifty shoes and shades and I was sorted. Teleported myself over to Soul Mods and logged off. I planned to log back on already in situ when the festivities began. Hiding Albion away in the clouds I set myself up to parachute down and have a laugh, few beers and listen to some awesome tunes. The wee boy would be asleep in bed and the missus watching some rubbish on TV complaining that I'm grumbling that the TV was much better in 1985....as was I to be fair!

Hey even the beer is mod, uber cool!

New Years eve arrives, chilly grey afternoon we take the dogs out and call in to drop a few things off at a friends. He says fancy a beer, oh aye Ive not had many what with having flu so I says "ta very much" then we have another, and another. When the box is empty the wife jumps in the car and heads to ours to bring my twelve bottles of Christmas, different real ales. We drink them and start on the sloe gin which we had brought round. Very tasty even if I made it myself. Then at 2am I am rolled out and into the car, off home and so much for a virtual New Year, don't worry I had a nice headache and had to get up to walk the dogs, suitably punished.

What has this to do with the virtual mod scene, bugger all but its my blog and if I want to be self indulgent I can. Here's to some great tunes and happy times at Soul Mods and everywhere else we gather in Second Life, hope 2011 smiles broadly on you!!

Modernist Fashion in SL

2010-12-31T03:21:00.000-08:00

Suits Galore

If you are opting to dip your toes into the virtual mod scene there is no actual requirement to dress the part, indeed the amount of leather clad bikers or alien burlesque troopers that attend virtual mod clubs probably outnumbers those dressed as mods. But, sometimes its cool to dress for the part and therefore you are going to need at least one mod essential - a decent suit. Call me a fashion snob but I'm afraid that selection of free business men suits with a colourful ranee of shirt and tie combinations just will not cut it! Despite this looking like a sharp suited mod does not require the purchase of multitudes of lindens dollars, a visit to the Marketplace and select a few search options to reduce the number of items available and in the 100-500linden dollar range you can find plenty of suits that will enable you to adopt anything from a sharp early sixties look to a more flamboyant mid sixties mod fashion colourfest. Even here I would advise caution as a high price does not always equate with quality so exercise some caution. Five hundred lindens splashed out on a shoddy one piece [layer] suit might leave you with a few regrets. But, so long as the suit has a cool vibe and you're happy with it go for it. Ive bought 50l$ suits that have made me look far more mod than 1000l$ top end design garments. So buyer beware and take heed at what you wear.

In terms of mod fashion I can only points you in the direction of the hugely undervalued Kinks who sum it up far more succinctly than I ever could, err thank you Ray.

ciao