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:
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.
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.
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:
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!
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!
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.
....I know, but a lot of the virtual Soul Modssods 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.
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.
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......
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 Designlord 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!
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.
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 Moonletterssim. 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.
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.
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!
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.
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?
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 :
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!
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.
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.
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
