Modernist Fashion in SL

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

Ahhh Glorious Yuletide

Lets see, where to start? In the week leading up to Christmas I had a couple of cool virtual nights at Soul Mods with Kim and Slate on decks for Thursday and Friday respectively. Fabulous tunes kept me entertained; whilst my, and Dugi's, choice of attire kept most people amused I think. However Second Life undid me somewhat when I thought I'd changed back to a sombre suit but others saw me as a starkers avatar in socks, quick relog required. Fortunately amongst friends this just passes as another foible of the virtual fiasco that the Lindens have created. Great tunes, great people what a laugh!

Saturday was meant to be a great night out, Slate and Djunglebird's wedding but real life obstructions kept me offline. I'm sure all was wonderful and a great time was had by all. Happy times and good luck to two marvellous people behind the keyboards, hope they're happy and having fun.

The week running up to Christmas was a virtual disaster, so much time consumed by real life Christmas stuff meant I had no time to spare for logging in to Second Life. Then I ended up with a second bout of man flu that kept me in bed for a couple of days; plus, I though either my sound card or speakers were defunct as I was hearing nothing from my PC. Logging on to hear cool tunes was thus redundant so no logging on once I was out of bed; however, today I solved the sound mystery. My five year old had plugged a redundant lead into a hidden headphone socket, kids don't ya just love 'em!

Anyway, I popped into the virtual world for a quick look around today and have my fingers crossed that there'll be a cool Soul Mods on tomorrow, hope to see you all there. Sanity maintained via a cool CD : Keb Darge & Paul Weller Present Lost & Found Real R'n'B & Soul

New feature: Quadrophenia 7 -13

New feature: Quadrophenia 1 - 6

Errr its Thingy

So there I was at the AAi on a Tuesday, yeah I am that predictable, having fun listening to Claire Thingy play some awesome tunes. All the usual suspects were present: Graz Thingy, Meri and Thom Thingy, Josie Thingy, Sean Thingy indeed the entire Thingy clan, not forgetting Thingy Thingy in her sharp loafers and green Perry polo shirt! It was a great night full of great tunes by Thingy and his mates The Thingys. Awesome!

Aside from all the bizarre Thingyness, and some visitors bringing a suitcase of bling and complaining about lag [lose the leather upgrade from the old Spectrum chaps] other strange things happening were unusually absent. Graz was on his best behaviour, Sean restricted his prowling and Claire played some blinding tracks. I nipped out for a cuppa and when I returned a few people had drifted away, I didnt realise it was MY mere presence keeping them there. Despite the casualties the club was still pretty full and those who remained were quality and really enjoyed themselves. However I too was a victim of real life timings and failed to make it to the 23.00hrs deadline as I bailed out with half an hour to go. This real life stuff can be a real pain!

So having logged off I left Albion waiting in perpetual virtuality at the AAi until I relog and head off to Soul Mods, or any other event that shuffles out of the cobwebs. If you can cope with the enormous lag FREE lag that envelops the AAi I suggest you get on your scooter, broomstick of mini, but leave the leather chaps and choppers at home please, and get your bottoms wiggling down to the club for a great night out. Dugi appreciates a good wiggle so get that thing going ladies. Its fun its a laugh its all fiction and at the end of the day isnt that what a virtual night out is al about. Hope to see you there. Dont be shy we dont bite, well Sean does but only in a metaphorical rather than a literal sense so you'll be quite safe, besides unless your Scottish you wont understand him anyway! By the way I'm the one they call Grandmaster THINGY!

PopArt 2010

Check out this fashion show it sounds intriguing PopArt 2010 

I attended this show, an interesting experience. The runway set looked very cool, lots of I-Pods forming the construction, wild psychedelic lights and Warhol's iconic Campbell's soup cans for seats, noob soup very quirky. The whole thing began with a kind of dance show, I'm guessing scripted for the avatars to react as one, if they were manually doing it; well it was astounding. Lots of strange coloured skins and pop art motif clothing, it looked awesomely cool. The fashion show itself was billed as the avante guards interpretation of the pop art movement within the cutting edge of virtual fashion. There were some nice pop art clothes on display but to be frank I think the pop art element got lost in the quest for the avante guard, too few garments owed much to pop art at a movement of even a reinvention of it.  It was spectacular with some wondrous creations, but whether much of it was pop art is open to interpretation, anyway an interesting trip into the world of cutting edge fashion.

"Characterized by themes and techniques drawn from popular mass culture, such as advertising, comic books and mundane cultural objects, pop art is widely interpreted as a reaction to the then-dominant ideas of abstract expressionism, as well as an expansion upon them. Pop art is aimed to employ images of popular as opposed to elitist culture in art, emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements of any given culture, most often through the use of irony. It is also associated with the artists' use of mechanical means of reproduction or rendering techniques."

I took some rubbish snapshots for anyone who fancies a look and posted them up on Flickr

Its the Sixties......

The Action, on the road...........

The High Numbers rip it up live.....

Its a Battle Out There

Virtuality versus Reality

Ding ding, Round One: AAi Beatles night

I got myself all dressed up in my best Sergeant Pepper clothes, flung on my black hippyish hair flip up shades and Chelsea boots. I logged on nice and early slotted into my favourite dancing position and started enjoying the tunes. I forget but I think I was there less than thirty minutes before I was dragged away to deal with something, so important I cant even remember what it was. And to top it all I was gone so long the computer elected to shut itself down and boot me out of Second Life. Being gone so long I didn't bother rebooting and relogging I just marked it up to reality. Anyway it looked like a good night I hope it was. So that's round one lost on points I think. Time to trim the beard cut the hair, go blonde shed the Sergeant Pepper costume and adopt some skin attire as I'm in a redskins mood.

Ding ding, Round Two: Lupo at Soul Mods

Thursday night and I get myself to Soul Mods to listen to a set from the uber cool Lupo. Lupo plays an incredibly diverse range of mod, unusual cover versions or unknown Latin originals its a real treat to get to hear such tunes and everyone makes a special effort to attend. There was a big crowd at Soul Mods to hear Lupo who like a diva kept us waiting an extra thirty minutes...hahaha. Nah, he didn't he just had something going on that meant he was delayed a little - we've all been there. Lupo's absence did almost cause a fatality but luckily Choco teleported out before she experienced virtual death! On arrival Lupo kicked off with a couple of great tracks and had the floor buzzing immediately. Once again I got dragged away briefly this time and so made it back to hear Lupo plays some more great tunes: stand outs were the Redskins and a personal favourite of Dugi: Bobby's Girl. Ignore his denials he loves this tune as much as he loves Pass the Dutchie, just ask Graz. A fine night enjoyed by all and a points win for virtuality....hurray!

Ding ding, Round Three: Slate at Soul Mods

Moving on to Friday and its Slate at the decks at Soul Mods, over the last few months Slate's become a regular DJ at Soul Mods, I really enjoy his sets as his tastes in mod closely mirror my own, he's fond of throwing the odd eighties revival track into the mix, and as that's my era I especially enjoy those. I adore the new tunes that DJs introduce me too, but a bit of teenage familiarity is comforting sometimes. We had a small but enthusiastic crowd, combination of connection issues and traditional office parties but those who were there were enthusiastic, cant ask for more. I was enjoying the tunes and having fun when I attempted to google something and my browser failed to respond, so I shut it down. Not an issue as Second Life was trundling along, then I took a snapshot of my supreme coolness and boing everything froze, hmmm clicked a couple of things and worse the screen went white. I could hear but my virtual presence was a mystery to me. Then brrrrrrr blue screen crash. The count started ,,,8,9,10 knock out blow and virtuality bites the dust.

So no snaps, some fun but overall not a great week computer and real life duties took their toll on my virtual life, hope yours was better and you had fun. At least I made it for some of the time, poor Gemma's connection issues have stopped her joining in at any level, hope your back with us soon.

ciao

More Stuff for Girls

 There I was on my usual trawl through various Second Life retail outlets typing in keywords when up popped The Mod Club. I was quite happy about that another cool mod store; however my hopes were soon dashed, its a single themed item, a piece of retro fashion kitsch for a party rather than a fashion line from a retro designer. So sadly just a single item, and of course its for the girls ... because the just don't have enough stuff you know. Standard sixties monochrome, classic sixties design and the photo has sixties style hair and shades. So another mod dress hits the market while I'm trudging through a plethora of insanely dull charcoal grey business suits, ooh if only there were some wild sixties inspired suits not hippy dippy flared monstrosities but some sharp cut designer suits employing virtual extravagance within a sixties framework. So another girly post I guess its right I most be one of those virtual women dressed up as a geezer!! Best trim my arm pits then!

ciao

The Mod Squad Club at Second Life Marketplace

Real Life cash for being a Mod...cool

Paid 60s extras work in London

A TV commercial production company is looking for extras for a commercial that's shooting next week in the London area. There's a fee involved too, if that makes it more appealing.

The ad for a 'well respected brand' is set in an early 60s jazz club, so the request is for people who look the part to appear in the background of the ad - early mods, beatniks, you know the kind of thing. All applicants must be over 25, and deadline for application is midday Thursday 9th December.

Full details over the page...

Where: London (venue TBC but within the M25)
When: Wednesday and Thursday (15th & 16th) next week. Potential wardrobe fitting on Friday the 10th.
Who: Cool cats! People who have their own look and style that could hark back to that era – they would like you to wear your own clothes if they suit the era.
Fee will be £100 per shoot date.

For authenticity they require people not to have visible tattoos or piercings you couldn’t/wouldn’t take out.

Interested? Email lucy@rattlingstick.com with your name, number, body and shoe sizes, availability and photos of hair styles and outfits (options are definitely a bonus). You need to be able to make your own way to and from the shoot.

The Beatles: Lennon celebration

They were never really mod; but they were the swinging sixties so get over to the AAi today [07-12-2010] and let the mocker and Claire entertain you. There's going to be some awesome tunes, I mean who can doubt it, its the Beatles for fecks sake.

AAi

Note to our Top DJs

Having entered the digital age I bought my third downloaded album today, it was either that or fork out £100 [yeas pounds shillings and pence not lindens] for a hard copy...digital for me. Anyway, I had forgotten how awesome these guys sounded, I remember the political spats they had with Weller and Billy Bragg, they were lefty, they were skins but my god were they soulful too, if tinged with a razors edge. Yes, I bought the Redskins album, Neither Washington or Moscow, and am now stomping along to it on I-Tunes. Hope some of the cool DJs who so entertain us are inspired enough to slip in the odd Redskins track during their sets.

What a Week

Foolishly I opted to update my Phoenix viewer and ... yes you guessed it wont load and so now my Phoenix launch is fecked so I am scrabbling around attempting to rectify the situation and avoid being reliant on the hideous Viewer 2, bollox I knew I should have blanked the update information and just plodded on, more fool me. How I miss my reliable user friendly Emerald!

Real life gripped me this week which meant I was a no show at Soul Mods Thursday, but at least all the important people turned up..boo hoo, I'll get me coat. Then Friday the car got shunted so I was scurrying around sorting out real life things, but thankfully found time to sit back and chill in a virtual world free of insurance, school runs blah blah. There was an excellent crowd present at the club Friday and Slate delivered a fine set, to everyone there, so familiar and some new. Plenty of laughs as can be expected from a Soul Mods crowd and some suitably stylish avies present, great music fun people and sharp looking avies, its mod my man none of your fecking rock m'laddo. I had a great time, Lupo had a cool photo of himself, that guy is cooler in real life than in virtuality if only I was too, hahaha; with Georgie Fame king of the UK keyboards very sharp. A great time I enjoyed myself immensely and Slate kept the tunes going long after eleven and after I logged off I'm sure they kept the party going like only sharp mods can!

Whilst we are talking real life Sean informed me that the scooter centre link I posted sells dodgy machines. As I only use the site for scooter porn [I think Ive invented a new phrase] its perfectly harmless but anyone thinking of spending actual pounds shillings and pence, please be careful I do not recommend any sites to purchasers I'm merely flagging up some nice imagery or tunes so be careful when splashing your cash.

Back to virtuality I logged in today to grab a few bargain suits from Hoorenbeek and then thought I would take myself back to Soul Mods and remain there until I logged on again, pssst don't tell Dugi he'll be charging me rent. Anyway I was quite surprised on my arrival to find a sharp dressed cool dancer enjoy the tunes. She was enjoying the cool soul stream that was flooding the club and just enjoying the memories it rekindled. Its kind of funny to think of Soul Mods having a life outside of the Thursday and Friday night gigs but its enjoyed throughout the day by wanders and others, I find that kind of cool, Anyway we briefly chatted and enjoyed the tunes, I forgot what I'd logged on for but it was cool I had fun listening to the stream, this virtual life is sweet, whilst I watched my ten year old nephew on the One Show via I-Player. My Hoorenbeek suit looking cool but not as sharp as the lone modette dancer who looked very cool indeed!

After the stresses of the last few days I need to hear something mellow, heard this on the radio and its sound, whilst the chorus is awesome its cinematic babeee so sing out loud:

Modernist Fashion in SL

Hoorenbeek Bargains ... THIS WEEKEND ONLY

A couple of suits up for grabs from one of Second Life's premier male fashion houses, lots of variations not examined it in too much detail wanted to post before the sale was over.

Grab them quick before they rocket up in price.

Hoorenbeek

Busy Week on the virtual scene

Its been a busy week in virtual modland, first off I went on Tuesday to the AAi no sim issues this week to listen to Claire Eglund deliver a nice mod set to the AAi regulars. Claire played some marvelous tunes that had a lot of "TUNE" typing scrolling across the chat lines which is always a good sign. I had a great time, listening to some cool tunes hearing some funny lines and generally just hanging out.

In reality I might be camped next to the radiator whinging about a chest infection, coughing and slurping hot tea but in the virtual world I'm feeling groovy and strutting my stuff. Tuesdays at the AAi is well established as a cool mod venue due to Eden and Kims hard work and Claire is doing a great job to continue with the mod theme. If your bored on a Tuesday, love the sixties get over there Claire's DJing will not disappoint and you'll meet a friendly if somewhat odd crowd of mods and pseudo mods having a laugh.

Wednesday night is generally a non-virtual evening but there was bugger all on the telly so I thought I would log on and see what was happening. There was a sixties beat at the Acroplys and sweet soul at the Soulsville club; but, I opted for a non mod night at the AAi. There was still plenty of mod fans at the club listening to Graz play some tunes, and to keep us happy he chucked us the odd bone of mod. Was a funny night lots of silly chat and general music gossip, easy to chill too. AAi regulars were there aplenty: DJ Claire getting into the groove alongside David Essex, oh its Graz, prowling in the seating area was Scotney Sean, whilst mod designer and DJ Eden was swinging her hipster and get groovy; Shauna of the short, short skirt was there she think I have narcism issues [err did I spell that correctly, I was too busy checking how cool I look in the snaps] wherever did she get that notion? And, also there were lord and lady mod Aston and Dugi doing their thang! Other Thom and Meri, who we cheer as the club is theirs and they keep our music flowing, Jelli who'd be lost without a yay, and Josie who has enquired about building a cupboard at the club, strange girl So I chose avies over mod sounds but it was fun and I had a great time. The crowd at the AAi is eclectic in its taste, fractious and humorous and very friendly; And thankfully no rezzing issues tonight so every avatar was wearing trousers and there were no bum cheeks chilling in the cold. Virtual it may be but sympathetic, err nope just l;ike real life first rule of friendship ,,, take the piss. Savages, hahaha!

On Thursday I went for the ha trick, three nights in a row as I logged into Soul Mods to hear Lupo's set. There was a good crowd and a few people dropped in from the OSR which was cool. Its great when crowds from different clubs integrate I like the OSR they have great DJs but sadly most of its nights clash with other things so I don't get there as much as I'd like too. But, I digress, its a bad habit I possess. Back on topic, another great Soul Mods night Lupo played great tunes, Slate confessed to and Alvin Stardust finger fetish, Albion was outed as a girl; hmmm feck that means me I better lose some weight and buy a wig . Not that I'm a narcissist are anything but are forty  seven year old women sporting a No2 cut deemed as being attractive? So the usual craziness in the chat lines, me sober on cough remedies failing miserably to engage with the virtual surrealism, but the tunes were good Lupo has a very different twist that's refreshing to here, I had a great time. Oops got me bra in a twist typing that last bit, how do these things function?

Final night was Friday and much as I enjoyed the previous sets Fridays was something special. Eden was on decks at Soul Mods, a small crowd but they were treated to some awesome tunes that hard my heart pounding. Lots of Hammond to keep me buzzing and tunes that were standards but new interpretations or just outright new to me. As Slate commented it was a treasure trove of tunes. Eden really shone on the track selection front, and all who were there had a marvelous time, magical set that I really really enjoyed myself. Dance animations were thrust into overdrive, while real feet were pounding to the beat and awful voices murdered the lyric, but wow did we all have fun!  We were even able to enjoy an impromptu scooter rally, the joy of Soul Mods is that Dugi didn't clutter the building with stuff so we do actually have room to rev around on our Slate built scooters, it all adds to the madness and the fun of the evening. To fully embrace a crazy night at Soul Mods you must get yourself a scooter. Offat to scour the web now and get those tunes majestic, Enjoy your virtual or real life weekend, it all kicks off again at theAAi Tuesday at nine.

ciao.

Time to get Real

but only momentarily.

I have decided to step outside of the virtual world for a while to flag up a couple of real life mod websites that might be of interest to any readers out there who pursue the mod lifestyle beyond the confines of a computer screen.

First up is the simply majestic PopMeter, a sixties inspired masterpiece. This websites provides pod casts via I-Tunes stuffed with rare grooves and continental covers of mod and soul standards, its linked to load my I-Pod with a host of hour long gems and I advise anybody who like obscure cool mod tunes to hook up to it, its bloody amazing. Enough gushing get on your scooter and get over there. Its so awesome I'm bouncing around the room as I type listening to a podcast via I-Tunes with the sexiest most vibrant soulful version of Born to be Wild I think I have ever heard; but yell the purist that's not mod. No quite correct its not but its fecking awesome.

PopMeter

Another great web site that covers all things mod is ModCulture.com, this is a great site for those who dress and live the mod style in their everyday life. Its full of fashion news, scooter news and dates for meets. It has a healthy stream of music and can be linked to via the usual social media [MySpace, Facebook, Twitter]. Its probably one of the most complete mod web sites as it covers every aspect of the lifestyle and despite being middle aged and far too old to strut I still like to check out the clothes the music and scooters et al; and this site has it all.

ModCulture.com

Finally, a website I located through Facebook and now think as I flick through its glossy photographs how can I persuade the missus to let me splash out a grand on one of these beauties. Its a Vietnamese based Irish company, I think, and the  site illustrates how they restore classic scooters and export them world wide, its scooter porn for old geezers who have wife's that wont quite let them return to their teenage years. The machines are wonderful and definitely capable of inspire master virtual scooter builders [you know who you are] to create a few more machines. It serves no real purpose unless you are splashing the cash but just look and enjoy and think aha if only....

Scooter Centre

Well hope this wander into mod reality hasn't alienated too many people, sometimes its good to see how real life is mirroring the virtual.

ciao.

Modernist Fashion in SL

Arrogard Couture & Chelsea Design

A staple of virtual Male Fashion the T-Shirt is the crux of most male avatars wardrobe; however T-Shirts were not really part of the original mods fashion bible but in the world of virtual NeoMods we absorb and the eighties saw a change in attitude and Britpop as merely an extension of the indie movement flooded the NeoMod market with T-Shirt wearing pseudo mods. Besides they are usually cheap, but even so not any T-Shirt will do it must have some relevance to Mods. No matter how well textured a T-Shirt yelling "get yer tits out fer the lads" just isn't mod that's just laddish!

The easiest and mist obviously mod designs tend to be band T-Shirts, showing your allegiance to suitably mod bands illustrates your leanings towards mod culture. So look for the classic Who logo T-Shirts, or the Small Faces or The Jam, maybe you can slide a Blur or Oasis logo in, gut then you need to accentuate the mod in your other items or its assumed your an indie pseudo mod. Adding iconic mod graphics like a target or union jacket just adds to the mod look and increases your identification with the group. Ska logo T-Shirts are equally good, or anything in monochrome that has obviously links to the 2Tone movement that was prevalent in the eighties. Black and white contrast fashion also seems emblematic of sixties fashion and so this kind of texturing with establish links to mod, although in a causal revivalist sense.

While hunting through Second Life's  Market place [aka XStreet] I found this very cool Jam T-Shirt. Its a classic image of the band from the seventies wearing their bleak sixties mod inspired clothing and is used on many real life modernist items. The addition of the union jack  to the graphic adds depth to the texture itself and accentuates the coolness factor of the T-Shirt. If T-Shirts are your thing and you want to declare some mod credentials I suggest you get onto Market place and grab this T-Shirt. Albion wears it with some bright red sixties influence jeans from Juice [plus an underwear layer from somewhere to compensate for the low rider style of the jeans.] Great as the T-Shirt looks additional layers would be hugely helpful to aid the versatility of the piece, mod fashion [even Neo mod with its flouting of a few fundamentals] does not really account for bare mid riffs under scraggy T-Shirts. Hipster styled jeans are great but the T-Shirt needs sufficient length so needs to be a jacket layer or shirt plus underwear combination. Nevertheless its a great looking piece of mod fashion, grab one but don't wear it if I'm wearing mine.

The Jam T-Shirts

Bloody Wimmin

Ironic rant alert, please don't get all PMT on me 

There I was plodding through the Marketplace [once Xstreet] attempting to find a mod item I could fritter my lindens on, could I find anything, nope. So I thought I'll opt for emblematic rather than stylised, a nice Union Jack graphic on some nicely designed shirt or sweater, could I find anything, nope. What I did find was a plethora of items for the bloody gurlies.The London Girl Store, which I think I have mentioned before, indeed I have,  is crammed with clothing emblazoned with national flags, excellent for mods looking for Union Jack festooned items. This dress complete with iconic London graphics caught my idea, not strictly mod despite their labelling but I'm sure it'll appeal to plenty of the modettes. Price? I have not got a clue, I'm supposed to be looking for geezer stuff not pampering to overindulged girlywhirlies. Anyway, if it holds some appeal I have attached the SURL so jump on it.

London Girl~ Clothing and Costumes

Entering the Digital Age

I confess I am happily addicted to my I-Tunes which is generally blaring away somewhere in the house at most points in the day. But so far its only ever had music from Cd's loaded up onto it, or the excellent FREE downloads from the Derek's Daily blog. The notion of buying an album purely in digital format, well that seemed odd but as the two items were not available in a physical format I have had to take the plunge. Its not as satisfying as getting my grubby mitts on an album but as it all gets transferred to I-Tunes I guess its the future the wife likes it as it cuts down on clutter. Clutter? Clutter my @rse that's a man's life missus, bloody wimmin!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dreams-Children-Teenage-Cancer-Trust/dp/B0026KR4QK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290098999&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Im-Only-Dreaming/dp/B002I4XSKU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1290098974&sr=8-1

AAi on Tour

Logged on to take a trip to the AAi which I had failed to do for a couple of weeks [stands in corner of virtual shame] and surprised to see there is no flyer informing me the Mod Squad girls are up on decks. Misery, I log on and there's no DJ. But, wait, there is a new modster ion the block DJ Claire, hurray all is well. Oh no, the sim is down Graz is frantically trying to relocate and the rest of us we are just hanging. IM chit chat to discover what the news is, then cheers for Meri and Thom as they throw open their house and jetty for the mod party. Lovely people, and we are away into sixties beat and soul. Grrrreat! as my old my Tony the Tiger used to say*.

There was a healthy crowd in attendance, club nights are okay when your friends are there but so much better when a big crowd turns up. The tunes were great, plenty of white boy blues bands, Yardbirds et al, few cool tracks from the Quadrophenia album to set the scene and some excellent sixties soul plus plenty of Small Faces to keep Dugi and Aston happy. Crazy chat, which is only to be expected at the AAi, the home of crazy chat. Lots to laugh at too, I wasn't the chattiest person there but was having fun listening in.

Its great that there is a fresh new mod DJ on the roster, a different style too which is great. The more variety within the genre the better, and the virtual mod scene has an excellent range of DJs each with a different taste and each bringing something different to the decks whilst still remain true to the Mod/Northern Soul genre. Second Life tunes are good, shame there isn't such a variety of clubs or mod nights. At present we are down to one club, and a couple of mod nights in other clubs, the heady days of a year ago seem to have slipped away. But, I digress; Claire played a great set, lots of old favourites and a definite bluesy streak running through her choice of sixties beat bands. Looking forward to hearing more of her sets at the AAi and anywhere else that is putting on mod nights.

Talking of elsewhere, the Baron was also DJing at the Acropoliss last night playing a sixties set. It was up after the AAi gig and although I tp'd over there I had to admit to myself I was too knackered for a late night. I heard a couple of tunes and the club looked busy, another great night for the night owls out there.

ciao

*okay he's not my real mate just a cartoon flogging cornflakes, kerching thanks Kellogs.

Modernist Fashion in SL

There are very few classic mod items available in the retail sector of Second Life; the few that exist: Mod Squad Design for womenswear, Slates Scooter Emporium and the odd piece of male fashion wear are worth treasuring as are the odd designer who creates excellent mod styled hair. I discovered another great mod hair design recently and have worn it for a while now, its very sharp and perhaps lends itself to the growing out stage of the skinhead cut, its very nice indeed. Credit must go to Gemma who I saw wearing it a couple of weeks ago and although she couldn't find a landmark she gave me its name. A few stumbles through the Second Life search engine and I located the store. Its great when other people in our little mod circle find cool stuff, makes life easier for me to steal their ideas! Its a great cut this and many thanks to Gemma [hers looks better than mine but shhhhush lets keep that a secret] for pointing me in the right direction.

The store is Little Heaven and I opted for the cut in a platinum blonde shade, I usually prefer more subdued blonde but not realising this cut would be so bright I will persevere with it rather than cough out another couple of hundred lindens for another shade. Besides I'm getting used to it not. Gemma told me her cut required a little modifying as did mine, although she has done a much better job of it than I. I stretched the hair a little to elongate the sides, so there would be hair around the ears, this then meant I had to push it back a little. Its hardly difficult technical stuff, but if your a noobie its always worth saving anything you modify in its original form in case you feck it up, you still have a correct base form in your inventory. Old avies should do it too, but y'know the elderly always forgetting stuff.

I like this hair a lot it has a suede head vibe, early seventies skinhead development, youth culture that is easily absorbed into the NeoMod virtual style culture of Second Life. At two hundred Lindens its also reasonably affordable in these times of inflated prices in the Second Life retail sector, which seems to get more corporate as we proceed with our virtual adventures. Obviously as Gemma pointed me in the right direction its unisex although with the girls having so much stuff out there to choose from this small item may float under their radar.

But, if you're looking for a sharp cut to wear with your jeans, boots and braces this is an excellent choice to go skanking to the uptown ska beat at any of the sharp Mod venues, that have shrunk dramatically, but that's another tale.

ciao.

Little Heaven

Modernist Fashion in SL

I very rarely blog girly fashion, besides shoving people gently towards Eden and Kim's Mod Squad Design shop over at Moonletters, but occasionally I stumble upon stuff that I think some of the girls might like. Besides I am a generous soul, so occasionally I like to chuck them a bone... OUCH!! That was the bone being thrown back, savage right arm these girls got. Anyway, while I was at Shiki grabbing the members monthly freebie, which I think I blogged a couple of days ago, I saw a couple of posters for this neat monochrome combination that I thought was a nice modette style. No idea on price, but unlikely to be cheap but Shiki are good quality so you get what you pay for. Anyway just thought I would throw it out there.

Soul Mods this week

Two great nights at Soul Mods, great DJs lots of people having fun and awesome tunes, who could ask for more?

Teleported into Soul Mods on Thursday into the midst of a Lupo fest, as the Madrid mod magician was weaving a web of sublime tunes for all to enjoy. Lupo's set always have a neat twist to them, some well known track that's covered by somebody unexpected, its always a joy to listen out for them. His DJ chat is cool and full of information on the tracks he is playing, and worth listening too. But, its the tunes he plays that are the real stars, and he flooded a very full Soul Mods with them on Thursday. It was one of the biggest crowds I'd seen at the club since its opening, and all were there to hear great music, have fun and a few laughs. The chat line was buzzing and as well as typing the odd profanity I was having a ball.  A truly great night and one to log into the legendary Soul Mods diary. Great night and much appreciated that Dugi and Aston keep this place going for the benefit of all us virtual mods.

When I logged on I had a quick chat with Dugi; he explained he was unsure of what was happening as regular Friday DJ Tabs was still absent, away on holiday I think. So it looked like it was heading towards a quiet night with the radio and a few laughs. Luckily Slate graciously agreed at extremely short notice to step up to the plate and entertain us. Slate plays my kind of set, steeped with eighties revivalism, sixties classics and a good dollop of Northern Soul. The tunes were great and I enjoyed them all. A great crowd turned up including the missing Scotney Sean, who prowled and threw the odd commentary bone our way. Was good to see him back altho I look forward more to seeing him on deck blasting us with some amazing tunes, get yourself sorted mate, lol. The banter was good, we discussed Weller and The Jam, a lot like the sad middle aged geezers we are, and enjoyed ourselves doing it. I sense a rash of "hey I'm not middle aged" comments but, if you remember the eighties err you are ... get over it. So I had two fine nights at Soul Mods, I even saw what some thought was drama,,at Soul Mods, surely not! Anyway had a laugh the tunes were good book me in Danno.

What made things even better is a few of the newcomers from Thursday turned up on Friday, including one who put my mod fashion champion status in doubt. Looking for a Weller style Bluenote wore a sharp coat with a neat shirt and sweater combination underneath. Very cool, very sharp, very mod. A great addition to the mod fashionista group I'll be stealing some of his ideas pretty soon, hey its good to be cool wherever it comes from. After all I've nicked half of Lupo's wardrobe. The more geezers there are out there looking FOR and purchasing the mod look the more likely designers will see it as a viable commercial opportunity and deliver more quality sixties styling. Sadly the philanthropic has been consumed by the strict commercial frenzy in Second Life retail and we have to coincide with it as best we can.

Anyway if your reading this and are an avatar in Second Life grab some mod attire and get over there, no drama [well rarely] and plenty of great tunes, plus a lot of good people laughing and having fun. No we're not odd just British ... mostly.

YouTube Gold

So as you mentioned it what have you been listening to when you should have been entertaining us with crappy waffling from the world of virtual mod. Aha I'm glad you asked. Okay, so nobody did but its a sharp way of getting this piece of YouTube Gold up on the blog. Its a classic tune by my all time favourite band, recently released on the deluxe version of one of their old albums, reissued for cash, kerching. But what the feck I bought it anyway and it arrived today, enjoy:

Modernist Fashion in SL

I have been neglected the blog as a whole recently and specifically these humble fashion scribblings. The cause, well firstly I just seem to lack things fresh to waffle about and secondly I have been spending my lindens in the real world, hence the deluge of discs from Amazon, which have kept me happily chirping along to old style mod, ska and eighties revivalism for the last few weeks. And, screaming for the sympathy vote, I have not been feeling very well y'know. Remember what Spike has on his grave stone ....... well I think I'm the same! So, just as I had almost ground to halt I got my monthly freebie from Shiki and thought there's a nice little item I can blog about and its free too, well kind of.

I have blogged this suit before when I bought an an alternate version. So its possible that much of this scribble overlaps the earlier post, but what the feck. The primary failing of the suit as a mod item is the knee length trousers, but as this is a Japanese fashion piece and not specifically mod these things are to be expected. The problem is quickly resolved by purchasing [so not exactly free y'see] or using a pair of trousers from another designer. Although the jacket is short, the underwear layer allows you to use low rider trousers [favoured by so many designers] or better still you can wear trousers with a standard waist.

For example I used both Hoorenbeek and Armidi trousers with the jacket and both look acceptable. Finding an ident black texture is difficult, although the Hoorenbeek comes close; so its easier to contrast with a grey or perhaps another colour.

Or, with a little tweaking you can wear the original trousers. I have done this, by wearing free tintable socks underneath the trousers, lowering the prim cuffs as low as possible and matching the trousers to calf high boots, or recently dropping the prim cuffs to wear high laced classic skinhead boots. Suits were often a crucial piece of skinhead attire, it wasnt just jeans and Ben Shermans, so this look can easily be adapted into the virtual mod fashion bible. With so few pure mod or sixties outfits available compromises must be made, unless your a clever geezer and can make your own, cough cough.

Shiki

Its Viral!

No not some geeky techy  infection of the virtual world, my feckin' cough is viral and its severely piussing me off. Glugging sickly sweet, vile over the counter conncoctions from the Chemists is unlikely to put me in a delightful mood, Ive entered grumpy middle age seamlessly and this pesky cough has merely accentuated my grumpy demeanor. So I am coughing like an orphan extra in Oliver, raging headache, knackered because I cant get to sleep...why? The coughing, keep up.... But despite all these real life afflictions its my attention to attend Soul Mods, althiough due to this subdued state I may just spend it in the cupboard. Whats any of this to do with virtual mod, feck all but then neither did leather chaps and monstrous bikes, cough cough.

The Prodigal Son...

... made his first appearance at the decks of Soul Mods. Yes mod builder, clothes designer, and DJ - a real virtual Renaissance man - took to the DJ booth on Friday to entertain us . Anticipation was high, and we had been a tad cruel to the lad during Eden's great set on Thursday, he knew he had a lot to live up to and being good friends we were determined to make it difficult for him, err I mean easy, giving him lots of confidence boosting advice and not taking the piss. Luckily we failed and he succeeded brilliantly.

I was one of several who turned up to give support and have a fantastic time, not sure how supportive I was but I certainly had a damn fine time. There were a few of the OSR crew in attendance to give Slate a rousing welcome to what is hopefully the first of many Soul Mods gigs. The usual motley Soul Mods mods were in attendance plus a few other newer faces.  An eclectic mix who should have enjoyed themselves as the set had a little piece of everything, hard core Northern folk would have been happy as would mods and those with just a passing interest in the sixties scene. I was dodging that minx Josie who seems determined to get me into the cupboard at every opportunity. Its understandable of course as I'm bloody gorgeous, but I'm just not that kind of avatar. So ghosts beware if Josie suspects you're off making a brew she'll shove you into Dugi's workshop where he'll do wicked things to your pixels, especially if their large.

It was a lot of fun and we all seemed to be having a great laugh at each others expense, and despite the early technical difficulties, curse you Lindens, anyone who was churlish enough to say it spoilt things needs to get virtual more. Slate finished a great set with a Twisted Wheel memory trip playing a range of generic sixties tracks popular amongst the members of that legendary virtual club; before closing in classic style with the three before eight. Awesome, the calf is on the butchers block.

Bit Disappointing

It looks like SoulBoy went straight to DVD at least it didnt reach the cinematic venues of the sunshine resorts oop north. Ah well guess its an Amazonian splash for cash to get to see it.

GRAB IT HERE: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003YXZHIK/ref=s9_newr_gw_ir03?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1SB36K5MA9WMNSDW646B&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

Blinkin' 'Eck...

... I thought I'd lost Phoenix again and was shunted onto the dreaded Viewer 2; I loathe the official viewer for two reasons:

• I can never find any of the functions everything has been altered and after three years I'm kind of stuck in my ways
• more importantly, and this is crucial, it doesnt work properly on my screen, it cannot cope with curves so the brim of my bowler is all angular and looks shite.

'nuff said, its all about looking good and Viewer 2 fails on that score spectacularly, I can adapt to new layouts but not to looking naff.

Other web like things worth checking, the massive zip files on Drek's Daily blog, giving access to over sixty beat and soul tunes is well worth investigating, check link to your right. And the uber cool Lupo has been on TV in Spain promoting his album so defintely check it, then get over to Amazon and buy the download for REAL pounds, dollars etc etc.

Check it: http://www.rtve.es/mediateca/videos/20100930/conciertos-radio-290910/890092.shtml

Back in the virtual world I caught Kim's set at Soul Mods, listening in whilst doing some other stuff, that earnt me a place in the cupboard as the devilsh Josie shoved me there. Sure I heard some talk of boxes and other fiendish plots, they're all envious of my good looks. Some great tunes played and I enjoyed listening in, far better than the radio!  Hope your having fun in your virtual life and those using the wibbly wobbly HUDS just beware of power surges dont want anything being wrenched off, so remember enjoy but try not to lose your head. WIBBLY WOBBLY HUDS? YEAH ITS THE RAGE MAN ,,WHO WAS IT TOLD ME THAT? HAHAHA Ciao Aimegos

Happenings in the Virtual World

After spending yesterday trampling the Lakeland fells in the rain pursuing game I can guarantee that the virtual life is much easy on middle aged knees and feet. So I have slapped a Norman Wisdom film [yes that right film, not a bloody movie I'm a Brit not a blinkin' colonial, howdy you wonderful American folk love ya!! and I was brought up on films not on movie, on a Saturday morning I went to the pictures.s End of movie rant] on I-Player; grabbed a mug of coffee and thought I'd have a warble on my poorly neglected blog on the happening in the virtual world of mod. There's only about half a dozen of us but we have fun.

First off, I am back on Phoenix which makes Second Life much easier.And despite the lure of the post Stella sofa I have also managed to attend a couple of cool virtual events. Headed to the AAi and heard Kim play some cool ska and beat tunes. There was a good turnout of people there and we all had a great laugh whilst listening to some very cool tunes. Then I wandered out of my mod comfort zone and attend the AAi on a Wednesday for the indie night with Graz DJing. As there were a few of us cool virtual mods present Graz slipped the odd mod tune onto his play list to keep us sweet. I opted to continue with my new bowler look, faded jeans, boots and T-Shirt to ska stomp my way through the indie music night. Mods are adaptable y'know, virtual ones especially so.

Continued with the bowler hat theme on my return to Soul Mods where Eden was spinning the tunes, she looked kind of scruffy but we cant all be virtual fashion messiahs everyday can we. I went with a smart Madness look: crombie, two tone jeans boots and the Fred Perry. All the sharp geezers and girls were present and we heard some fantastic tunes had a great laugh and chilled away for a couple of hours. It had been quite a while since I had heard Eden deliver a set and the intervening gap has done nothing to dull her ear for a sharp tune. She played several and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, although Slate in hes "jam shoes" and Lupo just being Lupo sent me spiralling down the cool ladder, gits hahaha.

I stuck with this look through into Friday night at Soul Mods where DJ Tabs was ion the decks and blasting out some foot stomping Motown tracks. The tunes sounded fantastic the crowd seemed eager to have fun and we enjoyed a fourth night of great music in good company in the midst of the virtual world. Sadly the demands of the real world meant I cut short my stay at Soul Mods on the Friday night, which meant I missed out on Slate's rezz party at the OSR HQ. Hope they had a great laugh and listened to some awesome tunes, that's what the virtual life is for. So nothing much to comment on, the same jokes same people different tunes and fun all the way through. Lets keep it virtual and leave the hill walking to the young uns.

ciao

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