New Year, and Anniversary Reflections

I was amazed this week when I realized I had been DJing one year as of January 13th.

They say that "Time Flies When You're Having Fun." That seems to be very true. It hardly seems possible that I started spinning tunes at the Wharf last year, and it has been a full year plus, now. I've probably done 130 sets - I'll have to go back and count to verify, just for my own knowledge - but its not so much how many, or how long, but whether people enjoy what I'm doing, and as importantly, do I still enjoy it.

My friend Kaj has been DJing for I about 2 1/2 years, and I remember an interview he did for VR Style. To make a long story short, he said he still loved DJing. I reflected on that as the realization hit me this past week. And I came to the conclusion that like my friend, I enjoy DJing. Sure it can be hectic coming up with a playlist on the spur of the moment, or you can get frustrated with technical problems like a hard drive crash, or a misbehaving stream. But thankfully those problems have been few and far between.

I hope I keep an interesting combination of various tunes playing to entertain people. I think I do. But something else seems to have come to me as well during this past year that means as much to me on a very personal level.

This past year has helped me sort of re-connect with something I love, rock music (in all the glorious sub-categories that I really enjoy). Its helped me reclaim a part of my life that had been lacking in the daily RL grind, and inject it back into the forefront of my life. That has been a most excellent experience. I found and breathed new life into a part of me that needed that attention. I have Finnegan to thank for giving me a chance to DJ at The Wharf, back on January 13th, 2009 (the first set where I streamed for a crowd). While DJing itself maybe wasn't stopping me from connecting to music, it certainly has been a catalyst to keeping me active in being involved in music as much for my benefit as those that listen to what I like to play.

A big thanks goes out to all the people that have supported/enjoyed/encouraged me along the way as well. I wouldn 't necessarily *want* to DJ if I didn't have people at my sets.

Special thanks to Kev Darkfold for being at the "Graveyard Shift" at the Wharf during my first late Friday sets.

Special Thanks to Kaj for advice, support and friendship over the last year.

And special thanks to Pookie for encouraging me to be a rock and roll star *LAUGH*

I couldn't have done it without my best friend RL either. You know who you are.

Starfall - the new blog

Just yesterday, I started a new blog for the new place - its called STARFALL. Here's the link:

http://starfall-home.blogspot.com

We'll be posting stuff about Starfall - DJ Schedules, events (pictures and happenings), and whatever pops into our little brains *grin*

Kaj posted pictures of the Grand Opening last night on there, so pop on over and see what's there.

We're pretty much duplicating the event schedule from the previous venue. I really hope that everyone enjoys what we've done.

If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Love,
Dehr

Managing to get by for the future

Up until this past Sunday evening, things were pretty good, I suppose.

I had a great job Managing at the Wharf, lots of friends.. I had just celebrated my 2nd Rezday on SL - Saturday.
Then the Wharf closed the next day, on this past Sunday. We were all a bit dumbstruck.

I was given ownership of the group, and all of a sudden - I'd gone from being the Manager to being something else. I was the guy that a lot of you turned to looking for what we needed to do.

I am a good planner - when I have most of the variables. I get a bit fuzzy when the way forward isn't that clear - who doesn't? But I felt this burning desire to push forward to get back what was lost. And that kept the motion forward going.

I could dwell on the sense of loss, hurt, anger, confusion that sort of hovered around like a cloud the first few hours. Hell, I took the whole thing rather calmly. I didn't know any more than anyone else did. But I think I had worked a few things out, so it wasn't quite a shock. And I truly understood WHY it happened. But I'm not going to dwell on that.

To be honest, we find ourselves in a situation that could not have been better than if we had left things the way they were.

Friendships have grown closer, and new ones are forming. With change comes opportunity. And this is a golden one.

People started to pull together Sunday night. And it kept building. The sense of support I have felt in the last 5 days has been humbling. It has nearly brought me to tears to be honest. It has shored up my determination to do everything I can to make this new "wharf" or clubhouse or whatever we want to call it - work.

This merry band of misfits that we are, and all the friends and party-goers that we have and will entertain, that's what I want to give us back - a place for us to gather, have fun, hang out, joke, and experience each other in that intimate way we have come to enjoy so much.

We needed a new home. We've got one. We're building the new club. It WILL be done soon. I won't give an exact date, but soon is certainly within the next week, if not this weekend.

In the meantime, we can party on our good friend's Vince and Darla's "Crypt Dwelling" Clutch Cargo, like we have the last few nights. Or if we want, we can play on someone's land, have a house party. A lot of those that have clubs or are involved have made offers to let us use their places. That's really cool.

The point is.. I've felt a strong bonding, a feeling of togetherness through out the last 5 days that has left me at a loss to express to everyone what it means to me.

I just hope I'm up to the task of giving you back a place that you want to hang out together.
With all of us pulling together, it is NOT just me. I'm more just a traffic cop standing here, watching friends both old and new pull together to create something better for us all.

You are all throwing your passion into building the new place. And its going to be awesome.

The biggest contribution everyone can make, truly, is to look forward - not behind. Look to the future of what the Wharf has become, and see that we've actually grown stronger and closer for it.

If you are reading this, keep your eyes on the notices. I'll let you know when the new place opens. And we'll have one hell of a fab party *grin*

Dehr

PS - Koen- thank you so much for your support, and giving us a home.

Plans are a wonderful thing if you make them

I can't get over how things work out sometimes. Between Friday night and Sunday night, it was a strange and cool journey - really, you just don't know how things will work out. I'm just going to talk about Friday here.

Friday - I didn't mention to very many people that I was home sick on Friday - I won't get into the sordid details, but suffice it to say I was not at my best. In fact, I spent a good portion of my time in bed or on the couch watching TV or sleeping. By the time the afternoon came around, it was closing in on time for Esmi's set at the Wharf, and my set was still far off, so I logged on and got to listen to him spin, and mostly just sit back and enjoy the sounds from someone else's play list that I haven't had the opportunity to hear much lately.

Finn did the heavy lifting as Host, which was fun to watch. And it made me feel better. I think I mentioned in the Wharf blog that at the end of Esmi's set, the crowd started talking about how there wasn't a lot to do, and where could they seek entertainment.. and that's when Esmi and I think Finn gave me a nudge and "suggested" that I start now, and play tunes for everyone. Considering my earlier statement about being ill, I had hardly even started to prep for my set - I had some ideas, but really, I didn't have a lot of idea what I was going to do. But that's never stopped me before. So, I kicked it into high gear, started throwing tunes into the cue, grabbed the stream, and away we went.

I played a lot of requests Friday - and I love doing that, and I love announcing it. Sometimes though I am trying to DL a song for someone, and miss the opening of the song request, because sometimes there's a variable lag between you transmitting it to the stream, and when its actually playing on SL - and that sucks when you're busy and still want to mic an announcement, dedication, or tell someone who requested what.



Something to note - sometimes, its hard to fit requests into your set, if the styles of music (slow, fast, angry, lovey, hard, soft, dance, metal, etc). But in this case, I had a lot of good requests and I picked up on "topical" comments, and moved some songs in as I needed them. I don't think I had more than a half hour's worth of songs ahead of deadly silence at any particular time during the first 2 hours I played. But I will say everyone enjoyed the tunes.
The things I like most about requests - 1) it helps you get to know your audience and what they want to hear, 2) it exposes you to different music 3) Its a danger element because you just don't know sometimes if the song you are putting up is going to be something that fits.
At one point, Esmi and Finn were identical bunnies. It was disturbing. Especially when they started making reference to their ears being semi elongated and such.. I don't know how else to put it, but bunny smex is rather disturbing. I have felt that way since the bunnytube vid on Ches's blog a few weeks back.

Anyway - like clockwork, Malden popped in at the start of the usual Friday 6pm set, and started doing his awesome hosting. And things kept on rolling and picked up steam. We had a great time.

One of the things that happens sometimes is that people start to roll into the Wharf during your set at the end. Now, if you have something planned to do after the end of your set, its great to go ahead and end the set at the usual preset time. But when you have people rolling in, and swelling the crowd, it makes sense to keep going.
And I did that, for another 45 minutes or so.

But eventually, you have to pull the plug. My energy levels started to fade rapidly after 7:30, but I ignored it and kept going for more than an hour, until I started to feel like I did that morning. I realize Mal was very tired, and I should have been more considerate of that.
I consider that a lesson learned on my part, both in consideration and in taking care of myself. Its important to make plans, and sometimes you have to deviate from them, or operate totally by instinct or whatever. But when you do, you leave out important details.

Yeah, Friday was fun, but it felt weird when it ended. But I still love it when a plan comes together.

Kewl Friday, Bizarre Saturday

It was quite the weekend, from Friday to Sunday night late (for me at least). I had my first Friday without playing at the Wharf in the last 3 months. This was an adjustment for me, as I always felt that I had a decent crowd draw, and did a good warmup for Kaj on Friday nights. Maybe that will change in the future – but for right now, its nice to know that I can sit back on a Friday evening and enjoy just hanging out.
We all speculated about 2 of our dearest friends, and whether they were having the time of their lives, or if they were hating every moment.. We thought it more likely that things were going well, but.. people speculate when there is a lack of current data – and even if there is, they can still view the data through a smoky lens – the opposite of rose colored glasses. I was wishing the best for them – I said I had everything crossed that could be crossed. and I was really hoping the best. Turns out that, yes, things were fantastic for them. I just grinned ear to ear when I heard about it. I’m still grinning about it.

Anyway, Kaj, displaying his usual awesome DJ might, played an awesome set. I was able to spend a lot of time chatting with friends and all the great people that come through the Wharf for the party. As with most parties, this too ended, and it was late, but me and my man went and spent some time, just the two of us. And life was good.

Saturday was strange. I hate it when people don’t get along – and I walked into one of those situations when 2 of my friends were on different wavelengths over a really stupid joke. I mean, Unicorns? Come on. Well, in the end, it did not turn out well. It might have been worse. I just wish there was some way to fix it. But I guess that’s not my place – I’m only elven in a very human sort of way, and when you have strong personalities involved, emotions running high, and personal codes of honor or whatever, then it gets even more complex. I really believe that even best friends can take a joke too far, but there is personal responsibility on both sides, and someone can cry “enough”, before we reach def-con 1. Stupid Unicorns.


Finn found an awesome skybox - its a rabbit warren, and its so awesome! I snapped a quick pic prior to beaming out to go to my set, and I'm glad I did. Kewl, ain't it?

I had good set @ SDC – The house was packed, and the Euro crowd was awesome. Towards the end of the set, the crowd thins out considerably – its 3am in the morning when I finish. Dodgey was there for my entire set – it was a wonderful surprise to see him there.
I hosted for DJ Blaise at the 6PM set at the Wharf. It was quiet at the start But things picked up within a half hour, and we had a good crowd. Blaise did a fantastic set – he’s become one of my favorite DJs, since he plays a lot of the stuff that I love to listen to. I wish I wasn’t playing at the same time he is, so I could go to listen him play at his other venue.

Finn, Sebastiian, and a few others like Dodgeguy, were in rare form, shifting into avis that were hilarious and cute, if not weird and insane. Dodgey make a big splash by becoming The Staypuft Marshmallow Man, from Ghostbuster - Finn mentioned this in his blog entry - and I laughed and had a ball watching the shifting game of avatars that Finn, Sebastiian and some others played. I just stayed my own little ol' elfie self - I might have taken off my glasses - and watched the parade of awesome.

Oh, Chester and MTD1952 Timeless decided to mudwrastle (yes I said wrastle instead of wrestle) with Chester using his super buttonpushing ability to dominate the circle of mud. I think Mikey let Chessy win, but I can't prove that. You can see the mudpit in the middle of the Wharf in one of the pictures.

Wild stuff. Fun stuff. Good memories xD

Busy weekend, strange weekend

I read a blog entry from Finn yesterday - he was asking what can we do to make the Wharf a better place for everyone.

He said it right, the Wharf has had excellent success. We expanded because there seemed to be a demand for what we offer - and slowly became a place that had events going on 6 days a week, with multiple days having many events. Hell, I wound up as a manager (more like a cruise director) because things expanded to the point where this was needed.

However, there has been something of a steady decline in .. attendence, and I hope not interest...

Perhaps this has happened due to a number of issues, and not just one thing.

As I've taken on the Manager role, I am at most of the events. I've taken a hand to try and help troubleshoot problems, and keep the schedule on track.

The DJs and hosts themselves are excellent, and the content of sets has been great.

One of my friends observed that maybe we have too much of a good thing. Too many events running constantly, and the freshness has worn off. Our DJs and Hosts are consistently awesome. But people will seek out the new and different. We have fantastic folks - but we aren't the "new" thing every week.

Other factors that may have influence - "big sploders" or lack of them, like we did in December and January.

We don't do big contests, either - with the exception of the $L5000 Alien costume contest for Abduction.

These activities do draw people, and sometimes they stay.

We don't ask people to blindly TP their friends to the Wharf. Other clubs make it a policy to do so regularly. I personally ignore blind TPs and regularly send a TP request back to the requestor, telling them to come to MY event instead. Of course they don't respond. Many of my friends or aquaintences would be at the events if they weren't already engaged in other things.

I remember what it was like when I was trying to find a good place to hang out & fit in. I think the Wharf is welcoming or inviting - but maybe we need to do a better job at engaging new visitors? As a host or DJ, you just don't have time to pay attention to everyone - but maybe we can find a way to engage new people better?

Right now, Spring Break is rolling across the university/school-going segment of SL's population, and this probably has something to do with attendence. We have a lot of Teen and 20-something patrons that have been absent. It makes me wonder how much this influenced our current state.

So, what is the answer? Need for something different? Spring break? Big sploders vanishing? Not enough PR or personal contact with new visitors?
What is the reason?
I'd say a combo of several of these.

Like Finn, I'm looking for answers, and would appreciate opinions. We do have some actions and ideas to refresh the Wharf - and I'm sure Finn and Chester will roll out some amazing things as we cope, grow, and learn more about the nature of this beast.

Changes, they keep on a-comin'...

One of my favorite times of the week has been Wednesday evenings, hosting for Finn. Not only is he a really good DJ, but he’s a good friend. When you DJ, no matter how much fun you have entertaining people, you still have a pressure and time constraint. Finn has said a few times that its been a struggle for him to align what he wants and needs to do RL with the SL side of things. I know how rough things can get when you run into technical snags, or fall behind and have to rush into your set less prepared (or unprepared) than you would like.

Regardless - Finn did an excellent job with his sets, whether planned or on the fly. I enjoyed the music, and the experience of entertaining a room full of our friends (family) and patrons with him. Since he has now taken himself out of the DJ rotation for the time being, there is a change to my routine that I will adjust to… it seems that’s been the theme now for the last few weeks – Change.
Life is change, I believe the saying goes. I hope that the change for Finn relates to less stress and more fun. Because he’s crazy enough as it is. And if he REALLY goes off the deep end (in relative terms that is) he’ll take a lot of people with him. xD

I hope he’s just taking a break for the time being – and will DJ on occasion as his time and mood suits him.

I managed to get one of my closest and dearest friends to climb down a ladder and step into the footprint that Finn left behind on Wednesday night – Xavier. He’s a semi-reluctant DJ – only because he wasn’t sure if his musical bent was what the Wharfies would like. I told him it would be something different - he would be a success, and the crowd would love him. He has a more gothy/industrial-ly feel to his tunes, and a cool (if somewhat twisted) sense of humor, with a funny personality to match. Also, a heart of gold (figuratively speaking) underlying it all - though he would not admit it. His set went down as a smash hit I think. I stood post as his host (I’m a poet and didn’t know it? Ugh) – and it was different. It wasn’t Finn. But it was something good. I think Xavier had a fantastic (finntastic?) time, and succeeded very well. And I get enormous satisfaction from that. And like life, change happens. And it was good.

By the way, for some reason, the pictures I thought I took of last nights events did not save correctly. So no images for this post. Sowwy!

UPDATE>. DODGEY came through with a picture! So the blog has been updated.

Saturday - its an experience

Saturday was a pretty cool day, overall. Its good when you have fun, overcome an obstacle, and have a sense of accomplishment from that, and helping others succeed and do well.

I've been trying to figure out what to put in my new home.. the treehouse (pictured above)is truly a big place - it has adequate room that I can do a lot with. But, I haven't shopped for furniture just yet.
Pook says he will be happy to take me out shopping to find whatever I want, since he's been through moving and redecorating pains in the last month or so, and he has a lot of places still fresh in his mind.
I'll probably look at some of the elven-themed places, but not limiting myself to that.

As the day progressed, since I was just lazing around, planning my playlist for Migs - some of my friends started logging in(as they do). I had just found out how to plug my stream info into the sim I live in (its good to be the Man) - I was streaming my stuff, sort of working out what I wanted to play later at Migs. I noticed Xavier had logged in, so invited him over to see my bare house. Xavi asked if it was radio or me streaming, and I told him it was me. After a little while, i asked him if he would like to stream, since I know he has good music.

Xavi has some interest in DJing, but he doesn't do it much - so I gave him my stream info, and it was really cool. Dodge joined us shortly after that. I showed them around my empty house. Then Pookie joined us, and we made a little dance party in the tree house.
Finn stopped by, and hung out for a bit. He liked what Xavi was streaming, so he asked Xavi if he wanted to DJ for The Wharf (I told him I thought Xavi would make a great addition). Xavi was sort of hedging, but I thought he really liked it. The faun-boy can be shy at times.

Later in the day, it proved lucky that Xavier was interested, because Chester had net problems, and was not able to make his Abduction set. Even though we had not officially hired Xavier, I asked him to DJ for Chester.
It took a few minutes to get him set up, but with some ingenuity, some luck, and patience, we had Xavier streaming, and he rocked the cornfield.



This is Xavier DJing @ Abduction - It might be Dodgeguy doing the fanning with the peacock fan, but I can neither confirm or deny that - let's just say Xavi was hot, rocking the field and this guy (we'll call him Dodge just for the sake of arguement) didn't want the cornfield to catch fire.. yeah, you buy that, don't cha?

It felt really good, having faced this little challenge and brought forth a great sound like Xavier.

My gig at Migs went really well, too. I had a great crowd. Thanks to PJ and Mig for supporting me through the Night Train set. We had a fantastic time. I really appreciate PJ's help, considering how late it was for him.

A big thanks to buster - he really has been a strong support to me in these sorts of situations. I think the world of this guy.

And to Alvin - thank you for your suggestions and support when we were getting things set up. In the helter-skelter of trying to figure out options. I really appreciated the helping.. err.. paw?

Friday started out Esmiazing!

Well, I had to think up something that was corney, but cute and descriptive of the start to Finntastic Friday - see, I got off RL work early to come out and hear Esmi play - Its not something I can always do - but I wanted to hear Esmi on the mic.. and it was worth it! The tunes were fantastic, and his voice is so damned smexy I thought I might have to change my undies.
Good crowd too -
And then, there was Hoaghes - excellent set for Hoaghes.. I love his voice, too.. He seems to think he sounds bad, but wow. He's so wrongggggg.. I love the accent.

Anyway, gotta prep for my set.

Wednesday at the Wharf-Shack

Shortly into Finn's set at the Wharf, the region went down. Its been a while I think since this happened during a set, at least in my memory.. lucky thing Finn has a spare venue or two. We moved it over to The Love Shack.

Finn wasn't feeling well, poor guy. But he carried on DJing for about 2.5 hours, and we all had a great time. I really hope he's feeling better today.. he seemed to be, playing those damned Zyngo machines, trying to beat buster's score on it.

We had a good crowd.. and as always, the regulars were there having a blast.

I gotta say.. and I do say it in my notices.. we have a great group of folks, guys, gals, a few we aren't sure about (no Ches, no you! We know what you are.. and it scares us) that are just the best kind of people you could ask for in friends and .. dare I say.. family. Its really amazing the way people shine through.
Another thing - I can't say enough how much I appreciate all the support and well wishes for my manager position. I'm not sure why, but I love you all for the faith in me - though I still don't know how Kaj thinks I'm going to run for President in 2o12... but that's another story.
I'm very glad to have such fantastic DJs and Hosts, and awesome people that pitch in. Thank you all so much.

OK, its late, so that's all for now.

Anyway