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Fenix Harbinger aka Lynn Cunningham performs live for Second Life Beatlefest in the real world studio of fellow artist Elmo Balderdash. Harbinger is lead vocalist for Keltish, a four-piece celtic band which performs regularly in Dublin in SL and real life. Her lovely vocals move listener's hearts to tears and laughter depending on the song. Harbinger and Balderdash prepared duet material especially for Beatlefest. Additional collaborative pieces are now in the works.
COURTESY PHOTO

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Elmo Balderdash aka Steve Dockery performs live for Second Life Beatlefest in his home studio. A tech-savvy audiophile and artist who performs vocals and electric guitar, Balderdash has equipment for music performance, recording, mixing and transmitting. The artist performs regularly in Second Life and owns and operates a full services, in world music store for live music performers and fans. Balderdash is known for his cheerful live presence, attractive voice and distinctive electric guitar sound.
COURTESY PHOTO

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Ham Rambler "cuts a rug" at the Second Life Beatlefest held Monday October 9th as a tribute to the Beatles on what would have been John Lennon's 66th birthday. Ten artists played 50 songs live. Two concerts were held serving both UK and US evening hours. Stats showed that 200 listeners from 20 different countries enjoyed the concerts. Shown here is the O'Connell Bridge stage, one of four venues in Dublin in SL where festival artists performed.
PHOTO BY ELSIBETH PIERTERSON

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Billy Thunders from Australia wows the crowd at the Second Life Beatlefest held Monday. The concept of a Beatles Tribute Concert on John Lennon's birthday was suggested by Thunders to Ham Rambler, proprietor and business manager of Dublin Sim. Ramber, an enthusiastic live music listener and supporter, immediately agreed to the idea. The music has been recorded and will be rebroadcast on a schedule to be announced.
PHOTO BY ELSIBETH PIERTERSON

SECOND LIFE BEATLEFEST AN INTERNATIONAL HIT!
BY SITEARM MADONNA, STAFF WRITER

Much muttering was heard in the early hours of Monday October 9th as Second Life Beatlefest producers Billy Thunders and Elmo Balderdash made contingency plans and shuffled play lists. The Beatles Tribute Concert was scheduled to go on in four hours and the Grid was still closed due to griefer attacks.

"Yay it's open!" someone said, and artists flocked to their login screens. "Ack logins are restricted again!" groaned someone, and those who had made it in quickly opened Yahoo IM conferences with those still stuck ex world and agreed on contingency plans.

Miraculously, logins opened again and the first of two record breaking shows began on time with only a slight shuffling of intended play order. Bill and Pam Havercamp lead off with Day In The Life and Norwegian Wood, playing on a brand new, extended listener capacity stream ordered months in advance for the event.

Billy Thunders then segued in, welcoming listeners to the event in world and on remote music players real world, then treating them to pieces including Give Peace A Chance, Working Class Hero and Ballad Of John & Yoko. The last was especially appropriate as October 9th is what would have been John Lennon's 66th birthday.

The morning concert (evening in the UK) continued with artists Lyndon Heart, Picker Apogee, Elmo Balderdash and Fenix Harbinger. Ham Rambler chimed in to thank the artists, producers and listeners. To further test resolve, a sim crash occurred after Heart's fourth song, Girl, which somehow shut down the stream. The producers promptly switched to the back up stream (hooray for contingency planning) and the concert continued.

The evening concert (for US audiences) featured Kevin Noble, Ricardo Sprocket and Foxyflr Cure as well as repeat performances by Thunders and Balderdash. In all, SL residents enjoyed a reprise of 50 favorite Beatles songs by ten of SL's best live musician artists. No sim crashes or login restrictions occurred during the second concert and the main stream had been restored.

What made this event special, besides being a tribute to John Lennon and The Beatles? "Several things," says Ham Rambler, co-sponsor of the event. "We had prepared to produce a quality, tight timeline show with smooth handoffs between artists, thanks to the organizing efforts of Billy Thunders who had the idea for this show."

"We had advertised this event extensively both in world and real world, on Event Posts, the new Live Music Event Calendar,  Beatles Fan Sites and Blogs, and the new DublinSL.com web site. Finally, we had arranged special streams, with backup, working with SpinStream Media Services owner JJ Collingwood. This planning and preparation paid off as we were able to have a superb show enjoyed by all."

Fellow sponsor Peter Newell, owner of MetaVersatility, says, "Not only did it bring together various artists in world to show their takes on Beatles greats, it also showed off various places in Dublin. Most shows in world thus far have concentrated on one location, this one had many."

A new AudioStats Service provided by Collingwood showed that a record 211 unique listeners tuned in to one or both concerts, representing 20 different countries. "AudioStats is our new service available to stream subscribers," stated Collingwood. "It it like a web hits reporting service except for audio streams. It records Listener Count (IP not name) by time and geographical location. It's part of the goal of SpinStream to keep providing innovative services of most use to stream renters."

Not surprisingly, the bulk of Beatlefest listeners were tuned in from the US, UK, Canada and Ireland. But many additional fans enjoyed the show from Netherlands, France, Australia (home of Billy Thunders), Italy, Chile, Germany, Belgium, Taiwan, Spain, Austria, Japan, Portugal, Hungary, Israel, Denmark and Croatia.

The special energy of the show was felt by the staff who helped greet in world visitors. Says Assistant Blarney Manager Elsibeth Pierterson, "I felt the Beatlefest created an energy filled with excitement. It broke new grounds in terms of live entertainment and viewer remote listening. The fact we had listeners from many countries plus all the actual folk in the sim dancing along really made it incredible."

"All the artists had fantastic performances, which I felt was a nice tribute to the Beatles. I think everyone enjoyed not only the live entertainment but the ambiance of an old fashioned rock tribute. I'm really proud to be able to take a part in such a fun event."

So what's next? "We shall continue with themed music fests," says Rambler. Rumors are flying it will be something to do with Rambler's RL birthday and a band name associated with the Blarney Stone ("The Best Irish Bar in Virtual Reality").

Rambler continues, "Three things make a great Irish Bar: friendly people, great music, and hostesses and hosts to keep things moving along. I am proud we have all three. It's entirely due to the efforts of the organizers and staff that we can put on these efforts and continue to provide SL residents great new experiences in entertainment."

For next scheduled live music events in Second Life, residents may consult Search-Events-Live Music on their screens or the Live Music Event Calendar now viewable in-world at major live music venues. The concert was recorded and will be rebroadcast shortly on a schedule to be announced.

[SHORT LIST IF SPACE IS TIGHT}

BEATLEFEST PERFORMERS

Bill & Pam Havercamp - Vocals and Guitar
Billy Thunders - Vocal and Guitar
Elmo Balderdash and Fenix Harbinger - Vocals and Electric Guitar
Foxyflwr Cure - Vocal and Piano
Kevin Noble - Vocal and Piano
Lyndon Heart - Vocal and Guitar
Picker Apogee - Guitar Instrumental
Ricardo Sprocket - Vocal and Piano

[LONG LIST IF HAVE ROOM]

BEATLEFEST PERFORMERS AND SONGS

Bill & Pam Havercamp - Vocal and Guitar
Day In The Life
Norwegian Wood
Imagine
Woman
In My Life

*Billy Thunders - Vocal and Guitar
Give Peace A Chance
Dear Prudence
Mind Games
Crippled Inside
Working Class Hero
Instant Karma
Cry Baby Cry
Things We Said Today
Strawberry Fields Forever
Ballad Of John & Yoko

*Elmo Balderdash and Fenix Harbinger - Vocal and Electric Guitar
In My Life
And I Love Her
Norwegian Wood
Ticket To Ride
Please Please Me
Nowhere Man
All You Need Is Love

Foxyflwr Cure - Vocal and Piano
Imagine
Lovely Rita
Lucy In The Sky

*Kevin Noble - Vocal and Piano
Hey Jude
Twist & Shout
Blackbird
I Will
Yesterday

Lyndon Heart - Vocal and Guitar
I'm Only Sleeping
You Won't See Me
From Me To You
Girl
I'm Looking Thru You
All My Loving
Saw Her Standing There
All I Gotta Do

*Picker Apogee - Guitar
All My Loving
With A Little Help From My Friends
Jealous Guy
Ticket To Ride
Woman
Here Comes The Sun

*Ricardo Sprocket - Vocal and Piano
She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
Let It Be
Come Together
Oh Darling
I'll Follow The Sun
8 Days A Week

[END ARTICLE]

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