Linden Realms: A First Look

I had a quiet day today and after speaking a bit with Brett Linden, he let me know that today was the Linden Lab rollout of Linden Realms. Well being the 5 year veteran to Second Life that I am, I HAD to have a look.


I started here: Destination Guide "Linden Realms"


This link takes you to the "Portal" to the portals (so to speak). As you'll see from this Destination Guide page, there a about 10 different areas to start from. I chose the first on called Degrand.

(Here are a few screenshots taken from the Destination Guide itself)

Now I'm not really into Dungeons and Dragons games or those kind of video games (remember Dragon's Lair?), so this whole thing about collecting crystals was a bit off for me but, what the hell! I teleported to Degrand and found myself among maybe 10-15 others pretty much just standing about. Well I was there to check things out. So off I go. First thing is to find where the heck I need to go. I cammed out and found an odd looking oval stone and watched one oman walk in and not come out. "Hmmmm" I thought. So I walked in and instantly was teleported to another location where i found the goal was to get to a workshop and find some colored crystals.

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There's more to it but I certainly don't want to spoil the fun for anyone. but I'll just say, the builds that I saw in Degrand and other Realms were VERY cool. There's definitely a vibe the builders were going for and boy did they get it. There are minor details that not everyone will catch consciously, but being a graphic/web designer myself, I made sure to look. There were animated fairies, very cool mushrooms, sculpties all over, great huts and medieval style houses and other builds.


I'll have to tell you, I am thinking very positively about Linden Realms. It can and probably will create a whole new level of fun and interaction among SL residents.


So on my initial journey to Linden Realms, I give it two thumbs up. Mostly for the extra time and effort obviously poured into these builds.


I think my next stop will be Helfell! I kinda like the name!

Don DeVito, Producer of Bob Dylan Albums, Dies at 72

The cause was prostate cancer, a statement from Columbia said.

Don DeVito, a longtime Columbia Records executive who produced albums for Bob Dylan and others, died on Friday in New York. He was 72.

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As an artists-and-repertory executive, Mr. DeVito brought Mr. Dylan back to his longtime label, Columbia, in the mid-1970s after he had been briefly signed to Asylum Records. The first album Mr. Dylan made under the new contract was among his finest, “Blood on the Tracks.”

Mr. DeVito produced Mr. Dylan’s 1976 album, “Desire,” and his 1978 album, “Street-Legal,” along with a television special and live album, “Hard Rain,” from Mr. Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue tour in 1976. He produced another live Dylan album, “At Budokan,” in 1979.

Mr. DeVito’s work with Mr. Dylan was part of a career that lasted four decades at Columbia. Born in Brooklyn on Sept. 6, 1939, Mr. DeVito got started in music as a guitar player, touring with the Royal Teens and later with his own band, the Sabres. He joined CBS Records in 1967 and by the early 1970s was working in the label’s artists and repertory department. He was named vice president of A&R in 1976 and national vice president of A&R in 1981.

Mr. DeVito worked with much of the Columbia roster, including Billy Joel (for whom he produced a live album, “The Millennium Concert”), Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Aerosmith and Blue Oyster Cult. In 1989 he shared a Grammy Award for best traditional folk recording for producing “Folkways — a Vision Shared: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly.”

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Mr. DeVito had a major role in producing the Concert for New York City, a globally televised benefit concert on Oct. 20, 2001, at Madison Square Garden. It was also released as a DVD and CD.

He retired from Columbia in 2007. He is survived by his wife, Carolyn, and his children, Marissa and James.

By JON PARELES

Published: November 29, 2011

Where in Second Life is the Concert?

“Where in Second Life is the Concert?” Hunt

On Feb 4th, 2012 from 6pm - 9pm SLT for the first time ever,  Mankind Tracer & The Follow will be performing a back to back concerts in a SECRET location following a 2 week long hunt around Second Life starting January 20, 2012.

Hunt info:

We will be limiting the hunt to 50 participating locations to keep the hunt small and manageable for existing and new fans. Often times, hunts are over excessive, leading people to give up and not visit all participating locations. We are purposefully keeping this hunt on the smaller side and the items hidden, but not too difficult. The idea is that people do finish the hunt and equally as important, spend time in your stores.

REQUIRED: Each store will need to provide a quality freebie.

About Mankind Tracer:

Seth Regan has toured professionally for over 20 years with both original and cover projects and has had national airplay. Known around the grid for 5 straight years of stellar performances as Mankind Tracer, Seth shares his insightful original music, also performing the best rock hits past and present, adding his own unique style to each song. Influences include Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, Pearl Jam and many others including classical influences, which can be heard in Seth's well crafted music. Along with audience requests driving the show’s interaction, Seth’s performances are always fun and full of energy and sure to get you hooked!

In Second Life, Seth has many achievements in the past 5 years including: Headlining major Linden Lab and Second Life events including SL6,7,8B, Burning Life, Burn2, Winterfest, Best of SL’s Major events and has received many awards including BOSL’s Best Live Performer Award 2008 and BOSL Lifetime Achievement Award 2011, Listeners’ Choice Award, among others.

Visit Seth Regan's Official Website HERE

About The Follow:

The Follow is a panoramic rock band trio that has been performing in SL for over 2 years. The band entered the virtual world of Second Life (SL) as a way to continue touring while protecting the environment, not to mention its wallet!

Influenced by U2, Radiohead, and Pink Floyd, The Follow have enjoyed sharing stages with various artists such as Plain White T’s, Billy Corgan’s Zwan, & Gravity Kills. With seven albums, one DVD, and hundreds of live performances, The Follow received airplay on college and commercial radio across North America while supporting the releases by touring in the United States and Europe.

As a rare back to back line up, this should prove to be one of the year’s most well attended concert as both Mankind and The Follow are known to pack venues at their own individual shows.

Visit The Follow's Official Website: HEREfree, free, music, marketing, blog, free, free, free, music, pr, seo,blog,free,free,free,free,free, live music, make money, money, free money, gift, gifts, seth regan, mankind tracer, secondlife, second life, sl, facebook, twitter, social, alexa rank

Promotions:

The hunt will be featured in the SL Destination Guide and on Mankind Tracer’s and The Follow’s website(s) and blog(s). Promotions will also be strategically placed on Facebook, Twitter, Second Friends and throughout Second Life, giving the event combined promotion to over 500K+ unique users. Special “Event Kiosks” will also be placed at every hunt and sponsor location adding more fun and interaction with the event and providing hunters the information and SLurls they need to complete the hunt.

Facebook Event
Event on Second Friends


Hunt Locations:

To be one of only 50 participating locations we are allowing, you will need to agree to have a quality freebie, use our hunt receptacle and allow a kiosk to be placed at your location - which will also be used for promoting the hunt. Kiosks will be scripted to keep track of hunt analytics, therefore scripts will need to be permitted at your location by having them set to “ON”, or the kiosk will need to be set to your Land Group. (Please see the information below for who to contact about participation fees.)

Sponsors:

Sponsorship for the hunt will be limited to only 10 sponsors. All sponsors’ images, branding or logos will be placed in our promotions, on the kiosks, mentioned during the concerts, on clickable (via SLurl) promotional posters and graphics placed on or around the actual concert stage, which will drive more traffic to your location. The clickable promo poster will also be set to give the event notecard.

For more information about sponsor and location fees please make contact as soon as you can. The order of visited locations during The Concert Hunt will be determined on a first come first serve basis. The earlier you get in, the sooner you will be placed on the roster order.


Kalli/Brandy: brandy@sethregan.com 
Seth/Mankind: info@sethregan.com

The Right Questions

I've been trying to find a solid block of time to be able to continue recording the new "Underground" album. As I've been saying at my Second Life shows, I hope it will be done soon... I've been saying that since probably March!


With the title track also called "Underground" already in recorded and up on iTunes, I am really working to find the time to get the next one done. I've been playing "Promise to Love" for probably over a year in SL now, but it's always been just acoustic and vocals, like all of my shows, other than a few originals on which I play and sing over my self produced backing tracks. So I am really looking forward to being able to add the backing tracks on this song and play it for the SL friends and fans.


One thing that's really prevented me from being able to get going fast on this album is, as with almost all my music, I write and perform all the parts: drums, guitars, orchestral instruments, vocals, etc. So before I can do anything in the way of recording, I need to first write all the parts. But I think this time around, I'm going to just start recording what I have one already. For "Promise to Love" the arrangements are all done, same with guitars and vocals, and a few string parts. The trickiest part, for me anyways, are the drum parts.

So here I sit with the main acoustic line recorded along with a scratch vocal track (used only for reference) which will of course need to be rerecorded right. As I'm listening back to what I've already recorded, I;m finding a bit of a shift in direction. I came up with this drum beat, nothing really ostentatious, but a solid driving beat and now the entire vibe of the song has changed. I love it, I do, but I've been pining over this song for so long, the way I've listened to it in my head probably for 8 years and all of a sudden I have this drastic change from a mellow acoustic tune to a kind of Metallica vibe. Not a bad thing of course LOL!


Now that I've had to restart my computer, it gives me a few minutes to digest all I've done and it got me thinking. How many times in my life have I thought I had something right, that I knew the direction I was going, then all of a sudden out of left field comes this completely new direction which opens doors I never even thought of. Like this sudden shift in this song's direction, that's the way life is. Here I am recording a song and then I'm thinking of how the recording process, not the song itself, shifted my thinking.free, free, music, marketing, blog, free, free, free, music, pr, seo,blog,free,free,free,free,free, live music, make money, money, free money, gift, gifts, seth regan, mankind tracer, secondlife, second life, sl, facebook, twitter, social, alexa rank

I believe it comes down to the questions we ask. Through the course of our days we ask ourselves a billion questions, day in, day out. Questions like "What if I turn left?", "Did I add too much garlic?, "Do I need something to drink?". These are all well and good but I'm talking of the more profound questions. Asking myself things like "Why can't I get this right?" or "Why is this taking so long?" I believe are the wrong things to ask, well not the wrong "things" but maybe more limiting. I take pride in knowing myself and being able to effect changes when needed, quickly. My point here is sometimes, I think it's important to remember that the one question we ask ourselves will only lead us down one specific path.


From recording this song, I have learned that instead of asking myself for example, "Why can't I get this right?", I should be asking the more positive questions like "What do I need to learn to make this perfect?", or "Where can I find more information to help me make this right?" This will open the door to more that that one direction of logical answers and these are more positive and optimistic ways of dealing with a problem. Now I can look at a situation with my eyes wider and my brain more open to other possibilities.


It's really the questions we ask ourselves that lead us down the paths we travel every single day. For me, I will try to work on this, trying to remember to ask more than one question in a given situation, more positive questions. Even when I might be frustrated or angry at not having a quick solution, it's important to step back and see the possible outcomes of asking different questions on a given problem.


Anyways, I thought I'd share this. Maybe someone can understand and relate.


Back to recording!