The Art of Club Management in Second Life

 Hi folks!  It's been a while since my last blog.  It seems I always get to blogging when something significant happens that inspires me to write something.  This is no exception, but I'll get to that in a bit.  This blog is going to be a little different.  All of my previous blogs have been about DJing in SL.  This one is going to be about managing in SL.  Now I'll be honest with you right from the start.  I've done plenty of club management in SL, and even was part owner of a club for a couple of years.  That being said, I'm nowhere near as good a manager as I am a DJ.  Now I'm not saying I was flat our lousy at it, I think I did some things effectively, but I also made some big mistakes.  I have however, had the opportunity to look at the issue from all sides, as a staff member, as a manager, and as an owner.  And trust me, the view is completely different depending on the perspective you're viewing it from.  And I'll also say this... I've managed for 6 years, and owned for two - and I swear on my mother's grave I'll never do either again.  Ok,  let's start off with some mistakes I made as a manager.

1) Making promises I couldn't keep - This was kind of an Achilles heal for me.  I did it a couple of times, and both times it cost me a valuable DJ, and nearly a friendship.  This is definitely one to be careful of.  Before you promise anyone anything, make sure the owner is on board, and that any other staff members that might be impacted are on board as well.  If you don't, you'll find yourself between a rock and a hard place like I did with no available solution that doesn't suck.

2) Getting in the face of a good, reliable DJ over nothing - This isn't one I did often, but I did once, and again it cost me a really good DJ.  All I'll say on this for now is try and always keep the big picture in mind.  Know your staff, and react appropriately.  If you're dealing with a DJ that's chronically late, is always missing sets, is a drama king, or whatever, then go ahead and get in his face, you're probably not losing much if he quits anyway.  On the other hand, if you're dealing with a DJ who's generally reliable, causes no issues in the club, and that you consider an asset, then don't be afraid to look the other way.  If it becomes a chronic problem, then sit down with the person, but be nice, and be respectful.  "I've noticed you've been missing some sets lately, and I just want to make sure you're ok."  Is a good way to start the conversation.  See if you can find out what's going on, and what you can do to help.  Maybe a lighter schedule is in order.  Maybe burnout is the issue, and the DJ needs some time off.  Maybe it's RL, and the DJ needs a different time slot.  Whatever.  This is a person that's worked for you for a while and has earned your respect, so be respectful, and do what you can to help them get back to where you both want them to be - Reliable, fun, and effective.

3) Trying to do too much - This is one a lot of managers do.  When I was managing at Heroes, I was practically living in the club.  I wanted to try and make sure every DJ had at least a base crowd, and felt it was my duty to be there to help with that.  I tried to cover every set when somebody called out.  I even filled in for hosts sometimes.  On top of that I was involved in planning events, hiring staff, staff meetings, etc.  Needless to say I eventually burnt out.  This one is hard to solve, because clubs are almost always under staffed.  Just try and have an understanding with the owner what's expected of you, and make sure you're not getting yourself into a pace that's unsustainable.

Ok, that's enough about MY personal failures (Definitely NOT my favorite topic!).  To give myself SOME credit, while I certainly made some mistakes as a manager, overall I think I was pretty effective, mainly because I didn't make any of the GRAVE errors, which I'll get to in a bit (Yes I know, you HATE it when I do that, but trust me, but this next session sets the stage for the grave errors stuff), but first, let's talk about some of the types of DJs you'll be dealing with, from the most desirable to the least:

1) Annie Awesome - This is your rock star, the DJ that is super dependable, does everything right, and does it with style.  This is the DJ you build your staff around, the one that gets people coming back to your club, your Hall of Fame or Hall of Fame level DJ.  If you have one of these, consider yourself lucky.  If you have 2 or more, consider yourself blessed.  It should go without saying, but it doesn't, so I'll say it, and all in caps: DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO HOLD ON TO THESE DJS!  Seriously, they're unicorns. You may get them once in a while passing through your club on their way to bigger and better things, but if you get one that sticks with you for 1, 2, 3 or more years, keep them at all costs.

2) Debbie Dependable and Ronnie Reliable - These are your next tier DJs, the ones who maybe aren't quite rock stars, but they have all the other traits of Annie Awesome.  They're dependable, play solid music, and don't bring drama.  You can always count on them to be there for their sets, and you can always count on them to fill in when you need them.  These aren't quite as rare as Annie Awesome, but they don't grow on trees either.  These are the DJs that form the backbone of your club, and you should definitely do your best to hold on to them.  By all means, look the other way on anything other than major infractions with these guys, and absolutely do not do things that will drive them away.  

3) Spacy Suzy - This is the DJ that's kind of a Debbie Dependable wannabe.  She shows up most of the time, but tends to flake out, miss sets, be late, etc.  These DJs need to be coached.  They're kind of borderline assets as they are, but if you can coach them up to be a Debbie Dependable (or god forbid an Annie Awesome), you'll have a valuable DJ.  At some point in time though, if they're just not gonna make the leap to the next level, you'll have to decide if they're worth keeping as is, or if you'd be better off moving on.

Journeyman Joe - These are the DJs you get from the DJ groups generally.  They tend to stick around for a few weeks/months, then move on to greener pastures.  The tricky thing about Journeyman Joe is that he can look like any of the above 3 classes (yes, even Annie Awesome) while he's there, and sometimes it can be hard to know if somebody's going to stick with you, or bail on you the first time he does a set with < 5 people.  All I can tell you here is to have a good interview process for hiring.  Find out if he's worked long term at clubs, or just generally drifts from one to the other on a routine basis.  These guys are what they are.  You'll see a lot of them, and while you don't necessarily need to get rid of them, you don't have to bend over backwards to make concessions for them either.  Any time you hire a DJ from the group, consider him to be in this class until he's been with you for at least 6 months (and I'd say give it a year before you get comfortable).

Entitled Ernie - This is the DJ that comes in thinking he's gods gift, and that the club should change to accommodate him.  I'm not talking Annie Awesome here, you should make as many concessions as you can to keep her.  Nope, this is the guy that comes in off the street, is nothing special, and thinks he deserves special treatment.  Off slot sets (ex: 3-5 rather than 2-4).  Days you're not open.  Some other DJs time slot.  Etc.  Best never hire this guy in the first place.

Drama King Dick - These are the absolute worst.  These are the ones that are decent to good on the stage, but behind the scenes they are pure chaos.  Fights with staff members.  Fights with management. Doesn't get along with his host. Bitching, whining, and crying over every little thing.  Always pointing the finger blaming someone for something.  Cut them loose.  They're not worth it.

Ok, so let's get to the GRAVE errors I've seen managers make.  These are the ones that push staff out the door (and guests with them), and will soon get you an empty club if you don't correct the situation.

RESPECT!!! - This is a really big one that I see a LOT of managers make - Thinking putting the title "Manager" over your head instantly earns you respect.  It doesn't.  Respect isn't something you get from a title, it's something you earn, and a big part of earning respect is showing it to others.  Before you start jumping up and down screaming "I WANT SOME RESPECT!" get to know your staff.  Do you have any Annie Awesomes?  how about Ronnie Reliables?  These people deserve YOUR respect.  They were keeping the club going long before you showed up on the scene with a little manager's title and a big attitude.  Get to know your staff.  Talk to them.  Keep them in the loop.  Seek their advice.  EARN their respect, don't demand it.

Not Knowing the Staff - This is another big one.  Big Manager Mike joins the show, swinging a big stick, ready to clean things up!  And maybe the club needs some of that.  The problem is, he doesn't know the Annie Awesomes from the Drama King Dicks.  Or just doesn't care.  "THE RULES APPLY TO EVERYONE!" he'll scream.  They don't.  The only "rules" you need in your club are Show up for your sets, and don't cause drama.  If you have some problem staff, then by all means implement some rules like "everyone must check in such and such a time before your set" or no huds allowed to keep down lag, or no country music allowed.  But know who you need to manage, and who you don't.    Annie Awesome KNOWS she's Annie Awesome.  She knows what she's doing, she can get another job in 5 minutes, and she's not gonna put up with any shit.  Ditto Ronnie Reliable and Debbie Dependable.  Be very, VERY careful implementing and enforcing rules.  You don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Trying to Manage SL like RL - This one, sadly, is almost universal.  Here's what happens when you open a club - You put up a building, you hire some managers, then you hire staff, and then you pay the staff oodles of money to work for you.  Right?  Oh wait, you DON'T pay them oodles of money?  What?  You don't pay them ANYTHING?  Oh, well surely you're the only club in SL right, so they have nowhere else to go?  See, this is the problem here.  This isn't RL.  You're not paying these people for their services  (and no tipping them 200l isn't paying them), and nobody is doing this because they need to eat.  They work for tips, and they're doing this because it's fun.  Getting picked at, publicly bereted, and ruled to death isn't fun.  Be careful if you want to come in swinging a big stick, showing your authority, and cracking skulls.  Pretty soon you'll be swinging at air, because there will be nobody left to swing at.  Always remember that the ONLY incentive people have to work for you in SL is because it's fun.  As soon as you make it NOT fun, you'll be managing yourself.

Micro-Managing - Ok, SOME DJs need this, particularly new baby DJs that are just learning the craft.  These guys need some hand holding and some guidance, and you will need to guide them along into becoming full-fledged adult DJs.  Your Spacy Suzy's may fall under this umbrella too.  You know who DOESN'T fall under this umbrella?  Yup, you guessed it, Annie Awesome, Ronnie Reliable, and Debbie Dependable.  Seriously, these people have probably forgotten more about DJing than you will ever know.  They don't need you nit picking them telling them they need to say this or do this or remember this.  Not offline, and CERTAINLY not during sets.  The club hired these guys for a reason, so cut them some slack and let them do their thing.  They know what they're doing, how to win over a crowd, and they don't need you getting in their way and putting up roadblocks.  Be a facilitator, not an obstacle builder. 

Public Disgrace - This one also happens all too frequently.  Never, EVER chastise one of your staff in public, or during a set in which they are working.  It's ok to get in their IM about an immediate issue "Hey, do me a favor and try and avoid the political comments, we've had some complaints about that!  Thanks!" is ok, but not "OMG., how many times have I told you this is a no politics ZONE?!  Do you even READ the Notices I send out?!! I swear if this continues.... blah blah blah).  And honestly, if you ever do that in public chat, you should be fired as a manager on the spot.  This goes back to the Respect thing.  If you want to get it, try giving it first.

Being Heavy Handed and Bullying - This one is kind of an all of the above.  These are the managers who lead through intimidation, flex their muscles whenever possible, swing big sticks, crack skulls, etc.  These are the ones that berate you in public, kick you out of the club for the smallest infraction, and generally create a hostile environment in the club.  If you have one of these working for you, I hope one of your Second Life goals is to manage a greenhouse, because that's what you're going to be left with before too long.

A Final Note to Managers - Always try to keep in mind that nobody ever came to a club to see a manager.  Clubs exist for one reason, to get people into them, and while your efforts behind the scenes may be contributing to getting people into the club, they have nothing to do with keeping them there.  That's 100% on the staff, and if you're running top DJs and hosts off with heavy handed policies and big stick swinging, you're going to be left with 2nd rate DJs and not enough staff to staff your events.  The vast majority of your role should be scheduling, filling holes, helping build the club infrastructure, and helping to resolve any conflicts that might arise.  It should not be harassing the staff and nitpicking them to death over minor rule infractions.  If a situation should arise where you need to confront a staff member over a serious or chronic issue, then by all means do it, that's part of your job.  However, don't SEEK OUT these confrontations.  Always ask yourself 2 things 1) Who is the person involved, and 2) Is this issue really any big deal?  Now if you've gotten to know the staff, you should be able to answer #1 easily.  #2 may be a little tougher.  If the DJ in question is Drama King Dick, then yea, cut him no slack on any issue.  But if it's Annie Awesome or Ronnie Reliable, the answer to #2 will change.  These DJs (You can put hosts into these categories as well) are the ones that keep the butts in the seats.  If the issue is that Annie Awesome played 1 country song in a club that features rock, then take a deep breath and look the other way.  For one, she's Annie Awesome.  She knows FAR more about DJing than you do, and she probably had a good reason for playing the song.  Maybe she's doing a set on Artists that have played multiple genres.  Whatever. Just assume she has a good reason, because she almost certainly does.  Always keep in mind, your job is to minimize drama, not create it. 

Something for Owners - That's about it for the managers.  I don't really have too much special advice for owners, other than to say all of the above applies to you, and one other thing.  STAY INVOLVED.  Don't make your managers your attack dogs, they're trying to earn the staff's respect, and if you're using them as a hitman, it will be impossible for them to do so.  Deal with as many issues yourself as you can, and use the same principals of walking softly and showing respect for your staff that you should be expecting your managers to use.  Also, never, EVER let someone else become the face of your club.  If your staff starts to become more familiar with your GM than with you, you're gonna be up shits creek some day when your GM decides it's time to move on and open his own club.  What do you think the staff will do?  Stick with you?  Nope, you've become just a faceless figure head to them.  They're all gonna go with Gentleman Jim the GM, because he's always treated them with trust and respect, and you're just a dark figure hiding in the corner.  Don't take this lightly, I've seen this happen.

Ok, I think I'm gonna end this one here.  I was going to go into some personal examples, but honestly, they'd just be reflections of what I've already said above.  Seriously folks, managing in SL is a thankless job.  You need to have a ridiculous amount of patience, a ridiculous amount of time, and an extraordinarily thick skin to do it effectively.  Now, by effectively, I mean promoting the best interests of the club.  You can come in swing your big stick, cracking some skulls, and cleaning house, and think you're doing a great job.  More than likely though, all you're doing is weakening the club, and costing it valuable staff which leave along with the Drama King Dicks you wanted to get rid of.  Walk softly, talk to people, get to know them. Explain your reasons for doing things. Don't be afraid to make exceptions for your Annie Awesome and Debbie Dependable.  And always, ALWAYS earn respect by giving it first, not by demanding it.  If you do all of this, you're probably well on the way to being a good manager.  And probably to having a stomach ulcer too, but that's one for another blog <wink>

As always...

XX- DJ CherryBomb -XX

SL DJing Tips & Tricks - That Voice Thing

 It's been a while since my last blog on DJing in Second Life, so I thought it was a good time to get back to this.  Before I jump in though, I suppose it's time for a little personal info :).

First, I don't just want to ask you to believe me when I say I know what I'm talking about (most of the time :) ), so let me give you my credentials.

- Over 15 years DJing in SL
- 6 years as a DJ Manager
- 2.5 years as a club owner
- I've trained over a dozen successful DJs
- While I can't really put a time on it because it was always "as needed" I've also hosted a ton.
- I was inducted into the Second Life DJ Hall of Fame in 2018.
- Inducted to the Second Life Honorary Hall in August 2023.

So as you can see, I'm not just some ditz that suddenly got a bee in her bonnet to write a blog about DJing.  I have a lot of experience at this, and I have a pretty good grasp on what works and what doesn't.

Now a little on why I never voiced before.  As you know from my first blog on DJing in SL (You DID read my first blog, RIGHT?!), I was a voiceless DJ in SL.  Now as I said in that blog, I have my reasons for not voicing, and now I'm going to share them with you.  There are actually 2 reasons that I've never used voice to DJ in SL before. One is that I have a speech impediment - I stutter.  It used to be really bad, but over the years I've learned some techniques to help me control it in a lot of situations.  Unfortunately, trying to have a conversation online with lag, accents, and everyone talking over each other, or trying to voice live during a set while DJing are definitely NOT 2 of those situations.  So as a result I've never had a voice conversation online, and I've never used voice in my sets when I DJ (with one exception). The other reason is that my setup prohibits using voice effectively.  I stream my music from another PC (our home server) which I run by remote control.  This was something I started doing way back when I started DJing because my PC at the time would crash if I tried to stream and run SL at the same time on it.   So anyway, while that is a solvable problem, it would require a lot of work to move my whole music library over and re-do my database, and I never had any incentive to tackle that job due to the stuttering.  Not to mention I like this setup, it's worked well for me and it's kept my music streaming a few times when I've had the crashies.

That was how I did my sets up until about 2 months ago.  In fact I do still use the same setup, but I found a way that I can work around both problems (And no I didn't hire an actor to stand in front of the server and voice for me!)

Ok I'm sure you're all wondering what this magic solution I've found is, and I'll tell you all about it a little later (I know, I'm evil!), but first I want to expand on my chapter from my first blog on adding voice to your SL DJ Toolkit.

Chapter 1 - Using Voice Effectively

First off, let me say that everything from this point on is my opinion, and my opinion alone.  You will have no trouble finding experienced, top-notch DJs that disagree with a lot of what's coming next.  That's fine, we're all entitled to our opinions, and this blog is not targeted to ace DJs that have been DJing and using voice effectively for 10 years.  They already know what they're doing and don't need my advice.  This is for those of you who are just starting out and want some advice on how to be good at this.  That being said, I'm going to start off by telling you two things:

1) While I do not consider voice to be the be-all end-all of SL DJing, most club owners do not share my opinion.  Lots of clubs insist on the DJ speaking, even though it's not all that important in the grand scheme of things.  While you can have a DJ career without using voice, you will have far, far more opportunities if you do.  So with all that being said, if it's at all possible you should definitely add voice to your toolkit.

2) You should not even attempt to use voice until you've mastered every other aspect of DJing from my first blog.  You should be able to engage with the crowd, and deliver a fun and entertaining set, handle requests, and run events without ever using voice.  Unless of course you decide to go with my technique that I'm going to tell you about later (Yes I know, I'm being evil again!).  That can get you using voice sooner without impacting your becoming proficient at everything else that goes into being a good DJ.

Ok I know what you're thinking.  If voice is such a valuable tool, then why shouldn't I jump in and start using it right away?  Well, because using voice is a catch 22.  It can definitely enhance your set.  It can also derail your set if you do it poorly.  Learning to DJ effectively is hard.  It takes time, practice, and experience to be good at it.  Learning to use voice effectively is even harder.  If you try to do both at once, chances are you're going to end up being lousy at both of them, and you'll end up not being a very good DJ.

Don't believe me?  Start paying attention to what the DJ is doing when you go to clubs (this is something you should be doing anyway if you want to be a good DJ).  Here's a few mistakes you're going to see from the vast majority of DJs (I mentioned these in my first blog but they're definitely worth repeating):

1) DJ Blabbermouth - I mentioned this one in my first blog.  You're DJing at a dance club, you're not Howard Stern hosting a talk radio show.  The worst thing you can do is get on the mic and endlessly monologue while everyone in the dance club are looking like fools dancing around to your incessant droning.  Note: There are exceptions to this.  Some DJs are SO good on the mic that the limit for the time they should be spending on the mic is MUCH higher. These DJs are rare though, and if you're just starting out, that's not you, so don't babble.

2) DJ Stompy - This is another one of my favorites, and another one I mentioned in my first blog.  There's nothing more annoying than a DJ that constantly feels the need to stomp on the music and throw in his $.02 on something in the middle of a song.  I think you could get away with this once in a very great while, but most DJs that do this do it constantly.  

3) DJ Snooze - This is the DJ that you never hear from in local chat.  He just falls asleep in between mumbling something on the mic every 15 minutes or so, and doesn't lift a finger to help his host keep chat in the club going.

4) DJ Interruptus - This is the guy that feels the need to blabber on the mic after every single song (or every other song almost as bad), constantly interrupting the flow of the set.  

5) DJ Mumbles - This is the one that has you reaching for the volume knob every time he talks because either he's mumbling, or his gain is so low you can't hear a word he's saying, or he sounds like he's whispering in church.

6) DJ Um - "Hi everybody, I'm DJ... um... Um, and, coming up I've got some, ...um... Aerosmith, and some, ...uh..., AC/DC.  Please remember to ...<cough>... tip my host... er... Megan!" 
Ok, you get the idea right?

7) DJ Huh? - Ok I'm going to expand on this one a little, because in some ways it's not fair.  And in some ways it is.  This is the DJ for whom English (or whatever language the club uses) is not his first language and he speaks with a heavy accent.  Now this isn't fair because clubs demand DJs talk, so he has to do it even though it's not his native language.  However, there are things he can do to make his use of voice more effective.  

8) DJ Distraction - This is the one who is constantly shouting at his kids, or shushing the dog, or chasing the cat off the desk, or yelling to his wife, or whatever in the middle of his voice overs.  This one really makes you roll your eyes.

9) DJ Noisy - This is similar to Distraction, except he may actually be focused on what he's saying, you just can't hear him because the wife is listening to TV in the background, or the neighbor is cutting his lawn, or there's roadwork going on, or the dog is constantly barking, etc.

I could probably think  of a few more, but you get the idea.  It's very, very hard to do this right and not fall into one or more of these traps.  I actually saw a DJ that was a combination of 1, 3, 4, and 7 the other day.  This DJ spoke with a heavy accent, would speak after every single song, would talk for at least 2 minutes every single time, and wasn't contributing at all in local chat.  Needless to say I left that place in a hurry.  So this is why I think you should wait and become good at the other aspects of DJing before trying to add voice to the mix.  If everything else is automatic, you've got a better shot at learning to do this effectively.  If you're trying to remember how to work your downloader, struggling with multi-tasking, trying to learn the ins and outs of your broadcaster, and a million other things while you're trying to learn how to use voice, you're not going to do it well.

Now I'm not going to keep you hanging here, the point of this is to help you use voice in your sets effectively, so I'm going to give you some tips on how to avoid the traps listed above.

1) DJ Blabbermouth - This is an easy one.  First off, script out what you plan on saying ahead of time.  This requires preparation, and if you just try to wing it you won't do it well.  Secondly, put hard time limit of 1 minute on your voice overs.  Some should be longer than others.  Your introduction at the beginning of the set might run 30-60 seconds, and your goodby at the end.  Other than that, work on being concise.  Not everything has to be on voice, so make extensive use of local chat.  Practice what you scripted and see how long it takes.  Not only will practicing it make you sound a lot more polished when you do it live, but this is a great proofreading technique.  By the time you get to your set, all of your voice bits should be clear, concise, and polished.  And remember - If its more than 60 seconds, you're talking too much!

2) DJ Stompy - This just requires some discipline.  While I did say you can get away with this now and then, honestly you should set a policy for yourself that you are never going to do this.  There is nothing you have to say that's so important that it can't wait until in-between songs.  This one doesn't really require any practice or preparation, it's just something you need to be aware of and make up your mind to never do.  Exception: It's ok to voice over the beginning of the song to introduce a request rather than do a voice break in order to keep the flow going.  Just keep it short ("Here's a request for Karen!" is about all you want if you do this), don't jump in in the middle of the song, and don't make a speech!

3) DJ Snooze - The real trick here is not to unlearn everything you learned in the first few weeks when you start using voice.  It's important to remember that voice is just one tool in your toolbox, not the entire thing.  Be active in local, and use local chat for the bulk of your communication with the guests.  Keeping chat flowing and the energy level high in a club for the duration of a 2 hour set is a  monumental task, and very few hosts can pull that off on their own (I've known a few, but that's for another blog).  If you learn to work as a team with your host and stay active in local chat, you've got a much better chance of pulling that off.  Commit to being active in local chat, it's part of the job, and it's a very big part.

4) DJ Interruptus - This is another discipline thing.  Discipline and planning.  You can't be a kid with a new toy when it comes to voice.  If you remember what I said in my first blog, the music is your number 1 most important tool, and every time you jump on the mic you interrupt the flow of the music.  Now one thing that helps here is to use background music when you talk, this not only gives you better continuity with the music, but it also gives you a visual cue on how long you've been talking.  This one comes down to creating a schedule for when you are going to do voice overs (allowing some wiggle room for spontaneity, but don't be spontaneous after every song!) and sticking to it.  Unless you're a very gifted speaker you should probably not be talking more than once every 15 minutes, and every 20-30 minutes is better.  This is a repeating theme, but make use of local chat.  The most effective DJs are the ones that balance their voice overs with heavy interaction in local chat. 

5) DJ Mumbles - This one comes down to practice, practice, practice.  You should get some help with this one, find a friend who is willing to listen to you and give you honest feedback on how you sound.  I don't mean what your voice sounds like, your voice is your voice.  What I mean is are you speaking loudly enough?  Are you speaking clearly enough?  Are you speaking too fast?  Are you speaking too slow?  Are you fading in and out?  Is your background music too loud?  These are all things you need an impartial opinion on.  And tell whoever agrees to help you to be brutally honest.  It may sting hearing that you're talking like mush mouth, but it will help you understand what you need to work on to improve.

6) DJ Um - Scripting and Practice.  Every time you speak on the mic you are public speaking.  Have you ever heard of a public speaker who goes out there without a prepared speech?  Write down what you want to say, and either practice it until you can recite it from memory, or just read it directly. This is one I'm sure I'll get some pushback on from experienced DJs as reading your bit DOES make you sound a bit robotic and less natural.  If you have the ability to go on the mic and just wing it and get your point across without stammering or stumbling, move on, there's nothing for you here.  if you're stumbling and bumbling your way through your bits though, scripting and sounding a little robotic beats fumbling and bumbling 10 times out of 10.

7) DJ Huh? - This is all about understanding your strengths and weaknesses.  Everyone has their strengths and their weaknesses, and unless you're Ricardo Montalban if you're trying to DJ in a language you're not extremely fluent in, talking on the mic is not likely to be one of your strengths.  That doesn't mean you have to abandon it, but it does mean you should be focusing on other tools in your bag of tricks, and minimize your time on the mic.  Avoid long speeches at all costs.  Focus on being very concise on the mic and not overly frequent.  This should satisfy the requirement of club owners that you use voice without exposing a weakness.  As time goes on you will probably become more fluent in the language through frequent use, but for the time minimize your use of voice and focus more on using local chat to communicate.

8) DJ Distraction - DJing a 2 hour set is mentally exhausting.  You have to try and keep track of what's going on in local chat all while juggling the music chasing down requests, dealing with constant IMs, greeting guests, running events, and making your voice cues.  If you're running around dealing with chaos in your house, there's no way you're going to be able to manage all of that effectively.  Commit to your set.  Make sure all possible distractions are dealt with ahead of time as much as possible, and make sure your family, girlfriend, roommates, or whatever understand that you will be busy and are not available except for an emergency for the next two hours.

9) DJ Noisy - As much as possible, secure your environment.  While you can't always 100% control noise in the world around you, you can do your best beforehand to minimize it as much as possible.  A little common sense and some flexibility goes a long way here.  If there's something going on outside that's loud that you can't control, then it would be prudent to cut way back on, or eliminate entirely your use of voice for that set.  If you do voice, keep it very short and do it during quiet times.  I know this sucks, but sometimes a strategic retreat is your best option.

Ok there you have it.  9 common voicing traps many if not most DJs fall into, and some steps you can take to avoid them.  Now look, let's be real here.  You can do everything on this list, and do everything right to the best of your ability, and that still doesn't guarantee that will make you the best voice DJ in Second Life.  A lot of this also comes down to natural talent and ability.  Some people just have that fantastic voice, or that gift of gab, or incredible personality, or even professional training that allows them to do this on an entirely different level.  Maybe you are one of those DJs.  But even if you're not, if you take your time and learn to do this properly you can absolutely make using voice an effective weapon in your arsenal.

Chapter 2 - Cherry's Magic Solution

Talking live on the mic isn't for everybody.  Maybe you have a speaking challenge like me, maybe you're very shy, or maybe you just don't want to do it for whatever reason.  And let's face it, talking live on the mic is terrifying.  But there is another option.  It's a bit of a compromise, but I think it's a good one.  So what's this magic solution?

Pre-Record your voice bits!

The first time I ever used this technique was way back in 2014 when the original Heroes closed.  I was selected as the DJ for the final set at the club, and I was extremely emotional over being selected for that honor.  I wanted to do something special, and I had never spoken on the mic before so I wanted to do a spoken goodbye to everyone at the end of the set.  Due to everything I detailed at the beginning of this blog I knew I couldn't do it live, so I came up with the idea of pre-recording my goodbye speech.  I pulled it off and it was a big hit!  So why didn't I just keep doing it then?  Honestly, creating this thing was such a horrifying experience for me that I swore I'd never do it again.  I literally had to do 40+ takes on this before I could finally get through it without stuttering or crying, and in the end I was only able to do it when my husband helped me by holding my hand and letting me focus on him while I was recording.  So as a result, my use of voice while DJing became a one-off, and I never tried it again.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago.  Now I'll be honest, I really didn't have much incentive to try voicing again.  I'm already in the Hall of fame.  I'm currently and will remain semi-retired as a DJ.  I only do a couple of sets a week at my friends club, mostly for my good friends and a few club guests, and none of them give a crap whether I talk or not.  So why did I decide to give it another go?  2 Reasons (There always seem to be 2 reasons don't there?),  1. it IS a valuable tool and one that I'd like to add to my bag of tricks.  Even though I'm semi-retired I still always strive to get better at this.  2.  I don't like not doing something because of fear.  I was afraid to try this again, and I didn't like that feeling.  I know there is no way I can ever do this live, but I thought maybe without the stress and emotion of doing the final set at the beloved club I'd managed for 6 years closing maybe it would turn out better.  It did.

You see, this isn't talking live on the mic.  While I do struggle with stuttering, as I said above I do have some techniques I use to control it, and while those techniques will never work in the high stress environment of talking live on the mic, they absolutely can and will work in a controlled, stress free environment where I can script my bits and do as many takes as I need to get it right.

So how is it working out?  Well I've only just started, but the reviews are overwhelmingly positive, and I'm excited enough about it to write this blog about it even at this early juncture.  Now this isn't a holy grail by any means.  It's a bit more work, and you do sacrifice some spontaneity by recording vs. speaking live.  You also gain a few things though, and for me its the only option so I think the trade off is worth it, especially if you're just starting out or struggling with the voicing traps.

Ok so what are the pluses and minuses of recording vs. speaking live.  Well the benefits are fairly obvious.  You can pre-record your longer bits and it also eliminates a LOT of the traps I went over in chapter 1.  You can eliminate stumbling and bumbling, background noise, distractions, talking too long, and talking too frequently (to some extent, if you make 30 of these things for each set you're still talking WAY too often), and it will keep you from stepping on the music as well.

What are the drawbacks?  Well, it IS quite a bit more work to prepare your voice bits ahead of time, and you DO sacrifice a little spontaneity. Once you have everything set up though you can easily record a short bit and import it into your broadcaster as easily as you can download a song and import it.  It just takes a little more time so the timing might not be as spot on.  And if you record your bits during the set all of the traps come back into play.  Also you have to give your voice bits a name if your broadcaster displays your song titles in local chat.  I was calling mine "CherrySpeak", but I've since just turned off my song title display in my broadcaster so the voice bits integrate a lot more smoothly, and it makes playing "Name that Tune" WAY easier :). 

So where do I go from here with this?  I honestly don't know.  I do plan to continue using it, but I haven't really settled on how much yet.  I still wholeheartedly believe that voice is massively overrated in SL.  I may settle on 0-4 clips per set, and whatever I do during the set (requests, dedications, special hellos, whatever).  Yes zero is still an option.  I made it all the way to the Hall of Fame without using voice, so I'm not going to suddenly become overly reliant on it.  But it's a hell of a nice tool to have in my bag of tricks, and for some sets it's invaluable, such as explaining the rules of a contest we're running.

Ok I'm going to end this here.  I'll bet you've never before seen anyone who can babble so much about babbling!  I'm going to leave you with this: If you want to know more or have questions about my technique, chat me up in-world or just leave a comment below.  In-world will get you a MUCH quicker response though, my name in-world is Cherry Breiz.  Or better yet, just come to my set and see for yourself!  I DJ at Villains club, Wednesday 12-2 and Friday 2-4 (SLT).  There's a pick in my profile picks with a LM for Villains.

Lastly, if you want to see a truly GREAT voice DJ in action, then go catch a set by DJ Rabies at Wet Willies.  Rabies is a Hall of Fame DJ (I know, I nominated her!), and she rivals DJ Az as my "Best of the Best" when it comes to talking on the mic.  Now I'll be honest, Rabies has a TON of natural talent, and the vast majority of DJs (myself included) can never hope to be as good as she is.  That being said, that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.  If you want to be the best you have to learn from the best, and Rabies is without doubt one of the best, so go catch her act.  Tell her Cherry sent you, she might give you a cookie <wink>.  Here's Rabies' schedule and a LM to Wet Willies

♥Monday at 2 PM with host Lucas
♥Friday at 12 PM with hostess Dal
♥Sunday at 2 PM with host Lucas

♥Only at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Wet%20Willies/107/127/22 ♥

Ok that's it for me, DJ CherryBomb over, out, done!

XX- Cherry -XX 

Heroes: Infinity - Final Chapter

 Part 1 - Regroup

The group sat silently around the meeting table as Beth reviewed the reports.  She looked up, a look of defeat on her face.  

"It's not good news, I'm afraid" she said, with a tone of sadness. 

 Cherry and Becky searched the other Hero sims; they were either deserted or had been occupied by Sal's forces. They did manage to find  Codi, Ricca, Elisha, and Mel; they will be with us soon. No luck searching the groups.  The additional sister power will certainly help, but its unlikely to be enough considering what we're facing.  

"What about Super?" Becky pressed.  "That's the one we're all waiting to hear about; where is she?"

"I should just let Cait tell you. Cait?"

Cait stood up, closing her eyes for a moment before she started.

"We got her back," she said, drawing a breath, "But I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say we rescued her." Everyone turned to look at Cait. 

The place where Sal was holding her was a fortress.  We had to fight our way through dozens of weird, grotesque things I'd never seen before.  We finally got to where she was; she was chained up being forced to listen to rap music 24/7. We lost two of the warrior sheep fighting our way out of there. Annie was injured. But Super is in a coma and hasn't shown any signs of coming out of it. Even if she wakes up, who knows if she'll still have her powers after what she endured?"

"You mean WHEN she wakes up" Cherry corrected.

"Yes of course.  When she wakes up" Cait said, gently putting her hand on Cherry's shoulder.

"We've got her resting downstairs, and a steady stream of classic rock is being piped in" Beth said.  "I'm not sure what else we can do for her at this point."

"There's one more thing", Beth added. "While rescuing Super, Cat and Cait stumbled upon this map. It shows Asgard and the Dock as targets and Heroes as the primary target. There's no doubt about it now. They'll be coming. And soon.

Part 2 - Super

Several days passed.  Beth stayed in her lab, Super remained in a coma, and the rest of the group was  close to going stir-crazy.  The monotony was broken when the sisters arrived, along with Mid, Zel, and Bejiita, The Particle Physicist, who had come to offer assistance.   Hugs were exchanged, Bejiita joined Beth in the lab, and Cherry & Becky immediately whisked their sisters off to see Super.  Beth had called for an all hands on deck meeting at 5:00, so reluctantly Cherry, Becky, Ricca, and Elisha left to attend the meeting while Codi and Mel stayed behind with Super.

"Ok, here's where we stand", Beth said, a tone of seriousness in her voice.  "The addition of the sisters, Mid, Zel, and Bejiita, helps, but we don't have enough forces to defend both Asgard and the Dock.  Since Asgard is of little strategic importance and the only way they can directly attack Heroes is via the dock, I've decided to dedicate all of our forces to defend the dock".

"What?!" Cait exclaimed, "We're not even trying to hold Asgard? I can't believe you will give it up without a fight!"

Beth sighed "If we try to defend both, we lose both.  If we dedicate our entire force to the dock, we at least have a chance of holding it, and without the dock they can't attack the club.   We can work on re-taking Asgard at a later date, but for now, yes, we're giving it up without a fight.

"Well, if we're going to hold the Dock, then we better get a battle plan ready," the voice came from the back of the room. Everyone turned to see Super standing between Mel and Codi.

"Oh my god, Sis!" Cherry shouted, jumping up to run and hug her. She was tackled by Becky halfway there. 

"Chill your jets, shorty. Do you want to knock her on her ass? She just recovered"

Cherry glared at Becky but realized she was right. The whole group got up and surrounded Super, the first happy moment they'd had in weeks. It would be short-lived.

Part 3 - Preparing for Battle

Everyone jumped as the warning siren blared out. It was Asgard. As expected, Sal's forces were going after the low-hanging fruit first. Cait was still furious with Beth for not preparing a defence for Asgard, but Beth stood her ground; Both venues could not be held. The Dock was more important, and that was where they would make their stand.

Beth's defense plan for the docks was simple.  Abby had created new, armored costumes for everyone and some cute hats for the sheep.  Ranos was to use his ability to mind-lock with the sheep and form a defensive perimeter around the landing zone with the electric sheep, reinforced by Becky with her ring of power.  Mel and Cait's powers complemented each other with Cait having the ability to focus and direct sound and Mel having the ability to amplify sound.  Together they formed a formidable first line, along with Mid and her optic blasts, Zel and his freeze power, and Benji's particle accelerator.  With Becky focused on reinforcing the perimeter, and Super out of action Wyn was the only remaining flyer. She was to provide the air support, attacking with her fire blasts and keeping them off balance.  Codi, Ricca, Abby, and Cat were the fighters forming the last line, along with Cal using his magic to slow the enemies and making them easy targets for the soldiers.  Cherry, Beth, Annie, and Super remained at the club.

Back at the club, Cherry was furious that Beth had not let her join the fight.

"I wield the most lethal power we have!" she fumed, "And you're not even letting me help!"

"'Wield' is an interesting choice of words Cherry.  Yes, the B-Stream is the most powerful force I've ever seen, but you can't control it.  You're just as likely to take out our own team as the villains, and we can't risk it.

Cherry slammed her fist down in frustration; she knew Beth was right; it was just annoying that she was always right.  She knew of only one other person who had the B-Stream, and neither of them could control it.  The best she could manage is to contain it, and on rare occasions that she'd lost control disaster had ensued.  Beth was right; she'd be more of a hazard than a help out there.

"Well, what can I do to help then?" She asked.

"Take care of Super" Beth responded.  "We've got to get her back on her feet; we're going to need her for the final battle".

"Final battle?" Cherry frowned.  "I thought this WAS the final battle."

Beth smiled a half smile. "Let's hope you're right," she said before retreating to her lab.

Part 4 - The Battle for the Dock

With Beth back at the club and Super out of action, Becky took charge of the Heroes forces.  She aligned them exactly as Beth's plan laid out.  Now there was nothing to do but wait.  The wait was a short one.  Without warning the attack came, but it was not what the Heroes were expecting.  They had prepared to fight an army of villains, but what attacked them was an army of grotesque monsters.

They attacked from boats and the deepest depths of the sea. The Heroes fought back, easily defeating the first wave. The Heroes breathed a sigh of relief, but it was a short-lived respite.

The second wave was double the numbers of the first. Flying creatures now came from above, the attack from the sea continuing. Wyn did what she could, but she was outmatched.

Becky was forced to redirect some of her shield energy to protect the Heroes on the ground from aerial attack. Amongst the chaos, the enemy started to break through the line.

One of the electric sheep, went down. Ranos tried to keep up, marshalling the sheep to close gaps in the line, weakening the defence. The second line held initially, with Mel, Cait, Mid, Zel, and Benji furiously fighting off the attackers. Eventually, more and more started to break the line, Abby, Codi, Ricca, and Cal were fighting for their lives.

Abby swung her soup ladle furiously, taking out enemy after enemy. "What the hell are these things?" Abby shouted over to Cal. "I've never seen anything like this before! Every time I CLOBBER one, they don't die; they just turn into a mound of goo and slink away!"  

"I know", Cal shouted back, "I've never seen anything like it either.  

Back at the front line, another electric sheep went down further, weakening the perimeter, and more and more of the enemies were getting through. Suddenly a strange red and black creature broke through and headed straight for Becky; she didn't see it until it was almost on her. She hit it with a power blast, but it was too late. The creature detonated in a titanic explosion, and when the smoke cleared, Becky was gone.

With Becky's shield down, the remaining sheep were quickly overwhelmed, and the creatures poured in unhindered. Abby was 2nd in command and promptly took charge. She quickly ordered the remaining heroes to retreat to the club. The Dock had been lost.

Part 5- Despair

The Heroes were exhausted.  There had been no other significant injuries, but Becky and several of the sheep had been lost.  The sisters held each other in a group hug, sobbing in despair over their lost sis.  Suddenly Cherry's Tool Detector(TM) alarm went off and a call came in on the main viewscreen.  It was Sal.

"Well aren't you a motley looking crew?" he chirped.  "I have to admit you put up a good fight back there, but the fact is you never had a chance.  I'd like you to meet my partner, The Necromancer.  He's responsible for raising that army that just kicked your butts, and every time you "kill" one he raises back up again.  So you see, my army is inexhaustible, and thus unbeatable.  I just wanted you to see what your up against before we come to finish the job.  I'll even give you a chance to recharge your powers, and for Beth to reinforce her meager defenses. It's more fun when you fight back.  Three days.  That's how long you've got.  Enjoy your final hours."

The viewscreen went blank.  

"I'll show you who's meager" Beth muttered.

The Heroes sat around the table in silence.  Everyone looked at Beth.  

"Well?" Cal demanded finally.  "What are we going to do?  How are we going to beat these things?  C'mon Beth, I know you've got something cooking, you always do."

"I'm sorry, I got nothing" Beth stated glumly.  We're facing an enemy that can't die, and will just keep coming and coming and coming until we're all exhausted.  I hate to say it but Sal is right.  We have no chance.

"Beth", Cherry said softly, "You've got to let me try. That Necromancer must be close to keep raising those things. If we can figure out where he is, Wyn can fly me in and drop me nearby, and I'll just let it loose, full force. It won't matter that I can't control it; I'll be close enough that if I let it all out, then everything will be destroyed. If we drop that Necromancer, we should be able to take out whatever's left."

"Cherry, that's suicide." Beth responded.  "They'll be all over you as soon as you hit the ground, you'll never even get a chance to unleash."

"Well we're all going to die, including me, if we don't try something.  Do you have a better idea?"

Beth sighed and shook her head. 

"I didn't think so" Cherry said softly.  Then with a half smile she said "We can call it 'Operation CherryBomb'.

Beth hated the idea. They would lose Cherry and could all prove to be for nothing. But there were no other options. She wouldn't just sacrifice Cherry; there HAD to be another way.

"Let me think about it, ok? Give me 2 days to come up with something.  If I can't come up with an alternate plan, then I'll let you try".

Beth returned to the lab to try and figure out some other way to defeat this menace, but there did not seem to be any other way. Two days later, the Heroes reconvened.

"I'm afraid you're right," Beth said sadly. "Operation CherryBomb is our only chance. I'm so sorry, Cherry, I let you down," She said, almost in tears.

Suddenly a soft voice from the back of the room said quietly, "So, I heard through the grapevine y'all could use some help..."

Everyone's head snapped around.

"Nawwww, it can't be," Abby said, visibly shocked.

"OMG" Cherry screamed, jumping up and running over to give her friend a huge hug (she does that a lot...)

It was Az.

Part 6 - A New Hope

"How ya doin' hun?" Az said with a smile, happily returning the hug.  Everyone jumped up and followed suit, resulting in a massive group hug.  "It's great to see y'all too.  And I'm not alone, I found this little guy wandering around outside..." Az said just as a sheep went trotting across the room and happily started walking in a circle.  "What's up with this sheep?  All he'll eat is beans." Az asked curiously.  Cherry smiled and shrugged.  

"Oh yeah, I also found this little cutie wandering around out there" Az Beamed.

"BECKY!" Cherry screamed as her sister emerged from the shadows with a big smile.  Cherry ran over and grabbed her sis in a massive hug (I told you she does that a lot...), followed closely by her other sisters.

"Easy shorty, I just had this costume cleaned!" Said Becky with a big smile. "And watch who you're calling a 'little cutie' Red!"

Az chuckled.

"Wait a second Az; I thought you had died in the explosion?"  Abby said cautiously.

"Nope.  That's what I wanted everybody to think.  I went underground and changed my name.  I'm going by Hope these days.  Cal was the only one who knew I was alive, and he was the one who let me know about your current situation.  I knew he was innocent and stayed in touch with him all these years, but I had no way to prove it.  I knew y'all would eventually figure it out on your own though.  

"Took them long enough..." Cal muttered.

"Hope huh?  That's going to take some getting used to, but Hope it is" Abby replied.

"Hang on, how did you even get in here?" Beth asked.

"Through the back door" Hope responded

"We don't have a back door" Beth grunted.

"We do now..." Abby remarked, peering around the corner.

Hope shrugged and continued looking at Beth.  "As you know I have the B-Stream power same as Cherry, and the same problem, I couldn't control it.  I've spent the last 7 years learning to control it, and I've finally mastered it!"  She looked at Cherry. "I can teach you too hun.  And it won't take 7 years.  I had to figure it out on my own, but with my guidance I can teach you to control it in a week!"

"You have 12 hours," Beth said flatly. Take Cherry to the training area and teach her to control the B-Stream, and I'll work out a new plan. We may just have a chance now. With two controllable B-Streams, we might have a chance.

"I'd forgotten how much she pisses me off", Hope grumbled.  "12 hours?  Seriously?"

"11:59 now.  Beth said. "Stop arguing and start teaching; time is not our friend here.  While you two are at it I'll go fix the 'back door'" she said with a frown.

Hope frowned, but nodded.  "C'mon Cherry, let's do this thing."

The two friends headed off to the training room, taking the last, best hope of the Heroes with them.

Part 7 - Dissention

"Well?  How did you make out?" Beth asked anxiously when Az and Cherry emerged from the training area.

"Well, she has very basic control over it.  Basic meaning she most likely won't kill any of you, but I'm not sure she'll actually kill any monsters either.  She can aim it in a general direction, but lacks the fine control to target an enemy." Hope replied.

"That's fine," said Beth, because you can. Cherry can fire in the general direction of the hordes, and you can target the leaders. Ok, everybody here's the plan; the same basic formation as before. We don't have the Electric Sheep or Becky this time, so my outer defences will provide the perimeter defence. Az and Cherry, I want you two on top of the Volcano. Incinerate anything that comes into range.

"You got it!" Cherry said eagerly.

"Wait a second, what do you mean you don't have Becky?!" Becky asked angrily.  "I'm fine and ready to fight, and I want some payback after the last time!"

"Nope, you and Super are staying back with me."  Beth replied calmly.

"That's BS!" Becky screamed "Your last plan nearly got me killed, now you're keeping 2 of our most powerful fighters out of the fight?  You better re-think this 'plan' of yours, because I think it sucks!"

"Back with Me!" Beth barked.  "That's Final!"

Becky stormed off furiously.

"She's right, Beth", Super said calmly. "I may not be at 100% yet, but you will need us out there. Even WITH the 2 B-Streams, we're facing a nearly invincible army."

"I'm with Super", Abby said. "If we're going to go down, let's go down fighting, not with our two most powerful Heroes sitting on the bench. That's just insanity."

"You guys are just gonna have to trust me." Beth sighed. "We might need a little insanity to get us out of this one."

"Your last 'plan' nearly got us all killed".  Cait added.  "You'll have to excuse us if we're not all jumping for joy about going out to face an invincible army of monsters without Super and Becky.

"Well it seems I'm not the only one who thinks this plan sucks" Becky said as she returned to the table.

"Look, we don't have time to argue about it. You guys looked to me to devise a plan, and this is it. Now I expect all of you to follow it. That's it, end of discussion. Now get ready to fight; zero-hour is coming up fast." Beth turned and went back to her lab to make some final calculations.

"Damn bossy bitch", Becky muttered.

The Heroes did as they were expected and got ready to fight, following Beth's plan. But it was clear they had lost some confidence in their leader.

Part 8 - Last Stand

At 5 minutes before zero hour the viewscreen lit up again.  

"Hello little Heroes" Sal taunted. "I hope you've used the last 3 days well, as in preparing for all of your funerals.  Your time is up."

The viewscreen went dark again.

"SAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL! Becky screamed, pumping her fists in the air.

Beth frowned at her, then addressed the group.

"Ok this is it gang.  Let's show them what Heroes can do."

"What if this doesn't work?  We'll be overrun, and Sal wins?"

"No" said Beth.  "I've worked out a failsafe.  But it's extremely dangerous, so I'm holding it back as a 'last resort.  No time to explain it now; you'll just have to trust me."

"I'm starting to get tired of that line" Becky grumbled.

Everyone quickly got into position and got ready, managing to repel the first wave, the outer defences holding. Hope and Cherry blasted them into oblivion before they reached the club.

But they just kept coming, wave after wave, with only an occasional break in the action. Beth had pinpointed the position of Sal and the Necromancer, but they were out of range of even the B-streams. Super begged Beth to let her go and try and take out the Necromancer, but they had blanked the area in rap music. The Heroes fought bravely, but it was clear. Even WITH the power of 2 B-Streams, this battle would only end one way.

Finally there was a short break in the action, and Beth ordered the Heroes to regroup in the cave.

"Beth, this isn't going to work.  We're nearly exhausted, and they just keep coming.  Whatever this failsafe of yours is, we need it now, because one more wave like the last one and we'll be finished" Abby said desperately.

Beth nodded.  It was a desperate act, but she knew it was time.  She had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but it was all they had left.

Part 9 - Heroes: Forever

"Hope, Cherry."  Beth started.  "You need to cross the B-Streams".

"Are you insane?!" Hope exclaimed  "We can't do that, it's madness!"

"Why?" asked Cait.

"It would be bad." responded Hope.

"Ok shut up everybody and listen, we don't have much time.  Super, can your eye beams reach Sal and the Necromancer from here?"

"Sure" responded Super, but not with enough force to take them out.  Not at this range."

"I don't need them to have much force, but can you reach them?"

"Just watch me" Super said.

"Ok, Hope and Cherry, I need you to cross the B-Streams right on Super's eye beam.  It will act like a lightning rod and direct the energy right to where she's focusing it; right on Sal and his annoying little friend."

"I don't know Beth... we've never tried this before.  I can't control it that well; what if I can't get it on Super's beam? And we don't even know what will HAPPEN when we cross the streams.  Just that it would be bad.

"I have faith in you" Beth Smiled. "And sometimes you have to risk a little bad to achieve a greater good.  Ok, get ready, here they come."

Right on que the final assault started, and it was larger than all of the previous waves combined. Sal intended to finish them off this time.

"Super!  Light up the target!" Beth screamed

Super was visibly strained, but she hit the target dead center.

"Cherry!  Hope!  Let her Rip!  Give it all you've got, and cross on Super's Beam!"

Hope ignited first, intersecting Super's beam perfectly. Cherry strained as she tried to focus the energy building inside her; she closed her eyes and raised her balled fists. Suddenly, she stopped; a strange calm seemed to come over her. She opened her eyes, glowing white with the built-up power inside her, and then ignited her stream. It intersected Super's Beam and Hope's stream spot on perfect.

Instantly a massive surge of energy raced along Super's beam, precisely as Beth had predicted. When it reached the target, nothing happened at first. Then a bubble appeared, small at first but expanding slowly in all directions, and it was annihilating everything it touched.

Sal and the Necromancer never knew what hit them. As soon as the Necromancer went down, all of the vile things he had raised went down too. But the bubble was still expanding, destroying everything it touched. Beth immediately understood the nature of the B-stream. It was anti-matter. They had created an expanding bubble of the most powerful force in the universe, and it was coming right for them.

"Shut it down! Shut it down!" Beth screamed! Immediately Hope, Cherry, and Super terminated their powers, but the bubble was still coming. It started to dissipate as soon as the streams were shut down, but it was clear it wouldn't dissipate fully before it reached them . They had one, maybe 2 minutes before it arrived.

"Ok, everybody, huddle up!" Beth yelled. "Get in as tight as possible. Becky! It's up to you now. We need a force shield. Give it all you've got; our lives depend on it!" 

"Was this why you held back Super and me from the fight?" Becky asked; Beth looked back at her, no words needed.

Becky focused and created a force bubble around the group. The group all joined hands with her giving and gave Becky their strength. It was enough. The cave imploded, and rocks rained down around the group. Becky's shield held throughout. 

Becky dropped the shield, the smoke cleared, and the sisters collapsed in exhaustion. The others stood up and looked around at the devastation. He hadn't managed to kill them, but Sal got some of what he wanted. Heroes: Infinity had been destroyed.

"Beth?"  Cherry said weakly from underneath a pile of her sisters

"The club blew up again..."

Beth laughed.  Just a chuckle at first, but soon she was roaring with laughter, and everyone else joined in.

"Wait a minute, what are we laughing at?" Becky said after a bit.  "Our club is destroyed, we need a whole new flock of sheep, and we have no idea what happened to Sal. 

"I have a headache" Ranos muttered.

"And Ranos has a headache" Becky added.

"Well, we did just survive a direct hit from the most powerful force in the universe, so I'd say that's something to be happy about" Beth responded.

"SECOND most powerful force in the universe!" Becky corrected, flexing her bicep playfully.

"So where do we go from here Beth?  Like Becky said we've got no club, only one sheep, And I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm exhausted!" Abby said

"We'll build up the flock in no time" Beth said.  "If Sal is still around, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but my gut feeling tells me it's over.  As for the club?  Well, it was time for a rebuild anyway.  I've already got plans for a new, improved club, at an all new location.  We're going to have a club for the Villains too.  Maybe if they have a place to hang out and chill they'll stop being such tools!  You guys can all just take a few weeks off, I'll have the rebuild up and running before you know it.

"I might have known you'd have something up your sleeve" Abby chuckled.

"Of course" winked Beth. "Don't I always?  Clubs come and clubs go, but Heroes is Forever!

The End!

That's it gang!  I hope you enjoyed the final chapter of Heroes: Infinity, and I hope you all enjoy the next chapter in the Heroes saga, Heroes: Forever.  We'll be opening on September 9, and hope we'll see you all there to open up the next exciting chapter of Heroes!

Heroes: Forever Staff:

Beth - Cub Owner, Mastermind, Club Builder, Story Editor, and Kick-Ass DJ
Cait - Club Owner, Sound Manipulator, and Kick-Ass DJ
Cherry - Club Owner, B-Stream Weilder, Story Writer, and Kick-Ass DJ
Becky - Power Ring Wielder and Kick-Ass DJ
Cal - Magic Wielder and Kick-Ass DJ
Abby - Soup Ladle Wielder, Costume Designer, Principal sponsor and backup DJ
Super - SUPER and Backup DJ
Az(Hope) - B-Stream Wielder and occasional guest DJ
Cat - Fighter, Stripper, and Host
Annie - Fighter and Host

Heroes: Infinity - A New Beginning (Book 2)

 Chapter 1 - The Gathering Storm

Abby stared at the list of names glumly.  "We're just not ready," she said with a sigh.  If Cal decides to come at us now, we just don't have the firepower to take him on."

"I know", Cherry replied.  "The fact is we lost most of our most powerful heroes in the explosion, and the ones that weren't lost were scattered to the four corners of the earth.  A few have returned, but not nearly enough to deal with the likes of Caliente."

Abby went back to the file containing all the threatening communications they'd received from Caliente over the past few months.  Most of them were pretty cryptic, but the last one was alarming - a picture of gravestones over empty graves.  The names were blacked out, but the date was specific - October 29, 2021.  He was planning something for the 1st anniversary of the new Heroes.

"We've got to figure out what he's planning", Abby Remarked.  "I'm sure two of those graves are reserved for you and me. It's no secret we're the ones he's gunning for".

"Well, we're not going to learn anything new from that file", Cherry responded.  We're just tying ourselves up in knots, which is precisely what he wants.  Who knows, maybe it's just a big mind game, and he's not really planning anything."

"Oh, come on, Cherry, get real.  This is the person who single-handedly destroyed the original club and killed many people in the process - people we knew and loved.  And he's had years to plan this.  Saying this is just a mind game is just wishful thinking."

Cherry sighed.  "Yeah, I know you're right.  But sometimes, you need wishful thinking to get yourself ready for what's coming."

Suddenly Beth burst into the room with Cait right behind her.  

"Good, thank god you're both here!" Beth exclaimed.  "Hold on to your hats because I've got some new information that changes everything!"

End Chapter 1

Chapter 2 – Caliente

He stood, stroking his thick grey beard, looking out from his floor to ceiling window across the land he now owned.  

Behind him sat a young woman, naked, curled up on the bed, reading the story.

""They still blame me,"" he said, not looking back, ""after all this time, they still blame me.""

""Have you not told them?"" she asked, looking back to him.

The man turned to face her, ""I tried. They didn't want to listen. They chose their scapegoat and ran with it.""

""And now they've they've re-opened?""

""Yeah,"" he looked off into the distance, ""and the real villain is still out there.  They have no idea how much danger they're in.""

""Why do you even care?"" the woman asked, ""They convicted and sentenced you without so much as reaching out to you.  They took everything at face value and blamed you without even giving you a chance to defend yourself.  Let them find out the hard way how wrong they were and are.

""You are right,"" he said, ""but that is from a business point of view. For me, the truth is important.  And them restarting reminds me that somewhere, out there, is someone who has framed me and is getting away with it.  And, I want my life back."" he said firmly.

End Chapter 2

Chapter 3 - Turnabout

"Oh, come on, Beth, you don't seriously expect us to believe this nonsense?!"  Abby exclaimed.  After all these years, you expect us to believe that Cal was framed and is actually innocent?  We SAW him pull the lever.  We HEARD him tell us he was going to do it.  Framed my ass, he's as guilty as Capone".

"Hear me out", Beth replied calmly.  "Believe me, I wouldn't even bring this up unless I was pretty damn sure it was true.  When Cal reached out to me originally, I felt exactly the same way you did.  But I decided to hear him out, and the more I listened, the more what he said made sense."  After a dramatic pause, Beth continued."  Now think back to the night of the last party.  I know it's painful, but this is important.  I had spoken to Cal right before the explosion.  If you remember, Cal was wearing his Hero costume that night, as most of us were.  Now think back to when he was monologuing just before he pulled the switch.  He was in street clothes.  Why would he change out of his Heroes costume and get into street clothes just to blow the place up?  It doesn't make any sense."

"Ok fine", Cherry grunted"  I'll grant you that's strange, but like Abby said, it was him.   We all saw him."

"Did we?"  Abby said with an uncertain look, "Or was we manipulated into thinking that's what we saw?"

"Oh come on, Abby, don't tell me you're buying this malarkey", Cherry snorted.  "We all saw him with our own eyes.  It was him.  It couldn't have been anyone else."

"No, there is one other possibility," Abby said thoughtfully.  She looked at Beth intently. "A shape shifter?" she asked softly.

"A Shape Shifter".  Beth replied definitively.

"This is all theory and conjecture", Cherry replied.  I don't see a shred of evidence here to prove this wild theory.  All I see is a master villain trying to throw us off guard before he drops the hammer on us".

"Agreed," said Beth, "So let's get some then."

"And how exactly are we going to do that?" asked Cherry.

"Well," Beth said,  "Shape Shifters emit a unique form of radiation that has a half-life of 20 years.  I have a device that can be configured to detect this radiation.  If we go back to ground zero, then we should be able to tell definitively if he was, in fact, a shapeshifter."

"Jesus Christ, how do you know all this crap?!"  Cherry replied, a shocked expression on her face.

"I'm Beth", Beth replied with a wink.

End Chapter 3

Chapter 4  - Ghosts

Caliente thought back to that fateful week; he would never forget.

This was to be the final party, the swansong for Heroes 1.0.  After the party, everyone would take some time off while Ro finished building the new club. There had been talks of just calling it a wrap and closing the club, but that wasn't what everyone wanted.  So plans were made for a final bash in the old club, and then it was to be on to Heroes 2.0.  

Then came the night of the party.  So many people were there, people who, in some cases, had not been to the club for years.  Some who just occasionally popped by, people who Caliente had not seen in a long time.

There was E, another member of the English Mafia that had been a big part of the club.  In one of her usual skimpy outfits, Becky was there, showing off her body and drumming up business for her stripping job.  There were Codi and Ricca, Second Life's power couple.

As the party went on, there was dancing and frivolity. Caliente's mouth hurt from laughing so much, waving enthusiastically to everyone.  He then saw Beth out the corner of his eye.  He walked over to her.

"It's all so sad," she said, "I can't believe it's coming to an end."

"Well, hopefully, the new club will be even better," Caliente said, standing beside her.

"You think so?"

"Who knows," he said, smiling warmly at her, "Abby doesn't seem keen; she seems more interested in her fashion business now."

"Well," Beth said, "it pays the bills."

Caliente smiled.  Beth was always good for small talk, but she was not someone he knew well.  She was in the Australian time zone, and it was not often they saw each other.

"I just need to go see something over there," Beth said politely before moving away.  She was always shy but always around.

"That's ok," Caliente responded, "I need to make a pit-stop anyway."

Cal walked around the corner towards the men's room, but suddenly he felt a prick in his neck, and then everything went dark.  When he awoke, he was alone in a dimly lit room in what looked to be a basement.  He was alone, but there was a note pinned to the door:

"Caliente... by the time you read this, Heroes will be gone, all of your friends will be dead, and you will be blamed for it.  As much as I'm going to enjoy watching that club burn, I'm going to enjoy watching you go down for it even more. You're all getting what you deserve, and you deserve the worst of all."

The paper must have been treated with a chemical that reacts to human skin because it burst into flames shortly after he finished reading it.

When he emerged from the basement, his life had been changed forever. Precisely as the note had said, the club had been destroyed.  Many heroes, his friends, had been killed.  And he was being blamed.

There was no choice; he had to go on the run; it was the only chance he had to figure out who was behind this and prove his innocence.  

Suddenly Cal snapped back to the present.  That's it, he said to himself.  Abby and Cherry would never listen to him; they were too emotionally damaged from it.  But there was one person he could reach out to that was just close enough to him to listen and just distant enough to maybe actually believe him - Beth.

End Chapter 4 

Chapter 5 - Ground Zero

Cherry and Abby braced themselves for the trip back to ground zero.  They had not been back to that spot since the explosion destroyed the club and killed many beloved heroes.  If they'd had a choice, neither of them would have gone back there ever again.  But this had to be done.  They had to know.  And if what Beth suspected turned out to be accurate, they owed Cal a colossal apology.

They had rallied the troupes for the ground zero excursion.  Becky was there in a typical leggy outfit. Of course, Cait and Beth were there, and Super was there, powered up and ready for action.  Cherry felt better having her super-sis there with them.  If this turned out to be a trap, they'd need her firepower!.  Even Ranos had come along.  Ranos had taken a much more active role in the new club, helping with scripting and even tending the club's sheep!  Cat and Annie had come along for moral support, and even Wyn was there, her blond hair glistening in the sun.

Cal was already on-site when they got there.  Cherry and Abby stared at him with a mixture of distrust and hopefulness.  Cal stared returned the stare with a deadpanned look that conveyed neither emotion nor malice.

"I had never wanted to come back to this place again," Abby said finally.

"None of us did", replied Cal.  Cherry shot him a sharp look but remained silent (undoubtedly one of the signs of the apocalypse!)

"I'm hungry," said Ranos vaguely.

"Ok, let's do it," said Beth, rolling her eyes at Ranos.  "I need to calibrate the Teslamagitron to detect the hyperstatic radiation emitted by shapeshifters when not in their natural form.  This will require me to adjust the quantum flux to..."

"OH MY GOD!  JUST SHUT UP AND DO IT!"  Cait interrupted.

Beth snickered a little; she just loved to get Cait's goat.  "Ok, give me a minute."

"How long is this going to take?"  Becky questioned.  "I have a show tonight.  Why do you guys always schedule these things on the nights my biggest tippers are around?" She grumbled.

"Don't worry, Sis, we'll have you back in plenty of time to take your clothes off and shake your ass," Cherry said sarcastically.

"Oh, shaddup shortie.".  Becky sniffed.  "Here, why don't you stand on this box when you talk so we can see you?"

Cherry glared but didn't respond.

Cal smiled a little despite himself.  He had missed this.

"Ok, we're ready.  We've got a problem, though.  The area of the club I need to inspect was completely buried by rubble in the explosion; we can't get to it."

"There's no need to fear; Supersexx is here!"  Super responded confidently.

Ranos rolled his eyes.  "Can't anyone in this group do anything without making goofy cliches?"

"Nope!!" Super snickered.  Hang on, I'll have that cleared out in a jiffy.

****** One Jiffy Later ******

"Ok, Beth, that should do it."

"Thanks, Super" Beth smiled.  "Ok, here we go.  Let's see, Ionizing ramistat up 2 points... Flux Capacitor minus 3..."

"I swear I'm going to pan her", Cait muttered.

"Almost got it..." Beth said, ignoring Cait.  "There! That's it; there's no question about it; that is the signature of a shapeshifter.  That proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Cal's story is true.  He was not the one who blew up the club; it was a shapeshifter disguised as Cal that did the deed."

"Cal... I don't know what to say,"  Abby said tearfully.  "We all thought... I mean, it was you. we..."

"It's ok, Abby", Cal cut her off.  "What else COULD you have thought?  If I'd been in your shoes, I'd have thought it was me too".

"Cal, I'm so sorry!"  Cherry cried, running over to Cal and hugging him.  "I don't know how we can ever make this up to you",

"Well, Cherry Hugs is a good start" Cal smiled.

"Ok, this is all really sweet and all, and that's great Cal, I'm happy you're not a mass murderer, but do I have to remind everybody that in some ways, this leaves us even worse off than before?"  Becky exclaimed.  "At least before we knew who we were facing.  Now we have no idea, and even worst than that, it's an enemy that can impersonate any of us.  I don't see how this leaves us in a better position than we were before."

"Well, I can modify the Teslamagitron to project a protective field around the new club that will nullify the hyperstatic radiation and instantly force the shapeshifter into his natural form should he enter the club".  Beth said confidently.

"Of course you can." Cait sighed, rolling her eyes.

"As for not knowing who we're up against, you're wrong; we know exactly who it is.  As you all know, shapeshifting was banned at the club. Yet, when I retrieved the club records from the cloud, I found that there was one known shapeshifter who ignored the rules and frequently came to the club in different forms."

"Oh my God!" Exclaimed Abby as the realization set in.

"Yup", Continued Beth.  "There's only 1 person it could be.  You might remember him coming to the club in his Stitch form, but his natural form was..."

"iSalbot, aka Sal!" Abby gasped.

Beth nodded.

A collective chill went through the entire group.  Things had just gotten a whole lot worse.

End Chapter 5

Chapter 6 - iSal

From the first time iSal ("Sal" for short) appeared at the club, something seemed off about him.  His odd way of talking had earned him the nickname "Flanders" among some of the staff.  Maybe it was the fact that he was a shapeshifter that frequently showed up at the club in his "Stitch" form. Perhaps it was the fact that he always seemed to be trying too hard to fit in.  Whatever it was, there was just something odd about him.  

He seemed harmless enough, though.  Shapeshifting was prohibited at the club due to the possibility of causing drama by impersonating somebody. Still, shapeshifters were few and far between, and Abby let it go in Sal's case.  He just seemed to be more comfortable in his Stitch form, and he seemed harmless enough, so she let it slide.  It's not like he was hurting anybody showing up as Stitch.

He quickly became a regular at the club, coming almost every week for the Friday night event.  Of course, he was welcomed by the staff, as was anyone who came to Heroes that was not intent on causing trouble or drama.  He never quite fit in at the club, though.  His odd demeanor and strange way of talking just had a way of making people keep him at arm's length.  He always just seemed a little off.

Then one day, as suddenly as he had appeared, he stopped coming to Heroes.  Nobody really knew why or what had happened to him, and nobody really made any effort to find out.  People come, and people go when you run a club, even one as famous as Heroes.  That's how it's always been, and that's how it will always be.  Nobody was going to waste valuable time worrying about someone who had clearly just moved on and someone who was not very popular at that.  Shortly after people began to notice he de-friended them.

Months later, after iSal had all but been forgotten at Heroes, an anonymous note was found pinned to the Door of Despair before the club's opening.  "You'll all be sorry" was all it said.  It was undoubtedly from some disgruntled villain who had an ax to grind with somebody they had assumed.  Idle threats like this were not uncommon at the club, and given most of SL's best-known heroes hung out there, it was never shocking.  No one even considered that Sal might be the author of the note.  Sure he had always seemed a little off, but he was harmless enough.

It was a fatal mistake.  The last one that was made at the original Heroes.

End Chapter 6

Chapter 7 - Defcon-1

The next day the entire Heroes staff met at Heroes to discuss strategy and next steps. Cal and Ranos joined them.  Super was conspicuously absent.

"While I'm thrilled beyond description that Cal is innocent", Abby Began, "We can't afford to let our guard down now.  That maniac is still out there, and who knows what he's going to try next".

"Well, if he tries anything at the one year, he'll fail", Beth responded confidently.  "I've got this place locked down.  If he so much as shows his face here, we'll nail him".

"I wish I shared your confidence", Abby replied.  But this guy is nuts; there's no telling..."

Just then, Abby's phone alert went off, indicating an incoming text.  Abby scanned the text quickly, then looked up at the group.  "This is bad", She announced finally.  "He knows we know it was him.  And worse than that, he's got Super.  He's probably got her chained up in a super-secret dungeon somewhere".

"Oh my god, don't jump to conclusions!" Becky said intently.  "How do you know he's got her chained up somewhere?  What, did you suddenly become psychic or something?"

Well, because it says here, "I've got her chained up in my super-secret dungeon", Abby replied flatly.

"Well, why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Becky muttered.

"He must have discovered her one weakness", Cherry stated glumly.

"Kryptonite?" Inquired Ranos?

"What?  No.  You've been watching too much TV." Cherry Responded sharply.   "Super's weakness is Rap Music.  He must be piping it in non-stop to wherever he's holding her captive; it's the only way he'd be able to hold her."

The group gave a collective shudder at the thought of being chained up in a dungeon and forced to listen to Rap music.

"It gets worse", Abby sighed.  "Here, I'll just read it directly":

"So you finally figured out that Caliente is innocent.  And it only took you what, 7 years?  And you call yourselves Heroes.  What a joke.  I thought I was going to die of boredom before you figured it out.  Well, now that you finally have, the real fun can start.  I thought about attacking you at your 1-year party. Still, that would be too easy, and I can't be bothered defeating the weak security measures Beth has implemented there."

Beth frowned but said nothing.  Abby continued...

"No, I'm not going to make a sneak attack; I'm going to come after you straight on.  I've had 7 years to build my army, and I'm going to enjoy watching you all get slaughtered in open combat.  And best of all, you're going to have to take me on without your most powerful champion.  I've captured Supersexx, and I've got her chained up in my super-secret dungeon.  You'll never find her, and even if by some miracle you do, it won't matter.  Even with Super, you don't have a chance.  Get ready.  Your end is coming."

"That's it," Abby said sullenly.  "That's all of it".

The Heroes sat in silence for several seconds trying to digest what Abby had read to them, then finally Beth broke the silence.  "Fine then.  If it's a fight he wants, it's a fight he's going to get," She said determinedly.

"Beth, he's had 7 years to build his army," Abby said, the tension in her voice,  "We've got what you see in this room, and not much else.  Without Super, I don't think we have a chance."

Beth smiled. "There's always a chance, Abby.  I'd bet my life on the people in this room.  But we need to move fast.  We'll have to split up.  Abby, I need you and Cal to alert both the Heroes and Infinity groups.  Get every able-bodied hero to suit up and be ready to stand with us.  Ranos, get busy preparing the sheep; we're going to need them!  Cherry, I want you and Becky to reach out to the other Hero sims and see if you can get us some additional firepower.

"Jeez, who died and made her Queen?" Becky muttered.

"Oh, hush Sis", Cherry responded.  She IS the builder and principal owner of the club after all."

Beth ignored the bickering sisters and continued.  "Cait, you've got the most important job of all.  You're our best investigator, so I need you to find out where he's holding Super.  She won't last long being forced to listen to Rap music 24/7, so you'll have to move fast.

"Yeah, right", Cait grunted.  "No pressure or anything..."

"You can do it," Beth said confidently.  Take Cat, Annie, and Wyn with you for support.  Take Fuzzbutt as well, if you can find him.  Go bring back our girl.  I'll get to work in my lab and see what new defenses I can come up with."

"Ok guys, that's about it," Beth said finally.  "iSal has declared war on us, and we're at Defcon-1.  I know it seems impossible, but I'm telling you, if we all succeed at our individual missions, we can beat him.  That's all I've got.  Via Con Dios, my friends.  Go with God.

Beth turned and walked over to the elevator to her lab and disappeared without another word.  One by one, each member of the group turned silently and headed out to start on their missions.  They had no idea when they'd all see each other again.  When, or if.

End Heroes Infinity: A New Beginning - Book 2

***********************************************************************************

Hi Guys, this is Cherry!  I hope you enjoyed the second entry in our little Heroes saga.  I know I had a lot of fun writing it!  I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for supporting us over the past year.  We've had a lot of cool stuff this year, including the RFL weekend, two new venues, lots of new sheep, and Alex, the Seal! I hope you'll keep coming around to find out what happens to our Heroes in the final chapter of our story. (Which will probably be out for the 2 year, but maybe sooner if I get motivated :)). 

In the meantime, Thank you again for all of your love and support from the entire Heroes Staff:

Beth: DJ, Builder, and Owner

Cait: DJ (Currently on Injured Reserve), Panner, and Owner

Cherry: DJ, Story Writer, and Owner

Abby - Principal sponsor and DJ

Becky - DJ

Super - DJ

Kitty - DJ (Currently MIA, and we miss her terribly!)

Annie - Host

Cat   - Host

Wyn - Host

Fuzzbutt - Host (when we can find him!)

Advanced Second Life DJing - Perfecting Your Craft

 Ok so it's been quite a while since my first blog on how to be a GREAT DJ in SL.  Hopefully you found that first blog helpful (and if you haven't read it yet, SHAME ON YOU! Go back and read it immediately, and minus 5 Cherry Points for you! (don't ask on the Cherry Points thing, it's a very long story lolz)).  If you've read the first blog and thought it was all a bunch of BS, then you may as well stop here because this one will just be more BS!  If you thought it was at least semi-useful though (I honestly strive for better than semi-useful, but I'll take what I can get :) ), then keep reading as you may find something worthwhile in this one too.

This blog will be somewhat shorter than the first one (Yes I know, promises promises!) as the first blog is really the foundation of what I think you need to be a kick-ass SL DJ.  This one will focus more on the finer points, and these are the things that will win over a crowd.  So why don't we start there then - crowd building.

Part 1 - Building a Crowd

So who's responsibility is it to get a crowd into the club anyway?  The manager?  The host?  The club owners?  Ok, let me ask the question a different way - Who's set is it?  See I think that's a major difference between mediocre DJs and great DJs.  Mediocre DJs expect to be handed a crowd on a silver platter.  It's everyone elses job to get a crowd into the club.  Great DJs take responsibility for their own crowd.  Now yes, during the set my philosophy is it's the job of the host to get people into the club, and it's the job of the DJ to keep them there.  Building a base crowd is YOUR responsibility though.  Let's face it, nobody is going to stay at a club if they walk in and the only ones there are the DJ, host, and manager.  You need a base crowd to start off with, people you know will follow you and support you.  If you have a solid base crowd of 5 or 6 people, then when people walk in and hear good tunes and see a crowd chatting and having fun, they're far more likely to stick around.  

So how do you build a base crowd?  One person at a time.  SL is by its very nature a social environment, and you should always be networking.  Now being a DJ is a great conversation starter, so you should be sure and dedicate 1 or more picks to DJing.  Whenever you strike up a conversation with somebody it's not at all unusual that your DJ career will come up, so this is a great time to invite them to your set.  If you have a DJ fan group (you ABSOLUTELY should have a DJ Fan group!), ask them if they'd mind if you invite them.  If you friend the person, make a joke that now you can pester them to come to your set.  Pay attention to their reaction and gage their interest.  If they're clearly not interested then let it go, but if they do seem interested in catching your act, make a note of it, make sure you friend them, and then send them a personal invite when you are doing a set and see them on-line.  Now this is a numbers game, and honestly most of the people you meet in this way will never come to your set.  But a few will, and if you make this a regular part of your day, pretty soon you'll have your 5 or 6 crowd base and you can keep building from there.

Now keep your expectations reasonable here.  Despite your best efforts you will have sets where none of your base crowd is available and the club is bone dry.  Be a pro and do your thing to the best of your ability as if you had 25 people in the club.  Make sure the two people that stuck it out with you have a good time, and they will quite possibly come back.  Be consistent and never mail in a set, and network, network, network!  It's a lot of work, but being great is NEVER easy, no matter what the endeavor.

Part 2 - Talking TO People

Notice the emphasis on the TO.  One mistake I see a lot of DJs make is they talk AT their crowd, not TO them.   I've seen DJs make openings like this with just 2 or 3 people in the club:  "Welcome to Club Clueless!  Get ready, because for the next 2 hours you'll be listening to the awesome tunes of DJ Windbag!  If you need a tag please ask our host Hostomatic-2000.  If you have a request just jump in my naughty box and let me know what you want to hear!"

Ok, so that doesn't really sound awful right?  And truthfully its not, but it's robotic, it sounds canned, and it most probably is.  Try not to sound like you're trying to sell something on the home shopping network.  Be intimate with people (and no I don't mean try to hook up with them, this isn't a porno blog!  lolz), talk to them like they're your friends.  Here's an example of how I might start a set at a club I've never worked at before:

"Hi everybody!  Thank you so much for joining us tonight.  Ok, so let's see what we can do about having some fun for the next couple of hours :)  Now I don't really know what you guys like, so I'm just gonna throw some stuff at the wall and see what sticks (apologies to whoever has club cleanup duty tonight lolz!).  I'm counting on you guys to help me figure it out though, so hit me with those requests and let me know what YOU want to hear.  What do you say we start off with some Aerosmith, and we'll figure it out from there :)"

And here's how I might start off a set at a club I DJ at every week:

"Hey kids, welcome back to the nuthouse! :)  I'm in a good mood tonight, so let's crank it up to 11 and see if we can have some fun here (That means no requests for you Ranos! (KIDDING!  lolz)).  Ok I'm gonna start off with some Aerosmith, and then... Oh blah blah blah, you guys know what I play, so let's get to it :)  Oh!  And I've got a brand new Metal Zone song coming up later, and it's a really cool one.  I'm not gonna tell you what it is though, on account of I'm mean and I enjoy torturing you lolz!  Trust me though, you will like it <wink>.   Oh, and my awesome hosty is here with tags if you need 'em, so her her up for that, and make sure you show her some love or I'll sic a sheep on you! :)

Ok do you see the difference?  The first one sounds like an announcer for a used car add.  The two I might say sound like you're talking to a bunch of friends.  This is a subtle difference, but subtle differences add up.  This applies whether you use voice or not.  Be intimate, friendly, and fun, not stiff, robotic, and canned.  It does make a difference.  Now obviously you have to be a little more careful if it's a new place that doesn't know you as in my first segment, but you can still come off as friendly and personable.  This won't make or break your DJ career, but it's one more small step up the ladder of being a DJ people come out to see as opposed to a filler DJ.

Part 3 - How to Specialize Effectively

In my previous blog on DJing I said I think you're better off being a specialist than a generalist, which means specializing in one genre of music as opposed to playing everything under the sun.  Now as I said in the first blog this is my own personal opinion and lots of highly successful DJs are generalists, so if that's the route you want to go in your DJ career then it's a perfectly valid way to go, but I follow the other path so I don't have any advice for you.  If you choose to specialize though, you are going to want to do it right, so here are some tips to help you get it right.

First off, while I absolutely think most of your songs and sets should be in your chosen genre, it can be very effective to throw a change-up now and then.  Probably a good 90% of what I play is rock, but I do occasionally throw in some pop, reggae, blues, and hard country.  Notice I didn't house, hip-hop and Jazz because those are just too far out of my zone for me to work them in effectively.  Reggae, Country, and Blues are close cousins of rock, so you can throw those in now and again without having a fatal "Worst Transition Ever!" event.  Don't over use these, changeups are most effective when used sparingly, but do use them.  They can help keep things fun and interesting without alienating your base crowd that is there for the Rock (or whatever you specialize in).

Secondly, be an expert in your chosen genre.  By expert I mean be able to talk about the artists and songs you are playing.  For one thing the crowd expects the DJ to be knowledgeable about the music you're playing, and if you're not then you're just a glorified jukebox.  Additionally, a strong base knowledge of your music can save your life in some sets.  I absolutely guarantee if you DJ long enough you will play for a tough crowd that doesn't want to chat (you get these a lot at "Best in Silly Blue Hats" contests as people just come out to win the lindens).  It's very difficult to have a conversation with yourself, and even if you have a good host filling up 2 hours of conversation with a dead crowd is extremely difficult.  Having some knowledge will at least give you something to talk about, and you can even use this as a tool when you need it.  One trick I use when I'm struggling with a crowd is to change my set up on the fly and throw in some songs I know I can start a conversation with.  For example, I love the band Liliac, which is an up and coming family band that play hard rock covers and originals.  If I'm stuck with a dead crowd I will often throw on a liliac song, and then offer up some info about the band, and even tell a little story about how I found them in the first place as they're not yet a well known band.  The more you know about your chosen genre, the better.

Lastly on this, don't specialize too narrowly.  It's fine to specialize in Rock, but specializing in just British Rock, or Hair Metal, or New Wave is too narrow.  You CAN specialize within your specialty (for example, I'm currently specializing in metal covers of non-metal songs (which I refer to as "The Metal Zone"), but I can play anything from 60s to current, and I can do sets in Motown, Southern Rock, Mashups,  New Wave, Classic Rock, etc.  This give me the ability to keep it fresh without straying out of my chosen specialty.  It also gives me the ability to adjust on the fly to what the crowd is responding to, but that's going to be a separate chapter (Remember when I said this blog was going to be shorter?  I lied!  lolz).

Part 4 - Read Your Crowd, and Avoid Self Indulgence!

This is a hard one, but it's crucial to being an effective DJ and it ties in with the previous chapter of specializing effectively.  Every DJ is going to have a personal preference for what they want to play.  There's absolutely nothing wrong with that, we all got into this because we love music!  BUT (note the caps for emphasis!  Don't you love how I do that?  lolz), you have to constantly take the pulse of the crowd.  If they're not responding to your Hair Metal set, change it up and find out what they want to hear.  Know where your crowd came from.  If they're your people then you should know what they like, but if the host or the owner or the manger brought them in, then TALK to them!  They want the set to be successful as much as you do, so pick their brains and ask them what the crowd is into.  Now if it's totally outside your zone then just do the best you can, but I'm going to assume the owners and managers are smart enough to not hire a Rock DJ to play to a Romance crowd, so you should be able to find something in your arsenal they can relate to.  

Now changing up on the fly in the middle of a set is extremely difficult, but if you're playing a regular set then you absolutely should be able to adjust from set to set.  If you can't, don't, or won't then you're just being self indulgent and you're putting what you want to hear ahead of what your crowd wants, and this is not the mark of a good DJ.  You can play for yourself and your base crowd anytime, but if the crowd you're currently playing for is responding to Blondie and Huey Lewis, then dump the WASP and Metallica and put in some songs they want to hear.  The reward will be a more engaged crowd and maybe even a new regular or two.  If you can do it in the middle of the set even better, but at the very least make some adjustments for your next set and be ready the next time with a set that's more on point.

Just to give you a short example of self-indulgence, I once worked for a club where the club owner was also a DJ (not at all uncommon), and she loved Afroman and would play something like 4-8 songs from Afroman in each and every set.  Now even I will occasionally do a block, or a mega block of something I want to feature in a set, but doing multiple songs from the same artist in every set simply does not work.  Yes you will probably have one or two others in the crowd who share your love for Afroman (or whatever artist you're over playing), but more often than not everyone else will just get sick of hearing it.  Be smart and play for your crowd. You can can get together with the 2 other Afroman lovers in the crowd after the set and play him to your heart's content.  

Part 5 - Dealing with Requests

There's no arguing that a big part of the DJs job is playing requests.  As I said in my previous blog, you should not only play them, but you should get them on the very next song whenever possible, and the song after that when you can't quite make it.

That being said, you have to remember that your first responsibility is to the entire crowd, and sometimes you have to politely say no.  Now as an owner I leave this up to my DJs when to turn down a request, but there are a few guidelines you can use for when it's ok to say no

1. The Request-a-holic  If you DJ long enough you will inevitably run into this person, the one who requests song after song and seems determined to program your set for you.  My rule of thumb is 2 requests for any one person is plenty, although I might allow more if it's a slow request night.  Rather than turn them down flatly though, I've found the best way to deal with these people is "Jalan".  If you've ever seen the movie "The Air Up There" then you'll know that "Jalan" means "I shall consider it for eternity".  And that's the best way to deal with Request-a-holics.  Play their two requests for them, and then after that just say "Well I've got some stuff ahead of you, but I'll try and get that back on in a bit.  90% of the time this is all you need to do and they will quietly fade into the background and leave you alone.  Now if they behave and it's a slow request night, many times a little later in the set I WILL play their 3rd request, and then I'll tell them "I just had time for one more request and I wanted to make sure I got yours in, so here it is!".  Remember they ARE guests of the club, so deal with them professionally and politely, and if you do it right you can shut them down and still make them happy.

2. The Genre Jumper Don't you love these guys?  You're playing a Hair Metal set (which the crowd is into and responding to), and some joker jumps into your chat box and requests a rap song, or hip-hop, or something else far removed from what you're playing. (I had one last week request some song in Spanish in the middle of a Rock set).  The best way to deal with these people is to politely decline and explain to the person what you play and what the theme of the set is, and then ask if they have anything they'd like to hear within the set guidelines.  If so then play it, but if not then oh well.  This is simply a case of "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one".

3. The Saboteur These guys are my favorite, the ones that think it's funny to intentionally request something that stinks just to sabotage your set.  A flat out "No" is the best way to deal with these people, and "Hell No!" is more than acceptable.

4. The DJ Wannabe This is similar to the Request-a-holic, but in this case I'm referring to a frustrated host who thinks they are a DJ.  Your host is staff, not a guest, and you are never obligated to play a request from your host.  I will generally play one for the host if they ask, but one is all they get, and if they request more then I'll just say "Well let's play some for the crowd for a while", and have a discussion with the host after the set to clarify your respective roles.  You can even offer to train the host as a DJ if they really want to give it a try, but make sure they understand that making multiple requests during a set you are DJing is not appreciated.

Lastly, I want to tell you about a little prop I use that is very helpful in dealing with bad requests - The Request Eating Lion!  This is simply a cute little lion that I put out at my sets (particularly if I know one of the above people is in the crowd), and if somebody requests a song that makes it on the air that is simply awful, I have "Roar!" sound effect that I play and the lion eats the request, and I terminate the song early.  This is one of many props I use in my set, but I already wrote about that in my first blog :).

Part 6 - Imitate and Inovate!

This is actually one of my favorite things about DJing, finding new things to try in sets.  I've innovated my fair share of things over the course of my DJ career, but I've also copied a couple I've seen other DJs do.  I have one rule of thumb for things I copy though, I'm going to do my damndest to do it better than the DJ that thought of it.  So probably the best thing I can do here is to give you a couple of examples of things I've copied,  and of things that I've innovated.

On thing that I copies is "The Word Game"  This is one that one of my favorite DJs, Anita Dagger came up with in which the DJ throws out a word in local chat, and the crowd has to come up with a song that uses that word.  First one that comes up with a song gets her song played.  Being that I'm a DJ I kept coming up with a song first, so she made a rule on the fly that the same person couldn't do 2 in a row (did I mention that Anita is an absolutely brilliant DJ, and one of the best I've ever seen? :) ).  I thought the game was a blast and I used it in a set not long after.  Not to be out-done I reversed it halfway through and would pick a person in the crowd to give me a word which I would then find a song for.  I had to put my own stamp on it after-all :)

The other notable one I copied was "The Battle of The Sexes" which I saw DJ Gwenni do at one of her sets.  DJ Gwenni is a generalist DJ and did the set with kind of a British Pop flavor, so naturally when I did my version I did Rock.  My innovation was I put my knowledge of the Rock Genre to good use and did it as a series of duals and let the crowd vote on who the winner was.  I came up with some very competitive duals, and more than once had someone in the crowd say "I hate you!" when I put their favorite artist up against one of the few from the other side that would give him or her a run.  It was a big hit, and my stamp on it was the voting and making it an ACTUAL contest (which the girls won by a narrow margin!)

And now a couple of my own innovations...

Dueling DJs - This was a set format that my sister MelQT (also one of the best DJs I've ever seen) and I came up with in which we share a set, and switch off on the stream every 30 minutes.  Every time we switch off we change the music theme, so in a 3 hour set my segments might be Girl Power, Covers, and Metal Zone, and Mel might do 70s, Funk, and Live Mixing.  This one takes 2 experienced DJs to pull off, but I've done it with a couple of different DJs since and it's always a big hit.

Raise/Lower platforms - This one has evolved for the years.  I love to dance on stuff, and I noticed that other people do so along with the help of my friend Ranos who did the scripting i made a dance platform that you can raise and lower with chat commands.  We now have 3 of them at Heroes that are permanently in place and can be activated on command.  These are perfect for when you have a big, fun crowd and just want to give it that little extra "Wow!" factor to push the set over the top from "Cool" to "Awesome!"  I try not to over use them, but they're great to have for that little something extra.

Sheep! - I mentioned the party sheep in my first blog, but they've become such an integral part of Heroes that I figured I'd revisit them.  Since my last blog the party sheep have mutated.  We now have SheepyBomb, SuperSheep, FlashSheep, InfinitySheep, JokerSheep, RiddlerSheep, RFLSheep, and probably a couple I forgot.  They never fail to help generate conversation in the club, and they're so cute you can't not love them! :)

The bottom line here is don't just be DJ Jukebox.  Think of things to do in your sets that are fun and keep the crowd engaged, an don't be afraid to try new things.  You never know until you try, and you might find something you can use again and again.  Remember what I said in my first blog: The music is the DJs TOOL.  The DJs JOB is to entertain the crowd, and there's more to that than just playing the music.

Part 7 - A Few Tips for Non-Voice DJs

This one will be fairly short, but I did want to pass on a little advice for those of you who want to pursue a DJ career without using voice.  As I said in my first blog, it can certainly be done but you will have many more opportunities if you learn how to voice.  That being said, here are a few tips for the voiceless DJs

1. Have reasonable expectations - You will have to accept the fact that large, 24/7 clubs like Muddy's or Franks and even smaller but well established operations like Wet Willies or Blackhearts will not even talk to you if you don't voice.  I personally don't agree with this policy, but as the saying goes change what you can change, accept what you can't change, and be smart enough to know the difference.  This is one you can't change, so set your sights a little lower.  A good target for you are new clubs and smaller operations.  Now these clubs may specify that they require voice as well, but they're much more likely to at least talk to you and give you a shot, and if you show that you're a fun, reliable DJ that pulls a crowd and has a following, they won't give a crap about the voice thing.  Join some DJ groups and watch the advertisements.  

2. Be tenacious - If you come across a club you like, even if they say they require voice go ahead and reach out and tell them "I know you say you require voice, and I don't voice but I was wondering if you'd be willing to give me a shot to show you what I can do.  I promise you won't be disappointed!"  They may give you a shot and they may not, but it doesn't hurt to ask.  

3. Be professional - If you DO get a shot, what I always do with a new club is ask if I can come by off hours and just do a practice set with no crowd just to get familiar with the venue.  It really does help to have played a few songs there even if you're by yourself, and your willingness to do it shows your professionalism and will impress the club management.  Talk to the club management and hosts and ask for any suggestions they might have regarding what their crowd likes to hear.  Usually you'll get something back that's not particularly helpful such as "Oh any flavor of Rock is fine", but you'll have registered another point for professionalism for asking.  When it comes time to do the set, show up well in advance of your start time (at least 30 minutes, an hour or more is better),  be prepared with a well thought out, fun set, take ALL requests (I know that contradicts my prior point, but that's for when you're already established.  When you're trying to make an impression, play them all), and for the love of GOD don't TP out 3 minutes after you finish your set. Hang around for a while and support the next DJ and get to know the crowd a little.  Club owners LOVE staff that support the club off hours, so if you give the impression that you'll do that you're much more likely to get hired.

4. Once you get hired, keep doing the stuff that got you hired.  Show up early.  Stick around after your set.  Be fun and entertaining.  Hang around the club.  There's nothing I hate more than staff that you never see in the club unless they're logged in to a tip jar.  Be a part of the team, not a hired gun.

5. Work harder than everyone else, and do your damndest to be the best DJ at the club.  Maybe you will be and maybe you won't, but this is all about striving for greatness.  Watch the other DJs at the club.  Look at it like a competition, and do you bad-ass best to do it better than everyone else at the club.  But don't be a Diva about it!  Praise the other DJs and hosts, and be the person everyone WANTS to work with.

Ok gang, I'm going to end this one here.  This one got to be a LOT longer than I originally intended, but as with the first one, if you find anything useful in here then it was worth it.  Look me up in SL (Cherry Breiz), I'd LOVE to hear from you, and by all means please stop by my club and check us out!  Until then, this is DJ CherryBomb, Over and Out! <wink>

XX-Cherry-XX