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

Heroes Infinity: A New Beginning

The following is a fictional story I wrote about Heroes, the Second Life club we had years ago and recently re-opened.  The story is fiction, but the characters in the story are all real people in Second

Life.  I hope you enjoy it :)

Chapter 1 - The signal

She gave a deep sigh as she walked to the sink to clean off the dinner dishes. "Looks like another ho-hum evening she sighed to herself as she washed her dishes clean.  She glanced out the window as she turned the water off, stopping dead in her tracks as she looked up into the sky. "What the... It can't be!" she thought as she stared in shock.  That, that's the Heroes signal!".  She couldn't believe her eyes, was she seeing things?  She wiped her eyes to be sure, but no, it was still there, the same signal that used to shine up in the sky every night, a beacon calling all the Heroes out to the club.  No; no not the same; it

was different; similar, but different, enhanced somehow.  She squinted to get a better look, but just like that, as suddenly as it appeared, the sign was gone.  What on earth could this mean she wondered.  That sign had not shown up in the sky for over six years.  Her mind wandered back, back to that fateful night.  Back to the last time that sign had ever shown brightly up in the sky.  Then she looked over at the red phone nervously.  It had been over six years since she had last picked it up.  Surely it couldn't still be active?  Well, there was only one way to find out.  She picked up the handle and pushed the button. "Hello, Abby?" She said softly... "It's Cherry."

Chapter 2 (6 Months Earlier) - The Beginning

Beth watched Cait curiously as she walked up carrying an unusual object. "Look what I found on the mountain" Cait whispered, a bit out of breath. "Any idea what this is?" 

  Beth's eyes widened in shocked recognition. "Holy crap!" she exclaimed, "You found the old Heroes signal!  You remember the stories I told you of that secret place where all of the SL Superheros used to gather?  Well, this is the signal!  Whenever there was a gathering, this signal would shine up in the sky, a beacon calling the Heroes to the club".  

"Kind of like the bat signal?" Cait inquired.  

"Shhhhhh!" scolded Beth. "There are copyright cops around every corner!".  

"Well, if the place was so great, how come it was never rebuilt?" Cait asked curiously.  

"It's not that simple" Beth replied. "That original club was designed and built by none other than Rorrim Wigglesworth, the genius designer/builder who hasn't been seen or heard from in years.  The original plans were lost in the explosion that destroyed the club." 

 "But you're a great builder" Cait argued. "I'm sure you could do it if you put your mind to it. 

"Sure, I could do the build" Beth replied with a sigh, "But the DESIGN was lost. Nobody could match Ro as a designer, not even me.  If I had the plans, then sure, but without them, it's just not possible."  

"That's a shame replied Cait.  I never saw the original club, and there are a lot of Heroes in SL in the same boat.  I wish there were some way to bring it back."  

"Me too Cait, me too," replied Beth sadly.  Well, let's take a look at that thing.  If nothing else I can restore it, and we can donate it to a museum or something.  Hang on a second, what's this?  there seems to be a compartment here on the bottom...". Beth opened the compartment and pulled out a blue, rolled up paper". "Oh my god!" Beth exclaimed! "This is it!  These are the plans!" 

Cait's eyes widened. "To... To the original club?"  

"No!" exclaimed Beth, "Even Better! These are the plans for the new, improved version of the club. Ro had been designing a new club before she vanished without a trace. They're not complete, but there's enough here to go on, and I'm certain I can complete the rest!"  

"You mean... we can do it?  We can rebuild Heroes?" 

"Not only can we rebuild it, but we can also make it even better than the original!  Follow me. We've got work to do!"

End Chapter 2

Chapter 3 - Old Friends, Old Enemies

"Cherry!" Abby exclaimed "Is that really you?  Oh my god, it's been a minute, hasn't it?"  

Cherry winced, pulling the phone back from her ear for a moment. "Yup, same old Abby", she thought with a smile., "Yup, it sure is, and yes, it sure has".  "Look, we can talk about old times later, but I called for a reason.  I just saw the Heroes signal up in the sky!  Well, not the same, it's been modified, but it was definitely the Heroes signal.  Where did you find it, and where did you turn it on from?"

"You saw what?" Abby replied in shock "That's not possible, that signal was lost in the explosion, along with everything else in the club." 

"Well clearly 'not possible' is an over-statement, because I saw it" Cherry replied curtly.

"Cherry, it wasn't me.  You know we talked about this after the explosion.  When Cal blew up the club, we lost a lot of good people. I'll never forgive myself for that, and you know I'll never be able to start up Heroes again.  I just couldn't.

Cherry winced at the sound of his name.  Caliente Lemon.  He had been one of their most trusted friends.  He had been involved in every aspect of running the club, and he knew every nook and cranny.  All the strong points.  And all the weak ones.  Neither Abby nor Cherry had ever dreamed he was secretly working with the Villains.  He knew exactly where to plant the explosives, and the exact time to set it off to do the most damage.  The club had been destroyed, taking many great heroes with it.  Bunny Savage,  Virginia Haystacks, Azrai Barzane, Garbo Szondi,  MajorP McQueen.  There were too many, and it hurt too much to try and remember them all.

"Abby... It wasn't your fault.  You couldn't have known.  Cal fooled me too.  There was no way anyone could have known what he was planning"

"It was MY club Cherry, so that MAKES me responsible.  I should have known, and I should have found a way to stop him."

Cherry sighed.  Abby still hadn't changed her view that this was all her fault. But one thing was clear; Abby was not the source of the signal.

"Ok" Cherry replied sadly. "I can't change your mind on that.  I hope someday you realize that this was Cal's doing, not yours.  So back to the signal then.  If not you, then who?  And why?  What does it all mean?

"Honestly, Cherry, I have no idea.  All I can suggest for now is that we watch and see if it shows up again.  And if it does, we'll get to the bottom of it.

Cherry reluctantly agreed.  She said her goodbyes, hung up the phone and looked back up into the sky.  Abby was right.  There was nothing else they could do.  Nothing else but watch, and wait.

End Chapter 3

Chapter 4 (3 Months Earlier) - If You Build it, They Will Come

"This is incredible!" Cait exclaimed as she walked through the entrance.  She stood there with her mouth, agape for what seemed like an eternity before she found her words. "I can't believe you've done all this in the week I was gone.  What you have done this, this looks like six months worth of work!"  

"That's why I needed the plans" smiled Beth. "With these plans, I can get done in months what otherwise would have taken years. It wouldn't even have been possible without them."

"But still... this is just amazing. It's like a miracle."

Well, the real miracle is yet to come.  Building this place is the easy part.  When Heroes blew up, all the heroes that survived were scattered to the four corners of SL. Getting the word out to them won't be easy. I know one thing though, it won't happen by itself.  We need help; this is where you come in Cait.  Take this list, and find out where these people are.  Every name on that list is essential to making this happen.

Cait read through the list, and couldn't help being a little intimidated:

Abby - Codename: Nightgirl  - Abby was the owner and visionary behind the original club.  Abby was an absolute legend in the business.  Getting her help was a necessity

Cherry - Codename: CherryBomb - Cherry had been the manager and top DJ at the old club.  Hopefully, she still had a few contacts and could help in reaching some of the others.

Becky - Codename: Heartbreaker - Becky was another top DJ,  If you find Cherry, you'll find Becky, they were inseparable.

SuperSexx - Codename: Super - Another great DJ.  Super disappeared after the explosion, but I've heard rumors that she's resurfaced recently.  Cherry and Becky should be able to help.

"There are others that can help, but start with those 4.  Find out where they are, and then get back to me. Don't contact them yet.  When the time is right, I'll let you know".

"But Beth... it's been over six years.  How do you know I can find them, and even if I do, how do you know they'd even be interested in being a part of this again after all this time?

"Don't worry Cait," Beth said with a smile. "I know these people.  If we build it, they will come."

End Chapter 4

Chapter 5 – Remembering

The next few days passed slowly.  Cherry glanced up at the sky frequently, both hopeful and fearful that she would see that signal again.  That signal and the conversation with Abby had brought about a flood of memories.  She couldn't escape them; they haunted her all of her waking moments.   

She thought back to the earliest days before the club had even opened.  Back when she and Abby had marvelled in amazement at what Ro had built.  

Before we knew it, opening night had been upon us. The club was an instant success.  Heroes had flocked from far and wide to come to the first gathering.  Bunny had played the first set, and everything just seemed to fall into place after that.  

Cherry had been made the DJ manager, and she hit the ground running.  Garbo joined the family shortly after, and then Cal.  The Dream Team was in place, and there was no limit to how high Heroes could rise.

She remembered the kooky contests; damsel Trivia, Frenchy gets Fried, Cal in a tutu, Sheep, Tornados, Particles, Formal balls, Holiday parties,  Fashion Shows, Auctions, RFL Weekend.  It seemed that the club just could not be stopped.

 And then, just as quickly as it began, it all came crashing down on us, literally.

Abby announced that Ro had secretly been working on designs for a new club, an entire Heroes complex;  this was to be a massive rebuild that would take several months, but once complete Heroes would be bigger and better than ever.  There was to be one final bash to say goodbye to the old club, and then it would be closed for renovations.

Cherry took a deep breath.  She hadn't let herself think about that last night for a long time.  She knew she had to face it, though, so she let herself remember.  The crowd had been massive.  It was as if every hero in SL had come to the club that night.  The honour of playing the final set had been hers, and for her last song, she played the first song, of the first set that had ever been played at the club – Heroes by David Bowie.  Abby had gotten up on stage with her at the end and given a speech, thanking everybody for their support over the years, and telling them to get ready for Heroes 2, the NEXT greatest club SL has ever seen!

That's when it happened.  Cherry saw Major P rush up to Abby frantically pointing across the room Cal, who was standing next to what had always been an innocent light switch.  Not anymore, though.  Cal had rigged the club with explosives, and the light switch was the trigger.  Major P had discovered the plot but had been unable to defuse the bomb.  

"Grab Him!" Abby had yelled. "Don't let him throw that switch!!

Cal had just laughed. "It's too late Abby. It's too late for all of you.  There is never going to be a Heroes 2 because there aren't going to be any Heroes left to fill it."  

The last thing Cherry remembered was Cal reaching for the switch, and then it had all gone black.

 The Heroes that survived the blast had scattered to the four corners of SL.  Abby and Cherry had survived the explosion, but their spirits were broken.  Ro disappeared shortly after and was never heard from again.

Cal's evil plot had worked.  Heroes 2 was never going to happen.

Cherry looked longingly up into the sky once again.  Or was it? She wondered vaguely.

End Chapter 5

Chapter 6 - (One Month Earlier) Rounding Third

"So how did you make out?  How did the Sleuthing mission go?" Beth inquired as Cait walked in.

"Yeah, it's good to see you too" Cait replied with a touch of sarcasm.

"Sorry" Beth smiled.  "I've had my head down building this place for so long I've forgotten my manners. It IS great to see you, I've missed you while you were gone".

"That's better" grinned Cait.  "Ok, so here's what I found.  Becky was easy, she's a big time stripper in a posh downtown club".

"Yeah, that's not surprising with her bod"  replied Beth

"SuperSexx took a little work.  She travels a lot, but comes back to town a couple of times a month to visit her sisters.  We should have no trouble contacting her when the time is right"

"Good, good, good" replied Beth.  "But what about Abby and Cherry?  It would be really helpful to have them on board for the opening..."

"Abby wasn't too hard.  She's been focusing on her secret identity working as a copyright attorney.  She has quite a successful practice as I understand.  She won a big class action suit against Marvelous Comics a couple of years ago, you probably read about it?"

  "Yeah, sounds vaguely familiar" Beth retorted.

  "Cherry was the hardest" Cait continued.  "She's been keeping a pretty low profile working out of her home doing professional voice overs on commission."

  "CHERRY is doing voice overs?!"  Beth snorted.  "That's hysterical, we couldn't even get her to talk on the mic when she was DJing!"

  "Well I didn't say she was good at it" Cait responded.  "I checked out her stuff at the voice over store, and she only had about a dozen available.  I asked the clerk about it and he said she sells pretty well, but takes FOREVER to complete a commission.  Apparently every one she does takes her about 45 or 50 cuts to complete"

"Yeah that sounds about right" said Beth, Rolling her eyes.  "What about the extra ones I asked you to look into?"  

"Sorry, no luck on those.  Elisha I understand comes into town from time to time, but hasn't been seen in months.  Ditto QT, she went underground about 6 months ago and nobody has any idea where she is.  Azrai is whereabouts unknown, her trail goes dark shortly after the explosion.  We know she survived it, but god only knows where she is."

Beth sighed.  "That's too bad.  Having a couple of those in the fold would have helped a lot, but if we can get Abby, Cherry, Becky, and Super on board I think we're good to go." Beth's eyes narrowed.  "What about Lemon?"

"Nothing.  Not a trace since the blast.  My best guess is he didn't survive it"

"He survived it" Beth grunted. "He wouldn't have thrown that switch if he wasn't sure he could get out.  I guess we'll deal with him when we have to.  Anyway, take a look.  there are a few Ts to cross and Is to dot, but we're just about ready.  Oh and check this out!  I fixed the Heroes signal, AND updated it!"

"That's Fantastic! You've really done a great job here, this place looks great!  So what's next"

"Well, tonight we're going to do a live test with the signal.  Let's see if we can get their attention before we officially make contact.  We should be fully ready in about a month.  I'll light up the signal once a week until then.  Get ready Cait.  We're rounding third, and heading for home!"

End Chapter 6

Chapter 7 - Making Contact

In the coming weeks, the Heroes signal appeared in the sky three more times, always on Friday night at 8pm.  Each time it stayed lit a little bit longer, but never long enough to trace it back to the source.  Abby and Cherry had started meeting regularly, and had brought Becky in as well.  SuperSexx joined them when she was in town.  

"This is frustrating" Becky stated.  We've seen that thing 4 times now, and we're no closer to figuring it out than we were when Cherry first saw it.  Not to mention it only comes up on Friday nights, which is when my best paying customers come to the strip club"

"Oh for pete's sake Sis, you can take your dang clothes off anytime.  This is important, we have to figure it out!"  Cherry exclaimed.

"Yea?  Well from where sit we're not figuring out squat.  I think this is all a big joke somebody is playing, and you two have fallen for it hook, line, and sinker." Becky sniffed

Abby sighed.  "I'm afraid Becky might be right, this could very well just be somebody messing with us."

"I refuse to believe that" Cherry retorted.  "There's more to this than just some sick joke.  That signal was lost for over 6 years.  I assume it was damaged in the explosion, and now it just happens to be found by somebody with the skills to not only repair it, but modify it?  There's no way that's just a joke.  Somebody is up to something, or at least trying to get our attention."

"Well they've got it" Becky sighed.  "But now what?  We've investigated every lead, pulled ever string, and turned up squat.  Let's face it, we're at a dead end here"

Just then a strange figure walked up.  "Hello Abby, Cherry, Becky.  It's so good to finally meet you all!"

"Um, do we know you?" Abby asked suspiciously

Cait smiled.  "No you don't, but I know all of you, my partner has told me all about you, and all of your exploits at the old Heroes club.  My name is Cait, and as I said it's a pleasure to meet you all"

"And who exactly would your partner be?" Cherry asked Snidely  "Are you and your partner responsible for the Heroes signal we've been seeing the last few weeks?"

"We are."  Cait responded.  "As for who my partner is..." She reached into her pocket and pulled out 4 envelopes.  "We would like to request your presence at a meeting tomorrow night.  The address is in the envelops.  Cherry, if you would be so kind as to give the 4th one to your sister SuperSexx I would appreciate it"

"Lemon" Becky said through gritted teeth.  "It's got to be Lemon.  This reeks of his style"

Cait laughed.  "No, I promise you it's not Caliente Lemon.  Trust me, my partner is somebody you will want to talk to.  That's all I can say for now.  I'll look forward to seeing you all tomorrow night"

At that she turned and walked away without another word, leaving the three former heroines speechless.

"Well, I think it's safe to say we've cleared our dead end" Cherry stated finally.

"Yea, and then some" Abby responded

"Well, this is going to be one long 24 hours.  I guess I may as well head to the strip club and make a little cash in the meantime."

"Try and show up to the meeting with your clothes ON tomorrow, will you Sis?" Cherry commented,

"Oh Shuddup" Becky laughed, and got up and walked off.

"What do you think Abbs"  Cherry said with a worried look.  "Do you think this is Cal setting a trap?"

"No..." Abby replied thoughtfully. "Despite what Becky said, this isn't really his style.  If he were involved he would be aiming bigger than just the 4 of us.  No this is somebody else."

  "A new Villain?" Cherry inquired

  Abby thought for a minute, and then a strange little smile lit up her face,  "Or maybe... Just maybe... an old Hero"

End Chapter 7

Chapter 8 (Present Day) - Endgame

The 4 girls sat in silence, looking around nervously.  They had no idea whether they were waiting for a friend, or a new super villain who was plotting to kill them.  fortunately they didn't have to wait long.  After about 5 minutes, the door opened, and two figures strode confidently over to the table,

  "Beth!" Abby exclaimed  "I'd hoped it was you!  But where have you been?  We haven't seen you since about a year after the explosion.  And why all the secrecy?  If you wanted to see us all you had to do is call"

"I've been keeping a pretty low profile" Beth responded.  "Cait and I opened up a little island club a while back, just a small local thing, and we've pretty much been doing that.  As for all the secrecy and why I didn't call, there's been a lot going on the past few months.  Rather than try to explain it, it will be easier to just show you.  The lamp in the center of the table is a teleporter.  If you touch it, all of your questions will be answered.

One by one the heroines touched the lamp, and they found themselves standing outside a massive steel door. 

"One second" Beth said.  "Security..."

She punched in a code on the keypad, and the massive door groaned open.

"Follow me" said Beth.

The 4 heroines followed curiously, still not quite sure what Beth had in store for them.  Then they saw it.  The dance floor.  The lights.  The massive cave. The Hero banners.  The Sheep.  It was Heroes.

"I'm getting the band back together" Beth said flatly

"But... but how is this even possible?!" Abby stammered.  The plans were lost in the explosion, and Ro hasn't been heard from in years!

"The ORIGINAL plans were lost.  As you know Ro had been working on a rebuild project for a new, improved Heroes.  She had hidden the plans in the heroes signal, which Cait found here on the island about six months ago.  Once I had the plans, I knew we could do it, and we rebuilt heroes.  Now I know what you're all thinking, why would we want to go down that road again after all this time?  And after everything that happened with the first club?  Now I know what happened was a tragedy, but I think SL needs Heroes, not only as a place for Heroes to gather and unwind but also as a..."

"OMG, Will you shut up already?!"  Cherry interrupted  "You had me at "We Rebuilt Heroes"  Of course I'm in!"  

"Count me i too, this is awesome" Becky chimed in.

"Me three" Chimed in Super.  "You're not gonna have a party without SuperSexx!"

"Abby?"  Beth asked cautiously  "What about you?"

"I don't know Beth...  After everything that happened at the first club, I don't know if I can get drawn back in again.  How about if I leave the club operations to you guys, and I just come in as a sponsor?  Your heroes will still need costumes, I assume?"

"That they will" smiled Beth.  "I think we have ourselves a deal.  Well then... Ladies, I present to you the all new HEROES: Infinity!"

And to anyone who has survived to the end of this story, we present the Heroes: Infinity Core Staff:

Cait - Principal Owner, and awesome DJ!

Beth - Minority Owner, General Manager, Club Designer and Builder, and Awesome DJ! (And principal Cherry Speak editor)

Abby - Principal Sponsor (And maybe if we beg enough we can get her to host!)

Cherry - DJ and hack story writer

Becky - DJ

Super - DJ

Other staff who didn't make it into the story, but are just as much a part of the family:

Gwenni - DJ

Doc - DJ

Cat - Host

Wyn - Host

Sky - Host

Annie - Host

We look forward to seeing you all at the new club - HEROES: INFINITY!

The End?  

Nope!  Just the Beginning! :)

<10 minutes of rolling credits and bad music later...>

Epilogue

The 6 Heroines sat around the table, the final staff meeting before opening night.  Suddenly Abby's phone beeped, she had just received an instant message.

Abby gasped as she opened the message, then her eyes blazed fire.

"Tell them to come packed" She said to Beth fiercely.  "Tell the Heroes to show up in costume, powered up, and ready to fight.  There's a storm coming.  I don't know when, and I don't know where, but it's coming and we've got to be ready."

"My god Abby, What is?  What was in the message?"

Abby put the phone down on the table.  There was no text.

Just a picture of a man's behind.  In a TuTu.

Gaming My Way to Fitness

It sounds crazy doesn't it?  I mean playing video games isn't a way to get INTO shape right?  In fact, historically being a video game addict is one of the surest ways to get OUT of shape.  Well I'm here to tell you that's all changed thanks to Virtual Reality.  

Now first off, let me say that I am not really a gamer.  Other than some time in World of Warcraft quite some time ago my "gaming" has pretty much been restricted to social environments such as Utherverse and Second Life.  That being said though, spending all your time hanging out in second life is no better for your general fitness than playing WoW, or Grand Theft Auto, or any other computer or console game you might be playing.  Enter Virtual Reality.

For those of you who are not extremely familiar with VR I'll give you a little history on it. Virtual Reality is not new.  It's been around in some form or other since the last century, and it's been available for individuals to use at home for 7 or 8 years or so.  It's never really taken off though, it's always been too expensive, requiring not only an expensive headset, but an expensive gaming PC.  It's also historically been clunky an inconvenient to set up and use, requiring dedicated, wired base stations to track your movements, and you also had to be cabled to your expensive gaming computer, which restricted your movement and caused you to get tangled up in your own cables.  This has all changed very recently with the introduction of the Oculus Quest.  More on that in a bit.

My husband and I had tried VR for the first time last year while on vacation, and we were both pretty much blown away with how immersive it was.  We were both able to play together in some game (I never did get the name of it) in which we were killing hordes of zombies that were attacking us (Why are zombies always attacking us anyway?  Aren't there any FRIENDLY zombies?  Sheesh!).  My screams, yips, and yelps had both my husband and the guy running the VR stuff in stitches (not to mention a few amused on-lookers.  I'm lucky I didn't end up on a youtube video!), but that's only because it was such an immersive experience.  

We both decided we wanted to get one, but unfortunately our best computer at home turned out to be not quite up to snuff for running VR stuff, so we forgot about it for now.  Over the course of the coming year we got a new PC that WAS capable of running VR, so I decided I would get him a VR headset for Christmas.  But which one?  Well, as it turns out the Oculus Quest had just been released a few months ago, and when I saw that it didn't even require a PC to run, AND it was only $400, we both agreed that was the one to get.  Not only would he get his VR, but he wouldn't have to take over my beloved Second Life PC in the process!  Sounds like a win-win to me!

Ok, so let's fast forward to Christmas and get to the point of this blog (You knew I'd get there eventually right? :) ).  I got him his Quest, and of course we immediately got some games for it.  Now of course some of the games were of the "stand there and shoot zombies" variety, which as with most video games will do very little for your cardio vascular health (unless you consider being scared out of your wits when you turn around to find a zombie in your face good for your cardio vascular health...), but one of the games I wanted to play was Beat Saber.  Now unless you've been living under a rock (apologies if you DO in fact live under a rock, no offense!) you've probably at least heard of Beat Saber.  In case you haven't though, it's a mind numbingly simple and incredibly addictive game in which you slice colored blocks that come flying at you with light sabers to the beat of music.  I guess it sounds kind of dopey when you just write it out, but it is actually incredibly fun and addictive.  

Well I started playing Beat Saber pretty regularly, and I actually started to get pretty good at it, (Yes sir, if we ever find ourselves being attacked by colored blocks and there happen to be a couple of light sabers handy, I'm your girl!) and I found that I was actually getting a pretty good workout playing that game.  In the meantime my husband had bought a boxing game and a table tennis game, and he was noticing the same thing, these games were giving us a good workout!  I stink at Table Tennis, and I tried the boxing game but I got knocked out by the sparring partner :(,  so I figured those games wouldn't do it for me.  I really liked the concept of getting a workout playing games though, so I did a little research and found a game similar to Beat Saber called BoxVR.  In BoxVR you swap out your light sabers for boxing gloves and you're punching colored balls instead of blocks, but it's also done to music, and as it turns out I'm much better at punching stuff that doesn't punch back!

I really felt like I was on to something here, so I put together a workout schedule using BoxVR and Beat Saber, and I also added another game to the mix, Racket NX.  Racket NX is kind of a space age racket ball game which you also play to music, and while it's not as much of a workout as BoxVR, it does get you moving about and helps your burn off a few additional calories.  The best part of Racket Nx is you can actually user your own songs instead of just the included soundtrack.  We even found a program called Yur that tracks your calorie usage while you're doing stuff in VR (we had to get set up with a site called "Sidequest" and do something called "side loading") to get that, but fortunately there are plenty of Youtube videos to show you how to do that).

I'm sure by now you're all dying to find out how all this turned out right?  Well either that or you've already fallen asleep or left, but if you have then your loss!  Now my husband lives at the gym and was already in great shape, but even so he finds his boxing and table tennis games to be good supplementary workouts.  For me though, this has been life changing.  While I've always tried to stay in decent shape, I've always HATED the drudgery of exercising.  Peddling away on a bike to nowhere or walking/jogging on a treadmill to nowhere is just dreary and boring.  Dance aerobics with some sadistic instructor who is doing her damnedest to make you puke gets old too, but they were always necessary evils if I wanted to keep my ass from getting double chins.

Well no more!  I've completely ditched all that stuff, and my daily routine now consists of a half hour of BoxVR in the morning, a half hour of Beat Saber at lunch (I work from home a lot), and whatever I feel like doing after work, usually either more Beat Saber or some Racket NX.  The best part is, this stuff is actually FUN!  And I've lost 4 lbs since I started without any major dieting effort.  I've modified my diet a little just to eat a bit healthier, but I'm not counting calories or points or anything, and I've actually taken off most of my holiday baggage, and I feel better too.

Now I don't want to give you the impression this stuff is training you for the Olympics or anything.  If you really want to go for totally buff, you're still going to have to do the more traditional stuff.  This is more for the person who just wants to drop a few pounds, feel better, be healthier, and have fun in the process.  If, like me you just want to look good in your summer bikini and don't want to waste hours and hours of your life with dreary, boring exercise routines, this just might be for you.  

Of course you'll have to buy the VR gear (I recommend the Oculus Quest!), but honestly, it's so cool I would recommend getting that even if you COULDN'T exercise with it.  Exercise was never our intention for getting it, it's just an awesome bonus we kind of stumbled upon after we'd already bought the thing.

Going forward I'm hoping to add some additional games to my routine as well.  As you've probably guessed from my previous blog (You HAVE read my previous blog right?  RIGHT?!! ) I absolutely love music, so anything I add will probably be other rhythm games.  I think my next purchase might be a game called Audica, which is kind of like Beat Saber with guns instead of light sabers.  I think Beat Saber and BoxVR will always be my one-two punch (pun intended) for workout games, but the more I can supplement my daily routine of slicing blocks and punching balls, the better I'll look in my bikini this summer.

Ok so all of this sounds good and you want in, so what do you do next?  Well first off obviously is to get a VR headset.  Unfortunately the Quest is pretty hard to come by these days (I guess it's manufactured in China and has been clobbered by Coronavirus), but there are plenty of other options if you want to jump in right now.  I'm not going to go into what else is available but there are plenty of Youtube videos out there that give a really good comparison of the currently available VR headsets.

Once you get a headset (PLEASE make sure your PC is capable of running it if you get anything besides a Quest!), you're pretty much good to go.  Any of the games I mentioned that we're using (Beat Saber, BoxVR, RacketNx, Thrill of the Fight, and Racket Fury) is a great place to start.  If none of those float your boat though (in which case I'm sorry to hear your boat is sinking!), here's a link to a website article that lists 25 of the best VR fitness games, and what headsets they run on.  

Oh, and one additional note if you decide to wait and get a Quest.  The Oculus Quest can now connect to your PC (again, assuming you have a PC that can run this stuff) and play any game that the Oculus Rift can play.  It does require an expensive, not included cable to do so, but I think it's worth it as it really expands the number of games available to you.  Anyway, don't worry if a game you want to try doesn't list the Quest as one of it's platforms.  If you have a PC and get a cable, you can play any of them!

Here's the Website Article.  If you found this blog at all useful, informative, or entertaining, please leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you!  If on the other hand you found it to be shallow, trite, and lacking any worthwhile information whatsoever, well I would still love to hear from you anyway (Meanie!!).  

I guess that's about it.  Maybe I'll do a follow-up after a few more months of doing this and let you know how it's going.  Or not.  I dunno, I make this stuff up as I go, and in case you haven't figured it out for yourself yet I'm a bit of a ditz, so no promises! :).  But anyway, wish me luck, I'm off to kill some VR zombies! DJ CherryBomb, Over, Out, and Done! :)

XX-Cherry-XX

How to be a GREAT SL DJ

Introduction

Hi, I’m DJ Cherrybomb (Cherry Breiz in world), and I’ve been a DJ in Second Life for over 10 years.  In that time I’ve seen a LOT of DJs, most of which were pretty decent, some of which were terrible, and a select handful of which I thought were great.  I’ve also done a fair amount of DJing myself, and I’ve had a lot of people ask me questions on getting started, how to get jobs, and how to be good at this.  I used to have a blog series on this topic up on that old SL blog site, but unfortunately, I was dumb enough to write it directly on the site, so when the site went poof it took my blogs with it.  I did have quite a few people comment on it while it was up, and one that even told me it was required reading for any DJ she hired for her club (that one really made me smile! 😊), so with all that being said, this document is my attempt to re-create, update, and hopefully improve upon that blog series.  

I hope you find this stuff helpful or useful in some way.  Please let me know what you think!  I’d love to hear from you, even if you disagree with me (Well ok, if I’m being honest I don’t want to hear from you quite as MUCH if you disagree with me, but I still want to! 😊).  Now keep in mind that while I do have a chapter on getting started this blog is not really targeted for the absolute beginner, but more toward somebody who has already figured out the basics, has a few sets under her belt, and wants to take her game to the next level.

So anyway, as with most stuff I write I’m going to do this pretty much stream of consciousness and just hope for the best, so buckle up and hang on, because I don’t know where this thing is going to go any more than you do!

Chapter 1 – So you think you’re great?

I’m going to start right out with a very hard question – “So Cherry, does this mean you think you’re a GREAT Second Life DJ”.  Boy that’s a hard question.  I honestly don’t think you can be any good at this without having some self-confidence, and some faith in your own abilities.  But that being said, Ego is a dragon slayer, and having a head so big it can’t fit through a standard doorway is ultimately going to kill your DJ career.  So I will answer that question like this:  I believe that the second you start THINKING you are great you stop BEING great.  The word GREAT is a word I reserve for a very select few, and I’ll tell you who a few of them are in a minute.  As for me, no I don’t think I’m great, but I to TRY to do a great set each and every time I go out there.  Do I succeed at that?  Hopefully most of the time, but I think there is always plenty of room for improvement, and I will not stop trying to get better at this until the day I stop doing it.

I hope that answer wasn’t a cop-out, but I think it conveys an important message – Always strive for greatness, but don’t ever be so arrogant as to think you’ve achieved it. As soon as you believe that, you’ve started on the downhill slide.

Ok, I promised you I’d introduce you to a few DJs I think are great, so here they are

Annita Dagger (DJ AD) – Annita is the complete package.  I walked into her set at Ohana Rock Club a few months ago and I was instantly impressed with her.  Annita is a textbook example of what to do right as a DJ.  She is brilliant on the mic, her song selection is impeccable, she gets requests on almost immediately, she’s lively and fun in local chat, and she has an amazing ability to read the crowd and play what they want to hear.  If I was opening a club, Annita is somebody I’d want to build a staff around.  Annita is still actively DJing, and you can catch her act at Ohana’s

Kayla Whittaker (DJ Kayla) – Similar to Annita, I recently walked into a set when Kayla was DJing at Old Lar’s, and I was instantly mesmerized.  Kayla has a unique skill set, she live mixes her sets, and she’s quite possibly the best I’ve ever heard at it.  If you’ve never heard a DJ doing live mixing, do yourself a favor and go check out one of Kayla’s sets.  I mean this girl is jaw-on-the-floor good, and she was even able to hold a private conversation with me while live mixing.  I’m the first one to say that I am not easily impressed by other DJs, but Kayla totally blew me away.  She’s still active and you can catch her act at Old Lar’s.

Fletcher Waddington (DJ Unkle Fletch) – I’ve known Fletch since his very first day in SL and in fact I was the one who gave him his first job and taught him DJing in SL (he already had RL DJ experience).  Now Fletch likes to give me WAY too much credit for that whenever I go to his sets, but the truth of the matter is I had very little to do with his success.  See that’s what I think makes Fletch great, his ability to set his goals and then do what it takes to achieve them.  Fletch always wanted to be more than a DJ, he set his sights on managing and ultimately owning his own club.  He worked his way up the ranks, and now he’s the owner of Blackhearts, one of if not THE best rock clubs in SL.  Now don’t get me wrong, as a DJ he’s rock solid.  What makes him exceptional as a DJ is his consistency.  He never does a bad set, does everything perfectly, he’s fun, and he’s great on the mic.  But, what truly makes Fletch GREAT is his drive.  Fletch is still active, and you can catch his act at Blackhearts

MelQT Tannenbalm (DJ QT) – I’ve never seen a DJ work harder at being great than QT.  We both learned to DJ at the same time.  I pretty much chose to stick with only my favorite genre (rock), QT not only branched out to multiple genres (she started off as a Trance DJ, and then branched out into Rock, Funk, and probably others as well), but she also taught herself to create mashups and live mix.  And she didn’t stop there.  QT was the embodiment of fun during her sets.  She was a total blast, making people laugh, playing great tunes, and just generally being awesome at what a DJ is really supposed to be doing – making the place FUN!  I once told our club owner when we were discussing an upcoming Battle of the DJs contest “I hope I never have to go up against QT in one of those contests, because she’s the one DJ I don’t think I can beat”.  I think QT is currently retired from DJing, but if you ever happen to see a notice for a set where DJ QT is the DJ, do yourself a favor and go.  I guarantee you will have a good time!

Before I get to my selection for the “Best of the Best”, here are a couple of honorable mentions:

Becky Aker (DJ HeartBrAker) – Sizzling hot, both in looks and in music.  Becky Rocks the house and takes no prisoners.  Has been on a long hiatus from DJing but is just now getting back into it.

Caliente Lemon (DJ Caliente) – Rock-solid dependable and incredibly versatile.  I don’t think there is a genre Cal can’t do a set for if you ask him.  Was retired from DJing, but I think he may be getting back into it slowly.

And now, the Best of the Best…

Azrai Barzane (DJ Bad Azz) – What can I say about Az beyond she is the best DJ I’ve ever seen in SL.  The first time I saw Az DJ I just walked into a set she was doing at some club (that seems to happen a lot huh? Lolz!), and I thought she was just amazing.  I was DJ manager at Heroes at the time, so I IM’d her and practically begged her to come work at Heroes.  She took the job and worked there for a few years, and in all that time I never saw Az do a set that wasn’t awesome.  I used to say that Az could play static for music and I would STILL have a good time at her set.  She just did everything great, from talking on the mic to chatting in local to song selection.  I really don’t know what else I can add here, she was simply the best DJ I’ve ever seen in SL.  Unfortunately I believe Az is currently retired from DJing, but to this day I’ve never seen anybody better.

So there you have it.  There are a lot of great DJs in SL, and certainly a lot more than I have listed here.  But these are the ones that have made an impression on me, and if you want to pick a DJ to model yourself after, any one of these would be a great choice!

Chapter 2 – Getting Started

Ok this isn’t really a blog about the mechanics of DJing so I’m not going to go into great detail here, but I will tell you what you need to get you started in the right direction.  If you're already set up and streaming, just skip to the next chapter.  Here’s what you need in a nutshell:

1.      A computer.  Yes this seems kind of obvious, but I’ve actually had people ask me if you can do this from a phone.  I’m honestly not sure if you can or you can’t, but I do know that you SHOULDN’T.  Use a computer.

2.      Streaming software.  This is what you install on the computer and where you build up your song library.  This will also be your biggest learning curve as you will have to learn how to set up and use your software, learn how to organize your library, etc.  SAMs is probably the most popular.  A couple of others I know of are Virtual DJ and WinAmp.  WinAmp is free but it’s not friendly to set up and it really does a poor job streaming.  If all you want to do is be able to stream music for your friends at private parties and such then it will probably suffice, but if you want to do this professionally in SL, work for clubs and earn money then WinAmp won’t cut it. 

3.      Music – Yeah this is another obvious one, but still, a big part of your time is going to be spent finding and organizing music, and having a good library to start with is a very good idea.

4.      A music downloader.  Your music library is always growing, and you will also need to be able to download songs on the fly to fulfill requests during sets.  I’ve gone through several download options over the years, but the one I’m currently using is called MP3 Rocket.  There are others that do a similar job but that one works for me.

5.      A music stream – The stream is how you get the music from your PC to play in SL so others can hear it.  You configure your Streaming Software to use your stream and then when connected it will broadcast the music you play to any connected listeners.  It’s really not as complicated as it sounds although it’s a little daunting at first, but once you’ve done it once it’s a piece of cake.  You can purchase your stream in-world (they usually cost somewhere between 400-1000 L/Month).  I currently use TurboDJ as my stream provider.

6.      Land you can stream to in SL – Once you have your music playing on a stream, you need to be able to pipe it into SL so people can hear it.  To do that you will either need permissions to set the music stream directly on the parcel, or you have to be set up in a shoutcast system that will set the land to your stream when you log in.  If you own your own parcel you should be able to do this at home, or if you have any friends that own land that would be willing to give you permissions to set your stream (or set it for you).  Ultimately when you work in a club the owner or manger will usually set this up for you in their shoutcast system.

That’s pretty much everything you need to be a DJ in SL.  How to set all of this up is beyond the scope of this blog, but it’s really not all that bad.  Your best bet is to ask a DJ who uses whatever system you decide to use to help you set it up. 

Once you get all of this stuff working, congratulations, you are now a DJ!  From what I’ve seen, I think for the vast majority of DJs in SL that’s good enough.  If that’s good enough for you, then you can stop reading now because you’ve reached your goal.  On the other hand, If, like I’m hoping, you want to get a better understanding of what it takes to be a GREAT DJ then keep reading.  The rest of this blog is for you.

Chapter 3 – So what is a DJ’s job Really?

Well that’s obvious, it’s to play the music right?  I think lot of mediocre DJs believe that, and if I’m being honest, yea you can get away with being a glorified jukebox and still have a decent DJ career.  I think most elite, Hall of Fame level DJs will give you a different answer though.  If you want to be great at this, you have to look at it a different way.  The way I view it, music is the DJ’s TOOL, not the DJ’s JOB.  The JOB of the DJ is to entertain the guests of the club.  For many DJs, playing the music is where it that job ends.  For Elite DJs, that’s where the job BEGINS.

Here’s a newsflash for you.  We’re all pulling from the exact same pool of music.  Other than live mixing which is a different animal, there aren’t any songs I can play that you can’t.  Now how unique your song set is depends almost entirely on how hard you’re willing to work at finding hidden gems, but that’s a topic for another chapter.  Right now I want to talk about your presence in the club.  Every set is really a big party, and it’s the job of the DJ to make sure that people are having fun.  That is really what the job is, making the set fun and entertaining so that when people leave, they leave saying “Wow that was cool, I’ll be going back to this club again”. 

Now I’m going to expand on a lot of this stuff in future chapters, but let’s take a quick look at some of the things you need to do to be an entertaining, and dare I say GREAT DJ. 

1.      First and foremost, you absolutely must be active in local chat.  This is probably one of the most common mistakes I see DJs make.  They set up their song list, start it playing, then go to sleep other than to occasionally mumble a few words on the mic (and yes we’ll have a chapter about that as well).  Meanwhile the chat level in the club is deader than dirt, other than the poor host who is desperately spamming gestures, hooing, and screaming out how she loves every song that comes up because the DJ has hung her out to dry.  Don’t rely just on saying a few words on the mic in-between songs.  That’s good enough for a lot of DJs, but it’s nowhere near enough if you want to be great.  Put down your magazine, get on the keyboard, and help your host generate some conversation.  It’s hard and it takes work, and sometimes it seems like an uphill battle, but more often than not you will be successful in getting some conversations going, and what’s more your host will love you.  I’ve hosted before, and believe me it’s incredibly hard to have a conversation by yourself, and there’s nothing worse than hosting for a lazy DJ. 

2.      Do a contest.  No, I don’t mean run a “Best in Silly Blue Hats” contest for 500L.  That’s what I call buying a crowd, and it not only brings in the wrong kind of people but it’s not a sustainable business model.  That’s a topic for another blog though, and if the club owners want you to do it  you’re kind of stuck with it, but avoid those if you can.  No, I’m talking about just doing an off the cuff fun type of contest that actually requires some crowd participation.  My favorite is to just have music trivia and do a “Strip the DJ” or “Strip the Host” contest.  Now obviously you need to be in an adult sim for this, but it’s fun, sexy, and people love it.  If the club doesn’t allow nudity you can still do the trivia and either just not have a prize (I guess a naked DJ is the prize in the above scenario lolz) or give away something goofy just for fun.  Use your imagination here, if you do I’ll bet you can come up with some stuff that I’ve never even thought of!

3.      Use Props  - This is another one I’m going to have a chapter on (sheesh this is really getting long!) so I won’t say much on it here, only that a few goofy props can really help in keeping the conversation flowing!

4.      Pay Attention! – Remember, you are the DJ and music is your tool.  If you see the conversation flowing toward a particular song, band, or something you can play a song about, then get off your ass, download the song, and play it!  This leads me directly into my next point…

5.      Don’t be married to your song list – Your song list is a base, not a finished product.  I will be brutally honest here, if you ever play a song list you set up start to finish with no changes, you are probably doing a crummy job DJing.  Pay attention to local chat.  If you see an opportunity to play a song that fits in with the conversation, jump on it, and don’t be afraid to play a couple of songs on a topic.  Don’t worry about all the songs in your set that you won’t have time to play because of this, next week is another week, and since you are striving to be a great DJ you will probably have a lot of the same people back to hear the ones you didn’t get to 😊.

6.      Get requests on immediately.  Seriously, I mean like the very next song if at all possible, and the one after that if you can’t quite make it.  Remember, you are playing for your crowd, not for yourself.  If somebody requests a song, they want to hear it now, not 7 songs from now.  If you have to put off a request for a legitimate reason (you have other requests ahead of it or are in the middle of a block or a double shot or something like that), explain it to the requester with the promise that you’ll get it on as soon as you can, and then let them know when it’s coming up.

7.      IM the quiet ones and ask if there’s a song they’d like to hear.  This one hard because it’s very easy to forget about somebody dancing in a corner by herself and not really joining in on the fun in the middle of a busy set, but it’s a really good thing to do when you can, and it sometimes bring somebody into the thick of the fun, and occasionally wins you a dedicated fan.

There are probably more things I could list here, but I hope you’re starting to get the idea.  Honestly, if you asked me to describe the job of the DJ in one word, I would say it’s to have fun!  Fun is infectious, and if the DJ and Host are having a blast it’s very likely that everyone else in the crowd will be too.  As for my 7 points above, the average DJ will maybe do a little of #1, and hopefully at least a little bit of 4, 5, and 6.  Hall of Fame level DJs will do all of this and more, and they’ll have a blast doing it.

Chapter 4 – Programming a Great Set

Without a doubt, the base and most important part of the DJ’s job is playing the music.  Now choices of music and genre is very subjective, and no two people will like all the exact same songs.  There are also a lot of differing opinions on how you should structure your set.  All I can do here is give you my own personal views on the topic, but this is just my opinion and not necessarily the one and only way to do things.  This is just what works for me.  I am a Rock DJ and my examples will be for Rock, but I would like to think the principals would apply to any genre.

First off, my feeling is that you are better off being a specialist than a generalist.  To be more specific, I think you are better off picking a music genre and sticking with it, absolutely in a single set, but even in terms of your career direction.  Now there are plenty of successful DJs who jump around a lot musically, but I honestly think you can build up a loyal following faster if you stick to one thing.  And I’ll tell you why I think that.  Say you take a job at a club that features multiple music genres.  If you get out there and play a set containing some rock, pop, blues, house, and hip-hop, you will almost certainly play some songs that everybody in the crowd will like.  You will also unfortunately play a lot of songs that everyone in the crowd hates, and as a result you will end up being very forgettable to every person in the crowd. 

Now let’s turn that around.  Instead of jumping around you play a set that’s all rock.  Maybe there are 12 people in the crowd, and half of them like Hip-Hop, so you will probably lose them pretty quick.  The other half like Rock though, and if you follow the suggestions coming up in a bit, there is a very good chance that those 6 will remember you and come back for your future sets. 

So doing it the first way, everyone in the crowd thinks you’re “eh” as a DJ.  Maybe nobody leaves the club, but nobody is going to come back to see you again either.  Doing it my way maybe you lose a few that just live outside your zone, but you are going to hit the ones IN your zone right on the head, and there is a very good chance they will come back for future sets.  Again, this is just my opinion and not everybody agrees, but this is what works for me.

Now let’s talk about your song selection.  For a Rock DJ, you can do just fine playing stuff like Dream on, Bad Girlfriend, Radar Love, Stairway to Heaven, and all the other songs everyone knows and loves.  In fact you can do that and be considered a very good DJ.  The title of this blog is how to be a GREAT DJ though, and to be GREAT you have to take your music to another level.  My theory on building a set is this:  I try to play 75% songs that you LOVE, and 25% songs that you WANT.  And it’s that 25% that really makes the difference. 

So what constitutes songs that you want?  Simple, things you don’t hear every DJ in SL playing.  I’m talking about stuff like mashups.  Covers.  Instrumental remixes.  Deep tracks.  Basically, hidden gems that kick-ass that most of the crowd most likely has not heard before.  Now I’m not going to lie to you, finding these hidden gems is a TON of work.  I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent looking for things like this, and the worst part is you have to wade through a ton of crap to find the really good ones.  Yes, we’re all pulling from the same pool of music, but it’s the ones who are willing to take a deep breath and dive into the deep end that will really stand out.

Finally, I’d like to talk about the structure of your set.  One mistake I see DJs make (and in fact I’ve done this myself) is they don’t vary their tempo enough.  If every song you play is a “turn it up to 11!” ripper, it starts to become white noise after a while and it loses it’s impact.  Conversely if your whole set is made up of slow songs and ballards it can get dreary and depressing very quickly.  You should be able to visualize your set like a wave that rises and falls.  Obviously if you’re a metal DJ your wave will run a lot closer to the peak and if you’re a Ballard DJ your average flow will be a lot lower, but if when you visualize your set the wave looks more like a straight line, then you need to throw in some variance to change it up. 

At the same time you should try to avoid awkward transitions if at all possible.  Going from Enter the Sandman from Metallica to Wish you were Here by Pink Floyd is an awkward transition because the tempo falls off a cliff from an extreme high to an extreme low.  Try to bridge that gap with something somewhere in the middle between those two such as something like Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith. 

When awkward transitions do occur you can actually have some fun with them.  I will occasionally leave one in the set and say something like “And now for tonight’s entry in the ongoing worst transition ever contest I have…”.  Awkward transitions aren’t deal breakers, and they will happen despite your best efforts, but we’re talking about becoming an elite DJ here and they are something elite DJs will try to avoid.

Chapter 5 – What the Eff are Party Sheep?!

If you’ve ever been to one of my sets you’ve seen them – The Party Sheep!  Quite simply, party sheep are props, they’re 3 “Shaun the Sheep” sheeps that walk around in a circle which I put out at my sets and call “The Party Sheep”.  So what good are party sheep?  You would be absolutely amazed at how much conversation these little guys generate!  And that’s really the name of the game isn’t it?  Doing whatever it takes to keep the conversation flowing.  Having a few props handy can help a lot with that, and most times once you get the conversation kick-started it will build and keep going all on it’s own. 

I’ve built up a pretty good-sized inventory of stuff I use in my sets, including the sheep, a dance platform that I can raise and lower, a lion that eats bad requests, a bunch of different signs for things like “No Sheep”, “No Shatner”, “No Spiders”, etc., a water hose for wet t-shirt contests, a kiss thrower for thanking tips, tons and tons of various particle effects (make sure the club allows them before using particles!) and even a couple of things I haven’t gotten around to using yet like a voter for the Lion so guests can actually vote on requests. 

Now these things won’t turn a lousy set into a great one all by themselves, but they can often help kickstart a conversation and break up a stretch of dead air.  Don’t over do it (especially the particles), but keep a few things handy in your bag of tricks for when you need them!

Chapter 6 – Talking on the Mic

There’s no doubt about it, talking on the mic is the single scariest thing there is for being a DJ.  In fact, it’s so scary that I didn't voice at all for the first several years of my DJ career!  Now I have special circumstances, I have a speech impediment which kept me from voicing initially.  I've since developed a method for using voice that allows me to do it.  There are a couple of compromises with my approach, but there are some benefits as well. That's all well beyond the scope of this blog though, but I promise I'll expand on that in a future blog.  Now I always got by just fine without voice by doing the stuff  I’ve talked about previously in the blog, but voice has gotten to be much more of a requirement at most clubs over the past few years.  You can still have a decent DJ career without it but it will be a lot tougher getting jobs and some places won't even consider you if you don't voice.  I personally don't agree with this policy, but that's how it is and it's not likely to change so I definitely recommend learning to voice if at all possible.

The problem with using voice is it’s a double-edged sword.  It can really propel you to the next level if you use it effectively, but it can also derail an otherwise great set if you don’t.  And that is the rub.  More than anything else involved in DJing, voice is something that, if used HAS to be used properly because it has the potential to ruin a set as much as it does to enhance a set. And I’m going to be brutally honest here, most DJs I’ve heard do not get this right.

The bottom line here is if you decide to use voice, you need to get it right.  I’ve been around DJs and clubs since my day 1 in SL, and because I was a DJ manager for several years I instinctively pay very close attention to any DJ I hear, how they operate, how structure their set, how they interact with the crowd, and, how effectively they use the mic.  So, while I have a different method of voicing than most DJs, I’ve studied lots of DJs with different vocal styles, and I can tell you from lots and lots of observational experience what works and what doesn’t.

Ok so that’s my best pitch.  Either you will buy what I’m selling here or you won’t, but I hope you will at least read through this and consider it, because I think it can help you be a better DJ.

1.      DO NOT TALK OVER THE MUSIC! – This is my absolute number 1 cardinal rule. There is nothing that annoys the crap out of me as much as when DJs do this.  There is nothing you have to say that’s so bloody important that it can’t wait until the end of the song.  Remember the music is your number 1 most important tool, and nobody wants to hear you flapping your lips in the middle of their favorite song!

2.      Speak Clearly and Know What You are Going to Say – There’s nothing worse than having a DJ interrupt the music to mumble something incomprehensible on the mic, or fumbling around for something to say.  Practice this, it's the only way to get good at it.

3.      Don’t Monolog - You’ve heard this before right?  DJ Blabbermouth comes on the mic and starts yapping away for like 5 minutes.  Meanwhile everybody out in the crowd is dancing to this guy’s incessant jabbering and looking like fools.  Be concise and don’t fall in love with your own voice.
Note:  There ARE DJs with spectacular voices who are exceptions to this rule.  My “Best of the Best” DJ Az was one of those.  I used to joke that she got more requests to say stuff than to play music.  These DJs are rare though, and far and away the exception.  For the vast majority, stick to the plan and keep it short!

4.      Be Fun and Interesting – I mean seriously, if you’re going to talk on the mic, have something to say!  I don’t need to hear a list of what your next 11 songs are going to be, I’ll hear them soon enough when you play them.  I also don’t need to hear you say hello individually to every person in the room, you can do that just fine in local chat while the music is playing.  So what SHOULD you be saying on the mic? 

a.      Requests and Dedications should always be done on voice if you use it. 

b.      Any song you want to highlight and really bring attention to. Remember those hidden gems we talked about earlier that you have spent countless hours mining?  This is a great way to really make them pop!

c.      For the love of God don’t be afraid to laugh and have fun and bring up stuff people say or do in chat.  But always remember the cardinal rule and don’t do it in the middle of a song!

d.      Occasional reminders to tip your host, dancers if you have any, and the club are ok.  And I do mean OCCASIONAL, do not do this after every other song!

e.      Any announcements the club wants you to make.  Again, keep it as short as possible.

f.       Greetings at the start of your set and acknowledgements for the previous DJ and Host

g.      Goodbyes at the end of your set and introduction of the next DJ and host

Also, don’t talk after every song, that just kills the flow of your set too much.  I would say at the most talk after every 3^rd song, and after every 4^th or 5^th is probably better.

You know, when you get right down to it I can sum up the rules for talking on the mic in 4 words: be TIMLEY, be CONCISE, be CLEAR, be FUN and INTERESTING.  Ok so that’s 5 words.  Deal 😉

Chapter 7 – So What Else is There?

If a DJ plays a great set and nobody was there to hear it, was the set really any good?  There are certain situations you can’t control in the short term, but there are no situations you can’t control in the long term.  If you’re in a bad situation working for a club that is not bringing in a crowd, or is bringing in the wrong type of crowd (ie: buying a crowd with “Best in Silly Blue Hats” contests), then you have to know when it’s time to move on.  Becoming a great DJ is not an easy task, and it won’t make it any easier if your ownership doesn’t support you or your host sucks or the club is a big drama pit.  Find yourself a great host to team up with, and then find yourself a great owner to work for.

Now I admit, this is easier said than done, and it’s not going to happen overnight.  You will almost certainly have many DJing jobs before you find the one that’s right for you, and most DJs work at more than one club.  Look for clubs that get a decent crowd and have a lively chat without running buy-a-crowd contests.  Be reasonable in your expectations here.  I don’t mean insist on a crowd of 20+ people for every set, because even the biggest clubs don’t always get that.  Look for clubs that have a handful of dedicated VIPs, and staff and management that come out and support the sets.  If you have that, then you have the foundation for building a good crowd.  So, here’s a few things to look for and to avoid when looking for a place to work:

Look for clubs that encourage chat and discourage Hostomatic-2000 crap (Hooing, Gesturebating, Runaway Spanking, SHOUTING, etc.)

Look for clubs that have reliable, dedicated staff, and avoid clubs that are constantly begging for covers because their DJs and hosts aren’t showing up.

Avoid clubs that are inbred nightmares where it seems as if every staff member is somebody’s Auntie or Sissy, or Daddy, or Grammy, or whatever.  Just trust me on this one 😉

Avoid clubs that are jam packed for a silly blue hat contest, only to empty out to nothing as soon as the contest ends leaving the poor next DJ to play to crickets.

Avoid drama pits.  I don’t think this one needs any further explanation.

Avoid clubs with a long list of rules.  This one probably needs a little explanation.  I call these clubs a NFZ, or No Fun Zone.  In my experience, if the club is hiring solid, professional, dedicated staff then they don’t need a bunch of rules, so for my money if the club feels they NEED all those rules then they don’t have any confidence in the professionalism of their staff.  There may be a few that are valid such as no nudity in a PG rated club, but for the most part a bunch of rules probably means a bunch of drama and a weak staff.

Look for clubs that want you to do an interview and a trial set before they hire you.  This is a clear indication that the management has a clue, and they are looking for staff that fits in with their club and plays music their guests will like.  If you walk in off the street and they hire you on the spot, I can pretty much guarantee the management is clueless and the club is destined to fail.

As for finding a great host to work with, having a regular host to team up with isn’t NECESSARY by any means, but it sure as heck is nice when you DO have one.  I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a couple of really fantastic hosts.  The first was my sister Codi, who hosted with me for several years before her RL got too busy for her to continue.  The other is my current host Synna, who is my pick for the host version of “Best of the Best”.  Seriously, if you ever want to see what a GREAT host looks like, check out a set Synna is hosting.  Preferably one that I’m DJing, I could always use a new face in the crowd! 😊.

Well that’s it for now.  This got to be a lot longer than I originally planned, but I hope you’ll find at least parts of it useful.  If not, then oh well.  At least writing it kept me busy for a while! 😉

Here is a link to Part 2 - April 2021

Advanced SL DJing

XX – Cherry -XX