I had a busy week venue hopping this week, and made some wonderful finds.
On Thursday, I spent an hour on the Titanic, no matter how often I visit, the build alone continues to amaze me. Mara was there at the time and went out of her way to make both myself and another venue owner feel appreciated. Hugs Mara, I love our friendship. I had actually gone to Titanic with an agenda, I had been told that I just had to hear Strider Quan, both an RL and SL Elvis impersonator. He only performs once a week in SL and that is at the Titanic. I have to admit, I could close my eyes and truly believe I was listening to the King himself. Though normally I would suggest that this a man that can't be missed and to watch events, smiles this time I have to say that but also tell you to visit Titanic on Thursdays to do so. Titanic is also a proud sponsor of the Toys 4 Tots program.
Over the weekend I visited a few more venues. Though there were no live performances at the time, I did stop in at Rojo's VIP Lounge and fell in love with the ambiance. Ronus LeFevre outdid himself, I know I will be a frequent visitor.
Temptation Falls, another absolutely beautiful venue where I had the pleasure of listening to CelticMaidenWarrior Lancaster. If you have never heard Celtic you are truly missing a piece of magic. Her voice is wonderful, and if you are truly lucky you will have the opportunity to hear her acapella. Temptation Falls is a venue that is also supporting the Toys 4 Tots program. There are so many venues participating in this fundraiser. So many wonderful performers on the Christmas CD that supports Toys 4 Tots.....all working to make a difference in a child's life this holiday season.
On to one of my favorite venues for fun...Kickin Club Live Music Venue, I got there early and listened to my old friend Paul Knowles rock the house. Awesome as always. LilMissPriss has truly created a venue that is plain old fun....no matter what kind of day you are having, stop at Kickin and you will leave with a smile. I stayed for Theresa Nayar.
Key West another favorite venue, owned by my close friend Liz Harley. Stopped in to listen to a performer I had not heard in quite a while...Mimi Carpenter. She has a unique voice that I enjoy. Key West, one of my favorite places in rl, they have truly managed to transport me there whenever I visit the venue. Key West is another wonderful supporter of Toys 4 Tots, stop in and keep the magic in the holidays for children.
I stopped in Waffles where Ugh Yeu was performing for his birthday. Everyone was having a wonderful time. I noticed something I am seeing more and more with venues....sponsorships. Waffles is doing this, The Roof is also, as is the Titanic; I am sure there are many others. I like the fact that venues are stepping outside the box to support the rising costs of maintaining a venue. It shows a dedication to the music community...smiling.... even better, it is increasing the exposure of sl music, a common goal of all parts of the music community.
Now many of you know me well so this is pure sarcasm based upon something I have seen done recently. A performer did an event with 50% going to charity and had stated that the other 50& was going to cover the cost of the event. Mind you there were sponsors and only he was accepting tips. Please do not get me wrong, the cause itself was excellent and I will give credit for choosing to help with a fundraiser....but there are a couple of things that go on when all proceeds do not go to the non-profit. First and foremost was there transparency, who actually monitored the fundraising, it should have been one or two people that did not have a vested interest besides the performer and his manager. And second...it had been announced that $1000+ USD was being forwarded to the non-profit organization. By my calculations and math was not my high point but I think even I can handle this one....at 50% the performer walked away with $1000+ USD as well. Hmmmmm I have never known a performer that has to pay that much out of pocket to cover costs of a two hour show even with video. So I do feel as if a performer used the nonprofit as a way to solicit more sponsors, higher audience numbers and more profit for himself than he would have had without it, and took advantage of the hearts that give so very much in SL. Maybe I am dead wrong...if so please let me know.
Normally I would let this sort of thing pass with no comment. However, as Mankind Tracer is the only person in SL history that has done a 60 sim event with 50% of the proceeds being donated to ALS research, it is glaringly obvious that he is the musician being referred to.
ReplyDeleteI would like to state that I worked with Mankind on this event. For more than 2 months he and I put in hours of time every day to making sure this event was successful. In order to get to 60 venues, how many do you think we needed to approach? We spoke to 400 or more venue/sim/business owners over the 2 month time. Creating all the promotional items and doing the PR for the event.
We were both very upfront with all of our promotions that 50% was being donated. The notecards of information sent to over 40 SL live music event groups (at least once a week for over the 2 months) and venue owners, the facebook promotion and even the listing in the SL Destination Guide. All venues and sponsors knew far ahead of time as to the split and the fact that 60 venues and 22 sponsors were on board for the event speaks for itself.
Last year's PLB IV, with no charity involved, had 52 sims and 20 sponsors. This year at PLB V he decided to give half of everything to a charitable cause and you have a problem with that?
After all Mankind has done, in and for Second Life, the charities he's donated his time to, the free events he's performed to help venues and on and on, it seems you may have personal issue with him and to be honest, digging for dirt on someone as giving as Mankind is just wrong.
Consider the hours upon hours of time it takes to organize and planning an event of this caliber. Have you ever attempted it? Coordinating 60 sims, designing the graphics, writing promotional copy, making sure they all have the right promotional info, creating the LM board, making sure all knew how to set the video stream, going to each and every venue to setup the stage screen and other materials and so on. The time alone to get to 60 venues was staggering.
At this point I have said all I need to say on the matter. If someone has an issue with any of this you are welcome to contact me directly, I'm Kalli Birman in SL. I would be happy to sit and talk about the event with you. I work with Mankind Tracer and I was and still am very proud of what we accomplished.
Brandy,
ReplyDeleteI thought a great deal about what you said. In no way would I ever take away the compassion that it goes into giving to a non profit organization. If anything, I did give credit for that.
I also thought a great deal about what you said about the organization of it all. Then I thought about so many others that organize such good strong fundraisers, I worked quite a bit with RFL last year, this year I have co-coordinated a fundraiser for Rodanthe, NC after it was devastated by the hurricane. My rl background consists of organizing a great many things for non-profit, as well as at one point starting a grass roots non-profit for children....I know of all the work that goes into making it successful. I watch the chairs here of the large fundraisers (i.e. RFL, Toys 4 Tots, Feed a Smile, etc) they pour their hearts and souls into it often giving their own hard earned money...living and breathing the coordination of the fundraiser. I do not know of one of them that would ever place a dollar amount on their work.
As far as my personal feelings about Mankind, they are neither here nor there; if you have watched my blogs, which it does appear that you follow, you know me well enough that if I believe someone is using the music community and non-profit organizations for personal gain, I do state it. Though and this is something I will stand by having a great deal of experience with 501-c's and holding positions of treasurers for a few....whenever they are used for fundraising complete transparency and accountability is a must. These things you never addressed when you commented on the blog.