Second Life: Muddy’s Music Café Celebrates 12 Years of Operation!

As I said yesterday, Second Life tends to be my preferred means of escape from these despairing days of the Omicron wave of the coronavirus pandemic, and as I near the second anniversary of my first writing about what would eventually be called COVID-19, on January 25th, 2020, I am feeling distinctly weary of barricading myself in my apartment, while our inept provincial government has essentially decided to “let’er rip” and let the cards fall where they may.

Like oatmeal, Second Life is my comfortable place in an uncertain world. (The builders of the newer metaverse platforms might want to ask themselves this question: what are you doing to make your virtual world such a comfortable place, where people are compelled to come back, again and again? The key is community, something Second Life has in spades, if you know where to look to find it!)

Today, I decided that, instead of a quiet café in the snowy woods, I would visit a more popular place: Muddy’s (more formally known as Muddy’s Music Café).

Image source: the Muddy’s website

As it turns out, this coming weekend (January 21st to 23rd, 2022), Muddy’s is celebrating its 12th birthday! In a virtual world where music clubs come and go with astonishing regularity, this is indeed a remarkable achievement. Muddy’s offers a engaging mix of popular music: rock, pop, country, and a little bit of everything, as long as it’s PG! While they sometimes have a live performer, most of the time they have deejays spin tunes during a two-hour shift, who usually shares the stage with a host of hostess who welcomes customers, answers questions, and invites people to join the Muddy’s group for news and updates.

Tonight, the hostess was a friend I had made when she worked at another club I used to frequent, Bray’s Place Blues Club (which unfortunately closed down late last year). So we had a great catch-up chat while I stood like a wallflower at the side of the dancefloor, watching the people dance (that’s me, in the red beanie to the right):

In addition to their in-world location (always guaranteed to be busy, 24/7/365), Muddy’s runs a small shopping mall on the same sim as the club, and has a radio station which accepts advertising from Second Life businesses (you can pick up a free Muddy’s radio from the stand located at the centre front of the stage, which you can then set up anywhere to listen to the Muddy’s music stream in your virtual home!). They’ve even launched a series of events especially for singles, called Muddy’s Match.

For further information, please drop in and ask the host or hostess on duty, visit their website, or follow them on Facebook. To join the Muddy’s group, just cut and paste the following into the chat of your SL viewer, and click on the link it creates:

http://world.secondlife.com/group/6ffdf9ce-7581-3731-e601-81ee5f9b6842

You’ll always get a warm welcome at Muddy’s Music Café! I congratulate them on their twelve years of successful operation.

Using Second Life As My Radio Station

Over the past several years I have noticed myself using Second Life for a particular, rather peculiar purpose, one that I certainly didn’t intend to use it for at first, and one that I’m sure Linden Lab didn’t forsee either. I find myself dressing up my avatar, visiting a club, turning up the sound on my speakers, and then heading for the sofa to put my feet up with my iPad to read or browse Reddit and simply listen to some music. In other words, Second Life has become my radio station!

Sometimes I’m in the mood for some classic, romantic standards, and so I throw on an elegant ballgown and some expensive-looking jewelry, and strike a pose at the side of the dancefloor at Frank’s Place Jazz Club (despite the name, they don’t play jazz that often). I never go to Frank’s to dance; I go to listen to the music. I don’t need to be sitting at my computer to do that. As long as I meet their formal dress code, I can stand there and listen as long as I want; sometimes I plant myself there all day while I am doing other things!

Vanity Fair at Frank's Jazz Club 2 4 Apr 2018_001.png

Other times, I’ll decide to throw on a daring little minidress and visit FMD to listen to a stream of music that would not be out of place in a hip, fashionable modern club scene. It’s not music I would listen to on a regular radio station at all, but sometimes I’m in the mood for something different.

And on another day, and I’ll be in jeans and a leather jacket at Big Daddy’s 80’s Club or Muddy’s Music Café, listening to the music stream there.

Do you use Second Life as a radio station too? Leave a comment to let me know where you like to listen. I’m always open to new suggestions!