Visit the Middle Passage Experience, Again

Treet.TV interviewed Tamsin Barzane because of the Middle Passage Experience that she built in Saminaka last month, and allowed us to relocate the Experience at their Designing Worlds headquarters for another month. With seemingly limitless prims, it is now surrounded by lush greenery and rich sounds, so come and take another look! See the full TV program here:http://archive.treet.tv/designing-worlds-middle-passage-experience. Go to the Designing Worlds sim at Northpoint (71, 67, 22) http://slurl.com/secondlife/Northpoint/71/67/22/. Tamsin has created a deeply moving and personal way to understand and explore an important historical experience.

Show Me the Green

The Museum of African American Experience is the site of an environmental exposition this week; the Green and Sustainability Expo will be running from July 12 through the 18th. Come by and learn about how you can consume more wisely at home and at work. There are practical and informative displays about ways to conserve water in your home, what square-foot gardening is and how you can use it to provide fresh produce for your family, how you can change your patterns of consumption and your buying power to be more green, and how to reduce your carbon footprint. A number of different organizations with a presence in SL are represented, and you can collect some landmarks to help you get involved: Public Policy Virginia, the Center for Water Studies, Code Pink, and EnergyTeachers.org.
Learn more about how climate change is impacted by the world's growing population, how to organize a community farm, the role of oceans in helping us to slow climate change, the impact of climate change on the water supply and on water quality, the impact of climate change on the food supply, and how our state governments can support technologies to produce affordable and sustainable energy. This expo is not just about how to make the world better; there are participants to help you be better physically and mentally too! The Metabody Community Health Center is an open, public and visible safe space for individuals and organizations such as but not limited to the African American, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered and Gay Friendly communities currently looking for individuals interested in being on the inital board of directors in order to establish the center as a non-profit group. You can also get some very useful tips about how organic beauty can make you look wonderful while you help the planet. Come learn about green architecture, environmentally friendly clothing, animal rights, and find out how people on the African continent are also using traditions to help them save the environment, as well as some of the particular challenges faced by the ecosystem of the continent. Sponsors include many of the businesses in SL that represent the Diaspora, so show them some love! http://slurl.com/secondlife/SugarHill%20Retreat/45/43/60/

Come Hear Some NEW CD RELEASES

On Tuesday, July 14, at 7:00 PM SLT, SL-world-famous DJ Marjorie Dibou will be @ The CityBar. She will be dropping the NeoSoul we need to make it through the day. Come hear her favorite tunes, including a few new ones from Chico Debarge & Joe, along with some other artists you may have never heard before. If you know, you know this music will feed the beats you need to nourish your soul. http://slurl.com/secondlife/Windermere/111/49/26/ Set your browser to http://bit.ly/uKOQ9

I'm Still Recovering

I'm still recovering from yesterday's memorial service for MJ, but I was so elated to see the Jackson family and the African American community as a whole offer definite push back to the prevailing media portrayals of Michael as a troubled celebrity whose fame was in decline. Yes, he may have accumulated a great deal of debt; yes, many in the white mainstream believed that he had committed criminal acts against (at least) two young boys, and yes, this same mainstream society was itself disturbed by the results of his cosmetic surgeries. But those of us who love him, and love his music and his spirit, united yesterday to pay tribute to his creativity and his generosity to all people, but particularly to children in Africa and around the world, and his determination to celebrate life despite the tensions created by the pressures of celebrity. Kenny Ortega and organizers of the ceremony, along with those many famous others who performed and spoke yesterday provided an immensely powerful message: that Michael as an individual and as an artist, and the Jackson family as a whole, remained grounded in the still fertile spiritual traditions of black religious worship, from the first hymn performed by the Andrae Crouch Choir, "Soon and Very Soon," and the first invocation given by Reverend Lucius Smith, through Reverend Al Sharpton's very emotional eulogy, to the final blessing Smith gave before sending us all back out into the larger world to continue celebrating our blackness. We heard the Church say Amen in Lionel Ritchie's performance of "Jesus Is Love," in Jennifer Hudson's version of "Will You Be There," and in the concluding performance of the song that Michael and Lionel wrote together, "We Are The World." We felt not only the deep mourning of Mariah Carey, Usher, Jermaine and Marlon Jackson, but also their own rich beginnings as successful and loved entertainers in the black church tradition, in the places where they first performed and first also experienced the beauty and power of singing for others. We heard Church when Martin Luther King III and Bernice King addressed the congregation, and we saw the political legacy of the black church recognized in Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee's announcement of the resolution to be introduced in the U.S. Congress by the Congressional Black Caucus. We saw people of many different backgrounds share in that rich tradition as they also performed in dance and song throughout the service, giving evidence that not only black people found inspiration in Michael's example. In addition, and closely connected to that spiritual awareness of a community and a tradition that historically has helped, and continues today to help, people of African descent survive political, social and economic inequality and oppression, we were reminded of the personal fulfillment Michael found as a father to the three children who are now being raised by his mother Katherine when we heard Paris Katherine speak about missing her Daddy. I will be singing along to his and his brothers' songs in my car and in the shower for the rest of the month, for the rest of my life, celebrating the beauty and power of black spirituality and the richness of African Diasporic culture.

Welcome to Club Corazon

Club Corazon, located at Plaza De Corazon http://slurl.com/secondlife/Isla%20del%20Corazon/188/63/33/, offers a wide range of music including top of the chart hits for 80's & 90's Party Dance, Classic Rock, Motown, 50's Sock Hop, Love Songs on Formal Nights, 70's Disco, 60's Hippie Night,Old Soul, R&B, Latin and several more. Events are held every Thursday through Tuesday from 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm SL Time, except Saturdays, which is 5:00 pm until 9:00 pm SL Time. Owners and Managers WOW Nightfire and Annetta Decosta invite you to pick up your free Club Corazon T-Shirts which can be found just inside the club entrance, and after dancing to please visit and shop their many nice shops featuring clothing for men and women. They hope you enjoy the classy & romantic atmosphere of SL's No.1 party dance club with heart and soul. This week, events include Classic Rock nights featuring Elton John on Thursday, Fleetwood Mac on Friday, and Billy Idol and Guns'n'Roses on Saturday. Sunday is Disco Fever night. On Tuesday, July 21, Club Corazon will be having a Wizard of Oz costume contest and giving away Flying Monkey door prizes as well as a L$500 prize for Best Movie Character Costume. Club Corazon is PG RATED, so come out and have a good time with grown folks.

Missing Michael Jackson, Again and Always

My typist finally had to turn off the TV; she just couldn't take one more word of speculation about the fate of Michael Jackson's money, his children, or his final resting place. She did laugh herself to tears watching Jamie Foxx be a brilliant, MJ-loving fool on the BET Awards, and now, reading, finally sitting down to read Greg Tate's excellent article in the Village Voice on why we are missing Michael so much, and The Jackson Five on replay, she's really about to cry. It's finally sunk in--The Gloved One is gone, he's joined the Celestial Choir with his own idols, jamming up in heaven with James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke--that our childhoods are truly over...I suppose that the television will have to be turned on again tomorrow to share in the memorial tribute at the Staples Center and the media hype will ratchet up another level, but as my typist and I listen again to the brothers' youthful harmonies and sweet love songs, she remembers the daily crushes on each of the boys in turn and the playful arguments with childhood girlfriends about who was going to marry whom when they grew up, and the absolutely pure joy of seeing them dance and sing together at every variety show appearance, looking so happy and so perfect! Well, she's singing along again to The Love You Save; we won't be able to get the song out of our heads for the rest of the month, at least. And seeing Michael's glowing smile and smooth moves in those early videos for Rock with You and Don't Stop Until You Get Enough reminded her of those first crushes on real boys, practicing dance steps in the driveway with his voice soaring from friends' boom boxes, and joining Janet on backup, wishing that she was old enough to go to his concerts, and finally being allowed to that year Thriller won all those Grammys. He truly will be permanently on the soundtrack of her life, marking so many important moments, including this one, this time of mourning, memories, tributes and celebration of all the things Michael Jackson represents for all of us. (It will be a miracle if she is able to write about Second Life this week!)

Black Soul Rhythms Radio

Tonight at 5 p.m. SLT DJ Nisa will host the premiere of the Black Soul Rhythms Radio Machinama at the home of Marjorie Dibou. Listen to DJ Nisa & the best hiphop & RnB as you watch a short film which introduces you to the Black Soul Rhythms Radio DJs and the music they play during their live broadcasts. Find out the many ways to keep in contact with BSR Radio and how to tune into our broadcasts. This machinema was created in Second Life by Rysan Fall, CEO of Fall Films - July 2009. Marjorie has some of the best DJs on SL that I have ever heard, and gives the best parties, so come in and cool off from the barbeque and fireworks! http://slurl.com/secondlife/SugarHill/220/101/37/
Every Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9 pm SLT BSR Radio Gospel Sunday streams the best gospel recordings for 12 hours on SugarHill or from your own land when you put their stream in your media player. To tune in from SL, set your media to http://sh1.bsrstreams.com:8000 To tune in from RL, open your web browser to http://bit.ly/uKOQ9 In addition, listen for the new motivational moments called "This Is Your Wake Up Call" by Bishop Vashti McKenzie throughout the day!

A Cool and Mellow Nightspot

Nat's Jazz Club at Shadyside on Ephesus Island really is the place for classic jazz, fusion, R&B, and neo-soul tunes for the sophisticated listener and music lover. Designed in the style of the classic jazz lounges of the 1950's and 60's, this club, owned and managed by Linda Sautereau and Ricky Tuncsik, features TWO private streams playing when the regular DJs (among them, DJ Isaack) are not scheduled for a show, and Nat's is open 24/7 for your listening and dancing pleasure. They've installed a bar, a line dance, a dance ball for singles and couples dance balls on the floor. Have a romantic evening in our lounge area or dance the night away on the main dance floor. Sit and chat with friends in the lounge area as you listen to the soothing sounds of classic jazz, soft R&B and blues tunes for the discerning jazz afionado. Stroll across the green to the yacht, MS Ephesus, for a romantic, moonlight rendezvous, a swim in the pool, a sit in the hot tub, or just relax at the bar. While here, take a look at the houses for rent at reasonable prices. Play where you live, live where you play, at Shadyside on Ephesus Island. Come find romance, good folks, and great music at Nat's Jazz Club, definitely one of the best jazz clubs in SL. It's a great way to start or end the weekend....http://slurl.com/secondlife/Ephesus/142/162/21/

Solylence Presents New Fashions

FashionStarModels manager Mariella Spitteler and announcer and model monica Dieterle presented their star team of fashion models wearing designer Solylence Houston's summer line for Solylence Creations, inspired by her travels in Africa and Asia, and including fashions for women and men. Cafee, Ruben, Lorac, Tesan, Shona, and Babi demonstrated their professionalism and talent in displaying the designer's work, a variety of outfits perfect for casual days of shopping and hanging out with friends, and hot steamy nights of dancing and dinner, and all your SL social events. There were a number of different denim washes available for men's jeans, with nice complementary colors for casual and dress shirts and tees, allowing your man to go from a summer wedding to a gallery opening to a club or two (or three), while the looks for girls favored short-skirted but classy and tasteful dresses with flirty ruffles and accessorized with high heels (we love that they don't hurt the feet in SL, all the better to lengthen already long shapely legs!), but also included short sets for the beach, and gowns for more formal evening events. My favorite was Temador, a deep teal, full-skirted evening gown with a white gardenia accenting a single asymmetrical shoulder and a fitted bodice to compliment a toned torso and every single curve from every angle, with a subtle brocade-like texture. Cafee wore it well, and managed to make the sweeping train seem very easy to maneuver. At the end of the show, the designer appeared in one of her African wax prints shaped into a dramatic strapless gown, a signature that I wish had been retained for this current collection. Perhaps she will work with some ethnic woven fabrics again for her fall or winter or resort collections; in the meantime, I do have many of them in my inventory already that are perfect for summer and summer-into-fall wear as well as for resort season (which is all the time in SL, right?). I applaud Solylence for her past and ongoing contributions to African Diasporic creativity in SL, combining the best aesthetics of different African ethnic traditions with the inspiration of cosmopolitan styles, and I look forward to her next show, which I know will be as well-attended and enjoyable as today's show.

Old School Hip Hop at the Boom Box

Friday has finally arrived and as per usual my friends Asra Pera and Nox Winkler are throwing one of their usual weekly Hip Hop Parties over at the Boom Box, a club dedicated to and specializing in old school hip hop and underground. Starting at 11 a.m. SLT, and continuing over the coming hours, their regular DJs Jaw, Zaz, Satomi & Sheeba will be on the Wheels of Steel and tearing up the place with a mixture of classic old school, breakbeats and B-Boy tunes for your listening pleasure. If you like your Hip Hop real and are looking for a fun party then head on over to the Boom Box and join us! http://slurl.com/secondlife/Gift%20/223/25/22/

A Plug for My Home in SL

I find myself rarely talking about New Toulouse here, not because I don't love it, but because I love it so much that when I start, I can't stop. I thought I should announce that this weekend is a special one because of the way we celebrate a very special son of New Orleans on the day he claimed for his birthday. The Fourth of July is not just the birth of the U.S., it is also a symbolic birth of jazz as we celebrate the anniversary of Louis Armstrong's birth. In honor of the opening of the Louis Armstrong exhibit this weekend at the Toussaint L'Ouverture Library in New Toulouse, Radio Riel New Toulouse is playing nothing but Louis all day Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Tune in for some Satchmo this weekend, 24/7, at http://newtoulouse.radioriel.org ! Listen in and enjoy! And pour a cold, tall one for Louis while you enjoy the lovely exhibit created by my wonderful and hard-working colleague GallateaSu Beaumont. http://slurl.com/secondlife/New%20Toulouse/206/49/25/