Enjoy Chouchou while you can: Our days are surely numbered

If we were to survey Second Lifers to determine which in-world performers are most likely to succeed in Real Life, I do believe that Chouchou would win by a landslide. What baffles me greatly is that they are, as yet, undiscovered and haven't been swept away by a big label. Where are the talent scouts, for crying out loud? Ah well, their loss is our gain, as we can still attend relatively private live performances.

And speaking of performances, juliet Heberle tells me that while she and arabesque Choche just launched their newest club, Universe, they also have plans to create a revamped Islamey club, and have both venues available.



It was at the original Islamey - a jewel box in the sky - and thanks to Evo Szuyuan, that I first discovered Chouchou, the one-year old musical group that only exists in Second Life.



For those of you unfortunate enough to have never heard of Chouchou, allow me to remedy that situation. Here is one of their earliest videos.

"coma" Music Video - Chouchou

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Chouchou gives us the Universe

Hot news for Chouchouholics, members of the near-fanatical in-world fan group dedicated to Chouchou, the musical group that only exists in Second Life®. Masami Kuramoto just advised me that juliet Heberle and arabesque Choche have a new song coming out, Eterna, and... a new club that reaches for the stars, called simply: Universe.


Photograph by Masami Kuramoto

Universe is not a place you can drop in and visit most times as it only exists during this delicious band's performances, and consists of wisps and whimsies and particle effects that are rezzed on the spot.

As stingy as I am with my limited in-world groups, I joined Chouchouholics for fear that I'll miss it all.

More Chouchou - Making music from somewhere far, far away

Ever since Thursday when Evo Szuyuan TP'ed me to a snow-globe jewel in the sky, I have longed to know more about that space... more about the musical group Chouchou - that exists only in Second Life - and more about their incredibly haunting song and music video "coma," which was shot in part, at that location.

"coma" Music Video - Chouchou

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I touched base with juliet Heberle (rez: 4/17/2007) yesterday and discovered that she is Japanese, but has been living in Manhattan for the past ten years, while her partner, arabesque Choche (4/8/2007), lives in Tokyo and is half-Japanese/half Central European.

juliet Heberle: Our group name is Chouchou, and the sky place you visited is "Islamey," created for our live concerts (teleport from here, and then walk through the tunnel and touch the crystal ball to teleport up).

Chouchou came into existence in July of 2007.



Bettina Tizzy: What is "coma" about? It seems so ardent.

juliet Heberle: "coma" is sung in a language from nowhere. I created the lyrics, imagining words from somewhere very, very far. Yes, people really like the song, even if they don't know the meaning of the words.

Her almost child-like, completely unforgettable voice, whispers in our ears while we are regaled with imagery that transports us to another mindset. Juliet shared that so far she sings in "Japanese, English and a language out of nowhere."

Bettina Tizzy: Did you and arabesque meet in Second Life? And who did the Machinima?

juliet Heberle: No, we've known each other for a long time, and have met in Real Life, but we can hardly meet each other. It's too far! arabesque made our official videos "coma" and "Islamey." The location, Islamey, opened last fall and changed to a winter version now.

Bettina Tizzy: Who built Islamey?

juliet Heberle: I had those images for the space first, and I collected all the things I needed to assemble it. I then turned to Yuki Aabye - one of a great creators in Second Life, and he helped me to transform my images into shapes.

The icy floral space is delicate and finespun like the most exquisite snowflake, and includes winter trees by Julia Hathor , owner and creator of the four sim Creative Fantasy Home & Garden (teleport directly from here).

Bettina Tizzy: The recordings... done in real life?

juliet Heberle: arabesque first composes the music and sends the data to me through the Internet. I listen to it, and write the lyrics and sing. Then, I send that data back to arabesque, again via the Internet, and he mixes it. We're working on new songs right now, but in the near future, we want to make more videos for our songs.


Photograph courtesy of Chouchou

Bettina Tizzy: Did one of you convince the other to come in-world?

juliet Heberle: I think arabesque told me about Second Life first, and we decided to start together.

You can purchase their music in-world (teleport directly from here), and also pick up a free Radio Box, from which you can stream Juliet's weekly radio program (lasting between one to two hours) on Saturdays at 6am SLT, "Little Tiara."

Believe it or Not: Drama Libre - The club that's been rebuilt 64 times

Like a lot of kids, instead of going to sleep, I was under the covers, reading... and more often than not, my flashlight was pointed at an old yellowed vintage pocket book edition of Ripley's Believe it or Not. The original hand drawn syndicated comic strips were crammed full of "strange, weird and unbelievable phenomena," and were as close to NPIRL as I could get when I was 10 years old.

Well, here's one for the books...

I don't often go to dancing spots but last night my friend was there and he was my destination. As soon as I rezzed, I zoomed out...



We were dancing on a cutting board to one side of some sliced purple onion... okay! Turns out that if I had used a landmark, I would have arrived via the faucet and dripped into the kitchen sink.


This didn't me strike as especially odd until I learned that the owners completely rebuild the club every single week... every single prim, and they've been doing this since early October of 2006. That's a total of 64 entirely new builds.

Peachy Sassoon (rezzed 12/18/2005) and her friend Xerxes Sismondi (rezzed 4/24/2006) are two Americans who met in Second Life in June 2006, fell in love, and four months later founded the Drama Libre group and dance club.

According to Peachy, "We were so tired of going places that only offered strippers, escorts and dancers, so we decided it was time to open a place with none of that, and came up with Drama Libre." Drama Libre, by the way, means 'Free of Drama,' in Spanish.

Because they work in teams and someone always forgets to set every prim to copiable, Peachy and Xer only have three of the 64 builds in inventory. Their first club - dating back to 10/05/06 - was called The Titanic.



"Back then we were doing events once a week; now we do them twice: Saturdays and Thursdays," said Peachy.


Per Peachy: "We did one with two pirate ships, and one of the ships had a captain's room complete with a desk that had a quill pen and paper on it, as well as a spinning globe."

"It used to be that Xer and I would build the new set on Friday nights, starting at 10pm EST and finishing up around 6am." Now they build over the course of the week.

Because each build is so uniquely different, so must the TP point be. To get around that, Peachy and Xer created a permanent way station. The teleport has evolved to become one of the most important elements of each week's experience.

"We did a set called Heretics and the teleport point was inside a confession box. For the Criminals & Villains, the teleport was inside a grave. Visitors had to walk up a ladder and out into the grave yard," added Peachy.


For the record then, and unpublished anywhere else, here are all the sets built by Peachy and her Xer - together with their ever-changing clan of helpers.

DRAMA LIBRE SETS

COMPLETED THEMES -- 2006

1. Titanic -- On the open-air deck of the SS Titanic
2. Safari -- A jungle clearing, surrounded by wild animals
3. Camelot -- The great Hall, the king's throne and the round table
4. Uniforms in the Streets -- Street scene in NYC, with a flatbed semi as a stage
5. Under the Sea -- Underwater scene with sunken pirate ship, coral and sea creatures
6. Winter Wonderland -- Snowy park with ice sculptures
7. Santa's Workshop -- Self-explanatory. With toy-making machine
8. Ice Palace -- Dining room of an ice palace; ice-skating offered
9. Antarctica -- A submarine surfacing in Antartica

COMPLETED THEMES -- 2007

10. Fairy Tale -- Magical forest with a waterfall and stream
11. Pirates -- On the open-air deck of a 3 master schooner
12. Roman Feast -- A Roman bath and table piled with food
13. Wild Wild West -- Outdoor train robbery; with Black Bart the rideable bull
14. Circus -- 3-ring circus in a tent
15. Prohibition -- Street scene of old Chicago docks with an illegal still operation
16. Aaron Spelling Tribute -- TV studio set with camera and lights and action!
17. Mardis Gras -- New Orleans street scene
18. Sci-Fi: The Eagle has Crashed -- Crashed rocketship on the surface of a strange planet
19. On the Boardwalk -- Boardwalk and beach scene
20. St. Patrick's Day -- An outdoor slice of Ireland, with a castle and ruins
21. A Fairy Tale Ball -- Indoor ballroom
22. The Flintstones -- Bedrock's drive-in theater
23. Superheroes -- street scene: Sentinels attacking, crushed and burning cars and buildings
24. Honey, I Shrunk the DListas -- Supersized picnic scene with giant flowers, grass, ants, etc
25. Dramastock -- Woodstock at Drama Libre
26. Heretics -- Indoors, in a Gothic temple
27. Cinco de Mayo -- Mexican village surrounding a mission church
28. Rennaisance Faire -- Jousting grounds



29. Grease -- A malt shoppe with a parking lot of hot rods
30. Black & White movies -- B&W depiction of the red carpet scene of the 1938 Oscars
31. Indiana Jones -- Underground cavern with hanging bridge and traps
32. The Matrix -- Rooftop scene with orbitting Sentinels
33. Muppets/Sesame Street -- Sesame street scene; entrance way via TV teleport
34. Lord Of the RIngs -- Scene from Weathertop; entrance to an underground cavern
35. London Bridge -- Replication of London Bridge... literally
36. Atlantis Found -- Underwater scene with temples and streets, coral and sea creatures
37. Bastille Day -- In the courtyard of 1700's Bastille, with guillotine and gallows and hedge maze
38. Cartoon Channel -- Cartoon stylized farm and Wile E Coyote set
39. Gypsy Camp -- Forest clearing for a camp of gypsy caravans; with curving stream
40. 08/03 Mad Max -- Oil well scene with tanker truck and Mad Max vehicles
41. 08/11 Miami Vice -- Backyard and pool of a dealer's mansion
42. 08/18 Samurai -- Walled Samurai village with koi pond
43. 08/25 Survivor -- Plane crash in snowy mountains
44. 09/01 Gone with the Wind -- Tara plantation and the grounds
45. 09/08 Ghost Town -- Abandoned western town
46. 09/15 Crash Party/Noobie Party -- (SL maintenance on Sat)
46. 09/22 Star Wars cantina -- self explanatory
47. 09/29 Pirates Of Drama Libre -- 2 ships, one being a merchant ship the other a pirate ship.
48. 10/6 Mythology -- Very large cave with walking tunnel and the river Styx
49. 10/13 High School Days -- Hallway with lockers that lead into the lunch room
50. 10/20 Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon -- Bamboo forest and large pagoda
51. 10/27 Villains & Criminals -- Graveyard
52. 11/3 Anniversary -- Large sphere with props from passed events.
53. 11/10 Shakespeare's Theater -- A stage set outdoors with benches around
54. 11/17 Founding The New World -- A beach with the world founded by Cannibals
55. 11/24 Shantytown -- A slum section of town with a railroad tracks.
56. 12/01 Castle Seige -- Castle front with moat and area with seige tower
57. 12/08 The Amazon -- Tree house platforms
58. 12/15 O Christmas Tree -- Large Christmas tree with a fireplace and toys
59. 12/22 Toyland -- Large toy area


The Toyland theme had a working mobile in the center

60. 12/29 SnowMan's Ball -- An outdoor skating rink with snowmen from Calvin & Hobbs

COMPLETED THEMES 2008

61. 01/05 Valhalla -- Big hall with Long boat outside where everyone TPs in
62. 01/12 DMZ -- Bridge with Drama Libre on one side and Drama on the other


63. 01/19 The Louvre -- Inside the Louvre
64. 01/26 Haute Cuisine -- A very large kitchen; a take on Honey I Shrunk the Kids

Back when Drama Libre began, builds had to be kept under 500 prims. After a little land acquisition, they now have 1000 prims to work with. The Drama Libre group has 259 members.

Teleport to the way station directly from here.