The Return of the Odd Ball

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

Tuna Oddfellow and his "Odd Ball" have been one of Second Life's most unique performers and events. In real life, he was and still is a magician, "Fish the Magish." In 2007 when Second Life was new and mentioned sometimes on television, he appeared on a special edition of "America's Got Talent" when they did a show featuring Second Life performances. He won, and took home a million Linden dollars. Soon after, he came up with the Odd Ball. There's no easy way to describe it. It could be described as dancing from within a kalideascope. But others have compared it to a psychedelic drug trip without the nasty side effects. The Newser interviewed him a few times, including 2015 and 2017.

Tuna has been absent for a little while. But he recently ended his hiatus. Over a week ago, he sent a notecard around.

Hello Tunaverse!  

We are slowly but surely making our return to the Odd Ball stage.  
 
 Like all many of you are experiencing, It's been a lousy past year for us on my end  

I needed to take a break and deal with life.

Keep a careful eye on my Subscribe-O Matic notices.  You will be the first to know what is going on.  

A few days later, he would do one of his trademark performances. 

Hello Tunaverse,

It's been far too long since we got together and got odd. That being said I am back in world and ready for a party.

Put on your wildest avatars and craziest costumes and let's get Odd Ball.  5pm SL time Today, Sunday

Remember, an unblown mind is a wonderful thing to waste. 

I was a bit occupied that evening. But thankfully there was another the next night.

Join master magician and the professor of immersive psychedelic art, Tuna Oddfellow for an evening of pushing all the boundaries of reality.  

The Odd Ball is a full sim psychedelic animated dance experience. If you have never been to the Odd Ball words can not explain it.

Bring a virgin to the Odd Ball. An unblown mind is a wonderful thing to waste.

As luck would have it, I was still needed elsewhere. So I sent my trusty alt Rezzdammit to the show, high above the Lagrange Point sim.

 "Welcome to the oddest ball anywhere in  the metaverse," greeted Tuna, "I am your host and trip master Tuna Oddfellow. Do not attempt to adjust your monitors I am controlling transmission. Just a few tips before we get started. Set your sky to midnight. Set your mind to midnight. (chuckles from the audience) Set draw distance to 256 or you miss half the show. For extra credit detach your camera and crank up your particle count to a comfortable level.

People greeted the magician as they arrived, "It has been  a while for me. I had forgotten what an experience this was." "Tuna, my friend!! Good to see you again." "Wow! I've missed this!" "So good to be here, Tuna. Welcome back! I hope you make this a habit. (smile)"  Tuna commented, "I will tell you what.. I will make it a habbit of you tell everyone you know that they need to be where the oddness happens! ... "Now the words you all want to hear: Hands inside the car! The ride is about to begin. Welcome to the Odd Ball!" "Yay!"

The show went on without a hitch, and it was as good as I remembered it. While some have described themselves as feeling trippy and relaxed after a session, it doesn't really affect me that way. But it is a great and fascinating display of colors that doesn't get old. 

Tuna would say, "I have added so many layers to the show over the years and it's never ever the same show twice. Also the regulars find better ways to optimize the experience every time they see it. Believe it or not it will take a few weeks for me to feel the show is running with full efficiency. Lots of my tools are being fixed for the future shows. Plus, I always create new stuff."

People continued to compliment Tuna, "I'm happy to see you haven't lost your touch!" 

They also complimented the tunes, "OMG! I have not heard that song since I was a kid, always have lpved that song."

Some of the "new stuff" arrive in the form of hundreds of particle smiling aliens going through. There were no ray guns or abductions. They were just dancing through.

At one point, he was saying, "I build my textures in texture series sets so they have seeds that melt into each other for the show... but this texture I want to build a new set around it. ... Okay I will stop talking like a psychedelic art freak for a minute." Someone chuckled in response, "You're awesome!"

"This is your brain on Tuna!" he quipped at one point, "Any questions?" Someone quoted him in response, "'An unblown mind is a terrible thing to waste'." Tuna mused "You better believe it baby!"

A few days later, Tuna held another event, but this time he had someone else playing the music.

Put on your wildest avatars and craziest costumes and let's get odd at the Odd Ball. 6pm Tonight Join master magician and the professor of immersive psychedelic art, Tuna Oddfellow for an evening of pushing all the boundaries of reality. Tonight DJ GoSpeed Rasere joins us for an encore performance of our premiere weekend working together in SL. Two great tastes that taste great together!

DJ GoSpeed has a blend of 80s New wave and Disco lined up for us.  Her mad skills at spinning tunes are second to none!

The show went on as before, though with GoSpeed's brand of tunes. Tuna would say of her, "GoSpeed has been doing amazing stuff she can tell you all about." Someone would comment, "I met Tuna in San Francisco, in RL! And he did magic tricks, and we could not figure him out at all."

Someone made a comment about the gears on the dance floor. Tuna informed, "These are the gears I put together when I performed a show for Hublot Luxury Watches."

Also there was Ariella Oddfellow (Ari Dumont), Tuna's partner, "I met him in real life in Texas, and promptly married him." "Ah! you are the wife!  wow, nice to meet you Areilla." "I am the historian, and this man's wife yes (smile). ... We have an awesome love story. I'll let him tell while I get the coffee." Tuna told, "We courted each other online for six months before meeting." After she came back, she continued, "I met him when he first came in world, so we were friends for years."

Eventually, GoSpeed would close her tunes with "Man Or Astroman," better known as the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" ending theme music. "Thank you for being our Tunaverse," the magician told the crowd, "We cant have a consensual hallucination without your consent."

The Odd Ball takes place at Lagrange Point (134/121/451). Contact Tuna Oddfellow to be notified about any future events.

Addition: Tuna would later tell me, "I will be performing a regular Friday night Odd Ball from 6pm to 8pm. Dj GoSpeed will be joining us and spinning special sets in the spirit of the Odd Ball  for tonight and upcoming friday night shows. GoSpeed Rasere spinning live at the Odd Ball Frday Mar 19 2021 6pm SL to 8pm."

Bixyl Shuftan

Farewell to Gracie Kendel's "Ce n'est pas une peinture"

By Bixyl Shuftan

On Sunday February 24th, noted artist Gracie Kendel held a farewell party for her three-dimensional art exhibition "Ce n'est pas une peinture." Known as Kristine Schomaker in real life, had created the artwork after hearing comments that artists in Second Life were simply uploading photographs of their work and not using the Grid's ability to fuller potentials to display art and decided to "play with the concept." The name translates to "This is not a painting."

For some months, the exhibition was in LEA 15 for anyone to come by and either look at from the teleport spot, or jump right in it. Unlike other examples of modern art, one could float around and experience the colors, and background music, from the inside.

Eventually, it came time for the exhibition to close. On the weekend before it, Gracie invited her friends to drop by for one last party for the place. And at 11AM SL time a number of residents dropped by. Some were decked out in some artistic-looking avatars themselves. It was a fun time for both the artist and her friends.

Asking her about her future plans, Gracie answered, "Well working on some more RL/SL plans," mentioning she needed to finish her current project: mannequins used as canvases for modern art. … I am creating 16 in RL but also creating 16 avatars in SL with painted skins that I will project in RL. So it will be another mixed reality thing (smile)." Would that be the only thing? Gracie herself wasn't sure, "who knows, maybe something else will come up ... you never know. (laughter)."

On Feb 28th came this announcement from Gracie:

LAST DAY to enjoy Ce n'est pas une peinture. It has been an amazing 6 months but it is time for it to end. Please come and enjoy the sim while you can  this one last day. I will be letting it all fall tomorrow morning slt :)) Have a wonderful day!!! Thank you so much for your support :))

And so, "This is not a painting" was now a part of Second Life history, gone with the nether. But one can still see the artwork in pictures and videos, such as this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2NQ69A4DQM&feature=youtu.be .

Gracie Kendel is perhaps best known for her 1000 Avatar Project, which made news in 2011. One can read more about her and her works at http://kristineschomaker.net/ .

Bixyl Shuftan

Gracie Kendel's "Ce n’est pas une peinture"

Gracie Kendel, the artist known for her "1000 Avatar Project" has come up with another art exhibition. The name of it is "Ce n’est pas une peinture," which translates to "This is not a painting."

In her article in iRez, Gracie mentioned that some art critics in Second Life feel two dimensional art on the Grid is too plain, "They don't believe people should upload photos of their physical art … they believe that people should use Second Life as its own platform. While I don't agree with this line of thinking, I did decide to play with the concept." So she came up with the idea "to deconstruct one of my paintings/collages into a full sim installation that avatars can walk and fly through and get lost in. … I want to expand on the idea of blowing apart a painting to evaluate and experience each layer separately as a whole."

In her blog, Gracie described herself as creating the place "using chance and spontaneity" while listening to a music stream playing jazz and classical music. The iRez article described herself as  having taken five days off her job, and doing little but work on the project, "Right now I am almost in a trance-like work state." Ziki Questi gave the number of prims as 1400

Getting to the location at the LEA 15 sim, I was invited to click on a glowing ball titled "Float." Doing so, I was transported to the middle of the artwork, slowly floating  and tumbling along in the middle of the sea of splashes of colors. It was … different.

"Ce n’est pas une peinture" was the scene of Gracie's sixth rezzday party, on Monday October 1st. At 7PM, a number of avatars dropped down to the bottom of the sim to wish the birthday girl well. Gracie herself was in an avatar skin that resembled the splashes of colors of her new project. Gwen Carillon provided the music for the party. A variety of people showed up, from fellow artist Bryn Oh, to someone from Virtual Ability Island, to a couple combateers from a Second Life combat sim army, "WOW, Bryn, great look." "Happy Rez Day Gracie!!!!! we love you!" "How's Gracie gonna test poseballs here?" "It's Gracie....she'll find a way."

Eventually, everyone had to go is and her separate ways. But the painting you can float around in will be around for a while at LEA 15 (63, 114, 533).

Sources: iRez, Ziki Questi, Gracie Kendel


*Update* A Youtube was made of the exhibit by Nina Camplin, which can be seen Here.

Bixyl Shuftan