Merry Christmas!

Well, it has been a hectic month. Parties everywhere - SL and RL. Shows left and right. Decorating for the season. I hope no one over-indulged to the point of injury.

We had a wonderful Sand & Snow event on Christmas Eve. DJ Sean Qendra spun some great island Christmas music, mixed with more traditional Christmas fare, out on our beach. It was a fun two hours.

We have our regular lineup between now and New Years' day. We might have a few changes, but not many. We really have a great array of talent at Cafe Casablanca. From instrumentalists to singers, bass to soprano, mellow to lively, from all over the globe, our performers are fantastic! I know some of you have your favorites, but do check out our calendar and swing by to hear someone new.

We have some ideas for special events for the new year, and we hope you will keep an eye on our calendar and the events list in SL. Thank you all for helping to make 2010 a fabulous year at Cafe Casablanca!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I hope all our American friends enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday. We held no events yesterday so everyone could spend the day with their families - because, no matter how much we enjoy providing great music and events for you, families are a true treasure.

What that means is that the next five weeks may be a little less than orderly. As everyone's Christmas events (and Hanukkah, and the other holidays this time of year) begin to occur, we will probably have a little chaos in our schedule. Keep an eye on our calendar, and make sure you're getting announcements through our group or our subscrib-o-matic.

What it also means is that some of you will get extremely tired of Christmas music over those five weeks. We will do our best to not overwhelm you with it. (Though, that Toys For Tots CD kiosk is still up, near the stage - you can contribute or buy a CD and help some less fortunate kids have a Merry Christmas.)

We hope everyone will have a very happy holiday season. And, we pray for safety and peace for all those deployed this holiday season - may victory bring you home soon.

A new event

A quick note from the road. (The resistance in Tangier needed a few things....) On Thursday, we will be trying something new: an old time radio broadcast. We will be streaming two episodes of the 1951-52 Bogie & Bacall radio program "Bold Venture" at 6pm SL, just before DJ Suzetta's Big Band event. I hope you will come on down and give it a listen.
Must slip away; the NAZIs are close. Hope to see you there!

Why we do what we do.

This afternoon at Cafe Casablanca, a few things happened that really brought home exactly why we do this.

As I got to the club today, there was a lovely couple dancing to our stream. It turned out, it was an anniversary for them. They have been together in SL for a year and were kind enough to say the Cafe is very special to them. They stayed for Annabel Trafalgar's show, where they were serenaded with some wonderful dedications and congratulated by the people enjoying the hour.

Another of our favorite couples, TuMing Urquan and Betty Kolonimann also came in today and were nice enough to share this image of them as they enjoyed the show. Anna sang "Unforgettable" for them. It is their song. Many of you know, it is also NytEyes and Conlaoch's song, so NytEyes wore an even bigger smile.

So many of you say such wonderful things about our club. I'm always thrilled to hear how a couple met at Cafe Casablanca, or fell in love all over again. Often, people tell us how much they enjoy relaxing to the stream while they take care of other tasks. We work very hard to offer a place for you to feel as at home as we do.

If you understand the realities of owning a club, you know we'll never get rich. Most clubs don't even break even, but when our patrons tell us they met at Cafe Casablanca, or a special event took place here...or simply that they always enjoy their time at the club, then we have all the riches we could ever ask for.

Thank you all for making this worth doing and filling our little gin joint with so much love.

Giving from the heart

I was remiss in the month of October, in not mentioning here on the blog about our Breast Cancer Awareness Relay For Life kiosk. If you visited in October, you are certain to have seen it, and heard us mention it there, but I really should have brought it up here, as well. Well, it's still there - right next to Sam's Piano. [Correction - the kiosk is gone. But, you can still donate through Suzetta Moonites during our Big Band nights on Thursdays. She could tell you the location of other kiosks, as well.] Donate as your heart moves you.

I also wanted to mention that we now have up a vendor for the SL Christmas album for Toys For Tots. For a contribution of L$500 or more, you get a CD with 50 (yes! 50!!!) SL artists performing a bunch of your favorite Christmas songs - including our very own Paulette Oldrich. Basically, you buy this great CD (I bought mine this morning) and you get 50 songs by 50 great performers that you can listen to anytime you want in SL, and Toys For Tots gets your L$500 - the whole thing. You can also donate through the kiosk if you don't want the CD, but want to contribute. (The folks who put this together with the artists is Wunderland Records.)

Please, when you come on by our place - or keep your eye out for it elsewhere in SL - consider getting a copy of this. You will love the music on it, and Toys For Tots will benefit, as well.

It Was a Dark and Mysterious Night!

You are sooo sorry you missed our Masquerade Thursday night! DJ Suzetta Moonites outdid herself finding Big Band music with a Halloween theme. With the spooky sounds drifting into the atmosphere, we even had a few disembodied spirits come to hear their old favorites!

Rumor has it Mr. and Mrs. Kelly Andel were the romantic couple in a quiet corner. I was also led to believe when Homer and Marge Simpson walked in that they are quite close to our own Don Hadezuma and his lovely Kat. I think I saw a little french coquette who went by the name of Fifi wink at our Avery a time or two. You know, some of her mannerisms reminded me of Paulette Oldrich. Sean Quendra was dancing nearby, so I'll have to see if he agrees. I'm pretty sure it was Sean because a very lovely brunette in a gorgeous plum colored gown who arrived a little later looked a lot like our manager Veronica Ogleby and she went right to him. Chance Paneer looked quite dashing and didn't seem at all unnerved by the very pale trio dancing by our stage. They claimed to be friends of MrShyGuy Schmooz, so we let them stay. Of course, since most were masked, we may never know if our assumptions are correct.

Without a doubt, a fantastic night.

One of our regulars, enjoying a show

Avery is enjoying his favorite Cafe Casablanca artist: JC Farstrider. Word is, he will come from the far reaches of the home to sit and listen to JC play his sax! (Nobody can ever say we discriminate against furries!)

(Thank you to Veronica Ogleby for the pic!)

Another month past at Cafe Casablanca

I will eventually get this blogging thing down - honest.

In the meantime, I have invited one of our performers to do a post. I hope to have regular posts from all our performers eventually, but I have to get the ball rolling with one, first.

I have also turned on comments. They are open to all at this point. We'll see if that lasts. I am assuming we will get the occasional ... problem comment. If it's occasional, I can deal with it. If it gets bad, I will have to put some restrictions on. You will have to do one of those captcha things to comment, though. (Please use your SL name to post if you're using the 'anonymous' feature for comments - that way we can say hi when you stop by.)

Our Big Band Night is going well, and moved to Thursday nights. (You're doing fantastic, Suzetta!) We are working other, appropriate DJ events. We wouldn't mind a few more instrumentalists (like the incomparable JC Farstrider). Hmmmm. Given the period of Casablanca and the big band themes... any clarinetists out there that want a shot at SLtardom?
Just to give a rundown of artists who performed this past week at Cafe Casablanca:

• Paulette Oldrich (2 shows)
• MrMikie String
  
• Alatiel Pessoa
• Mila Avedon
  
• JC Farstrider (2 shows)
• KB McAuley
• Annabel Trafalgar
• Glolo Ling
• theghost Melody (brand new!)
• RichardScott Barcelos
• DJ Suzetta Moonites

[Rick: Somehow, I forgot MrMikie String when I first put this list together.Sorry, Mikie!]

Oh, and I would like to thank Rick Irelund for stepping in last night, when we were having some difficulty getting our show going. He put in a half hour show while we worked things out, and sounded great.

We truly appreciate all our performers and all our patrons - you are both why we are here!

Hmmm... I'm not very good at this blogging thing

Well, I didn't post at all last month. And, nothing this month, either. Until now, of course. It's a good thing this isn't a daily blog.

Well, as is wont to happen, our schedule has changed all about in these last 8 weeks or so. We have a couple of performers coming in twice a week, even. We have had a few performers move on, and one or two new ones move in.

A new event we are trying is Big Band Night. DJ Suzetta Moonites - a fabulous DJ - will be queuing up her selection of big band hits, and playing them for two hours tonight (Wednesday, 25 August) from 7 to 9pm SL. I anticipate a great couple of hours of great music!

We are contemplating more special nights like Big Band Night. If you have any ideas that would match our club (no, we probably won't ever do a Slayer or Celtic Frost event), please IM Conlaoch Gustav or NytEyes Marikh in-world.

Oh, and thanks to all our patrons who tip the club and the performers - it's how we keep the music playing in SL!

Problems and Rumors

Well, we have had an exciting month so far. We have increased our shows in the evening, added Saturday shows on the beach, and added performers. It has been a whirlwind! (And, thanks to the lovely NytEyes for her hard work getting the performers and scheduling them. And, thank you to the gracious Veronica for her help in hostessing and managing the place.)

Unfortunately, we encountered a problem recently - tp'ing in and out of our location. We originally thought it was an individual problem - scripts the person was wearing, network issues, etc. It didn't seem consistent enough for a sim issue. But, as the numbers of people having problems increased, it became a concern. We have requested a region restart this morning (should be done by 10am SL, but no guarantees). [It was accomplished and appears to have worked. - Rick] If you are having trouble getting to our club (or problems leaving once you're here - that aren't just because you're enjoying the music and the company), please let Conlaoch Gustav or NytEyes Marikh know. We need to make sure your visits to the club are as easy as SL can make them.

We also encountered a rumor this week that we had shut our doors. That is *not* true! We are still here and we are still providing live and recorded music and a great atmosphere for dancing and being together. The teleport problems may have contributed to the rumor, as some people may have been unable to tp in to confirm that we are still there. Also, remember, there are several clubs in SL with 'Casablanca' in the name - make sure you are looking for "Cafe Casablanca" if you're searching for us.

Please come on by, if you haven't already, and check us out! Look at our calendar and pick a show, or just drop by anytime to listen to some very cool recorded music and dance or lounge. We are always open!

Pictures of the new place

Our lovely hostess, Veronica Ogleby, took some pics of the new digs today. Thank you, V, they look great!

[Ed: I forgot to put a title on it when I posted it....]

New Location!

Well, our tough first week (yes, you can hear the violins if you listen really closely) was compounded by the owner of the sim (and several other sims), Mr Diavolo, taking gravely ill, and having to give up SL. All of us at Cafe Casablanca extend our wishes for a speedy recovery and a return to full health to him.

The impact on us was that our sim would disappear. He managed to find buyers for some of his sims, but not all - ours was one that wasn't bought up. So, off we went to find a new home. This was not easy, because we had a really good thing going there. The beautiful and resourceful NytEyes found a possible home on the Dating sim - the only problems being it wasn't a coveted corner lot, and was a touch more expensive than we wanted to spend. As the search passed over to Conlaoch, he noticed the club sitting on the next door lot (a corner lot) was not active, and the land was actually for sale! It fit our needs about as well as anything we could find, and Conlaoch snatched it up.

NytEyes and Conlaoch (and Veronica, too - thanks, V!) got to work putting up the new club and landscaping and such. Trying to keep it as similar to the old club (that our patrons know and love) as possible was a little tough in the time allotted and given a few differences in the size and shape of the lot. But, they got it put together and it is looking marvelous! Work remains to be done, but it is open for business as of today - the first show at the new venue is at 12noon SL!

I will get a slurl in the links to the right as soon as I can get it (as well as fixing the calendar link) [DONE!]. In the meantime, if you go to the old club and click on the red sign, it will get you a new LM to get you over to the new club location. I hope both patrons and performers like it, as everyone put in a lot of work on getting it right! (Again, special thanks to the hardest working (and prettiest) club owner I know: NytEyes Marikh.) See everyone there!

What a week!

Well, a little more than a week since we began being responsible for the running of Cafe Casablanca, and, what a week it has been. We had a performer who gave us a health scare, computers that just wouldn't leave artists logged in to SL (fortunately they never lost the stream, and kept right on singing), thunderstorms threatening performers and patrons alike with digital darkness, screwing up our first week's rent....

But, we came through it all. And, we came through it because of the outstanding performers we have signed up at Cafe Casablanca, the efforts the new owners (one, in particular: NytEyes Marikh, the better-looking and more competent of the pair), the not insignificant help of Daedalus Lemuria, the former owner, and the help of a good friend, Veronica Ogleby. And, of course, because of the faithful patrons of Cafe Casablanca!

Conlaoch had his first solo hosting bit Monday afternoon, with Euterpe Aluveaux and Eponine Dench performing. He would like to thank both performers for making it easy and enjoyable! They are both lovely voices and professional performers.

Addendum: We found out after I posted this that the owner of our sim is ill, and will be leaving SL. Some of the sims (including ours) will be lost. We are in the process of getting set up in a new location, with a post early next week with more details. Standby for more information!

Welcome!

Welcome to the new online home of Second Life's Cafe Casablanca! Specializing in songs from the Great American Songbook on the stream, and live artists performing most days of the week, it's a great place to bring that special someone to dance, stroll the beaches or just sit and enjoy the view.


The club is under new ownership as of 8 May. The new owners are Conlaoch Gustav and NytEyes Marikh. Daedalus Lemuria built this club over three years ago, and it has been a fabulous venue for performers and guests. We hope to maintain the fantastic line-up of marvelous artists and great streaming music, and - if we're lucky - to even make the place a little bit better.


Please come on by, and check us out. Our calendar is here.