The Numbers don’t Lie:
February started out with the pre-groundhog day grand opening of Journey Island in SL. The numbers were impressive and support the feelings of the sim managers and Journey, that the grand opening was a success.
To greet the fans in their first 3D virtual world endeavor were Ross Valory of Journey and the island managers Farrokh Vavoom and his SL (as well as RL) wife, Argus Collingwood, Adrian Harbinger and his SL (also RL) wife Jocelyn Sands. Farrokh and Argus, the owners of Industrial-Design.com, have been the web developers for Journey for many years.
Having taken their talents and energy, combined with those of Adrian and Jocelyn, and put them into the creation of Journey Island, it was only natural that Journey would bring their musical talent from the real world into Second Life. Adrian Harbinger, founder and co-owner of Harbinger’s Haven Builder’s Sandbox in SL, is a RL sculptor as well as a SL sculptor. His work is evident on Journey Island as well as many other places around Second Life. “I am passionate about building in-world”, Adrian says, having sculpted all the Journey albums you will see on Journey Island. All other sculptures are at the hand of Adrian Harbinger as well.
Jocelyn Sands, assisting with the building, the voice-overs for the smaller builders called nests, also DJ’ed with Farrokh for the grand opening. Asked how the idea of Journey Island in Second Life was conceived, Farrokh Vavoom says, “The band decided to take a year off after a very long tour. So we had the opportunity for the first time in many years to start over with the website [www.journeymusic.com]. I floated the idea of a Journey island in second life and to my surprise they said yes let’s do it!” This is not surprising since Journey has “always been on the cutting edge of technology”, adds Argus.
There are many plans for the development of Journey Island as well as events for fans to participate in and as Farrokh tells us, “Neal Schon our guitarist has already asked me to build him a studio here so he can share new ideas with fans. He wants a place where he can interact at will from his home studio.” A regular schedule of events will be available soon.
As an excited Farrokh announces, “We hope to be able to stream some rehearsals and stuff like that”, Argus tells us that many Journey forum members have already become SL residents with enthusiasm. The fans are “charged” with anticipation of getting a chat with a band member on Journey Island and Farrokh states “More and more bands have Internet access on the bus and while they are on the road they have a lot of free time to indulge things like this, so bus concerts are a [viable] possibility.” It would seem our chances of getting that chat with a band member are more real than one might think as Neal Schon had been at the Island every night for the 3 nights leading up to the grand opening.
Reporting from Escape Club on Journey Island (130.200.43 - mature) http://slurl.com/secondlife/Journey%20R ... 130/200/43
Submitted by Rocket Flasheart
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