By Madonna Daehlie
On Thursday, May 29th, the Rubber Room hosted a special two hour event, called the Concert For Caprice. The idea came from Cherise (CheriseLynn) as a way to celebrate Caprice Darkrose's life and love of jazz, as well to benefit the National Kidney Foundation.
Caprice Darkrose was a longtime resident of Second Life who previously owned the Darkrose Jazzland club, and later became a key part of the staff of the Rubber Room. She passed away on May 3, 2014 at the age of 35, due to complications of kidney disease, which she had battled for some time. Caprice was loved by many people in SL, and leaves behind many friends and a lot of memories.
The inspiration for the two hour live event came from Cherise, who wanted to find a way to celebrate Caprice's love for jazz music, and do so to benefit the National Kidney Foundation, which was a cause near and dear to Caprice's heart. Cherise contacted Gina Gracemount, who not only agreed to volunteer her time and talent to this special event, but also contacted Chillee Hernandoz, who also agreed to take part. Chillee and Gina are both well known for devoting their time to support others, often performing for events for the Relay For Life of Second Life.
Evergreen Engineer, the general manager of the Rubber Room, and who was very close to Caprice, generously donated the use of the club for the special benefit. Evergreen also assisted in hosting during the event.
Once the talent was lined up, the next step was to contact the National Kidney Foundation to set up a means to allow Second Life residents to donate their L$ to the charity. Both Madonna Daehlie and Elstan Guardian contacted the NKF via email, sharing the plans for the event, and helped to bring them inworld. Elstan also provided the event with a basic donation box, which transferred all the donations received directly to the NKF's avatar.
The first hour of the concert was performed by Chillee, who took the stage at noon. Despite having never met Caprice, she spoke of how honored she was to perform at this special event. She also mentioned that she had known a few people who knew Caprice, and were "deeply saddened" to hear that she had passed away. Her set was a mixture of moving, as well as upbeat songs, with her regularly urging all those in attendance to donate generously to this cause. She closed out her set with a pre-recorded and touching song for her daughter, which left very few dry eyes in the club.
At 1 pm, Gina took the stage and performed the last hour of this special benefit. She too put on an incredible set, including a number of touching and emotional songs that people asked her to sing and dedicate to Caprice. Much like Chillee before her, Gina's set was a combination of moving and fun, and she too urged everyone in the Rubber Room to continue to donate in Caprice's memory to help others.
Throughout the event, there were 50 or more people crowded into the club, with a peak of nearly 70. Many of those in the club knew Caprice, and wanted to be there to support a cause dear to her, as well as share love and memories.
Also amongst those in attendance was Anna, a representative with the NKF, who not only routinely thanked everyone for their generous donations, but also passed along information such as "So far we've raised enough money to educate 8 doctors on the latest research and care on kidney disease." She also thanked everyone for their support throughout the concert at the opening and closing of the concert.
The two hour event raised L$76,140, or roughly $300, thanks to the love and generosity of the organizers, performers, and attendees. The concert, and it's final total, was seen as a rousing success by all involved.
Elstan Guardian is working on plans to hold his own benefit event for Caprice and the NKF in the near future. Elstan, the caretaker of the Caprice Darkrose Memorial and Kinky BDSM Club, was a friend of Caprice's in real life. The memorial and club, which he has built, is meant to be a lasting tribute to Caprice, as well as her legacy to all those she loved in SL. The memorial and club has so far hosted two special memorial events on May 8th and 10th, DJ'd by Evergreen, Madonna, Immm Back and Siouxsie Seoung. Details will be shared once the plans are finalized, and much like the memorials in early May, all will be welcome.
If you would like to support the National Kidney Foundation inworld, or would like to help out with the upcoming benefit, please contact ElstanGuardian Resident or Madonna Milena in SL.
Madonna Daehlie
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