Article by Shellie Sands, originally published September 15
* * * * *
Featuring Nazz Lane, AMForte Clarity and Wiz Norberg
Our
very own Nazz Lane appeared recently on Tonight Live with Paisley
Beebe. A very skilled interviewer himself, Nazz was on the receiving
end this time. Speaking to Nazz just prior to the show, he did not seem
the least bit nervous. I, of course, had no doubt he would be
brilliant as he spends much of his time here in SL interviewing others, I
had every confidence he was prepared and anticipated the types of
questions he would be pressed to answer.
Nazz
was the first guest. After some sound checks and double checks,
Paisley began. Initial bleed over (for lack of a better way to describe
it) with each of the speakers made it a bit difficult to follow. The
engineers went to work and quickly straightened it out, and the
interview proceeded.
Nazz explained he began his
journalistic endeavors with Lane's List, a personal account of his
experiences in SL. He later stumbled across an ad for the SL Newspaper
in his travels and thought he might enjoy writing stories about SL and
other events in SL. He contacted the owners, JamesT Juno and Dana
Vanmoer, and was given an opportunity for a trial run, for which he was
both grateful and excited. This has blossomed into a nearly full time
career in SL and he has produced numerous articles and stories for the
paper, as well as other publications, including New Vibe magazine, to
name one.
Paisley inquired of Nazz what it is about SL that
makes good journalism and why he thinks so many people ask him to write
for them. Nazz replied he believes it is the fact that he tries to get
to the "who" of an individual, to understand who they are, and what
motivates them to do what they're doing in SL. He also tries to uncover
what drew an individual into SL and what holds him or her in.
Understandably, this requires him to be able to keep track of who's
doing what in SL and keep his finger on the virtual "pulse" of SL
events. He does this via blogs, twitter, RSS feeds, as well as art
forums, such as Pirates, Angelgate and Diablos, to keep up on events in
the art scene.
Nazz has recently completed the first 5
chapters of his SL book, Borders of Our Lives. The story Is based
loosley on the characters in SL, relationships and experiences, from the
newbie experiences on. The main character, Jeffrey Goff, is author
Jeffrey Stone and RL attorney. Jeff is quickly befriended by a female
mentor, who shows him the SL ropes, gets him clothes, hair, etc. Once
acclimated, Jeff realizes how it is affecting his RL and finds it
difficult to separate the two worlds. (A truer statement I have not
heard).
Paisley asked how much of the book was
autobiographical versus lives and experiences of people he has met in
his SL travels or perhaps people he has interviewed. Nazz acknolwedged
he has met many people here, some of whom he absolutely loves and adores
and would also like to meet in RL. What Nazz really hopes to achieve
with the book is to provide a vehicle by which to bring the SL
experience to those outside of SL who have never experienced a virtual
world. He tries to achieve this goal through the narrative and also
through the dialogue of the characters. Nazz finds it mind boggling
that, despite the lack of tactile senses in world, somehow we have a
sense of how people feel, how something smells or feels, or the
experience of dancing with someone and actually feeling like we are
touching them. I think any of us in SL would agree with this, as odd a
concept as it may be. This is a diffcult concept to portray to someone
who has not experienced SL. It's amazing what our own imaginations can
do. Nazz attributes it to the fact that many of us, in our first lives,
are engaging in various forms of communication daily, whether it is for
the job, via instant messaging or texting, or for some other form of
personal enjoyment.
The book can be
purchashed via his business office on Tranquil found in Nazz's picks in
his profile, or by sending him an IM directly. (Author's
Note: Tranquil has since been sold and interested persons should IM
Nazz directly to get a copy of Borders of Our Lives.)
According
to Nazz, he had always wanted to be a writer in RL but had never tried
it. Since he began writing in SL, Nazz has taken steps to hone his
craft and hopes to transcend the realm into RL in the future. I am sure
we will also enjoy his book when all planned 12 chapters are completed;
I anxiously await the final chapter.
Following
Nazz was singer/songwriter AMForte Clarity. I have heard AM many times
and was compelled to join her group. A very talented performer with a
surprisingly refreshing sound, AM spoke about her life growing up in a
small village in a suburb or Toronto, Canada.
After
performing a song, AM took her place on the couch with Paisley. When
asked how she chose her SL name, AM revealed that AM are her RL
initials, standing for Anna Maria, her true name. Forte is actually her
RL last name so, as she said, she does not hide anything.
AM
recounted a bit of her childhood, claiming it was tough growing up and
schools were difficult. She noted she was "so uncool" as a kid. Family
life was also a struggle for AM. Her family being very religious, she
was not permitted to listen to secular music. Of course she did, being
the rebel that she was (and still is by her own admission). AM believes
being a bit of a rebel sort of keeps it all real and reminds us we are
alive as we go through our sometimes mundane, routine filled lives,
governed by schedules and "must do" activities. She left home at age 20
to go to North Carolina for school.
Having escaped from
the small town environment in which she was raised, AM began looking for
love, admittedly in all the wrong places. I can definitely relate to
that! A true poetess at heart, AM began turning her prose into songs,
setting the words to music. SL has helped AM grow her RL music career.
Her website, AMForte.com, includes 5 professionally recorded songs,
many other songs she has written that are new and yet to be recorded,
and about "300 ideas for other songs," she said, laughing. She has
been putting very much effort into getting her RL career off the ground
for the past 4 or 5 years, sending demos out to multiple producers, etc.
, even including, in some cases, lavish gifts. This she said
chuckling, claiming she had heard this was the way to go.
Unfortunately, it got to be a bit pricey but she continues to try. You
have to admire her tenacity. AM would love to do a RL tour with other
SL musicians. My wheels started turning when I heard this. I have
ideas for her.
The thing that keeps AM going, she claims,
is she nearly died at one point, she did not elaborate, but it opened
her eyes. She decided she needed to really start living having been
given this second chance at it. This has made her decide that what she
really wants to do is sing and write songs rather than have a boring
9-5 job, no matter how profitable it may be. She hopes her songs may
help save some lives, through people identifying with the lyrics and the
emotions in her songs.
As a poet myself, I
can relate to the introversion and using writing as an outlet to
express those thoughts and feelings, bourne from our RL experiences,
when perhaps times were not always very happy. Listening to AM
describe her life's struggles through growing up with strict parents who
did not allow her to do much of anything, and often feeling out of
place in her environment, I truly felt as though I were looking in a
mirror, seeing a reflection of myself and my own life (minus the near
death experience). The similiarities were truly uncanny. This
interview gave me welcome insight into this talented musician,
songwriter, and poetess.
Wrapping up the
show was Treettv CEO, Wiz Norberg. Paisley described Wiz as somewhat
of a "quiet achiever" with not much written about him, and a real "mover
and shaker in SL" due to the content of Treettv, which is fast on its
way to becoming one of the biggest media outlets in SL. Wiz says he
will appear on some shows, but generally he is so busy making things, he
doesn't have much time. The best interviews he's done are with people
who have a clue about what he does here in SL, so those interviews go
well and are enjoyable for Wiz--much like talking shop to a colleague.
Treettv has been producing 14-15 shows per week generally,
for the last 18 months or so. Wiz stated that while it is difficult to
know how many people are watching the productions at any given moment,
many people watch after the fact, which is why Treettv makes media
available via many different options, to accommodate the global
community's schedules.
Paisley posed the question that,
because there is so much online media available to folks, how is Treettv
planning to compete with that? Wiz doesn't believe it is a competion,
TV is fun and everyone knows it's graphics they are looking at. "The
real competition we have are what other people are doing with their
time...because television itself is just .... we're interested in new
ways people consume things." Audiences are amazingly committed to the
shows on Treettv according to Wiz. He sounded very surprised by this.
Paisley
noted that Treettv itself is nearly about to be launched from the
former SLCN TV. Wiz clarified that Treettv is already launched and
people are watching it a lot inworld. The changes are more due to
better production and high definition TV, but the real change is the
launch of the website, which is geared to expanding the audience and use
the web more effectively. One of the problems they are facing is that
so many people are involved for a mere one hour show. Treettv has 3
full time people and various others, and the whole endeavor becomes
somewhat expensive. Wiz believes the website will help with this. Wiz
would like to turn the virtual island they are on into a bit more of a
showcase, complete with museum. The studio Wikipicture project they are
currently involved with is a bit of an experience, and it remains to be
seen how it will all unfold.
Paisley acknowledged that
much of the SL video/media available closely mimmicks RL, citing the
example that her SL studio for the talk show is very like a RL TV talk
show set. Wiz believes that what happens in SL is just a mirror of our
real lives, using the example of journalism, and splitting things into
chapters just as in RL. People have tried to do some different forms of
writing, but there are "certain ways that we engage in art" and
television is a reflection of our current lives. Some shows, such as
Simboarding or The Snails, are ideas completely off the beaten path of
what we would consider normal, reflective TV. The people factor is that
we just want to learn about each other, which I personally is a normal,
valid, human response.
This was a great
show and to her credit, Paisley is a very skilled and talented
interviewer. She exhibits terrific poise and quickly puts her guests to
ease. Check out Paisley Beebe on Tonight Live weekly, some of your
favorites may be the target of one her shows.
By Shellie Sands
* * * * *
Nazz Lane would write for SL Newspaper for several more months until striking out on his own in early 2010. Shelie Sands would be among those heading on to SL Newser. Paisley Bebe would continue Tonight Live for another two years, the last show being May 2011.
