The Olive Branch: A Year of Growth

We attended the first year anniversary dance at TOB on May 20.

The celebration had started at 12 SLT, but a scheduled discussion at Austin had delayed our arrival until around 1 pm SLT.

I don't believe it is necessary for me to point out to readers who have visited TOB how absolutely gorgeous the scenery is in that sim. In my opinion, I've never frequented another sim that has managed to synchronize all the components of the setting to create such a wonderfully complete gestalt, and this includes comparisons to universally acknowledged paragons of beauty like Tempura.

Linda and I

Incredibly enough, the designers managed to outdo themselves for this event. The landing point of the sim had been redesigned with stone ramparts and looked quite fetching compared to when I last went there.

Landing Point

Guests would then walk along a narrow and winding dirt path to get to the dance location. A moss covered stone wall delineated the path from the surrounding vegetation, which all tended towards temperate woodlands.

Path to Olive Seed Garden

The path ended at a stone archway, with a wooden sign proclaiming that this was the entrance to the Olive Seed Gallery.

Entrance to Olive Seed Gallery

The dance location itself had been festooned with large images of many of the TOB members, which hang from moss-covered walls and various easels, and all framed by majestic trees covered in lavender blooms.

There were dozens and dozens of portraits spread out among the various sections that made up the gallery, but after some confusion and a lot of scanning I even managed to locate our pic with the help of Sage (SageWisdom).

When we finally arrived late, there were still many people dancing gracefully to the tunes of DJ Jeroen, all of them dressed in their finest regalia. Melinda Nyn and Damion (cyberdami Resident) were dancing there, as were Billy and Sage Avedon.

We spent the next hour enjoying ourselves as we pirouetted and glided under the protective canopy of the ancient verdant trees that crowded around the gallery.

At the end a colorful display of fireworks lit up the night sky.

It was definitely an amazing way to celebrate the first year anniversary of The Olive Branch!

Note: If you took pics of your own, feel free to contact me for posting.

Heaven and Hell Dance at Cafe LaPe'rouse @ Austin

Cafe LaPe'rouse @ Austin held an Heaven and Hell Dance on 2015-3-27.

I upgraded my outfit from the last angels and demons dance by adding rams horns and large demon hands, while my Linda was dressed in a sexy open-midriff white gown with fragile angel wings and a halo.

Poster about Dance. I do have a cute butt!

Two sessions were held during the day, with Melinda Nyn and Aria Vyper (Mili) hosting the events and DJ Abby (Nightgirl Destiny) and DJ Stormy Dench providing the music.

Borg Cube above Austin

The venue was a platform constructed high above the turrets and castles of Austin by Melinda and Aria. As was the case earlier at The Olive Branch event, it looked remarkably like a Borg Cube, with the bluish heaven on top, and the flame-tinged hell below.

Staircase between floors

The two halves of the cube were separated by a translucent floor, and passage between the floors was provided by a glassy staircase to one side.

Heaven and Hell

I attended the first dance at 1 SLT, and the the event itself was awesome. Yes, I do know I sound like some California dude high on surf, but the music was cool and the talk was funny, loud, and continuous.

Most of the dancers concentrated in the heavenly part for the first hour, but our natural tendencies drove us deep into the bowels of hell for the last part of the dance. Matching her songs to our predilections, DJ Abby spent the first hour mixing heavenly songs like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", then switched to songs that catered more to the damned, like "Devil Woman" by Cliff Richards.

It's hot down here!!!!

I'll have to say I really do prefer the scenery down below. Puffy white clouds and heavenly angels carousing in a deep blue sky keep me calm and tranquil, but the roaring flames that enveloped the floor below got my blood up and running, and  having the delectably delicious Linda in my arms gave an added heat to the festivities.

The damned dancing in the pits of fiery Hell!

Thanks to Melinda, Aria, and the DJs, as well as all the attendees for creating such a fun and sexy afternoon!

More pics below. If you see yourself in one of the pics and would like to be identified, please send me an IM.

If you took pics of the event and would like them to be included here, please IM me as well.

eGoes Alter and Melinda Nyn

Hunter Teodosio and Aria Vyper

Billy Avedon and Sage (SageWisdom)

WW (Worldwide Pedalo) and Melinda Nyn

Demons and Angels Dance at TOB

The Olive Branch held a very successful Demons and Angels dance on January 14, 2015, with more than 40 people total joining during the 2 hour long festivities and an average of around 30 present at any one time.

The Dance was hosted by Melinda Nyn and Lia (Naharlia, who also came up with the concept for the show). DJ Abby (Nightgirl Destiny) provided the music, and all the songs she played dealt with angel and demons, or heaven and hell, which added very nicely to the overall atmosphere!

The venue was a stunning work of art designed and built by Mili Adored, with Melinda providing some stylistic cues. Beautiful statues of angels and demons created especially for the show by my girl Linda (lb burnstein) were placed strategically around the cube-like environment.

The venue was divided into two floors, with a transparent floor between them. A misty fog provided a particularly supernatural ambiance to  the environment, although I filtered it out from my pictures in order to get clear shots of the event.

The "Heavenly" upper floor had blue skies with clouds surrounding it, and this is where people first congregated during the start of the dance.

Heaven

The lower floor that depicted "Hell" was even more stunning. A maelstrom of dark red flames  swirled below the dancers, who were surrounded by walls of desolate but majestic vistas where angelic and demonic statuary cavorted and flew. In the center of this infernal landscape, a statue of a demon carrying a fallen angel rose from the flames to dwarf the dancers.

Hell

Hell

Looking up from the floor below, one could see the dancers above, although given the crowd that day, I doubt many envied them their place in Heaven.

Looking up to Heaven

I must admit I had seen the beginnings of this venue during the Night of the Asshats, but the final version still stunned me. From afar, the entire set looked like a colorful Borg cube (yes, I was a Trekkie when growing up *shamed embarrassed look*).

Colorful Borg Cube

Compliments about the venue were many and loud, and Melinda promised to pass them all along to Mili and Linda, both of whom could not attend the event.

The event also featured a contest, whereby people could vote for the best female and male in costume. About 20 women signed up for the best female costume, and around 10 men signed up for the best male costume, and when the winners were announced near the end of the dance, MarthaJT won best female costume, and Lucian Overland won the best male costume.

Board for best female costume

This was the second major event held by TOB that I have attended, and like the 1960s Beatles Dance held earlier, the time and effort spent on its preparation was plainly evident and a major contributor to its success.

Thanks again to Melinda, Mili, Lia, Linda and all others who worked so hard to give us such a good time!

More pics from the dance (with misty fog again removed):

Night of the Asshats

The Asshats Gang: Lia, Meli, Mk, and Linda

Warning: graphic depiction of butt paraphernalia and other things related or semi-related to people's derriere. The author will not be held responsible for any vomiting, fainting, or partial blindness caused by reading this article.

For some reason, Linda is particularly fascinated with the word 'asshat' (and no, it's not because she thinks I'm one!), and yesterday she got me a gift and asked that I wear the hat she had given me. Being an honest and innocent soul, I had visions of it being some classy Fedora, or maybe even a macho cowboy hat.

I put it on with neither thought nor worry, and suddenly found her bursting out laughing!

I looked up and did a Home Alone moment...yes, THAT Home Alone moment!

AUUUUUGHHHHH!!!!!

There was an ass on my head...with toilet paper sticking out of it, and some really nasty hairs growing out of the butt cheeks!

Disclaimer: In both RL and SL, I have a rather juicy, tight butt that sometimes causes women to faint in delight...NO hairs either cause that's just...ewww... Ok, back to the story.

The next day we were chilling and dancing with the people who are responsible for putting together the Angels and Demons event at TOB next week. I was having some fun as the girls started giving me various dance animations to test, although Lia (Naharlia) kept trying (but failing!) to animate me with something called Bellydance.

I mean, come on...I may be fun-loving and nice, but I DO have my dignity ;-)

It was at that moment (after they had started dancing with cows - ahem, don't ask) , that Linda and I put them on again, and after awhile she gave ones to Melinda and Lia as well.

Making noises: Meli, MK, Lia, and Linda Lou

Then we partied the night away, with Mili Adored and Hunter Teodosio being the only ones who retained any semblance of dignity, as they watched us shimmy and wiggle and waggle on the dance floor.

And that was how the Night of the Asshats ended - not with a bang, but with a lot of farting sounds (yes, the darn things make farting noises when touched - sighs).

The Beatles 1960s Dance at The Olive Branch

My Linda Lou and I attended an absolutely fabulous dance party held on December 9 at The Olive Branch, with Melinda Nyn and Sage (Sagewisdom) hosting, and Stormy Dench as the DJ. The theme was The Beatles music and 1960s music pop culture in general, and the entire fantastic set was created from scratch by Melinda and her crew for the event!

I was dressed in my cool psychedelic hippie digs, including my towering Afro (which incidentally had saved my life the evening before!), while flower child Linda Lou was a mouth-watering morsel in her India Fringe Top and flowered jeans.

MK and Linda grooving to the music!

About 40 people crowded into the venue, surrounded on all four sides by towering walls built by Melinda depicting 1960s London, with the centerpiece being  the outside of the theater showing the Beatles' Hard Days Night movie premier.

Start of the dance as people trickle in looking stage right

Scattered around the venue were a slew of items from the 1960s, including a couple of big red London buses built by WW (worldwide Pedalo) specifically for the event, and an RLV-enabled phone booth which was inevitably dubbed as Dr. Who's Tardis. Lilian Howley provided the nice dance floor, while Mili Adored provided some technical assistance.

Start of the dance looking stage left

The place soon got really crowded, with people grooving to the music provided by DJ Stormy Dench, mostly Beatles interspersed with the sounds of 60s London and the Merseybeat.

DJ Stormy Dench

It was a hoot to see all the 1960s outfits on display, from variations on the hippie-theme (a hey ho to my brotha from another motha, AustinMartin1, who looked like my less tropical twin), to mini-skirts, go-go boots, and pillbox hats, to retro airline stewardess uniforms.

Hosts Melinda and Sage (background)

The event lasted for 2 hours, with people dancing until the very end. Melinda showed off her own Hippiemobile to shouts of "Herbie!" and the more controversial "R**E mobile!", and ended up toot tooting the little bug around the dance venue to cheers and whistles.

All in all, it was great fun, and very successful, with almost 40 people crowded into the arena. A great big thanks to all the hard work done by the hosts of the event, and here's hoping to more fun times in the future!