TAO TOGETHER AS ONE
Beebs' Story
It's going to start, TAO EASTER FESTIVAL 2022 !
First thing is to get stalls/booths/stores for the Market,
it's too late for snow and too early for beach so I'm going for nice stores this time.
I've picked stores, sent invitations to Merchants
and I can't wait to see my fellow Merchants bring in their merchandise !
In the center of the Market I'll create a Meet&Greet area where we will welcome
TAO live performers to sing a few of their favorite songs and answer questions from fans.
A great way to know them a little more !
For me personally lovely meetings with lovely friends ♥
Start working Beebs, time flies ...
Market-news !
Stores are put out, 30 of them.
Meet&Greet area is built, all ready for our performers and fans, it looks so nice !
I've seen Winter at work, his main stage looks amazing,
if I could sing I would be happy to enter that stage !!
Thinking ahead I can't stop smiling,
March 25 we'll open the land for everybody to shop,
play bumper boats and check out the place.
The Meet&Greets will start too,
omg I can't wait !
So excited ♥
We're getting closer to opening,
next weekend the Market will open for my fellow-merchants to set up.
Exciting days !
The day before opening the land to Merchants.
Everybody is getting excited, we have 29 ! Merchants waiting for entrance, nahhh not true, Winter and I already have acces *laughs*
The chickens, bunnies, sheep, everybody is waiting (im)patiently now. We want action !
The Market, the Meet&Greet area, the main stage ... it's all ready.
Today's the day that the Merchants come in
for their set up.
I can't wait to see all those pretty things.
Some old faces, some new too and everybody is excited.
One week of filling stores,
deciding what to offer and how it looks best.
I have visited a few main stores
and I can tell you they have GREAT stuff !
Keep an eye on TAO's Facebook page for previews
https://www.facebook.com/groups/299207651161694
But first BREAKFAST !
A MADHOUSE ! It was a madhouse yesterday,
over 20 merchants came over to TAO terrain to pay their donations
and pick their store. Many of them already filled it too !
Incredible, and I am so happy to walk around and see all those pretty things.
Even bought a few things too ...
Now I'm taking a little break,
practicing my guitar-skills (don't have any btw).
Don't tell Winter I'm using his precious guitars, ok ?
ONE day.
One day before opening our festival terrain.
The Market is filled with goodies.
The Raffles hold the best offers: performers, services, items.
The Hunt-items are waiting to be found.
Bumper-boats wait for players.
The first Meet&Greets are booked (an AMAZING list !)
One day of quiet before the craziness goes on.
Two weeks before TAO EASTER FESTIVAL !!!
What a FUN hour I had, listening to John Rocky at TAO's first Meet&Greet for Easter Festival !
A very talented musician, and guess what, he fluently speaks mandarin
(I couldn't check, have to believe it was chinese ... lol)
The hour went WAY too fast,
I'm so happy John will return during the Festival !
Today we had THREE Meet&Greets at TAO.
First one was a dutch performer who was completely new to me named ML, I can tell you in all honesty: he's a huge talent !
Second was Wolfie Moonshadow, great performer, and a great story-teller too !
Last but not least Miss Lyric Serendipity: I especially loved her last song 'Lost Boy'
On to tomorrow, more Meet&Greets !
Feeling a bit under the weather I went to TAO's Meet&Greet to join the gang and listen to my friend Holly Giles.
No regrets !
We had a lovely hour with her and her songs, her warm voice and her little giggles answering a few silly questions.
A special moment was when she started a song called 'Old Soul'...
After Fly's Meet&Greet we have one more to go, on Thursday mr. Winter himself.
I'm preparing a few questions ... *winks*
Tomorrow, Wednesday, we're having a pre-party organized by Unique Obsession,
with a new element: an auction ! 5 ladies and 5 gentlemen are on the market for a date !
This party starts at 11 am slt and ends 2 pm slt.
I have saved some money to bid !!
And then, after all this prepping, it's finally EASTER FESTIVAL time !
Friday 2 pm slt TAO EASTER FESTIVAL will be opened by Holly Giles.
Let's DOOOOOOO this ;-)
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This is my last post for TAO's Easter Festival for KIKA.
I had such a good time blogging about the preps,
I hope you had a good time following my 'adventures'!
What can I say ...
we had the most awesome Meet&Greets
I'm so proud of the Market, I saw some wonderful items being sold
the raffles and the auction were a blast
the bumper boats were a succes
and last but not least the weekend, the festival itself ... OMG
OK, Beebs,
enough !
Let the pictures tell!
Kissi's Story
LET THE PARTIES BEGIN @ TAO EASTER 2022
B.B. Beebs Woodward and Winter have done another incredible job with their creative builds for TAO Easter 2022.
The stalls in the Market are packed full. The Raffles has something for everyone! Everything from Live Performers to Services to Items.
There is a fun Hunt with a beautifully crafted end prize! The Bumper-Boats waiting to be bumped. The Meet & Greets have all been a huge success.
Today is TAO Easter 2022 pre-party sponsored by Unique Obsession ~ Owners: Tremayne (tremayne.barbosa) and Lunaria (lunaria.eclipse). They have a new, fun, and exciting idea that will take place for the very first time at any TAO Musical Festival. Winter, Trem, and Lunaria decided to put up for auction a one-hour date with ten amazing people who all graciously agreed to join in this unique TAO Auction! Our Aucttionee were Liam, Blondee, Agatha, Tigresss, Mina, Lyric, Javalf, John Rocky, Orion, and Winter. Trem was our fantastic and engaging Auctioneer who kept us all smiling while he joked and kept things moving along nicely.
Once, the auction was underway the action on the floor quite quickly became very hot and furious with each "Specimen" as they came up for bid. It was very exciting to hear when one of the several intense "Bidding Wars" was happening which were all done in good jest. I was so thrilled to be there to witness some of the hilarious banter between the audience, the bidders, the auctionee, and Trem. What a fantastic pre-party! Thank you to Trem and Lunaria for providing such an amazingly successful pre-party! Friday's after-party starts at 3pm SLT and is sponsored by Love Kat's ~ Owner: Kat (Kat Chauveau) I hope I will see you all there! ♥
FRIDAY AFTER-PARTY SPONSORED BY LOVEKAT'S
TAO Easter 2022 benefiting KIKA was fully underway when I arrived for the after-party. The positive and generous energy of all there was palpable! Electrifying! I love the feeling I get when surrounded by this much positivity! I have high hopes that this feeling of what I have witnessed here would be contagious and spread like wildfire throughout the entire world! What a wonderful thing if it would come to fruition!
Kat Chauveau is the owner of Love Kat's this evening sponsor for TAO's After-Party and what a lineup she has in store for all of us! Annette Seranade took the stage first who true to her name serenaded us with her lovely vocals of many familiar covers that many of us were singing along with her.
I was excited when Ian Harrod followed with his incredible performance. He made testament to his talents besides the obvious vocals and instrument playing when he performed any of his original songs. This was the first I was privileged to hear Ian Harrod and what a marvelous discovery he was for me and many others in the audience.
I and all in attendance were thrilled that Maximillion Kleene was the third live performer Kat had in store for us. Max filled the air with his tried and true musicality! Max shared his amazing talent with his heartfelt delivery of each note and lyrical definition of every word that he sang.
Anj Gustofson was our final live performer of the day complete with his stage setup. Whenever I am privileged to attend one of these multi-gifted live performer shows such as this I am always reminded of how lucky we are to have such high caliber talent available to all of us in SecondLife. Anj exhibited his seamless ability to change instruments as he does in the delivery of each emotionally nuanced melodious note and passionately emotional lyrical word that he sang.
Thank you, Kat, Annette, Ian, Max, Anj, and all of you for making this first full day of TAO Easter 2022 the incredible success that it was! Saturday TAO Easter 2022 starts at 5 am SLT with Angelikus Deo. Come and join us for Saturday's After-Party which starts at 3 pm and is sponsored by Janus Gallery ~ Owners: Chuck Chip & Jewell. ♥
SATURDAY AFTER-PARTY
Saturday was a whirlwind of music, friendship, family, and fun! TAO's After-Party was quite literally hopping! Chuck Chip (a.k.a. DJ MATRIX) and Jewell owners of this After-Party, Janus Gallery had Zachh Cale for the first hour of live music. Zachh had us all thoroughly engaged with not only his gifted and marvelous piano playing but his emotionally charged vocals! His delivery of each song whether an original or a cover was impeccable! Once Zachh ended his amazing show DJ Jewell slid right into the stream. She had everyone groovin' and dancing and hopping to each tune!
Another fantastic After-Party! I hope to see you all at 3pm SLT for @ TAO Easter 2022 After-Party on Sunday which is sponsored by Swamp Water Bluz ~ Owner: Mina (mina.weissbrod). ♥
SUNDAY'S AFTER-PARTY @ TAO
Once I landed at TAO the orange and purple colors of KIKA were everywhere! I was immediately surrounded by Winter's awesome guitar playing and distinct melodious emotional charged vocals that were filling the air of TAO from the very core of his soul!
John Rocky continued the high energy-momentum elevated with his incredible rockin' performance which he is very well known for! Then Hogan Baily jumped right in displaying the joyful musical expression of his well-toned vocals for us all! Up next came PrettyBelle with her amazing emotionally charged melodic vocals. NeoMaximous joined her on stage for their first time dual-stream. The combination of this powerful musical couple and their deep affection for each other was evident in each nuanced note that was heard. NeoMaximous then kept us all enthralled with his outstanding guitar playing and amazing vocals during his solo performance. DJ Ace finished the evening with a stellar set of tunes. Christine, DJ Ace's partner had promised that they would both be bald if the donation goal was met. True to her word they both tossed off their hair amongst the celebratory fireworks!
What an incredibly intense and electrifying atmosphere of love, generosity, passion, commitment, emotion, joy, friendship, family, and spirit in this shared experience at TAO Easter 2022!
Thank you to each one of our performers, sponsors, store owners, creators, photographers, bloggers, writers, all that attended, my fellow TAO Team-mates, and all for your generous donations!
Beethoven was correct when he stated, "Music can change the world!" We did this! TOGETHER AS ONE!♥
Taila's Story
I had already experienced a few Tao Festivals as a blogger for Toggle for Music and was enthusiastic from the start. I already knew what passion and energy Winter and his tireless helpers put into this project, what they have already achieved and how much they were able to help, and I had great respect for them. When Winter asked me if I wanted to be part of the team, I knew right away that there was nothing I would love to do more than support this wonderful charity.
In the following I would like to give a little insight into what I was able to experience.
For the first time in TAO history, an auction was held a few days before the event. Not just any, no, people among them, fans, musicians and sponsors, made themselves available and offered an hour of their time for everyone, of course completely youth-free, who was willing to offer enough and therefore also to donate to KiKa. Some of the auctions were highly competitive and Tremayne, who at the end delighted us for another hour with the finest music and his DJ skills, led the auction skilfully and with a great deal of humour. It was great fun and an even bigger hit for the fundraiser.
I would particularly like to report on the Meet & Greet, because this idea is simply fantastic. Some of the artists, who make their musical talent available for a good cause, answer questions from the audience and sing/play some of their titles in between, this is always done in rotation.
Sometimes there are very personal questions, sometimes funny questions and sometimes something more serious. In any case, I think there is a very natural closeness and you learn so much that you may have always wanted to know but would never experience during a normal concert. You also get a glimpse of how and why the musicians came to SL, and at times these stories are very similar to your own story.
Being curious by nature, I find the whole thing incredibly exciting. It's always a lot of fun and the whole thing takes place in the pleasant and personal atmosphere of a campfire. Many musicians also find it enriching for themselves and are grateful for this opportunity, as they would like to be a little closer in contact with their audience, but this is not really possible in a 1-hour show, since the focus there is understandably on the musical. I love this Meet & Greet and I hope we can elicit a little bit of their lives and maybe some of their secrets from many more artists in the future.
In addition to the meet and greet that takes place on the marketplace, the shops are another integral part of TAO. This time 31 shops were represented, offering a wide variety of things for sale. Apart from our musicians, of course, it is really impressive what creativity, ability and joy in design there is in many people here in SL and how lucky we are that we can use some of it to make our SL even more beautiful.
The focus of TAO is of course on the live music. As always, it was 3 days full of great artists of different musical styles. Every day we had 10 artists on stage, 10 hours of the finest music without a break. That means 30 musicians gave us their time and talent for the good cause and as if that wasn't enough, they also personally donated to KIKA and bet with the audience to be able to see as many Linden trees as possible on the advertising wall at the end of their show . This commitment is simply priceless and certainly not to be put into words.
In addition to all the helpers, hosts, sponsors, vendors and artists, the visitors and the audience are of course the most important thing. I cannot describe how much joy it was to see how many people came to us over the course of these 3 days and also kept coming back. How many music lovers, fans, friends, musicians, venue owners, shop owners, bloggers, photographers stopped by to support this charity. They brought so much good humor and fun and heart with them, which they showed not only through their donations. This atmosphere has been unique, so many good souls from different countries, continents and different backgrounds, languages, faiths, together in one place and with the same goal, TOGETHER AS ONE, to do good to these affected children and their families and that with a lot of joy.
I think that's called love.
Over three monentous days in April 2022 Winter and his amazing team staged a wonderful event, taking in thirty performances from some of the very best live performers in Second Life.
By the time the event was over, over a million Lindens had been raised for KIKA the superb Dutch children's charity.
Three of our TFM team were proud to be directly involved in the management and organization of this awesome event, and here they tell their own stories on their experiences ......