By Bixyl ShuftanThe romantic-themed sim Mystery is a place with numerous sites and attractions, notably the riverboat club “Queen of Hearts.” There are also quite a few planned events, such as the daily dance parties at the club and the bazaar sales. Helping sim owner Tygeria Mirabeau manage these, as well as editing the sim magazine, is Jazzz Hermit. Jazzz also describes himself as “mildly courting” Tygeria. I recently had a chance to meet up with him, and he talked a little about his time at Mystery.
Bixyl Shuftan: How did you find out about Second Life?
Jazzz Hermit: Through one of my friends, Amythe Moonlight . She came in a long time before me, but eventually convinced me to give it a go.
Bixyl Shuftan: And how did your experiences in SL go at first?
Jazzz Hermit: It was fun :) I started out having a go at building things. First thing I built was a steam train, then Amythe kept challenging me to build other stuff. It was a while before I came to Mystery, I stayed in sandboxes mostly to begin with.
Bixyl Shuftan: What things did she have you build?
Jazzz Hermit: I was allowed to build whatever I wanted; I remember building a penny farthing at one point, I know she asked me to build a coal scuttle for the pub in the village. Mostly random stuff. :)
Bixyl Shuftan: Did much of what you made ended up here in Mystery?
Jazzz Hermit: I think only the coal scuttle survived :) Amythe sometimes bounces ideas off me, but it's her and AJ that do all the actual building. I haven't got the patience they have.
Bixyl Shuftan: When did you join Mystery?
Jazzz Hermit: I came to Mystery in October 2008 - I didn't join the staff till November, when I first sang for the sim. ... I first sang at Tygeria's birthday party, but it was great fun.
Bixyl Shuftan: About how often do you sing here?
Jazzz Hermit: Not very often. :( I'm away a lot, so I only sing online maybe once every two months. ... hopefully (it will change soon) :) I'm going to be back home for a couple of months in June, hopefully.”
Bixyl Shuftan: How would you describe your work on Intrigue magazine?
Jazzz Hermit: Working on the magazine is great fun. I do it all in photoshop. It's exciting designing the various aspects - the spring edition was supposed to have an interview with Bloodrose Writer in it, but unfortunately I couldn't get hold of him. It's a fun way of getting people to know what it is we do here while making it interesting to read. I get some help on it - a friend of mine does an article now, Amythe helps with the photos and AJ/Tygeria both check it over once it is finished to make sure there are no mistakes, etc.
Bixyl Shuftan: I heard you play some music in real life as well.
Jazzz Hermit: Yes - a lot of my time in real life is spent with my music :) I study music at a university currently.
Bixyl Shuftan: Have you done performances of any kind in real life?
Jazzz Hermit: (laughs) A lot. I was recently in a choir that performed Faure's Requiem I've been doing live performances since I was around about ten, i think. Back then it was school concerts though! :)
Bixyl Shuftan: You describe yourself as liking to sing blues, jazz, and ballads. Do you often try other styles, or is that what you more or less stick with?
Jazzz Hermit: To be honest, I've never thought my voice could sing much more. These days, I'm more of a classical singer than anything - partially due to my university course, but singing classically has helped enormously with all other kinds of singing. Rock/Pop was never my thing - as much as I tried to sing it, it always sounded wrong. (laughs)
Bixyl Shuftan: Heh ... Any particular projects that you've been working on recently, in Intrigue magazine or anything else in Mystery?
Jazzz Hermit: A lot of my time is spent at the university these days, we're getting into exam time :/ I know there's going to be a special edition copy of next month's magazine with a limited number of copies, so that's something I'm currently working on. I've just done a massive rebuild of my computer, so hopefully it'll last long enough this time to get some work done :) I don't think I'm performing again till May 17th, but I've been mostly talking easter ideas with Amy and AJ recently.
Bixyl Shuftan: Any ideas that you can share, or are they all surprises?
Jazzz Hermit: Ha ha! I can tell you that the poetry competition has double prizes this month, and that there's going to be a 'guess-the-staff' game, where you have to guess the member of staff based on a photo from their newbie days.
Bixyl Shuftan: I take it the latter will be quite hard.
Jazzz Hermit: Almost certainly. :)
Bixyl Shuftan: Any particuarly memorable happenings here that you'd like to share? Any amusing incidents?
Jazzz Hermit: Ummm .... one of my personal favorite memories from here is during a live concert. Debi Latte was singing onstage, when Tygeria rezzed a giant Rhinoceros next to her :) While people started riding the Rhino, Debi started singing 'The Rhinoceros Song' (laughs).
Bixyl Shuftan: (chuckles) Any future plans that you'd like to mention?
Jazzz Hermit: I don't think I've got any plans at the moment - everything just seems to happen. :)
Bixyl Shuftan: Anything else that you'd like to share?
Jazzz Hermit: I can't think of anything else. Thank you.
And so, the interview ended, with each of us going our separate ways.
Jazzz’s magazine “Intrigue” can be read online on it’s website : http://www.heartofmystery.com/Magazine/.
Bixyl Shuftan
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