Maximillion Kleene/Fly Kugin @ Kat Vargas Memorial - MS Benefit 07/11/21

Earlier in the week our illustrious boss lady Harlow, keeper of "Droppin The Stream" Blog (and keeping us in line) gave us a heads up concerning an MS Event in memory of Kat Vargas a manager/promoter of Live Music and Musicians in SL. She said this was going to have some of SL's best artists as well as an opportunity to raise money for a good cause, to honor and remember a great lady, and that we had been invited to attend.

So, late afternoon gave Trish and I the opportunity to do just that. I logged in home and found my lady lounged on the sofa watching her soaps and snacking on chips.

"Trish, what are you doing?, I said. "Well, since it doesn't seem to be obvious to you, I'm sunbathing here on the sofa by the window". "I'm watching TV silly!" "Well have you forgotten we have some place to be"? She turned and looked at me with what can only be described as a blank stare. "Be"? Where?"

"At the Kat Vargas Memorial Event for MS!" She slowly stood up, brushing the crumbs off her lap...

"I'm way ahead of you Neo, I'm all changed and ready to go and have just been killing time til you got here." "Now get yourself changed and let's go!"

"Neo look at all the people here to honor Kat! Ninety-one! Obviously, she was loved by many" "Oh, look! There's Fly!! Do you remember listening to Fly on our first date?" "OMG, Max and Fly are opening with one of my favorite songs by Tim McGraw..."Humble and Kind." "Kat would so approve of that one and would want everyone to be humble and kind to each other."

Max and Fly have such a sweet rapport together and it was so nice hearing Max recount some of his memories of Kat. The combination of Max's guitar and Fly's violin on "Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane made me think of how each one of us have those secret places in our mind, and I'm sure Kat is living one of them now, free from pain and the hurtfulness of MS.

Between shared memories of Kat, they played and sang to such songs as "Wild World" by Cat Stevens, "She's Always A Woman" a Billy Joel great one, "Yellow Submarine" from the Beatles era, and "Memories" by Maroon5. Max then spoke of his friend Alex Bevan who was in SL for a time and wrote the next song they did called "Gunfighter Smile," one I'm sure that would have brought a smile to Kat.

They wound down their set, alternately sharing memories as they continued with "Street Spirit" by Radiohead. The final two songs were perfect endings to the set and spoke to me of that desire to one day live in a world free from the pain of disease, war, and strife and of the hope in the human spirit of a better day...."Somewhere over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, and "imagine" by John Lennon.

Thank you Max and Fly for the memorable performance.

Bios:

Fly

Fly as a live violin performer, is streaming into Second Life from Istanbul, since September 2019. Performing improvisation, Jazz & Rock genres, musicals & soundtracks from different time periods from various artists.

Short Info:

* Graduated Fine Arts High School - Violin & Piano

* Bachelor Degree, Music Theory & Violin

* Masterclasses with Connoisseur violinists

* 14 years performing and teaching experience

Max

I stream into SL from Niagara Falls, Canada and sing Rock/Pop/Alternative solo acoustic tunes covering old classics (CCR to Johnny Cash) to fun, newer hip stuff (Jack Johnson, Foo Fighters, Green Day and Jason Mraz).