Remembering Tony Slade

On the 9th of November a wave of grief and sadness passed over the live music industry in Second Life for this is when we learned that one of the most loved and respected performers on the grid, Tony Slade, had departed both worlds as we know them and had gone to that one high in the sky.

There was shock and disbelief as the news sunk in, the outpouring of love from friends and fans from all corners of the globe being a testament to the man with a voice and personality so charismatic that it walked a fine line between being seductive and charming. A voice so full of passion and emotion that gave his audience the ability to feel what he was expressing through his words, while also at times having those that came to hear him in fits of laughter at his wicked sense of humour.

I said in a blog that I wrote on Tony as a very new blogger back in January of 2021 "For the whole concert I was melting like a marshmallow held over a fire.". Tony upon seeing this messaged me to say that he had read that line so many times, and while that description made him blush a little it was also a line that he loved. He was also curious how I came up with the name Toggle For Music, the blog that I had established with Michael Rossini, laughing when I said that I was outside in the sun having a beer when I though "what does everyone need to do when they go to live music?". He thought this was a great play on words and said the same when I went on to build Droppin The Stream.

When Tony invited me to "The Wiz" a stage production of The Wizard Of Oz, I was intrigued as in all my years in Sl I had never been to a stage production before. I was thoroughly impressed, not only at the amount of work, time and effort that had gone into producing such a wonderful show but also how Tony messaged me after with the names of everyone involved, asking me to include them in my write up as they deserved it. A true gentleman who thought of others before himself.

As I am remembering Tony I also recall being at one of his shows when he suddenly mentioned that he had been googling random facts that day and the one that he just couldn't get out of his head was how many times a pig could have an orgasm. Tony thought this was absolutely hilarious to the point that he would start laughing while he was singing and would have to mention it again....this of course had the local chat making him laugh all the more.

When Tony announced that he was taking a short break from SL to travel for work commitments I don't think any of us could have imagined that he wouldn't be back on stage at some point. Sadly it was not meant to be, and while Tony's friends and fans are all the richer for knowing him and all the poorer for losing him, his music lives on through his SoundCloud ensuring that the connection is never broken.

Sing well in the angel choir Tony, you are gone but never forgotten.

https://soundcloud.com/tony-slade-sl

Side note: As a tribute to Tony, the interview that I did with him as the very first for TFM will be published again as the featured artist for December for Droppin The Stream.