Interview With Mattie Carlton of the RFL Sunbeamers

 

Recently, Newser reporter Penny Shuftan met up with Mattie Carlton (MattDCarlton Resident) for an interview. Mattie's gotten a name for herself as a noteable DJ in Relay for Life events, some of which have raised more money than some teams raise in an entire season. But there's more to the Sunbeamers' nine-tailed "tigersune" than just DJing. Penny asked her about how she got into the Relay to start with, and about other things she does besides music.   

Read Penny's interview in People.
 

DJ Matt Sets Up GoFundMe After Robbery

 
DJ Matt (Matt Carlton) raised plenty of dollars for the Relay for Life in Second Life, such as the DJ competition in April. Unfortunately, she herself right now is in need of money. Her luck recently took a turn for the worst. Her storage shed was broken into, and a number of items were stolen, notably lawn equipment and kitchen appliances.

We found my shed was broken into at my property on Monday, all my lawn equipment was stolen as was all my small kitchen appliances and cookware I was storing in there while redoing wiring and drywall at the house. They took some other miscellaneous stuff, like and old PC and some old radios, but not as bad as the other things. Anything easy to snatch was gone.  I been staying with my parents furring this remodel but now this has really screwed us over. I did not have insurance for this property either. I hate asking for help but I'm at a loss as to what to do. Anything is appreciated. I am even currently selling my old Pathfinder just to try and get extra cash to get a more efficient car just to make deliveries to try and dig out of this hole I am in, but it just seems to keep getting deeper. I'm not great at asking things like this so....I guess I'll leave it at this. Thankfully the house was not harmed and the shed door just needs new hinges....

Matt set up a GoFundMe for anyone wishing to donate. As of the writing of this article, $20 has been donated.

Other ways to get money to her include purchasing items from her small online store, or getting a copy of her cookbook.

Bixyl Shuftan

Star Relay DJ Matt Carlton Sets Up Redbubble Store Page

  

Matt Carlton has raised plenty of Lindens over time for the Relay for Life, both for her Sunbeamer team and for others. This time, she's hoping to make a little money for herself. So she made an online store page under the name of Kavori-Bluesky. 

I am a Non-Binary, Freelance Photographer that loves to shoot many things, but has a fondness for wildlife and nature, especially weather.

As of this time, there are a total of eight items for sale. Most are wildlife stickers for less than two dollars. But there's also a print and one t-shirt that's normally $19.90. 

Matt's store is on Redbubble. The site was created with the purpose of making it possible for artists to sell directly to consumers as independent agents, to "Give independent artists a meaningful new way to sell their creations." While it was aimed at artists and maybe small companies, it has attracted larger ones, notably Linden Lab, which launched a store through Redbubble in September 2020. 

Bixyl Shuftan
  

Sunbeamers At The Relaystock

 
The Relaystock was good news to many teams. It's organizers the Relay Rockers hit Purple level, and many others went up a fundraising level, such as Meli's Maniacs, Seekers of Hope, Team Invictus, Roos With a Dream, and others. While the Sunbeamers didn't get step up from their current level, Jade, they did make some good progress on it.

DJ Cynthia's event at the Relaystock stage was Saturday May 15 from 5:30 to 7PM. She shared the stage with several other "beamers" such as Shockwave and team captain Rita Mariner. She ended up raising almost 40,000 Lindens in the two kiosks on the stage. The following evening, Sunday May 16, DJ Matt was the closing act at 7:30 PM. Her event would raise several thousand at the stage kiosk. But people would donated at other Sunbeamer kiosks that night, and after the event continue to donate. By Monday, the Sunbeamer's total had gone up to over 640,000 Lindens. 

The awards for the CRFB DJ competition were also given out that night. DJ Mattie would get the fourth place trophy for when she took part in on April 13, raising over 110,000 Lindens for the Relay Rockers.

As of the writing of this article the team has raised a total of over  678,000 Linden dollars. With the Sunbeamer Medieval Festival this weekend, the total promises to go higher.

 Go Snowbeamers! Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan
 

DJ Matt At The Fantasy Faire

On Wednesday April 28 at 4PM SL time, the Relay had a DJ event at the Fantasy Fair. The show took place in the Featherfall sim. The DJ was Matt Carlton of Team Sunbeamers.

DJ Matt (Mattie) grew up in the Missouri Ozarks. Having lived near Branson and spending a lot of time there seeing shows and also having some distant relatives that performed for Silver Dollar City, shi was raised on country music, blues, bluegrass and classic rock. Shi still has a great passion for these genres, country being her favorite. Music has always gotten hir though some of the worst times in hir life, and now shi loves to share some of these wonderful tunes with folks here on SL as a Tiger striped 9 tailed fox.

Matt was in a pirate outfit for the event, which was both a "One Team" event as well as a "Bring Your Own Kiosk" one. The event saw avatars of all kinds, humans, furs, nekos, tinies, a gryphon, and a giantess. There were also various antics going around, such as one girl walking around on stilts and occasionally breathing fire. One tiny in a nurse's avatar was walking around with a syringe with a purplish fluid, asking to vaccinate them from the "Purkle Pox."

After about two hours of playing Matt had raised a total of 28,970 for all of the teams involved, including several thousand for Team Sunbeamers. But people continued to chip in. After fifteen more minutes, the amount passed 35,000 Lindens. 

Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan
   

DJ Matt's Date Auction For Team Sunbeamers

   
Just after her highly successful hour at the Relay for Life's DJ Competition by the Relay Rockers team in which she raised over 110,000 Lindens, DJ Matt is stepping up once again to raise more for her own team. She's taking part in a charity date auction for Team Sunbeamers.

Team Sunbeamers has another fundraising event. DJ Mattie is volunteering for a date auction. To take part, head over to the BBBC. The auction board is in the back of the club to the side of the DJ booth. To make a bid, pay the board. If someone makes a higher bid, you get refunded.

Instead of Relay kiosks, as the notice says the bids will be made on an auction board. The board is at the Bouncing Bunny Beach Club in SunWaterThree. From the entrance, it's in the back of the club to the right of the DJ booth. There are two amounts listed on the board, the current highest bid and the minimum bid needed to beat it. As this is a Relay date auction, there can't be anything more than PG/PG=13 about it, "I do enjoy Movies, Cuddles, Dances, Parties, Music, Photos, Beaches, and of course Table Games." Matt is also in the time period of her "Bid Me Pink," so if the date is anytime soon, she'll be in pink fur.

The board is open to bids untl Thursday May 13. On that day, DJ Matt will be having a special Relay party at 4PM at the BBBC for the Sunbeamers in which instead of tips, people attending are asked to donate to the Relay kiosks, or bid on the date auction. The auction board will close just before 6PM, and no more bids will be accepted. The winner will then be announced, and notified.

DJ Matt will be DJing this week not just at the BBBC, but at the Fantasy Faire on Wednesday, at 4PM.

Go Sunbeamers! Go Relay!

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SunWaterThree/75/56/25

Bixyl Shuftan
  

DJ Matt Raises Over 110,000 Lindens At The CRFB DJ Competition

  

"Why do I Relay?" This is a question that many of those in the Relay for Life of Second Life have answered. For DJ Matt (Matt Carlton), she Relays for her friends and family, some of whom have suffered from cancer. As part of her effort, she took part in the Relay Rocker's CRFB DJ Competition. For her hour on Tuesday Night April 13, she hoped to raise 60,000 Linden dollars. She ended up getting far more.

Read more in Events.
 

Announcement: DJ Matt at RFL DJ Competition April 13

 
To ALL my Friends and Followers

I am participating in the Celebrate - Remember - Fight Back (CRFB) Top DJ Competition in support of the American Cancer Society.

I will be performing my set at  ARINULTRA CAY   Tuesday  April 13 @ 7pm slt

I hope you will be able to come out and support me!  Voting is done by donations to the American cancer Society Relay For Life Kiosk, and the top 4 fundraisers move on to the championship rounds!
Please Support Me and Help Fight Cancer!

Voting is Simple

I will have a Relay For Life Kiosk next to me (where my TipJar would be).  The more L$ donated the more votes!  Last year the average total of the preliminary round competitors was more than L$60,000 each.

Please help me to be one of the top four DJ's in the Preliminary Round who will advance to the semi-finals.  

Lets do this TOGETHER and  Help the American Cancer Society Beat Cancer!!

I Hope to see you all at ARINULTRA CAY   Tuesday  April 13 @ 7pm slt

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Arinultra%20Cay/162/66/24

"Why I Relay" by DJ Matt
 

Announcement: RFL Sunbeamer Event With DJ Matt

Tomorrow, Thursday April 8 at the Bouncing Bunny Beach Club, the Relay for Life's Sunbeamer team will be having a special event in addition to it's weekly Moon Dance.  From 4 to 6 PM SL time, DJ Matt will be playing country and other tunes. Instead of tips, she asks that any money go to the Relay kiosks. 

This event also marks the final two hours of Matt's "Bid Me Pink" fundraiser, and this will be the last chance for people to bid her pink (or to stay her normal self).  At the end of the event, the totals on the kiosks will be tallied and the results made final, and posted. People are also invited to donate to Nydia Tungsten's "Bid Me Mouse or Bunny" fundraiser.

As this is a Relay event, everyone please keep their shorts (and tops for the girls) on.

Following the event, please head over to Sunlight Bay where the Moon Dance will take place, and if you're with another Relay team, by all means ask for a kiosk to be rezzed in it's name.
 
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SunWaterThree/75/56/25
   

Announcement: RFL Music Fest

 

Saturday March 27
         
10am Opening cermonies with Ibor Esates
12pm Honey & Fraise
2pm Dj Chach
4pm Sunbeamers - DJ Matt

Sunday March 28
         
10am Seekers of Hope
12pm Pursuit for a Cure
 2pm TBA
 4pm DJ Pixie
 6pm Bigfry Bailey

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kimberley/77/109/24

RFL Sunbeamers: "Bid Me Pink" And "Rita Gets POed"

 
Things have been eventful with the Relay's Sunbeamer team. Last Saturday, the first of the Bid Me events, Rita Mariner's "Bid Me Panda" concluded. A total of 3275 Linden dollars were raised by the fundraiser, and the team captain was obligated to spend a week in the "Po the Panda" avatar. The results were announced in the team group.

And here's the results of Rita's "Bid Me Panda"

Stay Bunny: 225L
Turn Panda: 3050L

Rita Mariner changes to "Po the Panda" for one week. Hope Cutlass has a good supply of ramen.

(just being funny, thanks again Rita)

But with one Bid Me ending, another soon started. Matt Carlton, also known as DJ Matt, volunteered for another: "Bid Me Pink"

Team Sunbeamers has a new "Bid Me" event: "Bid Me Pink." Our vic-, er, volunteer is the talented DJ Matt. She's put her nine tails on the line by offering to go pink for a time. For every 2500 donated (rounded down) donated in the right kiosk, she spends a week in pinkish fur. For those wanting to keep her coat orange, if the amount in the orange kiosk is higher at the end she stays normal. The fundraiser goes on to April 8.

As with other Bid Me events, there are two kiosks. The one of the left is the default which people can donate to if they want to keep Matt orange. As the announcement says, for every 2500 donated into the right one, she has to go pink for a week. The amounts are rounded down at the end, so 4999 would mean she spends one week in her new look, but 5001 would mean two weeks.

Matt herself has offered a little bonus. If a total of 10,000 Linden dollars or more, she'll spend half the time in Relay clothes. This can either be her Sunbeamer uniform, or other Relay gear such as t-shirts.

This Relay fundraiser is somewhat different from the others as it's at the Bouncing Bunny Beach Club in the SunWaterThree sim, where Matt DJs every Thursday. The event will conclude at the end of her set on Thursday April 8 at 6PM SL time, and the totals calculated. 

https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SunWaterThree/75/56/25

On a final note, LiskaBystrouska's "Bid Me Purple" event is almost over. If you want to contribute to that one, head over to Club Cutlass in Sunweaver Bay (114/117/757) by 8PM tomorrow, Saturday March 20.

Go Sunbeamers! Go Relay!

Bixyl Shuftan

DJ Matt Raises Over 20,000 Lindens

  
 On Wednesday March 10, DJ Matt (aka Matt Carlton / MattDCarlton Resident) took to the stage at the Relay for Life Home and Garden Festival. She took to the stage at 7PM SL time.

DJ Matt grew up in the Missouri Ozarks. Having lived near Branson and spending a a lot of time there seeing shows and also having some distant realatives that performed for Silver Dollar City, shi was raised on country music, blues, bluegrass and classic rock. Shi still has a great passion for these genres, country being her favorite. Music has always gotten hir though some of the worst times in hir life, and now she love to share some of these wonderful tunes with folks here on SL as a Tiger striped 9 tailed fox. Hope 3 (55,114,33) 

Originally scheduled for one hour, Matt ended up playing music for two, all the while people donating Lindens to two RFL kiosks on either side of the stage. Although Matt is with Team Sunbeamers, the money didn't get credited to the team. Instead it went to general funds. Over time, there were various comments spoken about those lost to cancer and the effort to fund the fight against it. Matt stated that she had taken part in the Relay in real life before coming to the virtual world, and was thankful for her friends telling her about the Relay for Life in Second Life. 

At the end of the two hour event, the two kiosks had an additional 21,493 Linden dollars. 

DJ Matt currently plays every Thursday at the Bouncing Bunny Beach Club on Thursday afternoons. She just recently volunteered for a "Bid Me" event, the details which will be in the Newser soon.

Bixyl Shuftan

Announcement: DJ Matt At Home And Garden Tomorrow

The RFL Home and Garden Festival has many musicians on stage. Among them for tomorrow, Wednesday March 10 will be Matt Carlton (MattDCarlton Resident), aka DJ Matt. She will be performing for the audience at the Main Stage from 7 to 8 PM SL time.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Hope%201/91/127/22

Cartoon of the Day: Turtle Head

Picture from Cynthia Farshore. Someone on stage with DJ Matt at the Ten Days of Relay had their head ducked down between their shoulders. So how and why could this happen? Yours truly had one idea.

By Bixyl Shuftan

Scenes From Fantasy Faire's Last Weekend

The Fantasy Faire is over. As always the Relay mega-event had much to see and do. There were DJs playing music. There were shops to find limited deals. There was the Fairelands Quest. And of course lots of well-designed sims to explore. Yours truly was there, and took a number of pictures.

See the pictures in Events.

Fantasy Faire 2020 Ends

The weekend was the last few days of the Fantasy Faire. There were numerous events, such as DJ Matt's performance on Friday that raised over 60,000 Lindens. There was also a roleplay event in which the guilt or innocence of a number of bear cubs was determined. People scrambled at the last minute to solve the Fairelands Quest, to help the Bard Queen get a garden planted. All day and much of Sunday was the last big event, "The Final Ravedown."

The Newser will write more, but for now, we are tired and need to rest up. Stay tuned for more information. In the meantime, check out the pictures on the Fantasy Faire Flickr group: https://www.flickr.com/groups/fantasyfairesl/pool/ .

DJ Matt Today At The Fantasy Faire

Before the Multi-team Relay for Life event at Club Amarantha tomorrow from 10 to 2 PM, which has Cynthia Farshore, there's an event today in which a Sunbeamer DJ is performing. DJ Matt will play her music at the Fantasy Faire from 4-6PM at the Auxentios' Pass sim. She promises two hours of tigersune-created fun for the Relay.

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Auxentios%20Pass/129/65/63

Correction: It was originally printed that the Amarantha event was today. It's tomorrow, Saturday May 9. Sorry for the error.

RFL Team Sunbeamers Reaches 360,000 Linden Mark

It was a little less than a month ago that the Relay's Team Sunbeamers reached Platinum rank for this year's fundraising season. Over the next few weeks, it slowly made it's way up to in the 290,000s. Then yesterday, a few events took place. Early in the morning was a joint event between the Sunbeamers and Team Relay for Christ at Distraida's Fishing Area in Alua, with DJ Matt playing the music.

Then came the carnival, with Shockwave Yareach and Cynthia Farshore's bumper car demo derby being the star attraction. While there were periods of quiet, there was no shortage of bumping and explosions. About 15,000 Lindens would be donated into it's kiosk between 8 AM and 4PM, much of it in a last-minute surge of visitors, whom were just as happy to chip into the kiosk as well as blowing something up.

Finally came the end results of Nydia Tungsten's "Bid Me" event. This part of the action got the most Lindens, and will be described in detail tomorrow. What we can say now is it raised the most of any Team Sunbeamer "Bid Me" event, and had results unlike most. But at the end of the day, the team total had passed both the 300,000 and 350,000 marks, ending up at over 360,000 Linden dollars raised.

Stay tuned for the results of the "Bid Me."

Bixyl Shuftan

Interview with Matt Carlton (DJ Matt)

The Relay for Life's Sunbeamers team since their beginnings have taken pride in having talented members. One of the more recent ones is Matt Carlton, or DJ Matt as she's often called. An accomplished Second Life DJ, as well a Relayer in real life, she performed at both the RFL Home and Garden festival and more recently the "Fight Back Top DJ Fundraising Competition." She was recently interviewed by Penny (Deaflegacy Resident) for the Second Life Newser.

Read Penny's interview in People.

DJ Matt's Bid Me Results, Arinultra Cay Performance

It's been an interesting week for Matt Carlton, aka DJ Matt. To begin with, Saturday March 28 was the last day for her "Bid Me Feral" event for the Relay for Life's Team Sunbeamers. The event netted 15,250 Lindens, so Matt has to spend the next six weeks on all fours.

But just as Matt was getting used to the feral side of virtual life, she had an event to perform for. The Relay Rockers were hosting the "Fight Back Top DJ Fundraising Competition." And on Wednesday April 1, the first event of it took place at Arinultra Cay, with Matt as the DJ.

Game On!
The BIGGEST MUSICAL COMPETITION IN SECOND LIFE,
Celebrate – Remember – Fight Back Top DJ Fundraising Competition 2020
In support the Relay For Life of Second Life and the American Cancer Society

Competitor # 1 DJ MattCarlton   April 1 - 7pm  @ Arinultra Pond Stage   http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Arinultra%20Cay/177/108/25

COME OUT AND SUPPORT ALL THE DJS!!!

Matt showed up in her custom nine-tailed Spirit Fennec avatar. Unlike her "tigerkitsune" feral, it could dance away. "I may be tiny and floffy at the moment," she commented, "but that don't mean we can't raise some big money!" The donations quickly began coming in, Matt saying after a few minutes, "My buddy Olde sent a 1000L to help get stuff going, passing that in now! Let see those Lindens build!" Trader1 Whiplash added, "I think Matt deserves a match.  Who will match my L$1000?"

Matt played a mix of songs, with the majority being country music tunes. This went well with some in the crowd, "There's an Unspoken Law within Distraida .. you have to like Country Music to live here. *gigglefits* That's not true, but it's been a running joke between those within us since the year 2004." With songs like Randy Owen's "Braid My Hair," she commented, "these songs paint the reality of cancer so well." Someone responded, "Dammit Matt, you didn't give a tissue warning. And tissues are out of stock at Walmart!" Matt encouraged the crowd to keep donating, "Every bit helps and goes a long way to help fight cancer. Thank you all again and keep the love coming."

Although this was a Relay Rockers event, DJ Matt is of Team Sunbeamers.  Other teams were represented such as Mieville Steampunks, Seekers of Hope, Relay for Christ, Cure Chasers, Team ACTS, and more.

With just a few minutes left to spare, the kiosk reached the 20,000 Linden mark. One woman added 10,000 for a total of 30,000. at the 8PM mark, "All done with a final total of 31,000." "Congratulations Matt  L$31,000!  Great Set!  Thank You and Thank Everyone!" "Thank you for the great tunes, Matt." Matt herself was surprised by the total, "I'm speechless guys. I really am. Thank you all."

Several DJs follow Matt, the top four taking part in the semi-finals on May 2 and 3. Having gotten over $120 USD worth of Lindens in an hour, DJ Matt has set a pretty high bar.

Bixyl Shuftan