Nashville's Bluebird Cafe Opens in Second Life

NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- SanSoft Inc., and the Bluebird Cafe have opened Bluebird Cafe SL, a virtual live music venue and singer/songwriter music exhibit in Second Life. A hub of the Nashville singer/songwriter scene for the past twenty-five years, Bluebird plans to bring a wide range of nationally renowned and Nashville-based singer/songwriter acts to Second Life via live streamed performances and digital art exhibits.

"Since opening our doors twenty-five years ago, the Bluebird has attracted singer/songwriters in a very organic way -- both as fans and as performers," says Bluebird owner, Amy Kurland. "Second Life has been home to a grassroots music scene from the beginning. Musicians stream their live performances into SL, and music fans go there to discover lesser-known artists. Our participation in developing and building the Second Life music scene is a natural fit and very exciting."

The Bluebird Cafe SL (http://www.bluebirdcafesl.com/) features live performances each night. High-quality video feeds are provided by SanSoft Inc. and streamed directly to the Second Life venue. Admission to see both national acts and local Nashville performers varies between $L1000 and $L2500 (about $3-10 USD), and Sunday Songwriters night is free to the public on a first come, first served basis, sponsored by SanSoft Inc. In addition, fans of singer/songwriter music can tour a recently opened photo exhibit celebrating twenty-five years of Bluebird that features rare photos and art. The full schedule of performances and exhibits can be found at http://www.bluebirdcafesl.com/.

About The Bluebird Cafe

Open since June of 1982, The Bluebird Cafe features songwriters and acoustic music 7 nights a week, providing a stage for both the newest songwriters in town to play as well as for Nashville's most established writers. The Bluebird is known for helping start the careers of many country artists including Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, Trisha Yearwood and Kathy Mattea, and was featured in the Paramount Pictures movie The Thing Called Love. The Bluebird Cafe television show Live from the Bluebird Cafe aired on the Turner South television network for 5 years. Over 2500 songwriters a year appear at the Bluebird. The Bluebird has been named a top place to listen to music by The Nashville Scene, The Academy of Country Music, The Tennessean, Entertainment Weekly and Newsweek Magazine. It is featured in the Rolling Stone 2006/7 calendar issue, and in the CMT special, 40 Days That Changed Country Music.

About SanSoft

Founded in 1988, SanSoft develops multi-user system software. SanSoft clients include The United States Airforce, The U.S. Department of Justice, The Utah Court System and Ford Motor Company.

In 2007, SanSoft Inc. announced an exclusive agreement with The Bluebird Caf?? to bring live performances to the internet via Second Life and the World Wide Web. Based in Franklin, Tennessee, SanSoft is ideally located to work the Nashville based singer songwriter community.

About Linden Lab

Linden Lab was founded in 1999 by Philip Rosedale to create a revolutionary new form of shared experience, where individuals jointly inhabit a 3D landscape and build the world around them. Today this experience, known as Second Life, has a rapidly growing population of Residents from 100 countries around the globe, who are creating and inhabiting a virtual world of their own design.

Founder Philip Rosedale is the former CTO of RealNetworks, where he pioneered the development and deployment of streaming media technologies. Linden Lab is funded by a group of notable early stage investors including Mitch Kapor, founder of Lotus Development, Catamount Ventures, and Benchmark Capital.

Based in San Francisco and founded in 1999, Linden Lab employs a senior development team bringing together expertise in physics, 3D graphics and networking. Team members have previously worked at leading entertainment companies such as Electronic Arts, Disney, THQ, Acclaim, Hasbro, and Mattel.