I Remember You Well in the Chelsea Hotel

"you were famous, your heart was a legend"

-Leonard Cohen, Chelsea Hotel #2

So, I got the special treat of working with my old friend and colleague Justine this week. She was a fantastic blogger for four of the biggest blogs in Second Life back in the day, from fashion to news whatever the Herald was, Justine was a centerpiece.

Working with her is the best part- she's funny and fun. The second-best part is that she can whip out beautiful avatar after beautiful avatar, each different than the one before it. You want a pixie? A beautiful African-American Fashionista? The girl next door? She can change into any of these and more before I can even find a pair of shoes in my inventory. Source: Experience.

For our shoot, she first teleported me to The Virtual Chelsea Hotel where I found her rocking an homage to Amy Winehouse, and after several pics, changed avatars completely and we went to a beautiful beach, and then... well, I'll just let the pictures this week tell that story.

By the way, when I sat down to write this, I put Leonard Cohen's Chelsea Hotel #2 on, what a brilliant song. The first Leonard Cohen song I ever heard was "The Future," which I saw him perform on David Letterman. (Who would have thought it was his television debut!?)



I immediately bought that album (on cassette!) and then his greatest hits. And, true confession here, I didn't like his music all that much.  Whatever album "The Future" was on, I liked. Greatest hits, not so much, "derivative of Bob Dylan but traveling through molasses" was generally my thought. But over time, listening here and there, they started to speak to me. Chelsea Hotel #2 literally gave me chills when I listened to it just now, I had to stop writing and listen, it's such a beautiful song.

Now, I love his music, it's both mellow and intense at the same time. If you like music and haven't listened to Leonard Cohen, do yourself a favor. My favorites include many, but give a listen to Dress Rehearsal Rag, Famous Blue Raincoat, The Partisan, Suzanne, Waiting for the Miracle, and of course his most famous song Hallelujah. 

And yes, I warned Justine when she told me that she wanted to shoot at the Chelsea that I would spend a lot of time babbling about Leonard Cohen. Be grateful I don't go into the history of the real Hotel Chelsea and all the amazing people who stayed there. Do check out the virtual Chelsea, it's fun.

So, to give Justine her thousand words, here she is, paying tribute to Amy Winehouse, another of my favorite artists. That Justine would combine them makes her way too cool for words to describe, amazing woman, I give you Justine as Amy at The Hotel Chelsea, more tomorrow!