Is it that time again already?  I feel as though I left Steam-Con I just yesterday, with its large music shows and tea-time and crazy people thinking they are vampires at 3am on a Saturday.  But truly, that’s without regard as this time I – The Lord Baron – return to Steam-Con not just as a guest, but as a panelist!

This Steam-Con has decided to go “Weird Weird West”, an interesting choice and an interesting turn as Steam-Con has been arguably the most traditional of the steampunk cons I have been to. It will be interesting to see what kind of themes they drum up each year going forward with such momentum.

That aside though, conventions mean things such as special guests, and their guests are no strangers to the Steampunk community.  Their literary guest being James Blaylock (whom I had the pleasure to co-panel with at last years Windy-Con here in Chicago) and their artist guest being none other than Jake Von Slatt of The Steampunk Workshop.

Music-wise (and we do admit, we are very music oriented here at Steampunk Chicago), the weekend features Sepiachord‘s “Mr. Bodewell’s Cabaret” with live acts and music from a wide array of steampunk musicians including many artists we have mentioned ourselves here such The Gypsy Nomads, Eliza Rickman and Curtis Eller.  Then there is the “Outlaw Night Concert” with a return performance from Abney Park as well as other performances by Texas hellbilly band Ghoultown and Chicago turned Seattle group Bakelite 78.

Definitely looking forward to this.

Other events at the con include the “Airship Awards” banquet, “Wild Lily’s Saturday and Sunday Tea and Fashion show.” Not only that but I, the Lord Baron himself, will be a PANELIST!  That’s right, you get to be subjected to my unfettered, and arguably, un-expert opinion on such things as quantum mechanics (“What We Don’t Understand about Physics” – Saturday, noon, Orcas A&B at the Hilton), event production (“Steampunk Events”, Friday, 3pm, Emerald B, Hilton), Ghost Hunting (“Steampunk Ghost Hunting”, Saturday, 6pm, Crystal A, Hilton), MORE Ghost Hunting (“RL&GEMS pres. The Steampunk Ghost Hunting Kit”, Saturday, 11am, Seattle, Marriot).

AND you even get to hear me read selections from my novel “The Mechanist”, that is Sunday at 10am at the Suite by the Pool at the Marriott.

Steam-Con II is THIS weekend at the Sea-Tac Marriott and Hilton hotels in Seattle Washington.  For more information check it out at SteamCon.Org!

She Best Not...

But, Lord Baron, What If I Cannot Make it to Seattle?

Then join the Airship O’Reilly for their very first event!

This Champaign, Illinois based steampunk group has come together to put on an event that hopes to give central Illinois something to talk about.

The event features Chicago DJ JanderVK and DJ duo Provoctiv Reality playing beats and sounds to keep you in the “steampunk mood”.  There will also be waltzing lessons by O’Reilly’s Captain and a “Steampunk 101″ class by none-other than our good friends at Highwind Steamworks.

It’s highly suggested you dress in your finest for this event – though everyone is invited (even street urchins and engine boys).

The event starts at 6pm and goes until 2am.  Entry is free, and it’s 19+ to get in.

So do go out and support our local and national scene!

Best!

-The Lord Baron

Carnivale Delerium is tonight, Oct 22, 2010!

Reggie’s Rock Club, 2109 South State Street, Chicago [map]
$15  (BUY TICKETS NOW!)

9pm – 2am!

More details on the Facebook as well!

Write up at STEAMPUNK TRIBUNE

Recommended event at CHICAGO TIME OUT

The Midwest has finally burst upon the Steampunk scene and made a notable impression with the fabulous World Steam Expo, held in Dearborn Michigan, just outside of Detroit, land of gears, cogs, machinery and even an old Airship port.

We pulled up to the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn, Michigan for the 2010 World Steam Expo in a flurry of madness.  Traffic had been what one may colloquially posit as “a parking lot” and making good time with a caravan of vehicles is never an easy task to begin with.  Suddenly, it was 4:55pm and we had a panel at 5:00pm.  Fortunately for us, we made it, produced a well-received panel and thus began a weekend of fantastic fashion, great live shows, big glass elevators and a lot of drinking in our esteemed finery.

Update: Photos from World Steam Expo:

Arty Dawgs

Flickr: World Steam Expo

Pre-Expo Detroit News Coverage

Impressions.

Every con starts with a first impression, and the WSE was certainly no exception. Fantastic relief panels of gears and gear trains, Cthulu sculptures, and fantastic arches dominated the entry to the ticketing booth. Scattered about the main floor were continued panels, columns, statuettes and many, many steampunkers.

The first evening started off well with both our “Steampunking the Home” and “On Airships” panels (stay tuned for details from our panels in a later post). The Rev. Cpt presented hands-on demonstrations of actual Zeppelin mooring bends (knots), while sharing antique books of the historic Zeppelin circumnavigations.  Afterward, we went about in our outfits to meet other participants and attendees.  There were a few frustrations with the organization of the con, notably that the panelist rooms were on opposite sides of the hotel and there was an irritating lack of signage letting one know when, who or where things would be or take place.  The brochures became valuable objects as the convention went on, as they essentially became our only way to navigate both chronologically and geographically the con.

Vendors.

The vendors bazaar was far and away one of the most impressive I had seen at one of these events. The wares were top notch, a number of steps above the kind of things I had seen at past Steampunk Conventions.  Vendors such as Brute Force (and thank you, might I say, to Mark Donnelly for the fantastic books on haunted locales!), Penny Dreadfuls, Blonde Swan, Myke Amend and more were really out in full force with some of the most fantastic creations seen for sale yet.

Music and Shows.

The live shows were really something too, as the Con Committee surely handled their programming with excellence.  Every day starting in the afternoon and going well into the night, they had fabulous acts such as The Gypsy Nomads, The Men who Will Not be Blamed for Nothing, Tartanic, The Extraordinary Contraptions and, of course, Abney Park play at various intervals.  What the Committee really did right was have the same couple of acts play multiple shows throughout the con, including a fabulous Abney Park acoustic set (and a cover of “The Rainbow Connection” caught in the hallway!). If you could not make Friday’s show you could make Saturday, if you could not make Sunday you could make Monday.  The line ups did change, but seeing as all the acts played at least twice, you really could see them all.  My only wish was that the “big” Abney Park set was not on Sunday afternoon (starting at 3, ending at 7).  After two days of hard-core con-life it was tough to get ones energy up for that show – though I will say I made it and was not disappointed.

Speaking of music (my forte might I say).  I must say that the other great thing about the con was how personable all the acts were!  A huge bellows-out to the Gypsy Nomads, who aren’t just great musicians but are also a great deal of fun with which to spend time.  That goes as well for The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing, whom the lovely KL Kenzie  and myself found ourselves drinking with in the bar more than once.  “But, Baron, what about the music?”

Well!  The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing are far and away the most punk I’d ever seen in Steampunk – and that’s a good thing.  Quite opposite to your more industrial or new wave influenced “Steampunk Music”, these guys are truly punks with a progressive bent.  Mixing hard guitar riffs with tongue & cheek spoken word with a good deal of comedic rapport and, of course, a saw (they play a saw).  The Gypsy Nomads are another one for the books with a high energy stage show that has a heavy French/gypsy punk attitude.  You would never believe JUST two people could make so much (and different!) noise on one stage.

Tartanic is really something else.  As someone who is not too fond of that “Celtic Punk” music, I found this mostly vocalist free band really enjoyable.  They are essentially two bagpipes and a whole lot of drums.  The Extraordinary Contraptions were quite enjoyable, though I felt I had heard their sonic style before as it sounded pretty new-wavey, but their stage presence is really fantastic and once you can get past the mildly synth-poppiness of it you really have a strong act.  Of course, we’ve spoken about Abney Park many times before, so I’ll leave it with, they really do put on a hell of a stage show.  Beyond their music, Robert, the lead singer, is quite possibly one of the most charismatic front-men I’ve ever seen.  He’s a veritable expert at playing himself down.

Dancing.

Of the many acts, panels and activites at the Con, the only disappointment was the Masquerade Ball.  I had quite the fun, however it did not really have the feeling of being uniquely special.  As my friend Bill Dunbar pointed out, while it was a wonderful time, it was we participants that made it that way with our outfits and dancing.  For $10 it felt like there should have been a bit more, perhaps a band, bar, or social dance interactions and lessons.

Sunday night drew a close with a fantastic anachronistic electronic dance party. Your typical con rave, spirits were high and music was loud. A fantastic laser light show was assembled to illuminate and create sci-fi ambiance to the event.

Carnivals.

After that the ball was over, the midnight carnival began – and HANDS DOWN – that was the best show of the weekend!  With GREAT opening sets by The Gypsy Nomads and one freaky freaky show by The Squidling Brothers.  It was out of this world, and I would pay quite the pretty penny to see it again.  It is not every day you get to use a staple gun on a clown (yes WE stapled things to him) after watching a strong man lift a “penguin man” with his ears and a woman swallow an entire sword.  It really hearkened back and gave you that feeling of a twisted freak show of days gone by.

Panels.

The panels and programming at the WSE was truly exciting, and we were selected to present several. As mentioned before, a panel on “Steampunking the Home” and “Airships” were both very well received. The lovely and talented Lisa Marie alias Lady No Lucky gave an excellent demonstration regarding dresses, bustles and what to do with your thrift-store finds. Being a bridesmaid finally has a use when you slice up your old dress and steampunk it! We also presented a panel on our actual, working, ghost-hunting equipment. Heavily modified and steampunked high-tech gadgetry put to use finding spectres of the beyond. Steampunk in popular culture was discussed with a slightly hungover, but well receptive audience on Sunday morning. The RL&GEMS closed the show with a panel on throwing steampunk events, the where, how and when guide.

Other panels included live demonstrations of Bartitsu, a victorian martial art; Bustles, Victorian death rites, fashion, modding, DIY, and more. A very well equipped game room was present with various steampunk themed and other popular games for Xbox, and an excellent Blu-ray mini theatre (thank goodness for closed captioning). A mad science fair showcased the finest antique, modded and home-brew objects of steampunk. Yours truly, the RL&GEMS won with our ghost-hunting equipment!

All in all it was really a fabulous time, the fact that it’s taken me until now to recover enough to write this should be proof of that.  Rebecca, aka Dr. Starlight, one of the organizers of the event, was more than helpful to us throughout the weekend, and meeting her was a great pleasure.  It was great seeing the Imperial Anti-Piracy Squadron again after Windy-Con.  I am glad to see that Outland Armour is bouncing back after their terrible tragedy in the Tennessee Floods.  And in the end, it was just a lot of fun seeing old friends and making new ones.  As a doubly nice end to the weekend, a good number of us went out to BD’s Mongolian Grill in Dearborn for dinner – unfortunately we could not all fit at the same table – but hey, there is always next year.

Best!

The RL&GEMS

As many of you may or may not already know the much heralded World Steam Expo is set to launch a week from today and we here at Steampunk Chicago and esteemed members of the Royal Ladies’ & Gentle-mens’ Experimental Madness Society could not be more excited.

“But why, good people, are you so excited” you ask?

For a variety of reasons.  But tantamount to them all is a multifarious array of our members being panelists and participants at the con!  If you happen to make it do check out as many of the events and panels as you can, but should you wish to see your good authors/party promoters/mad scientists in person check out the following.

Steampunk in Popular Culture
Airships
Steampunking the Home
Steampunk Events

AND (of course)

One of our ghost hunting devices - The Electro-Aether-Voice-Phenomenon Recorder

The RL&GEMS Showcases their ghost hunting equipment.  At that panel we will be showing and demonstrating our inventions as well as showing pictures, film clips and evidence from hunts we’ve done at such places as The Roff Home in Watskea, Illinois (do check back on Monday for an article on it!)

But that is just the tip of the iceberg!  The grand event also features a mad science fair, a Tiny Top Hat Workshop, a masquerade ball and a live performance by none other than Abney Park.  If you have not seen them live, do not miss the spectacle!

Tickets are still available – so do get them now if you wish to go!

And with that said I will leave you wonder and dream about what things await us in the grand duchy of Dearborn, Michigan.  We do hope to see you there!

Best!
The Lord Baron

If you are unfamiliar to the band Abney Park, you are either new to the Steampunk sub-culture or have somehow ducked any and all reference to them ubiquitously scattered throughout the aether.
Regardless, I am sure the rest will be simply delighted to know that the newest album from Abney Park – “Aether Shanties” – has been released and I must say, I find it to be a lovely work indeed.

They continue in the same vein they began with “Lost Horizons”, thematically keeping with such Steampunk ideas as derelict airships (Aether Shanty – the single that I had posted above), clockworks (The Clockyard), DIY machine building (Building Steam). In such terms it is an entertaining album that sets the steampunk mood perfectly.

Sonically it has a number of points where it deviates from Lost Horizons, though those who have listened to their work prior to LH should find this to be of no surprise.  Abney Park is a band that seemingly lives to re-invent themselves as much as they do to perform, and in this situation it suits them.

Gone away is their hard, gothy EBM style that made up roughly half of the last album.  And while there is, of course, still a lot of heavy guitar vamping and bold piratey stuff, there are a number of other tracks that do an interesting, though not always convincing, play on fusing the antique with the new.

That was “Until The Day You Die”, one of the strongest and most interesting numbers on the album, their use without over-use of rag-time samples gives the song a fun, goofy and yet darkly diabolical nature.

“My Life” does a fun job at mixing a gypsy-klezmer style into the mix, though it didn’t feel entirely natural to mine-self, and I almost felt that I would rather leave the gypsy punk to the gypsies. That is not to say it isn’t a good track, but I am not so sure it fits here with what the band is doing.

I find the same with “Victoria”, though I am divided on this one. I love piano, and the piano work on this track is deep, melancholy and beautiful… but then they must add a drum machine as though they are not confident enough in the piano compositions ability to move on its own.  When the good Captain breaks in with a genuinely sad soliloquy and the drum machine falls away you are immediately brought back in, but then as soon as it is gone, the infernal thing returns, much to my frustration.

Perhaps I am reaching. So with that I’ll finish by saying that, regardless of its faults, it is a deliriously beautiful album. It is refreshing to see that they’re growing as musicians, producers and song writers. The album sounds, for the most part, the least electronic of any of their work to date, and this is where the real strengths in it lie.

I do suggest going to their website AbneyPark.com and buying the album straight from them, it is available for digital download or as an actual, physical “compact disc.” All in all, I am willing to say, I would be surprised if you found it to disappoint.

Best,
-The Lord Baron