My my what a week ahead of us we have!  With the ever broadening array of things to do both vintage, retro, and steampunk, how can one decide?  Well, we’re here to help you!

The Classic Remastered “A Trip To The Moon” at The Gene Siskel

For those few who are still unfamiliar with George Melies he is one of the first true film auteurs who took full advantage of the art of cinema to create worlds and effects that people are still trying to figure out today.  Also, he was played by Ben Kingsly in Hugo.  For those in the know do grab your less educated friends and try to make one of the last three screenings of Melies’s best known film “A Trip to the Moon” at The Gene Siskel Film Center in downtown Chicago.

For anyone who spent a single waking minute in the 1990s, you’ll likely recognize it as the blueprint for the music video “Tonight, Tonight” by The Smashing Pumpkins.

Tickets are about $13 on TicketMaster and the showings end this Thursday.  Do check it out now and don’t miss this momentous occasion to get in touch with your cinematic roots!

Dead Roots at Delilah’s with Mr. Vourteque (yes, that’s me).

I’m not that great at promoting some of my more subtle events, but should you be looking for a calmer event of whiskey and beer and hard punk blues and Gothic Americana country (and a bit of off kilter circus music), please stop by Delilah’s this Wednesday.  I’ll be DJing a wide array of music (and it often seems to overlap with Mr. Bodewell’s playlists) that centers on the dark, strange and over all country-esque.  And when I say “country” we’re not talking about that stuff Nashville produces, we’re talking a whiskey fueled BBQ in an post apocalyptic abandoned landscape (at least I like to think that’s what I’m talking about).

Did I mention that Delilah’s has one of the largest selections of whiskey in the world?

There is also $2 Old Crow Bourbon and $2 PBR, it’s free to get in, you just have to be 21+.  See Delilah’s for more information.

C2E2 is Back?!  Why, yes! It is.

Yup!  It’s that time again, time for C2E2!  And there are FAR too many guests and people of merit attending to mention (though to mention one, John Cusack will be there promoting his new, somewhat steampunkish movie, The Raven).  What we should mention is it launches this Friday and finishes this Sunday and should fulfill most any pop-culture geeks various misaligned fantasies (I say that with love).

What you’re probably asking is why a comicon is being promoted in a Steampunk blog? We at Steampunk Chicago are hosting a panel, entitled “Steampunk as a Culture” where we’ll be discussing exactly what the title of the panel says we will be.  It’s from 3pm to 4pm on Saturday, April 14th.

Tickets for C2E2 vary but can be purchased here.

Of course, once you’re finished geeking out on Saturday please catch the Reggie’s bus from McCormick place and join us for…

THE GEARBOX FANTASTIQUE II!

A year ago we brought you our huge spring spectacular with a variety of sideshow, burlesque and musical acts!  Now we bring it back, even bigger and better!

We first welcome the return of The Squidling Brothers with Jellyboy T. Clown himself as the Master of Ceremonies.  We’ll also be welcoming Hellblinki for another show, guaranteed to boggle your mind!  There will also be Pinkerton Xyloma and Titano the Strongman from The Dead Man’s Carnival as well as local rockers V is for Villains.  Thee Bluebeard will do a bit of comedy and ensure you dance a bit to DJ Shawn Gaston from The Begger’s Carnival as well as The Lords & Ladies DJs.

Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door, you can also purchase the $40 VIP package sponsored by our friends at Tipton spirits.  There will also be outfit and costume contests, photographers, videographers, general madness as well as, of course, amazing fashion.  We can’t wait to see you there!

And once you’ve woken up on Sunday wondering what the hell happened to you last night, do join us for…

Watch Chains & Lace Returns to Pleasant Home

This Sunday, April 15th, we return to Pleasant Home with Watch Chains & Lace.  This is our summer-time afternoon monthly soiree featuring tea, small shows, lawn games, cocktailing, a bit of dancing and a ton of fun.

We do invite you to join us for tea from 4 to 5 and then continue on the evening relaxing on the veranda, watching our friends The Squidlings, do some decidedly toned down magic and shows, enjoy a cocktail or glass of wine, or a glass of lemonade and play a bit of croquet or lawn tennis.

It is a lovely time indeed and tickets are only $5 for those 13 and over.  This is an all ages event, so feel free to bring the family. Click on the image above to buy tickets to the tea at 4 p.m for $10, or to buy tickets for general admission for $5 in advance.

What more?  60% of all profits go to support Pleasant Home and future events there.

The tea is 4 – 5 with the soiree from 5 – 9 at Pleasant Home, 210 Home Avenue in Oak Park.  It’s a short three blocks from (the very safe) Harlem (it’s the last stop on the line) on the Green-line El or you can get off at the Harlem Ave stop on the UP-W Metra.

Phew!  What a week!  Hope to see your shining faces out and about, as we’ll certainly be there!

Best,

-The Lord Baron

Go to Steampunk Chicago events or local cons and you will undoubtedly see the merchandise table of Jeff Platt and Dawn Przybylski, Highwind Steamworks. They craft jewelry, leatherwork, goggles and other steampunk gear. You can also visit their Etsy Shop.

To find out a little more about them, I e-mailed them questions separately and have fashioned together their answers.

SPC: What is your role at Highwind Steamworks?

Jeff: “I do the leatherwork, prop pieces, and the more industrial looking pieces as well as the men’s accessories.”

Dawn: “I design and make most of the jewelry and handknits and set up for shows. I give my input on Jeff’s leather creations, and he on mine, our stuff is really a collaboration between the two of us.”

Jeff: “When we go to a show or convention, we’re both right there, usually taking turns selling or “hawking” in the aisle.”

SPC: Where do you find inspiration?

Jeff: “I find inspiration all over the place. Movies, art, literature, television, video games, antiques, whatever. Just taking a new bit of machinery apart to see its guts sometime inspires me to a new vision for a piece. I find if I try to hard to come up with something new, it’s usually a failed process. I let my eyes unfocus and try to imagine what something could be as I look at it, or let me brain storm over the pieces we have and see what things naturally want to be.”

Dawn: “I am unable to sit down to make one thing at a time. I will often take over the whole dining room table and spread out and there will be partially finished pieces of jewelry all around me. I love to play with all the parts putting them together and taking them apart again, when suddenly I will get an idea to combine different colors and shapes and I will drop what I’m working on to start something else. I always finish everything around me, but it might take me a while! The knitting is a little different, I love to use vintage Victorian knitting patterns and I am partial to patterns from nature such as leaves, trees and plants- I’m really excited because I recently discovered some gorgeous shawl patterns that have intricate roses and daffodils incorporated into them- like nothing I have ever seen before!”

SPC: How do you balance business and marriage?

Dawn: “Easy, the work room is the living room, when one of us is making things the other is usually in the room and we can talk and hang out. We know we can’t really work at the same table so when he is doing leather goods I sit on the couch and knit (or what have you). The only issue I have is when he forgets to warn me when he is about to hit rivets with the hammer- its REALLY loud, I jump every time!”

Jeff: “It’s actually a lot easier than some would think. We like spending time around the living room designing and building and making items together. We like to show off our pieces to each other first and get feedback from each other. Even though we have incredibly different creative processes, Dawn’s a planner and I’m a little more haphazard, we have learned when to not bother each other about our ideas and when to ask for help. On the business side, since I usually have more time, I usually handle the details after we’ve discussed what we want to do.”

SPC: Have you had a favorite piece (or one of great pride) that you were reluctant to sell?

Jeff: “I’ve had a number of pieces, large and small that I’ve thought, ‘if that doesn’t sell in a month, it’s mine!’ Sadly, or fortunately, those pieces always seem to go quickly. I had a particular pair of goggles that I fell in love with when I made them, and the gears I used for embellishment were truly one of a kind. Of course they sold, and I won’t be able to make them again. Usually though, if something is truly a favorite I must have, we call it a prototype and keep it, to be used as a basis for other pieces.”

Dawn: “There was one necklace that I made back when we first started, It was a long necklace that had a huge pennyfarthing pendant and rose quartz elements to it. I loved this necklace and would often wear it while at shows… you know… to ‘advertize.’ LOL. I was very close to just keeping it when we sold it at a show. Sad. But not really. Now if there is something I really like, I just make more than one!”

SPC: What separates Highwind Steamworks from other vendors?

Dawn: “Us! I think that our natural friendliness and forthrightness makes us stand apart as well as the fact that we are more than just vendors in the scene. We are socially part of it, too. People come to our booth sometime just to talk and hang out with us and we go out to events that we aren’t vending because we genuinely enjoy the scene and the people in it!”

Jeff: “Truly, everything we make is something that comes out of our own minds and hands. We may purchase some new parts and findings, but the rest has been found, scrounged, and searched to find unique bits that we can make things from. Nothing we do or sell is outsourced or purchased in bulk. When you stop by our booth, or find our Etsy site, you are dealing with us, not with a third-party. And we truly feel a part of the community. If there’s an event we can attend, we do, vending or not. There’s an old joke, “Never trust a bald barber”, which goes along with my belief that you just shouldn’t by steampunk goods from someone who isn’t a steampunk.”

SPC: Where does the “Highwind” come from?

Jeff: “I traced my early appreciation for the aesthetic to the Final Fantasy video game series, I wanted to pay homage to that in our name. So Highwind come directly from Final Fantasy 7.”

Dawn: “The Highwind is Cid’s airship, of course! Cid is a character out of the Final Fantasy game franchise. Every game has had a Cid and every Cid has had an airship. The day I told Jeff that Final Fantasy has stylistic elements of steampunk (and he subsequently decided steampunk was the best thing he had ever heard of), he became Dr. Cid and I became Madame Lockheart of the Highwind.”

SPC: Bonus Question: When did you know it was love?

Dawn: “From first sight. However, I would have to say staying up all night three days after we had met to watch the entirety of The Stand (the made for TV mini series). Don’t know why but we clicked from the very start.”

Jeff: “I knew it the moment I saw her, sitting in my then girlfriend’s dorm room playing cards. I remember opening the door, walking in and seeing Dawn sitting there, and the first words in my head were ‘Oh crap, this is going to be a problem.’ Of course it wasn’t in the long run, and we have been together ever since!”

Look for this delightful couple to be vending at our next event: Gearbox Fantastique II, April 14th, at Reggie’s Rock Club. See the calendar for more information!

Teslacon II continues to explore  the fantastic world of Lord Bobbins versus Dr. Proctocus  this weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. We, the RLGEMS and hundreds of other steampunks will be travelling 20,000 leagues under the aether in the fantastic submarine/airship the HMS Trident! Exotic ports of call, mummie unwrappings, murder, mystery and magic are sure to please the senses.  The RLGEMS had the fortune of being actors in the inaugural con last November. This year, extended members from Chicago will be presenting several panels, events and more! Some of our friends from Michigan and Ohio will be joining us for discussions and merriment.

PLEASE NOTE  our new event listing and calendar! Our panels and events for this weekend have been listed.

FRIDAY NIGHT we will be hosting a Midnight Gala, sampling the finest in fashion, drinks, and music. Please note this event is limited to those of age, so please leave the children with the auto-sitter. Join us at 9:30 in the Leviathan room, 21+.

SILENT FILM with Mr. Perkins, a distant relative of RLGEMS founder Captain Flint will be showing. Join Mr. Perkins in the silent pirate film starring Thee Bluebeard at 8:30 Friday night in the Nemo room. Please view the preview below!

The adventures this weekend have broken the bounds of time and scene, as the AV Club Madison ran a fantastic interview with sci-fi scholar Austin Sirkin and our friend the “Steampunk Chef”, Aaron Egan. Teslacon has posted the entire schedule!

We’ll be bringing our newest fashions, devices, gadgets and music. Please leave us a note below if we will see you there!

Ye gods, two cons in a row that we’ve been invited to be a part of?  What is this madness?  Regardless of such questions, Wizard World has begun at the Donald E. Stephens Center in scenic Rosemont, Illinois and we’ve already had our first day there.  And what fun it’s been!  After some lengthy bouts with really no one we figured out how to get power to the Fusion-O-Scope so as to serenade con-goers as they go past.  We’ve also finally found a great venue on to which we can unload our access of posters from past events.

So with that said – have you ever wanted to come out and hang with the RL&GEMS or Lords & Ladies DJs at a comic book convention?  Have you ever wanted a FREE piece of Steampunk Chicago history?  Have you ever wanted to… well… do comic book convention stuff with a bunch of steampunkers?  Then look no further than Wizard World – it started yesterday and goes through Sunday!

For more information, including times and ticket pricing, check it out their website HERE!

That’s right fanboys & girls, dust off whatever sci-fi and/or fantasy and/or horror trope/icon costume you have and head out to the Hyatt Regency O’Hare for Cyphan II!  Tomorrow starts the second year of one of Chicago’s newest fan-cons and as it turns out, I, the good Lord Baron Joseph C.R. Vourteque IV will be “disc jockeying” it!

The convention boasts a bevy of special guests including Robert Picardo, Dirk Benedict, Herb Jefferson Jr & Chase Masterson.  On top of that the con features the Friday night Sinister Circus with performers Ron Fitzgerald, Forms in Motion and Chase Masterson doing a tasteful burlesque act.  Finishing it off will be a DJ set by none-other than myself on the Fusion-O-Scope.

Saturday brings a guest appearance by Svengoolie as well as the Imperial Ball costume contest!  There’s also a film festival, gaming, workshops, and of course, panels.  There’s so much more to see and do – do check out the website for full details.  Cyphan runs from 12pm this Friday to 2pm this Sunday.  Don’t miss out!  If you haven’t yet, get your tickets HERE.