My terribly clever wife Liz circumvented my impending mid-life crisis when she bought me a penny-farthing bike for my 40^th birthday. She knew that it would be an affordable substitute for a Ferrari or Porsche.  As the Chicago seasons rapidly change, the time for bringing the hiwheel out of winter storage is nigh.

She bought it from Rideable Bicycle Replicas. They shipped the pieces to her at work and she had the good staff at Rapid Transit Cylceshop assemble it. I have been informed that pretty much all of the staff took it out for a test ride, you know, just to be sure everything worked.

It’s great fun to ride! Passers-by wave and announce, “Hey! Bike guy!” with a jolly gleam in the eye. The public reaction is one of merriment, to which I carefully tip my hat and offer, “Good day!”

However, there are certain details that separate it from the usual bike ride. It is fixed-gear, with the pedals directly connected to the wheel. You can’t break and you can’t coast. On a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo, I had to walk the bike over the Chicago River along Webster. The hilliness on either side of Ashland was unpedalable. I’ve avoided Damen north of the Vienna Beef Hot Dog factory for fear of a coronary on the bridge. My choice of destinations tends to be limited.

I also have to accessorize for my rides. Of course, I enjoy being steampunked out for the occasion. Unfortunately, I tend to throw caution to the wind. As much as I know that I should wear a helmet, it just doesn’t match. A bowler looks much better, but it doesn’t offer the same sort of cranial protection.  For security, I also use a Fabric Horse u-lock holster, but this necessitates trousers with a belt. My Frontier Classics with suspenders or morning suit with the adjustable waist do not allow the convenience.

My apologies, but if you see me riding, I will not let you try it. You will break it. This happens every time. Accustomed to standard bikes, you will try to start pedaling. The wheel will not move and you will wrench the handlebars out of place. I will have to take it to Rapid Transit to have it readjusted (again). To take off, it is necessary to glide along the bike and let your feet to catch up with the moving pedals.  Maneuvering will be odd. You will use a lot more upper body strength for steering. My shoulders usually ache a bit after the first few seasonal trips. Lord Breaulove Swells Whimsy offers excellent advice on riding a penny farthing in The Affected Provincial’s Companion, Volume One.

Now I must tip my hat to you. Good day!

Yikes! Pothole!

History ain’t what it used to be! Steampunks mash up the past and present while looking to the future. Altered History and Alternate Histories are two websites that have fun scrambling the past.

Captain Kit Kaboom (aka Abbey Manalli of Milwaukee, WI) designed Altered History to be “a world that never quite existed. This is a world of airships and trains, steamships and submarines.”

The site has buttons, postcards and stickers for the travelers of the yesteryear that never was.

It also has patches and bronze pins for the explorers and mechanics of the fleet.

Alternate Histories at Etsy.com offers prints with incongruities. Pittsburgh, PA artist Matthew Buccholz (via New York and Arizona) presents a world “Where the Past Comes Monstrously to Life.”

Dinosaurs roam a young America. Zombies and monsters feature in old cartography. Giant robots and Godzilla threaten a familiar city (hint: it’s not Tokyo).

Take the alternate route.

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

As summer slowly approaches one’s mind may wander to what a steampunker, or just general human being, might go about doing?  If that is the case with you, and you happen to be local to Northern Illinois or Chicagoland, then turn until your compass points North.

There, there is a land that begets whimsy and wonder.  It lets your mind wander and expand with new possibilities and perspectives. This land is called Wisconsin, and you can have an amazing day just outside of the Wisconsin Dells.

The Dells hosts an assortment of mini golf courses, haunted houses, amphibious craft and buffets. It’s an excursion in and of itself, but there are greater adventures to be held outside of the town.

Start by taking Route 12 south and visit the Circus World Museum in Baraboo. You begin in the Circus Museum, winding through an array of bright circus posters. These capture the thrills and hucksterism of the days when the circus wagons would come through town. It leads you to the grounds where you can take in circus acts, ride an elephant or view the circus wagon collection. The gift shop is not to be missed either.

Continue south on Route 12 and visit Dr. Evermor’s Forevertron, the world’s largest scrap metal sculpture.  To find it, just look for the metal birds and beasts and then park in Delaney’s Surplus in New Freedom, Wisconsin.  Continue through the scrap metal yard to find Dr. Evermor’s sculpture garden.  There you’ll see a flock of birds made from old brass musical instruments.  Metal critters and odd aliens dot the artistic landscape.  The centerpiece of all is the Forevertron.  It’s a contraption unto itself and you almost expect it’s arms to begin pumping out Danny Elfman oompah music.

An hour east is the House on the Rock.  Architect Alex Jordan began building the house into the side of a hill in the 1940s.  As time went on it expanded into a maze of collectables that would shame any grandparent’s basement.  There are a wide array of armaments, a whale battling a giant squid (giant being the key word here), self-playing mechanical orchestras, the world’s largest carousel, a room that is held up completely by cantilevers called the “Infinity Room”, rare books and a stroll down the Streets of Yesterday.  It’s a museum dedicated to nothing in particular.  It’s sense of whimsy and wonder was even captured by Neil Gaiman in his novel American Gods. To see photos of two of the contributors of Steampunk Chicago (Rev. Cpt. Samuel Flint, and Lady NoLucky) taken by the latter look no farther than here.

When I took this trip, it left me with a heightened sense of awareness. The Wisconsin scenery seemed even more magical.  As I drove past farmland, I wasn’t sure if I saw machinery in a field or if it were some sort of Evermor-like mechanical wonder-beast. Each turn of the hilly countryside was open to a new amazement.

These places provide hours of joy and wonder. If there is any time at the end of the day and you need to head back to a hotel room in the dells, you can always wind down with a bit of “Pottering” around an interactive game at Wizard Quest or have an educational excursion to Ripley’s Believe It or Not!

Enjoy!

Two years ago, in the blustery month of March, we started a little shindig called “Clockwork Vaudeville” at a little bar called Exit.  Within those two years Steampunk Chicago has proudly brought a large variety of acts to Chicago and the greater midwest, and so we felt it was time to bring back our flagship event series, Clockwork Vaudeville!

We launch this Saturday (February 18th) and couldn’t be more excited for the acts we have.  Hailing from the rolling hills of Kentucky, land of bourbon and bluegrass, comes The Ford Theatre Reunion.  If you’ve not heard their circus-inspired blend of punk, vaudeville, and Americana then check it out below.

Also joining us are Detroit’s own Lubberly Brothers, a duo that hearkens back to the era of The Marx Brothers. They guarantee laughs or your money back, unfortunately they don’t have any money, so you’ll just have to trust them on it!  In the meantime check out one of their films below.

Not only that but we’ll be having Highwind Steamworks vending, tarot readings from The Lady No Lucky and drinks specials from Tipton Spirits all night and a VIP open bar for those who buy patron passes!

Lastly, check out this spot Windy City Live did earlier today, thanks for the plug guys!

So don your best (or just a shirt and pants, we don’t judge) and join us this Saturday as we bring back Chicago’s original  steampunk event, The Clockwork Vaudeville!