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

Wow!  What a weekend!  Sorry for the delay in getting this post up, but it really was that kind of weekend.

First off, thank you to EVERYONE who came out to support our second Carnivale Delirium show.  It was a HUGE success, thank you also to all the acts who performed.  We couldn’t have, of course, done it without you.  Also to Dewar’s and 42 Below Vodka for their lovely products.

A shot of the crowd!

Also thank you to the fine people at Theatre Bizarre for having the Lords & Ladies DJs at their AMAZING event.  What follows are pictures from Carnivale Delirium II  and a link to some from Theatre Bizarre : The Initiation.

First off – please do watch these fine videos from our resident videographer, Daria Melnikova!

Thanks to Glitter Guts, Wes Bolton and the others who provided these lovely shots.

Mr. Wes and Casey May looking their finest!

Veronique Chevalier, our fine MC for the night.

Veronique and the Reverand.

One of the fine performers of Candy Town.

KL Kenzie and Mr. Auto-Technical aren't quite sure what to do with themselves.

Eric of Vagabond Opera wows the crowd.

DC burlesque performer Eerie Twilight poses for the camera.

Local Chicago act Candy Town takes over the stage.

My, what a fine rocket pack you have sir.

Some ladies in the, quite literal, green room.

Renee and Karen enjoy some camera time.

The Mustache Contest drew an interest crowd, indeed.

Dr. Dezoma and Dr. Dragonfly!

The Dezoma's, some of our wonderful door staff.

Some lovely members of Airship O'Reilly who joined us for the night.

It seems Mr. Budka just cannot stop with the fisticuffs!

Keith (the good Doctor) of Terra Mysterium poses in his finest.

Bill & Casey share a moment with the camera.

The lovely Lula Houp-Garou and her fine beau.

Some wonderful attendees.

Daria, our phenomenal videographer, takes a break from... videographing?

It's local Chicago steampunk/industrial band - V is for Villains!

No idea what KL and Eric are seeing... but it must be interesting.

Now who is that fine fellow?

Carlos and his friend, from local shop, Vintage Underground.

And Sean from Candy Town closes out the night!

But not without some card tricks!

Lovely Lady Lisa Marie and Rev. Cpt. Flint.

And The Lord Baron along with some... foxy... lady.

Thanks for coming folks!

Also – be sure to check out pictures from Theatre Bizarre on their Facebook group.

As the steampunk aesthetic continues to grow beyond fashion, music, conventions and modded gadgets and computers. A passion for antiques, clocks, taxidermy and oddities can quickly grow to encompass ones surroundings as well.

True, the above photo is not a picture from our apartment or the shoot, though what I would do for that couch and wallpaper!

TimeOut Chicago’s Jessica Herman has flattered us dearly by allowing us to grace their newest issue as well as giving us a lovely write up on their webpage along with fantastic photography by Erica Gannett.  I will say that I am quite proud of the things I’ve brought to the apartment, but most of the praise should go to Kenzie, who has a true eye for detail and placement.

If anything, I hope the article inspires all people from the curious masses to pioneers of industry to perhaps take a cue and veer away from plastics, bright colors and boring shapes and instead adopt an aesthetic at once organic and  embracing of the industrial.   If you look around, you can see it’s already begun.

We here at Steampunk Chicago, are proud and honored to be part of that.

You can check out the article at TimeOut Chicago here, and the Huffington Post also grabbed it.

Best,

The Lord Baron

The Lord Baron & KL Outside of the Bernadine Stillman Inn where they stayed.

I first went to Galena many years ago, having heard stories about it’s exceptional beauty and European style.  Upon arrival I was not disappointed and since then I’ve returned many times and even made a number of local friends.  Just this December my lady, KL and I decided to venture to Galena and spend a couple of days there.  For the adventurous steampunker, it’s an experience I highly suggest as there are innumerable antique and specialty shops and a noteworthy 85% of the town is on the national historic registry.  The Main Street strip is considered one of the best main streets in America and features such goods as locally made hot sauces, mid-west vinted fruit and central European style wines, brass jewelry, gourmand goods and a great variety of fantastic restaurants.  We ate at One Eleven Main ourselves.

One of the many ubiquitous pieces of taxidermy that sprinkle Galena. Also, hot sauce from Galena Canning Company!

Kenzie wanders through one of the many shops that carry just about everything.

A corner of an antique store. The other side is full of antique cameras.

Doubly, the town is abundant with bed and breakfasts, most are done up in a decidedly Victorian motif. Few are below $150/night (if you go on off days, Sundays – Wednesdays you can often find rooms for as low as $75).  And of course, being bed and breakfasts they feature a variety of ammenities.  One of the other fantastic things about Galena is it’s scenery.

Just before reaching Jo Davies’ Country if you are traveling from the east, you immediately begin to note that the land becomes increasingly hilly.  This is known as the Driftless region and sports vast valleys and dramatic ridges that can be as high as 1,000 feet or more above sea-level.  For the plains of the mid-west, this is quite the unusual find.

Kenzie curls her hair in front of the sink. It was next to our bed, quite traditional indeed!

Unfortunately one cannot take home everything they see in Galena.

Galena itself sports a very old-world style with old houses and narrow streets.  Even more so, the town exists along the banks of the Galena River which has caused the downtown to be built up on a near 45 degree angle going westward. A good explorer can literally take the stairs from one block west to another.  Our good friend Ryan Dies for instance, lives on the second floor of a building on Main Street but also has access from the next street west via descending stairs as each street is essentially four stories or more above the next!

The downtown slopes dramatic downward to the Galena River.

One of the random pieces of amazing that are all about Ryan's apartment.

Virtually every place you walk into in Galena has antique furniture.

All in all our stay in Galena was wonderfully relaxing while still being quite adventrous.  I would suggest Galena to any steampunker, mid-western or not, if they are looking to get away for a weekend and not break the bank.  Doubly, we found that traversing the streets in our steampunk outfits (which is essentially the only clothing we brought… and pretty much own) caused no derision but instead loads of compliments and even a few tourists asking to get their picture with us.

Our buddy Ryan licking up some snow... and standing on one of the steeply angled streets.

For more information check out Galena’s Official Website.  Also, feel free to visit The Galena Canning Company for some of the best hot sauce in the world.  One Eleven Main is a fantastic local dining experience.  The Bernadine Stillman Inn is where we were shown wonderful hospitality.  Galena Cellars has some great mid-western wine.  Visit our friend’s website Brassologie for all your brass piece needs.

Best!
-The Lord Baron

photos by Lex Machina & Trycirtis Hirta

So Steam-Con II has come and gone (as of over a week ago… yes, I know I can be a bit slow on the uptake), and I must say, for the second year in a row, I was not disappointed.

The variety of people, entertainment, and programming was even wider and more impressive than the year before and from what I was told, they are gearing up for an even bigger con for next year (in a new location as well).  So I’m going to go with a quick rundown of the weekend.

First off, I bunked with a great friend of mine, Justinian of the Red Fork Empire, a fantastic performer in his own right as well as an engineer.  Most impressive of all – his fist (aka The Will of the People) has been up-graded into a fully articulate (and massive) arm.  It’s hard to describe so just go HERE to his website for pictures.

The new "movable" Will of the People

The night of my arrival, Thursday, was met with drinks at the Marriott bar with friends such as the afore mentioned Justininian, my wonderful author friend, Elizabeth Darvill, as well as my good friends The Gypsy Nomads and the lovely photographer Lex Machina.  The next day brought, amongst other things, registration, setting up for the FANTASTIC art gallery run by the talented Angelina Marie (that both Justin and I showed in) as well as the meeting of the fantastic ladies and gents from The League of STEAM.

The RL&GEMS Ghost Hunting kit in the art gallery

These guys really take the cake for both inventiveness, theatrics and humor.   To see their equipment is to be truly impressed with how far people can take fabrication.  My favorite being the shoulder mounted cannon – I witnessed it fire the “plunger” mod.  It was as if one was witnessing a live action cartoon, complete with a POP! upon release.

This is the "Plunger Mod"

I also sat in on Elizabeth’s panel (shared with her beau, Nick Valentino and fellow author Jay Lake) on the various “genres” of “punk” (clockpunk, sailpunk, sandlepunk… coffeepunk), following which I contributed to the convention by being in a panel with Lex on Steampunk Events and continued on with the day into the night at the artist’s reception where I got to meet and chat with a variety of lovely people.

Saturday brought too many things to go into, including some of my own panels and culminating with arguably the most packed panel I was ever involved in – Steampunk Ghost Hunting – with Crackitus Potts of the League of STEAM – you can see a clip from it below.

I also spent some time in the bazaar, which was quite extensive and had some of the best variety I had seen at a steampunk con in a while.  Including teas, gears to build your own stuff, the ladies from Frenzy Universe selling old (but not used) army surplus… stuff… and there was even a vendor selling things in jars.

A shot from the Bazar

The night then led to an AMAZING show downstairs in Jordan Bodewell’s (of Sepiachord.com fame) Cabaret variety show.  The cabaret had opened at 11am that day (opened by the Gypsy Nomads… alas I had a panel so I could not catch their set) and was going well into the night.  The burlesque was really something as was Veronique Chevalier’s live show.  But I did have to duck out as I did not want to miss Ghoultown on the main-stage.  And yes, they did not disappoint, though with the show going as late as it was, I felt they had a bit more stage-time than my schedule allowed.  I there-fore ducked out and met up with Justin to attend the Wild Wild West Con’s room party, there we were met by the good gent Xander of the Vagabond Opera, after some wandering we all ended up back in Justin and mine’s room for a good bit of wine and talk of music.

Some fine Steampunk Gents!

One of the major draw-backs of the weekend was the lack of room parties, I was told this was mostly due to the hotel and it’s restrictions.

Sunday was, as they oft are at such cons, a rather lazy and laid back day.  There were many good-byes said and hugs given.  It was so good to meet so many wonderful people who I look forward to keeping in touch with throughout the year.  I attended Jordan’s panel with a variety of musicians – it is still one of my favorite panels I had attended.  The day ended with the wake – a party for those of us leaving on Monday – and let me tell you – it really was a party.  Cider, wine, beer and whiskey flowed and I found myself eventually sitting by the pool in the Marriott with Nick and Von Foggel of the League of STEAM, co-chair Diana Vick and non-other than Justinian himself at 3am in a drunken and heated discussion on “what is steampunk.”

That next Monday it snowed in Seattle and I was off, back to Chicago.  It really was a lovely time.  Great job to all those involved and I look forward to coming back next year.

Best,

-The Lord Baron