Johnny Lemuria - 06 September 2009 01:53 PM

Girl Genius is enormously steampunk. This and more will be discussed at Asheville’s first Steampunk convention, SPATSfest, on September 26th, at Firestorm cafe!

Full Circle!

My wife just got back from DragonCon and said that Steampunk was the new big thing there and that she was already tired of it.

Steampunk isn’t old if you are behind the times.

brebro - 06 September 2009 10:31 PM

My wife just got back from DragonCon and said that Steampunk was the new big thing there and that she was already tired of it.

It has lost its sheen of novelty in geekdom. It is now an established genre. Maybe not quite as shiny as before, but still darned cool in my opinion.

I couldn’t even get through “The Difference Engine.” But I like the basic idea of steampunk, although it does seem kind of dated to me. I always think of it as a mid-1990s movement.

Well, its certainly bigger, richer, and contains a larger body of work and art now than in the mid-90’s. It doesn’t actually reference the 90’s. So how is it dated?

Here is the flier for SPATSFest 2009. If you like the event, please distribute as you see fit.
Flier was too big to post, find it here.

SPATSFest 2009 is in one week. Dust off your top hat, polish your goggles, fire up the velocipede, and come on down!

How big is Asheville’s Steampunk community, anyway? Is this just going to be a group of people who would hang out together on Saturday anyway, or is there some notion of bringing in the outliers from all around the county and the region?

I mean, it seems like you’d be better off just saving up and going to DragonCon.

Just curious.

DragonCon. *snicker*

I mean, come on. Read paragraph six.

mat catastrophe - 19 September 2009 08:05 PM

How big is Asheville’s Steampunk community, anyway? Is this just going to be a group of people who would hang out together on Saturday anyway, or is there some notion of bringing in the outliers from all around the county and the region?

I mean, it seems like you’d be better off just saving up and going to DragonCon.

Just curious.

DragonCon. *snicker*

I mean, come on. Read paragraph six.

I’m more curious about how many gypsy punks will ditch that and jump on this train.

I never heard this term until last week…

mat catastrophe - 19 September 2009 08:05 PM

How big is Asheville’s Steampunk community, anyway? Is this just going to be a group of people who would hang out together on Saturday anyway, or is there some notion of bringing in the outliers from all around the county and the region?

I mean, it seems like you’d be better off just saving up and going to DragonCon.

Just curious.

DragonCon. *snicker*

I mean, come on. Read paragraph six.

Well, we do have our own steampunk organization, so that indicates a certain critical mass of retro futurists. A lot of them went to Dragoncon, and still eager to hold one here. In every group I mention it to, there is usually at least one or two undiscovered steampunk fans who are excited to here something like this is going on here.

So what’s the soundtrack to the steampunk generation?  Who’s playing the tunes?

The biggest name in “Steampunk” music right now would be the band Abney Park. Regionally, you have Lemmings Malloy, and The Clockwork Cabaret. Locally, the Space Heaters and the Hellblinki Sextet would certainly qualify (Hellblinki is in fact playing the nighttime portion of the convention.)

I’m just going to leave this here:

I should also mention my band, Traxx, also plays some steampunk songs. With an emphasis on punk.