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The Age of Steam and Wonder Ball, LA.

The Age of Steam and Wonder, Neovictorian and Fantasy Ball in LA

In a secret location in the Ætherport of El Pueblo de Los Angeles, there will be an event, nay – and extravaganza of Steampunk, Neo-Victorian and Fantasy themed music and revelry this coming Saturday (the 21st of July).  It’s seldom that a ball comes with a tale of Steampunk adventure, but this one does:

“The Dauntless was hot on our tails. Our aft cannons held them at bay, but they were still gaining on us. If only we had steam. If only the boiler wasn’t busted again. We could’ve fired up that machine we hoisted from Fort Cydonia… the very thing they were after… a new Tesla invention. The professor said it had some kind of electromagnetic gimmick. A mechanical loom that could weave luminiferous aether. He said it could transport ships rapidly by folding up distance like it was folding up a paper map. If only the boiler wasn’t busted. If only we had steam…”

Far more information is available at the DJWolfie site, and instructions (as cryptic as they are – is this the standard for LA events?) at the HipGenesis site.  What corner to stand on, what curious vehicles to get collected by.  All rather mysterious.  I also find it curious that they allow automatons, but require steam to be below 140F (which is 60C and less than boiling point.)

Do let me know how it goes if anyone attends – it is a little out of my way, I fear.  Thank you Ms Kaun for pointing it out in time!

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 19th, 2007 at 10:50 pm by Tinkergirl and is filed under Steampunk Images.

  • Very good site. Thank you.
  • William Han
    Hey Vernian, not that i'm saying that you are nitpicking or any thing. I was just thinking i wouldn't Necessarily classify your music as "steampunk" aether. The fact that it is called steampunk at all i think is due to your own choice and style otherwise i would have called it ambient trance.
  • I attended this event and it was awesome. It's true that this was not really a "Steampunk Ball". It was an underground party with a Steampunk costume theme. Most of the music was electronica, as that's the norm in this scene, though they did have some vintage music playing in the rooftop lounge. It was held in an old historical landmark fire station, which was the perfect atmosphere.
    What was really great was that most of the attendees had never heard of steampunk before this event was announced and when those of us "in the know" shared some resources and inspirational material with them (including this esteemed blog), they really got into it.
    The the steampunk aesthetic was embraced with enthusiasm and the costumes were fabulous!
    Links to pictures can be found here:
    http://tribes.tribe.net/hipgenesis/thread/0df3a...
    Everyone enjoyed the theme so much they're clamoring for another one!
  • Andy
    May I point out that 60 degrees is sufficient to boil water at the right atmospheric pressure; however for purposes of powering automations, vacuum-chamber induced boiling is not necessarily advantageous.
  • The Infernal Mr Adams
    Bah, I was at another club that night :(
  • Prof. George of the house of C
    Truly I am flattered, and will be joining the thread (and indeed the forum. Too long have the talons of complacency held me back!) with all haste.
  • Magnetica
    Prof, I think I have a crush on you.

    For those of you who are interested, we've been discussing the event on this forum:

    http://www.brassgoggles.co.uk/bg-forum/index.ph...
  • chs
    Well damn, I'm in OC, and would love to attend this. Unfortunately I've already got out-of-town plans this weekend. grrrrrr!
  • Prof. George of the house of C
    Oh! And looking over vthe DJ Wolfie website another thought comes to me..._venting_ steam temperatures are to be kept below 140F. A simple system of cooling pipes on the exhaust fixes _that_ problem, and without resorting to more exotic arrangements on the actual engine. Funny, how certain suggested restrictions affect the mind.
  • Prof. George of the house of C
    On the other hand, Vernian, I have had in my head for some time now the notion of applying DJ tecniques to victorian and classical recordings, even to the point of theoreticly developing a simple, all mechanical, mental model of how two gramaphones might be put to use for mixing songs together for use in a short story. A steampunk rave? I say to you it can be done!

    Also, it occurs to me that while 60 Celcius is indeed well below the boiling point of water at sea level pressure if the steam were to be generated and contained within a closed system then there are all manner of other air pressures and expanding materials to provide motive power available for our mad engineers to turn their hands to the manufacture of. And this is even before we consider the possibility of a machine that makes use of some other motive force. At this sort of event, however, I am inclned to regard too heavy a usage of Tesla's theories as a kind of cheating.
  • Ehhh that basically looks like a Steampunk themed Rave. I'm sorry but House, Techno, Breaks does not make me think of Steampunk.
  • Ben
    That's great because i live in LA, however, if anyone hasn't noticed already, the 21st is the same worldwide release date as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and every single possible person who would be interested in that sort of steampunk thing is going to be inside reading, unless of course they've already finished the book by 2:00 AM
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