Tuesday, April 23, 2013

AEther Salon: Steamwave! (Edited transcript)

Baron Klaus Wulfenbach:: Let us get started. Fraulein Bookworm, bitte?

Bookworm Hienrichs: Welcome, one and all, to this month's AEther Salon, as we continue the tradition started here in New Babbage back in October 2008.

Just a few housekeeping items: If you're not standing on the patterned area, please step forward to ensure you can hear the speaker.  Please hold your questions (and, given the topic, possible arguments) until the end. If you need a chair, please inquire of myself, Ms. Garnet Psaltery, or Baron Wulfenbach.  And please remove all lag-feeding HUDs, scripts, AOs, and other items. Weekends are bad enough as is!

Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: This is not the Poetry Slam, no temp-rez ammunition needed.

Edited and unedited transcripts will be posted on aethersalon.blogspot.com when I get to it. Pictures will also be posted on my Flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookworm1225/).

We have signs around to help you join the AEther Salon group (free of charge), and to donate to the upkeep of this establishment. Your support is welcome!  Do please also support our speaker. The proceeds from the tip jar on the stage will go to Ms. Orr.

And now, to introduce our speaker, Baron Wulfenbach.

Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: Fraulein Orr has been a resident of the Steamlands for a very long time, and has been writing about it, and music, for almost as long.

Emilly Orr: Scary, that.

Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: She has had an eclectic career and developed her interesting and thoughtful viewpoints from these varied experiences.  Do welcome her and her thoughts on Steamwave!

Emilly Orr: Very...politic way you put that, Baron.  Hello, everyone!

First, I should note, Des gave me some terrible advice, which some part of me seemed perversely intent on taking.  So I have notes...but yes, there will be portions of "winging it".

However, this being the forty-fifth Salon is also interesting. I wrote my first article--at least, the first that I consider "official", with the "steampunk music" tag and everything--in 2007.

And when doing research for this, I found the band I kept returning to, over and over again, actually began only one year later.  I've mentioned on the blog, and in a few other places, about Steam Powered Giraffe.  While I think they're exceptional in many ways, for this, I think they also perfectly typify the search for steamwave.  When they didn't have the instruments they wanted, they made their own, or modded existing ones. Their entire history is invented within an invented medium.  And when reading through their bios again, I found it fascinating that all three of the bots were warriors before they were musicians. Turbulent histories bring many things, but overall, excellent music is one of them.

However, in six-plus years of searching, I still don't have a basic, understandable, easy answer to the question: what IS steamwave music?  I can tell you some of what I think the underpinnings are. And I think a lot of them fit in with the inventorship of Steam Powered Giraffe, and other bands.

The drive to make art--writing, sculpting, playing an instrument, pick your medium--is a strong one. But steamwave seems to want to make art that is fiercely individual, while in a framework that, historically, wasn't about the individual, but the society at large. I think the conflict between those two states is part of what keeps new bands coming forward, and old ones staying around.

And while I still feel more comfortable calling it steampunk music, I think steamwave definitely expands the perceptions--because it's NOT just one type of music at this point. We have chamber orchestras, we have performing pirates, we have performing robots.  We have at least two, and possibly four *rappers*.

Jimmy Branagh: We do?

Emilly Orr: We do.: Elemental being one.  I might have to link that video at least, he was pretty much one of the first to combine steampunk and rap.  Elemental's Cup of Brown Joy for later persual: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eELH0ivexKA

Chap-hop History by Mr. B the Gentleman Rhymer (while we're here): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t28COxEp2k

And the new lass on the block, so to speak--Desert Rose Theatre's presentation of "Lady Has Bustle": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1EtgVtUSKs

Now, then. Where was I?  I think I was being pedantic about style.

Solace Fairlady: No you were explaining why steamwave and not steampunk, more inculsive

Emilly Orr: You know, while I'm not sure I'm going to do more than touch on it today, I really think if steampunk-then-steamwave hadn't proved so popular, we wouldn't have dieselpunk, because it's a definite offshoot.  But I also think that's one of the points that confuses me, being unfortunately American. While I *do* grasp there is a historical distance between the 1890s and the 1920s, it's still VERY easy for me to hear music written from the 1910s to the early 1950s and lump it in with steamwave.  I used to think this was simply a flaw in my education, which it might still be, but I also reconsidered the bands performing music from that era--the two I'm thinking of, chiefly, are the Puppini Sisters and The Real Tuesday Weld--and they still strike me as kin if not kind.

The Real Tuesday Weld in particular had at one point on their website downloadable podcasts, which are pretty much just the lead singer telling stories, late at night, as if he has the midnight-to-dawn show at some forgotten radio station.  There are songs for some of them, but mostly it's just him, talking. About whatever crosses his mind. Telling takes of turn-of-the-century London, or reinterpreting classic myths, or simply discussing rain.

Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Would you say storytelling is as important a component as invention?

Emilly Orr: Absolutely, and yet again, I'd point to Steam Powered Giraffe. Looked at one way, they were a set of siblings who met friends at mime school and decided to see how they'd perform together. And that's a valid way to look at the band.  Looked at another way, though, it's the chaotic, occasionally frightening, always surreal tale of a military captain fighting desperately to save what he loved, and in so doing, managed to create a series of warbots that grew to consciousness, abhorred at their actions, and swore a mutual mechanical vow of peace.  That's weighty material for a backstory.

Emilly Orr moves back to YouTube briefly, to pull one of their better-known works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDRHx4cPgbE "Brass Goggles" by the original three members of the band. (The John has since been replaced by Hatchworth, an Art-Deco influenced mustachioed drummer.)  And, can she find it quickly enough....yes! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yhL1amt3w8 Their performance of "Mack the Knife", only, well, not so much...

Emilly Orr looks at her notes. Ah. Well. So much for guidelines.  You'd think I wasn't given time for this, it's tragic. I was given LOTS of time.  The thing is, while I have definite opinions--and let's be fair, at times I have spawned argument on my own blog about them--steamwave, as a whole, can be summed up better by what it's not than by what it is, because what it IS, at this point, is so widely varied as to nearly defy definition.

Merry Chase (merrytricks): Would you credit any one element of steampunk culture for the bulk of the popularity of steam - fashion, fiction, music...? Or think all contributed equally?

Emilly Orr: I'd honestly say fictional influences are highest on the list.  Fashion can influence music, to a great extent--New Wave, after all, was nearly entirely predicated on hairstyle and creeping feelings of doom--but the fiction is what drives us.  With steamwave, if we don't like the fiction that's out there, we can invent our own, as many bands do.

And while steampunk as a fashion seems to be hitting that 'been there, done that' stage, I think steamwave as a musical style isn't going to vanish any time soon. I think there's more possibilities out there, things we haven't thought of, just waiting to be brought to life by someone who needs that particular aspect to be real--even if it's just for them.

Emilly Orr peers at the Baron's watch. I'd say now's a good time to take more questions, especially as the Pub Crawl's concurrent.  Assuming there are any. :)

Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: How does Abney Park work into your thoughts on this music.

Emilly Orr: Abney Park is so odd...They were one of the first bands to step forward and say YES, we are this thing, we are STEAMPUNK....Save, up until the past two years or so, they really weren't.

Baron Klaus Wulfenbach: How so?

Emilly Orr: They started out as worldbeat/industrial goth/darkwave, and--barring "Airship Pirates", and I think one other song--they were still doing that until they took some time off and figured out where they wanted the band to go.

Garnet Psaltery: I think I understand all those except worldbeat

Emilly Orr: Brief definition of worldbeat, because that's also varied--but as applied strictly to AP, they formerly had a bellydancer (and seamstress) in their entourage. Frequently, because of that, Middle-Eastern rhythms would creep into the instrumentation.

Garnet Psaltery: Ah I see.

Merry Chase (merrytricks): I admire a band that's willing to experiment and evolve adn I think some bands, that's what they're all about. That process.

Emilly Orr: We can even dovetail this back into Steam Powered Giraffe, because they're now running the 2-Cent tour with the bots.  And it's a good process.

Garnet Psaltery: May I be honest and say I don't really like much Abney Park music?

Emilly Orr: Feel free. There's nothing that says you HAVE to fully embrace every artist.  That would be like stating you're an avid reader, and people saying that you must then like EVERY book ever written.  Some fans can't stand the thought of 'chap-hop', though to be fair, that is SUCH a quirky regional thing to begin with.  I think part of it, too, is that--like the music or not--Abney Park did everything they could for a while to be THE steampunk band. If there was a news article, they contacted the writer. If there was a photo opportunity they showed up. They maintained a Twitter presence almost from the moment they formed the band.

Merry Chase (merrytricks): Worldbeat into steam - Lots of Celtic influence floating around but that's like saying lots of literature quotes shakespeare - it's everywhere, yes?

Emilly Orr: It is, but if you think about why Celtic music is so distinctive, it fits in. Many steamwave singers and bands are reinterpreting history, both so they can present it better, and so they can understand it better themselves.  That's been something Celtic music has had down for literally thousands of years.

Garnet Psaltery: Does it include tribal fusion?

Emilly Orr: It can. Beats Antique is primarily a tribal fusion band, but they also drift in and out of steamwave, depending on who they're working with.

Bookworm Hienrichs: Do you see Steampunk/Steamwave music as having true staying power? Do you think we'll still be talking about it 10 years from now, or even later?

Emilly Orr: I honestly hope so.  Not the least of which is that it will give me time to get a proper amount of fabric to make a bustle dress, but that's beside the point.

Solace Fairlady: Itll be calling itself Nu Steam by then

Gabrielle Riel: Indeed

Garnet Psaltery: Well, the Victorian era and associated literature are fact, so they'll still be there as inspiration

Emilly Orr: If you consider any musical genre to persist fifty years past its 'expiration' date, so to speak, steamwave is already dust and ashes. The fact that we're still finding fresh concepts to listen to, create with, record with, is pretty astounding now.  So yes, I do think it won't disappear any time soon.

Bookworm Hienrichs: Any more questions?

Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Fraulein Orr, care to share your journal's address, for those curious?

Emilly Orr: Ah! Of course; http://razorblade-cookies.blogspot.com  Ignore the occasional patches of drama, they pass.

Bookworm Hienrichs: Thank you, everyone, for coming! Transcripts will be up in the next day or two.

Garnet Psaltery: Same place same time a month ahead?

Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Our next Salon shall be on writing.

Merry Chase (merrytricks): Writing what?

Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): The art and craft.

Bookworm Hienrichs: Given by Mr. Emerson Lighthouse.

Merry Chase (merrytricks): Oh, so it's like a salon on breathing.

Garnet Psaltery: He writes beautifully

Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) chuckles

Merry Chase (merrytricks): ㋡

Emilly Orr: Well, remember, writing is easy--just stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.

Beryl Strifeclaw (gager): I'll have to come heckle him.

AEther Salon: Steamwave! (Unedited transcript)

[13:57] Emilly Orr: Hello!
[13:57] Stereo Nacht: Good day Ms. Orr!
[13:57] Solace Fairlady: with two l's
[13:57] Satyrdey Mynx: those chairs, brass and fabric? I do not think I have oen
[13:57] Satyrdey Mynx: thank you?
[13:58] Stereo Nacht: And Ms. Jameson!
[13:58] Garnet Psaltery: One moment
[13:58] Solace Fairlady waves to Miss Sid
[13:59] Garnet Psaltery: Hello Miss Ancelin
[13:59] Emilly Orr waits for things--and people--and people on things--to rez.
[13:59] Jimmy Branagh: Hoy Miss Sidonie!
[13:59] Sidonie Ancelin (ancelin) waves to Ms, Solace with a smile
[13:59] Garnet Psaltery: Hello Miss Orr
[13:59] Emilly Orr: Hello!
[13:59] Satyrdey Mynx: hello Miss Emilly
[13:59] Bookworm Hienrichs: Hello, Ms. Jameson, Ms. Ancelin.
[14:00] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Fraulein Orr, your stage awaits.
[14:00] Emilly Orr is now staring at a wall that wasn't there before. Hmm?
[14:00] Emilly Orr: Oh yes.
[14:00] Bookworm Hienrichs chuckles.
[14:01] Emilly Orr: That wall, I find a touch disturbing.
[14:01] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): The walls move.
[14:01] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) grins
[14:01] Emilly Orr: Why am I not surprised?
[14:02] Solace Fairlady: Hello Admiral!:)
[14:02] Bookworm Hienrichs: Welcome, Admiral Beaumont, Ms. Inaba.
[14:02] Garnet Psaltery: Do we need the radio stream on for this?
[14:02] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) grimaces and means to have a word with the musical director
[14:02] Wildstar Beaumont: greetings all !
[14:02] Jimmy Branagh: Hoy all coming injust now!
[14:02] Garnet Psaltery: Hello Admiral
[14:02] Solace Fairlady: and Miss Loken, and The Clockwinder, and Miss Inaba
[14:02] Ami Inaba (amiinaba): Thank you :)
[14:02] Bookworm Hienrichs: And hello again, Miss Gabi, Miss Jewell, Clockwinder!
[14:02] Loken Jewell: Hoy Jimmy
[14:03] Sidonie Ancelin (ancelin) very belatedly... "Hullo, Jimmy, Ms. Book"
[14:03] Garnet Psaltery: Hello Miss Riel, Miss Jewell, Clockwinder
[14:03] Jimmy Branagh: Hoy Miss Loken :)
[14:03] Loken Jewell: Hi Book
[14:03] Solace Fairlady: woooot:) Hello my love:)
[14:03] Emilly Orr: Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt, but I didn't plan anything around the stream. In retrospect, I'll go ahead and say this was a missed opportunity on my part. :)
[14:03] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) eyes Duchess Gabrielle
[14:03] Garnet Psaltery: Hello Stormy
[14:03] Solace Fairlady: Hello MizGabi!
[14:03] Bookworm Hienrichs: We put it on for Miss Gabrielle's Steampunk show. Seemed the perfect lead-in.
[14:03] Bookworm Hienrichs grins.
[14:04] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Let us get started. Fraulein Bookworm, bitte?
[14:04] Emilly Orr: Indeed.
[14:04] Bookworm Hienrichs nods.
[14:04] Garnet Psaltery: Hello Miss Caxton
[14:04] Gabrielle Riel: rez rez rez rez rez
[14:04] Bookworm Hienrichs: Welcome, one and all, to this month's AEther Salon, as we continue the tradition started here in New Babbage back in October 2008.
[14:04] Bookworm Hienrichs: (And no, I haven't counted what number Salon this is. Didn't think about it in time. *grin*)
[14:04] Jimmy Branagh: 45?
[14:04] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): (It's on the sign.)
[14:04] Emilly Orr: Apparently so!
[14:05] Rhianon Jameson: Never trust a sign
[14:05] Solace Fairlady: Hello Miss Renee! and M Kondor!
[14:05] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) chuckles
[14:05] Bookworm Hienrichs slaps her forehead.
[14:05] Bookworm Hienrichs: Moving on... *cough*
[14:05] Bookworm Hienrichs: Just a few housekeeping items: If you're not standing on the patterned area, please step forward to ensure you can hear the speaker.
[14:05] Bookworm Hienrichs: Please hold your questions (and, given the topic, possible arguments) until the end. If you need a chair, please inquire of myself, Ms. Garnet Psaltery, or Baron Wulfenbach.
[14:05] Bookworm Hienrichs: And please remove all lag-feeding HUDs, scripts, AOs, and other items. Weekends are bad enough as is!
[14:06] Bookworm Hienrichs: Edited and unedited transcripts will be posted on aethersalon.blogspot.com when I get to it. Pictures will also be posted on my Flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookworm1225/).
[14:06] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): This is not the Poetry Slam, no temp-rez ammunition needed.
[14:06] Garnet Psaltery: Shuffle forward if you wish!
[14:06] Bookworm Hienrichs: We have signs around to help you join the AEther Salon group (free of charge), and to donate to the upkeep of this establishment. Your support is welcome!
[14:06] Garnet Psaltery: Hello Mr. Kondor
[14:06] Emilly Orr hmms. The AO, while low-impact, is a point.
[14:06] Bookworm Hienrichs: Do please also support our speaker. The proceeds from the tip jar on the stage will go to Ms. Orr.
[14:06] Bookworm Hienrichs: And now, to introduce our speaker, Baron Wulfenbach.
[14:07] Bookworm Hienrichs applauds.
[14:07] Jimmy Branagh: Hoy Mr. Steadman
[14:07] Jimmy Branagh applauds
[14:07] Rhianon Jameson applauds
[14:07] Mosseveno Tenk: the personal radars are the biggest offenders
[14:07] Solace Fairlady applauds
[14:07] Sidonie Ancelin (ancelin) applauds
[14:07] Steadman Kondor applauds
[14:08] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) nods at the Clockwinder
[14:08] Emilly Orr: Oh, good, sitting removed the wall. Wonderful.
[14:08] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Fraulein Orr has been a resident of the Steamlands for a very long time, and has been writing about it, and music, for almost as long.
[14:08] Emilly Orr: Scary, that.
[14:09] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): She has had an eclectic career and developed her interesting and thoughtful viewpoints from these varied experiences.
[14:09] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Do welcome her and her thoughts on Steamwave!
[14:09] Garnet Psaltery: Greetings, Jarl
[14:09] Bookworm Hienrichs applauds.
[14:09] Solace Fairlady waves quietly to His Serenity
[14:09] Rhianon Jameson applauds
[14:09] Lexie Mullery applauds
[14:09] Emilly Orr: Very...politic way you put that, Baron.
[14:09] Emilly Orr: Hello, everyone!
[14:10] Jimmy Branagh: Hoy Miss Emily!
[14:10] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) grins
[14:10] Solace Fairlady: Hello Miss Emilly! *applauds*
[14:10] Darlingmonster Ember smiles wonderful to see you in-world Miss Orr
[14:10] Jimmy Branagh applauds
[14:10] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) applauds
[14:10] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[14:10] Stereo Nacht:  `*.¸.*´ APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´
[14:10] Emilly Orr: First, I should note, Des gave me some terrible advice, which some part of me seemed perversely intent on taking.
[14:10] Emilly Orr: So I have notes...but yes, there will be portions of "winging it".
[14:11] Jimmy Branagh: Wingin' it's th' fun part!
[14:11] Stereo Nacht waves at those who came in while the typist went for popcorn...
[14:11] Wildstar Beaumont: popcorn !
[14:11] Emilly Orr: However, this being the forty-fifth Salon is also interesting. I wrote my first article--at least, the first that I consider "official", with the "steampunk music" tag and everything--in 2007.
[14:13] Emilly Orr: And when doing research for this, I found the band I kept returning to, over and over again, actually began only one year later.
[14:13] Emilly Orr: I've mentioned on the blog, and in a few other places, about Steam Powered Giraffe.
[14:14] Emilly Orr: While I think they're exceptional in many ways, for this, I think they also perfectly typify the search for steamwave.
[14:14] Garnet Psaltery: Hello Miss Mollari, Mr. MacRory
[14:15] Emilly Orr: When they didn't have the instruments they wanted, they made their own, or modded existing ones. Their entire history is invented within an invented medium.
[14:15] Garnet Psaltery: Hello Miss Maertens
[14:15] Solace Fairlady waves to Miss Gloriana
[14:15] Gloriana Maertens: Hallo Miss Psaltrry, Miss Fairlady, everyone!
[14:16] Jimmy Branagh waves to Miss Gloriana, and to Mr. Otenth
[14:16] Emilly Orr: And when reading through their bios again, I found it fascinating that all three of the bots were warriors before they were musicians. Turbulent histories bring many things, but overall, excellent music is one of them.
[14:16] Emilly Orr waves to the new arrivals
[14:16] Beryl Strifeclaw (gager) arrives again
[14:16] Momoe Mollari: >.>
[14:16] Momoe Mollari: <.<
[14:16] Momoe Mollari: (ᴖ_ᴖ;)
[14:17] Emilly Orr: However, in six-plus years of searching, I still don't have a basic, understandable, easy answer to the question: what IS steamwave music?
[14:17] Gloriana Maertens: Hoi, Jimmy! *waves*
[14:17] Jimmy Branagh grins
[14:17] Garnet Psaltery: Hello Miss Chase
[14:17] Emilly Orr smiles. Well, cats. They arrive when they will, and leave when they will, and sometimes, without ever moving at all.
[14:17] Bookworm Hienrichs chuckles.
[14:17] Jimmy Branagh laughs
[14:18] Beryl Strifeclaw (gager) nods.
[14:18] Emilly Orr: I can tell you some of what I think the underpinnings are. And I think a lot of them fit in with the inventorship of Steam Powered Giraffe, and other bands.
[14:20] Emilly Orr: The drive to make art--writing, sculpting, playing an instrument, pick your medium--is a strong one. But steamwave seems to want to make art that is fiercely individual, while in a framework that, historically, wasn't about the individual, but the society at large. I think the conflict between those two states is part of what keeps new bands coming forward, and old ones staying around.
[14:21] Emilly Orr: And while I still feel more comfortable calling it steampunk music, I think steamwave definitely expands the perceptions--because it's NOT just one type of music at this point. We have chamber orchestras, we have performing pirates, we have performing robots.
[14:21] Emilly Orr: We have at least two, and possibly four *rappers*.
[14:21] Jimmy Branagh: We do?
[14:22] Emilly Orr: We do.
[14:22] Emilly Orr: Elemental being one.
[14:22] Jimmy Branagh: Hmmm.
[14:22] Jimmy Branagh ponders
[14:22] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Ah, I know that name.
[14:22] Solace Fairlady: and the gentleman Rhymer
[14:22] Gloriana Maertens quietly cheers Professor Elemental in absentia
[14:22] Emilly Orr: I might have to link that video at least, he was pretty much one of the first to combine steampunk and rap.
[14:22] BrendonPatrick MacRory (brendonpatrick): The Gentelmen Rymer, and Proffisor E;emental
[14:22] Solace Fairlady: cap'n Dan might fit, as well
[14:23] Emilly Orr clicks open Minecraft out of habit and sighs. No no no.
[14:23] Bookworm Hienrichs laughs.
[14:23] Emilly Orr: Elemental's Cup of Brown Joy for later persual: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eELH0ivexKA
[14:23] Garnet Psaltery smiles
[14:24] Jimmy Branagh: ((Bmarked thx))
[14:24] Emilly Orr: Chap-hop History by Mr. B the Gentleman Rhymer (while we're here): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t28COxEp2k
[14:25] Emilly Orr: And the new lass on the block, so to speak--Desert Rose Theatre's presentation of "Lady Has Bustle": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1EtgVtUSKs
[14:25] Emilly Orr: Now, then. Where was I?
[14:25] Garnet Psaltery: Minecraft
[14:25] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Heh.
[14:26] Rhianon Jameson laughs
[14:26] Jimmy Branagh chuckles
[14:26] Gloriana Maertens: Oooo... *pokes at the link*
[14:26] Emilly Orr: Likely. I am trying to fence in a swamp.
[14:26] Bookworm Hienrichs chuckles.
[14:26] Emilly Orr: But no.
[14:26] Emilly Orr: I think I was being pedantic about style.
[14:26] Emilly Orr reads back
[14:27] Solace Fairlady: No you were explaining why steamwave and not steampunk, more inculisve
[14:27] Emilly Orr: You know, while I'm not sure I'm going to do more than touch on it today, I really think if steampunk-then-steamwave hadn't proved so popular, we wouldn't have dieselpunk, because it's a definite offshoot.
[14:27] Solace Fairlady: *inclusive
[14:27] Garnet Psaltery nods
[14:28] Emilly Orr: But I also think that's one of the points that confuses me, being unfortunately American. While I *do* grasp there is a historical distance between the 1890s and the 1920s, it's still VERY easy for me to hear music written from the 1910s to the early 1950s and lump it in with steamwave.
[14:29] Garnet Psaltery chuckles at 'unfortunately'
[14:30] Emilly Orr: I used to think this was simply a flaw in my education, which it might still be, but I also reconsidered the bands performing music from that era--the two I'm thinking of, chiefly, are the Puppini Sisters and The Real Tuesday Weld--and they still strike me as kin if not kind.
[14:30] Jimmy Branagh nods, as if he knew that.
[14:31] Emilly Orr: The Real Tuesday Weld in particular had at one point on their website downloadable podcasts, which are pretty much just the lead singer telling stories, late at night, as if he has the midnight-to-dawn show at some forgotten radio station.
[14:32] Emilly Orr: There are songs for some of them, but mostly it's just him, talking. About whatever crosses his mind. Telling takes of turn-of-the-century London, or reinterpreting classic myths, or simply discussing rain.
[14:32] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Would you say storytelling is as important a component as invention?
[14:33] Emilly Orr: Absolutely, and yet again, I'd point to Steam Powered Giraffe. Looked at one way, they were a set of siblings who met friends at mime school and decided to see how they'd perform together. And that's a valid way to look at the band.
[14:33] Rhianon Jameson is amused at a band formed of mimes.
[14:34] Emilly Orr: Looked at another way, though, it's the chaotic, occasionally frightening, always surreal tale of a military captain fighting desperately to save what he loved, and in so doing, managed to create a series of warbots that grew to consciousness, abhorred at their actions, and swore a mutual mechanical vow of peace.
[14:34] Emilly Orr: That's weighty material for a backstory.
[14:34] Bookworm Hienrichs: Indeed.
[14:34] Emilly Orr is also amused at the thought of singing mimes.
[14:34] Garnet Psaltery nods
[14:35] Jimmy Branagh: It would be very subtle?
[14:35] Garnet Psaltery: Body language?
[14:35] Gabrielle Riel laughs out loud
[14:35] Emilly Orr: They're not exactly subtle, but there is subtle irony in the concept, yes.
[14:36] Emilly Orr moves back to YouTube briefly, to pull one of their better-known works: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDRHx4cPgbE "Brass Goggles" by the original three members of the band. (The John has since been replaced by Hatchworth, an Art-Deco influenced mustachioed drummer.)
[14:38] Emilly Orr: And, can she find it quickly enough....yes! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yhL1amt3w8 Their performance of "Mack the Knife", only, well, not so much...
[14:38] Emilly Orr looks at her notes. Ah. Well. So much for guidelines.
[14:38] Bookworm Hienrichs chuckles.
[14:39] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) hides a grin
[14:39] Beryl Strifeclaw (gager) chuckles
[14:39] Garnet Psaltery provides a pair of wings for winging it
[14:39] Emilly Orr: You'd think I wasn't given time for this, it's tragic. I was given LOTS of time.
[14:39] Emilly Orr: Indeed so.
[14:39] Jimmy Branagh hands Miss Emily a buffalo wing
[14:39] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) coughs
[14:39] Beryl Strifeclaw (gager) purrs
[14:40] Rhianon Jameson: Buffalo have wings?
[14:40] Jimmy Branagh: Oops, sorry. Fawget Oy said anything
[14:40] Jimmy Branagh: :)
[14:40] Merry Chase (merrytricks): Would you credit any one element of steampunk culture for the bulk of the popularity of steam - fashion, fiction, music...? Or think all contributed equally?
[14:40] Emilly Orr: The thing is, while I have definite opinions--and let's be fair, at times I have spawned argument on my own blog about them--steamwave, as a whole, can be summed up better by what it's not than by what it is, because what it IS, at this point, is so widely varied as to nearly defy definition.
[14:40] Beryl Strifeclaw (gager): Hello Chess.
[14:41] Emilly Orr is briefly amused that she started to type "wildely" there.
[14:41] Solace Fairlady: Dr Moreaus do, one of his more economically successful experiments
[14:41] Garnet Psaltery: Hello Chess
[14:41] Darlingmonster Ember smiles
[14:41] Merry Chase (merrytricks): He would have liked that.
[14:41] Rhianon Jameson nods at Miss Fairlady. "Interesting."
[14:41] Emilly Orr: I'd honestly say fictional influences are highest on the list.
[14:41] Chess Clowes: Hi there.
[14:41] Garnet Psaltery: Stand still, Chess. You're fine there :o)
[14:41] Chess Clowes: Erk.
[14:41] Chess Clowes: I'm sorry.
[14:42] Garnet Psaltery: :D
[14:42] Emilly Orr: Fashion can influence music, to a great extent--New Wave, after all, was nearly entirely predicated on hairstyle and creeping feelings of doom--but the fiction is what drives us.
[14:42] Emilly Orr: With steamwave, if we don't like the fiction that's out there, we can invent our own, as many bands do.
[14:43] Garnet Psaltery: Good point.
[14:44] Emilly Orr: And while steampunk as a fashion seems to be hitting that 'been there, done that' stage, I think steamwave as a musical style isn't going to vanish any time soon. I think there's more possibilities out there, things we haven't thought of, just waiting to be brought to life by someone who needs that particular aspect to be real--even if it's just for them.
[14:44] Gloriana Maertens quietly apologizes for leaving a touch early and thanks the speaker! My Inn is the next stop on the Pub Crawl and I must prepare. Take care all; hope to see you in Penzance!
[14:45] Jimmy Branagh waves
[14:45] Solace Fairlady waves good luck to Miss Gloriana
[14:45] Garnet Psaltery: Be seeing you!
[14:45] Emilly Orr peers at the Baron's watch. I'd say now's a good time to take more questions, especially as the Pub Crawl's concurrent.
[14:45] Emilly Orr: Assuming there are any. :)
[14:45] Beryl Strifeclaw (gager) purrs
[14:45] Bookworm Hienrichs: Oh, I'm sure there are. *chuckle*
[14:45] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Danke, Fraulein Emilly.
[14:45] Merry Chase (merrytricks): oops it wasn't question time yet? *blushes*
[14:46] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) chuckles
[14:46] Garnet Psaltery imagines gas guitar fantasy
[14:46] Emilly Orr: No no no, questions are fine. I'm not exactly hidebound by rules. I'm not even hidebound by species, usually.
[14:46] Emilly Orr giggles
[14:46] Emilly Orr: Now that would be interesting.
[14:46] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): How does Abney Park work into your thoughts on this music.
[14:47] Emilly Orr: Abney Park is so odd...They were one of the first bands to step forward and say YES, we are this thing, we are STEAMPUNK....Save, up until the past two years or so, they really weren't.
[14:47] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): How so?
[14:48] Emilly Orr: They started out as worldbeat/industrial goth/darkwave, and--barring "Airship Pirates", and I think one other song--they were still doing that until they took some time off and figured out where they wanted the band to go.
[14:48] Garnet Psaltery: I think I understand all those except worldbeat
[14:48] Merry Chase (merrytricks): I admire a band that's willing to experiment and evolve adn I think some bands, that's what they're all about. That process.
[14:48] Emilly Orr: We can even dovetail this back into Steam Powered Giraffe, because they're now running the 2-Cent tour with the bots.
[14:49] Emilly Orr: And it's a good process.
[14:49] Merry Chase (merrytricks): Yes!
[14:49] Garnet Psaltery: May I be honest and say I don't really like much Abney Park music?
[14:49] Emilly Orr: Brief definition of worldbeat, because that's also varied--but as applied strictly to AP, they formerly had a bellydancer (and seamstress) in their entourage. Frequently, because of that, Middle-Eastern rhythms would creep into the instrumentation.
[14:50] Garnet Psaltery: Ah I see
[14:50] Beryl Strifeclaw (gager): I'll add in that some hosts disbar their guest dj's from playing airship pirate in their places
[14:50] Emilly Orr: Feel free. There's nothing that says you HAVE to fully embrace every artist.
[14:50] Emilly Orr: That would be like stating you're an avid reader, and people saying that you must then like EVERY book ever written.
[14:51] Emilly Orr: Some fans can't stand the thought of 'chap-hop', though to be fair, that is SUCH a quirky regional thing to begin with.
[14:51] Garnet Psaltery nods
[14:51] Merry Chase (merrytricks): Worldbeat into steam - Lots of Celtic influence floating around but that's like saying lots of literature quotes shakespeare - it's everywhere, yes?
[14:52] Emilly Orr: I think part of it, too, is that--like the music or not--Abney Park did everything they could for a while to be THE steampunk band. If there was a news article, they contacted the writer. If there was a photo opportunity they showed up. They maintained a Twitter presence almost from the moment they formed the band.
[14:53] Emilly Orr: It is, but if you think about why Celtic music is so distinctive, it fits in. Many steamwave singers and bands are reinterpreting history, both so they can present it better, and so they can understand it better themselves.
[14:53] Garnet Psaltery: Does it include tribal fusion?
[14:54] Emilly Orr: That's been something Celtic music has had down for literally thousands of years.
[14:54] Emilly Orr: It can. Beats Antique is primarily a tribal fusion band, but they also drift in and out of steamwave, depending on who they're working with.
[14:54] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Bitte, I must interject -- I shall be picking up the tipjar in about five minutes, for those who must leave promptly.
[14:54] Garnet Psaltery nods
[14:55] Jimmy Branagh: ((RL is calling. Thanks Miss Emily for a very enjoyable Salon (Applause!) Bye all. I will just slip out quietly.))
[14:55] Emilly Orr: Thanks for coming!
[14:55] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): If you would care to express your appreciation for Fraulein Orr's discussion, may I suggest you do it now?
[14:55] Garnet Psaltery: Empty your pockets, folks, before the urchins do
[14:55] BrendonPatrick MacRory (brendonpatrick): Thank you.
[14:55] Solace Fairlady: Boi Jimmy! *waves*
[14:55] Jimmy Branagh waves and slips out quietly
[14:55] Bookworm Hienrichs raises her hand with a question.
[14:55] Momoe Mollari: :D
[14:55] Momoe Mollari: ♫
[14:55] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Do continue, Fraulein Emilly.
[14:55] Sidonie Ancelin (ancelin): Goodbye, Jimmy!
[14:55] Emilly Orr: Yes, Ms. Bookworm?
[14:56] Bookworm Hienrichs: Do you see Steampunk/Steamwave music as having true staying power? Do you think we'll still be talking about it 10 years from now, or even later?
[14:56] Emilly Orr: I honestly hope so.
[14:56] Emilly Orr: Not the least of which is that it will give me time to get a proper amount of fabric to make a bustle dress, but that's beside the point.
[14:56] Garnet Psaltery grins
[14:56] Bookworm Hienrichs chuckle.s
[14:56] Darlingmonster Ember: ha
[14:56] Solace Fairlady: Itll be calling itself Nu Steam by then
[14:57] Gabrielle Riel: Indeed
[14:57] Garnet Psaltery: Well, the Victorian era and associated literature are fact, so they'll still be there as inspiration
[14:57] Emilly Orr: If you consider any musical genre to persist fifty years past its 'expiration' date, so to speak, steamwave is already dust and ashes. The fact that we're still finding fresh concepts to listen to, create with, record with, is pretty astounding now.
[14:57] Emilly Orr: So yes, I do think it won't disappear any time soon.
[14:58] Bookworm Hienrichs nods.
[14:58] Bookworm Hienrichs: Any more questions?
[14:58] Garnet Psaltery: Is the kettle on?
[14:58] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) chuckles
[14:59] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): We have tea and coffee service as always in the back.
[14:59] Garnet Psaltery: Marvellous
[14:59] Garnet Psaltery: Earl Grey
[14:59] Emilly Orr: And a fascinating tea service it is.
[14:59] Satyrdey Mynx: applause
[14:59] Merry Chase (merrytricks): Argh, Pavlovian response to theme!
[14:59] Garnet Psaltery: tee hee
[14:59] Merry Chase (merrytricks): bravissima!
[14:59] Stereo Nacht:  `*.¸.*´ APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´APPLAUSE `*.¸.*´
[14:59] Bookworm Hienrichs: Thank you, Ms. Orr!
[14:59] Bookworm Hienrichs applauds.
[14:59] Emilly Orr: You're welcome!
[14:59] Sidonie Ancelin (ancelin) applauds
[14:59] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) applauds
[15:00] Solace Fairlady: Thank you Miss Emilly for a wonderful presentation!
[15:00] Ami Inaba (amiinaba) applauds
[15:00] Lexie Mullery applauds
[15:00] Garnet Psaltery: ***** APPLAUSE *****
[15:00] Garnet Psaltery: Very enjoyable salon, Miss Orr
[15:00] Solace Fairlady applauds heartily
[15:00] Stormy (stormy.stillwater): YAY!
[15:00] Darlingmonster Ember applauds
[15:00] Stereo Nacht: Thank you Ms. Orr!
[15:00] Emilly Orr: Any social event in which I don't find a way to explode, or fall through the floor, is a success, but then, I have strange standards.
[15:00] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Fraulein Orr, care to share your journal's address, for those curious?
[15:00] Stereo Nacht: (And don't forget to support the Salon too, if you haven't already! :-) )
[15:01] Emilly Orr: Ah! Of course; http://razorblade-cookies.blogspot.com
[15:01] Emilly Orr: Ignore the occasional patches of drama, they pass.
[15:01] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Heh.
[15:01] Garnet Psaltery smiles
[15:01] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Last call for the tipjar.
[15:02] Wildstar Beaumont: good night everybody
[15:02] Darlingmonster Ember: waves to all
[15:02] Darlingmonster Ember: flits
[15:02] Garnet Psaltery: Goodnight, Admiral
[15:02] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Gute Nacht, those leaving.
[15:02] Solace Fairlady: Goodnight Admiral!
[15:02] Solace Fairlady bobs a curtsey
[15:02] Solace Fairlady: A fine evening to all, and thank you again Miss Emilly!
[15:02] Emilly Orr: Enjoy the rest of your day/night/time of local direction.
[15:02] Garnet Psaltery: Same place same time a month ahead?
[15:03] Bookworm Hienrichs: Thank you, everyone, for coming! Transcripts will be up in the next day or two.
[15:03] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Our next Salon shall be on writing.
[15:03] Merry Chase (merrytricks): Writing what?
[15:03] Beryl Strifeclaw (gager): Writing huh
[15:03] Beryl Strifeclaw (gager) grins
[15:03] Emilly Orr: You do realize you've given me yet another group I don't want to drop?
[15:03] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): The art and craft.
[15:03] Bookworm Hienrichs: Given by Mr. Emerson Lighthouse.
[15:03] Emilly Orr: Lovely.
[15:03] Garnet Psaltery: Ooh interesting
[15:03] Beryl Strifeclaw (gager): Oh really
[15:03] Merry Chase (merrytricks): Oh, so it's like a salon on breathing.
[15:03] Garnet Psaltery: He writes beautifully
[15:03] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander) chuckles
[15:03] Merry Chase (merrytricks): ㋡
[15:04] Emilly Orr: Well, remember, writing is easy--just stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.
[15:04] Beryl Strifeclaw (gager): I'll have to come heckle him.
[15:04] Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (klauswulfenbach.outlander): Heh.