Steampunk, the science-fiction sub-genre and all that goes with it - it is a full-fledged lifestyle for some devotees - is sometimes described as the future as Victorians might have envisioned it.
The fledgling Tucson Steampunk movement isn't going to overwhelm the goth and tattooed rocker hordes on Fourth Avenue and Congress Street downtown anytime soon. There were just 15 of the 31 members at the Tucson Steampunk Society's first meeting last week, said TSS founder Rachel Beeson. But the 21-year-old Pima Community College student and Target-store photo specialist said there have been Tucsonans devoted to Steampunk for quite some time.
She got into the subculture, as she calls it, while a junior in high school in Chandler. Beeson moved to Tucson three years ago and found other Steampunk devotees through the statewide, but Phoenix-dominant, Steam Hub group's online sites.
People are also reading…
"It's everything I like together, the sci-fi, the art, the Victorian goth, their manners: You would take off your darker gloves if you were shaking hands with someone with lighter-colored gloves," Beeson said of the Victorian manners that she said are part of the Steampunk persona.
Beeson said she's looking forward to this weekend's Wild Wild West Con at Old Tucson and the Hotel Tucson City Center Conference Suite Resort, the largest Steampunk gathering in Arizona to date.
"I'm volunteering," Beeson said of her official involvement in this weekend's WWW Con. After she's put in her volunteer time, she's hoping to give the local Steampunk scene a boost by handing out fliers for the society and then visiting the 60-some vendor booths.
Organizers expect the conference to draw more than 1,000 people - some confirmed attendees from as far away as Canada and New Zealand.
"The whole idea of Steampunk started out in the '80s and really built up in the '90s until now," said Robert Levin, one of the producers.
Although Ryan McMahon, the president of the organization producing the convention, is from Phoenix - an area with millions more people - producer Levin said it's being held here because "Old Tucson is perfect."
"Most conventions are in hotels," Levin said of other steampunk cons and related gatherings like Trekkie conventions.
"We have an entire town that has been used in movies, including 'The Wild Wild West.' What an experience, instead of sitting in a hotel all day."
And even if they wanted to try to re-create the extensive sets they'll have at Old Tucson in a hotel, the cost would be prohibitive, Levin said.
They are doing some modifications, however, to transform Old Tucson's dusty streets and performance spaces into the neo-Victorian look typical of Steampunk.
"As they go through Main Gate, they'll see a street scene with people dressed in neo-Victorian style. At the courthouse, they may see the League of Steam from California," which Levin says is a film-industry group that will be doing "18th-century ghostbusting and hunting."
There will be bands playing the Palace Saloon, board and role-playing games, and vendors selling Steampunk paraphernalia.
The label Steampunk was new to Phoenix Michael of Tucson band The Dusty Buskers, but he said the concept was familiar, and comfortable.
The Dusty Buskers - Michael on lead vocals and fiddle with Stuart Oliver on guitar, harmonica, mandolin and harmony vocals - play music from an earlier age, most of it bluegrass and old-time music. That, Michael says, fits right in with Steampunk.
They landed two slots to play at the Wild Wild West Con (noon Friday at Old Tucson's Grand Palace Saloon and Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at stage 2), but he said they didn't have to do anything they weren't already doing.
He said it was an excuse to go out and "get some new threads on Fourth" Avenue. "We have some new hats, and I got a duster," Michael said.
In the case of both the music and the clothing, Michael said, there was a lot of latitude, since it is for a fictional period. "It's almost like a Renaissance fair, but for a period that never existed," Michael said.
Although he's new to Steampunk, Michael figures the con will be a hit with Tucsonans.
"Tucsonans are crazy about going out on the weekend in a big crowd," Michael said.
Levin expects that most attendees will dress in Steampunk style, as dressing up is a big part of the attraction.
"Everybody, for the most part, will come in costume," Levin said. "That's the whole idea: coming and interacting in your best look," he said.
And, Levin said, the convention will cater to all aspects of the stylish genre/lifestyle.
Steampunk films will be shown at night at the con's hotel, the Hotel Tucson City Center. There will also be discussion groups for those who want to talk about the genre's literature and other aspects.
"There will be dances and balls, always something going on 24 hours," Levin said.
He said he and McMahon hope to expand the downtown portion of the Tucson Steampunk con next year.
"Tucson has so much to offer," he said. "The old train station, the old buildings, Club Congress. One of the things we're talking about doing is expanding more into the town."
Levin's own involvement goes back to growing up in Chicago and developing a love for the industrial look of the Midwestern cities and Steampunk literature.
And while it was founded on the literature of Jules Verne and others, and the films made of their books, Steampunk is far broader than that, Levin said.
Just as hip-hop refers to a fashion and an overall design style as well as music, Steampunk is an entire suite of components, though certainly not as popular nor widely recognized as hip-hop.
If you go
• What: Wild, Wild West Con (Steampunk convention)
• When: Friday through Sunday.
• Where: Old Tucson Studios, 201 S. Kinney Road. Some events at Hotel Tucson City Center, 475 N. Granada Ave.
• Tickets: Available at the venues. A special $50 three-day pass including Old Tucson admission and daily Con events available Friday only. Daily passes are $40. Tickets are $12.50 for Friday's 8 p.m. Chrononaut Ball at the hotel; on sale at 7 p.m. Tickets are $22.50 for Saturday's 6:30 p.m. concert at Old Tucson; on sale at 6 p.m.
• More info: wildwildwestcon.com.
• Details: Old Tucson transforms into the town of Rusted Gear, with concerts, dinner theater, a tea party with published authors, charity fashion show, art show, vendors, street parade, performers, fast-draw contest, gaming parlor, stunt shows, cabaret shows, ghost tours, masquerade ball, mad scientist lab, costume contests, courtroom discussion panels and workshops.
So, what's Steampunk, and what's not?
Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" is definitely an example of Steampunk's retro-futuristic style.
"Wild Wild West," both the TV series and the Will Smith movie, is definitely Steampunk.
Plastic and chrome aren't Steampunk. Copper, and especially brass, and leather are. And, for some reason, so are multibarreled guns and other technologically enhanced weapons, as are leather corsets.
The web is full of Steampunk sites, including projects that help devotees revise modern devices in Steampunk style. This usually involves elaborate brass mechanisms. One such project at www.steampunkworkshop.com, for turning a common desktop computer monitor into something that looks like it could have come from the steam age, involves hours of work and dozens of brass pieces.
There's a strong element of science fiction to Steampunk, but in most cases with less emphasis on the science than in some other science-fiction subgenres.
"Mad Max" certainly has Steampunk elements: For that matter, the entire post-apocalyptic Western outlaw town with the cobbled together technology of the machinery and vehicles is fundamental Steampunk. So are those leather flight helmets and old-fashioned goggles.
And, of course, that raises the question of whether Jules Verne, the "Wild, Wild West" and "Mad Max" are steampunk, or whether Steampunk is Jules Verne-ish, Wild, Wild, Westy and Mad Max-y - since they came first.
Old Tucson Studios
Old Tucson Studios will remain open to the general public during the Wild Wild West Con.
In fact, the price of general admission gives access to some of the musical performances and a vendor village - in addition to walking the dusty streets alongside scores of conventioneers all dressed for the occasion. Many convention-specific activities will be limited to Wild Wild West Con passholders.
Old Tucson general admission, $16.95 adults, $10.95 ages 4-11, will include performances by Steam Powered Giraffe (a turn-of-the-century steam-powered robot band); Veronique Chevalier (The "Weird VAL" of Dark Cabaret); and Jon Magnificent and his band (who have been likened to Queen, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.)
Daily passes are available for $40. A $50 3-day pass can only be purchased Friday. Passes include admission to Old Tucson and all the day's convention activities and are only available at Old Tucson.
