Vintage Tomorrows by James H. Carrott and Brian David Johnson

Author:James H. Carrott and Brian David Johnson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / Social Aspects
Publisher: Make
Published: 2013-02-10T16:00:00+00:00

Art, Social Change, Martinis… and More Chickens

I’d found the political edge of steampunk — the challenging counterculture I’d seen peeking through all the shiny costumes and airship adventure stories. I wanted to talk to more of the vanguard of 21st century steampunk. So, again through Cherie Priest (I swear, the woman’s a living rolodex of awesome) I got introduced to Libby Bulloff, a sharp, edgy, and challenging artist who’d been at the heart of the steampunk scene before there was a steampunk scene. She’d been a part of SteamPunk Magazine from its early days and had, along with another local artist, organized one of the first steampunk art shows that I’d been able to track down. Libby’s photographs also liberally adorn The Steampunk Bible, and her contribution to the chapter on steampunk fashion is a highlight of the book. This lady had been (and, as I found out, still is) on the bleeding edge.

We agreed to meet for a drink at her favorite bar, Vito’s, which was a short walk from my place in central Seattle. It was the good season in Seattle — one of the handful of perfect summer days we get each year that make us all forget the grey drizzle that plagues 10 months out of our every year. So, of course, we sat in a dark candle-lit booth. Seattlites… What can I say?

You’d half expect the Rat Pack to walk in the door of Vito’s at any moment. It’s got a full Italian menu, deadly delicious mixed drinks, a solid selection of single malts, and their bartender mixes a helluva nice martini: Beefeaters, straight up, 2 olives, open a bottle of vermouth in the same room. It’s a perfect lair for Libby, a beautiful and flamboyant young woman with blazing red, blue, and purple tinged hair, who counts herself a grumpy old man in spirit.

Libby brought two friends with her: Nathaniel, a kind and soft-spoken guy who I soon discovered was the multi-talented stringed instrument wizard of the spotlight steampunk band Abney Park, and Willow, a one-woman inquisition. We ordered drinks and Willow, a blue-haired, bespectacled hacker as fierce as she’s petite, set to grilling me. I didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition, nobody does, but hey — the more the merrier and at this early point in the research I could expense the meal for good material. It was the corporate connection she was worried about — she wanted to know what Intel’s interest in the scene was, what my end goals were. Additionally, she was very intent on knowing whether or not they were “taking care of me” as I did this work. I explained how it all started, and how I’d ended up reaching out to Libby.

“I can’t speak for Intel as a whole,” I continued, “but I know that the people I’m working with on this have their hearts in the right places — they want to learn. I wouldn’t have even started on this if I thought they were just going to take it at a surface level and try to market laptops with gears on them or something.

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