Steampunk News

Cap’n's Cabaret #67: l’Bal Musette, mon Ami?

Dieselpunks.org | March 9, 2013

Bonsoir e bienvenue a’Cabaret, mon Amis! Today we visit romantic Paris, France, for a sample of the new Parisian sound of Bal Musette.

It’s the Record Cabaret’s first visit abroad [1] and away from our US home, and while the long, rocking journey in the belly of a steamer was not the best of experiences for our new band, it was well worth it from the second we saw the French countriside.

Paris is a sensual city, and what could be better to go with it than a sensual sound? Paired with an equally sensual, rique dance whose skirt-lifting steps may shock the more prudish, it is at once old and new, traditional and modern, scandalous and familiar [scandalous image from michka.blog50.com]. Haunting, melancholy, romantic, and, yes, sensual, it manages to capture the joy and pain, pleasures and heartbreaks of human love in a way that is uniquely French.

Bal Musette is exploding among the cafes and cabarets of the city, putting a modern new twist on traditional French music (primarily that of the Auvergne countriside, thanks to a large influx of Auvergnats into the city). It is not a small bit ironic that music from the provinces would capture the heart of the world’s most cosmopolitain city, but capture it it has.

Bal Musette arrived a couple decades back along with the shocking new art of the Impressionists and now seems set to define Parisian music into this new century. The Auvergnat cabrette squeezebox has been replaced by the more versitile Accordian and the sentiments have grown more Parisian, but otherwise it retains its “bohemian” roots. Though it remains the music of the common people, the upper classes are starting to take notice and are “going bohemian” at the various Bal Musette clubs of the city, even the seedy guinche ou bal de barrière where upper-class patrons get a bit of excitement thanks to the occasional police raid! (Between you and me, most of these raids are staged!)

To hear this sound we have called upon a growing Bal Musette legend Émile Vacher, who will perform his famous ”Mado” for us on this recording:

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Tags: Lemon Juice White, Mal Cocktail, Paris, US

Jackie Coogan – from Kid to Commando to "Creepy & Kookie"

Dieselpunks.org | March 1, 2013

The Diesel Era was filled with exciting, groundbreaking individuals whose contributions and adventures are well known and adored. And then there are those forgotten heroes whose exploits remain largely forgotton. And then there are folks like John L. “Jackie” Coogan, child actor, WW2 glider pilot, and TV icon, who remain known and loved, but only for a single brief moment in a long and amazing life.

Who was Jackie Coogan? Well, like many actors of the era he began his career in Vaudeville…as a yound child. His parents, John Henry Coogan, Jr., and Lillian Rita (Dolliver) Coogan, were small-time Vaudeville actors who brought their son to the stage early on. Much like another child actor turned legend, Charlie Chaplin, Coogan was immediately revealed to be a natural talent. And wouldn’t you know it, he soon caught the eye of Mr. Charlie Chaplin himself! Coogan was a natural mimic with almost preternatural talent for timing and emotion, and I for one like to think Chaplin saw a little bit of himself in the young actor.

Chaplin soon cast Coogan in the role that would define him for a generation, the titular “Kid” in 1921′s The Kid. This was Chaplin’s (and “The Little Tramp’s”) big exploration of the potential of mixing Comedy and Drama, exploring social values amid the slapstick, and the precocious Coogan made the film truly work. He became perhaps the first Hollywood Child Star and went on to play such iconic roles as the title character in 1922′s Oliver Twist (his portrayal in this, particularly the famous “Can I have some more?” scene, remains iconic and the scene is still shown and sampled today) and later playing Tom Sawyer in 1930′s Tom Sawyer and 1931′s Huckleberry Finn.

His acting was top-notch and Coogan was making millions of dollars as part of the original Hollywood “A-list”…making millions, that is, for his parents. Under the law, the parents of child actors kept all the money. And in the case of John & Lilly Coogan they blew the lot of it on parties, vacations, and luxuries, leaving nothing for their son, who had earned that money by the sweat of his brow. Coogan, reaching adulthood, would take his parents to court and eventually win a settlement, but by that time there was paltry money left for him and he was left destitute. His friend and mentor Chaplin stepped in, giving Coogan $1000 out of pocket (a handsome amount in those days!) to ride him through.

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Tags: Betty Grable, Jackie Coogan, TV, US

Siam! Transcript (Edited)

Aether Salon | February 23, 2013

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Siam! Transcript (Unedited)

Aether Salon | February 23, 2013

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AEther Salon: L.E.A.! (Edited transcript)

Aether Salon | January 21, 2013

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L.E.A. AEther Salon (Unedited)

Aether Salon | January 21, 2013

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Abercrombie & Fitch Fight for the Right to Party

The Chap | September 10, 2012

Abercrombie & Fitch’s plans to muscle in on the ancient elegance of Savile Row continue, despite The Chap’s spirited attempts to oust them on April 23rd this year. Westminster Council has not seen fit to place any objection to the American casual wear outlet’s plans to open a children’s store at number 3, Savile Row, but they have voiced concerns about how exciting the opening party should be.

According to various news reports, Westminster Council will not be allowing Abercrombie & Fitch to host a “celebrity-filled opening party”. This strikes The Chap as an extremely vague proviso, since how is the Council to police whether any of the guests at the launch party are celebrities or not? Once the store is open, various rules will be put into place especially for Abercrombie & Fitch, which will not apply to the 100 or so tailors who occupy the rest of the Row.

The store would not be allowed to play music that could be heard on the street, nor would buggies and prams belonging to customers be allowed to park on the outside pavement. These are not the usual habits of customers keeping appointments with their tailors. Abercrombie & Fitch have appealed against the measures – which, incidentally, were put in place following complaints from tailors on the Row and doubtlessly backed up by the attention placed on the cause by The Chap’s protest – and the decision will now be made at a public planning inquiry.

Abercrombie & Fitch’s fight for the right to party on Savile Row comes shortly after the chain reported a 52 percent fall in second-quarter earnings, which has subsequently led to the closure of some US stores and a scaling back of their planned international expansion.

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Tags: Abercrombie Fitch, Savile Row, US, Westminster Council

Why I Write Dieselpunk

Punkettes | August 6, 2012

The short version: I’m sick and tired of medieval Europe.

I’m probably pretty different from a lot of the people hopping on the Steampunk bandwagon right now, who love the gadgets, the fashion, the retrofuturism. But that’s not what I like about Dieselpunk.

I came to Dieselpunk first through the Final Fantasy series, and the first one I ever played was Final Fantasy VIII, followed by Final Fantasy VII. Both are very Dieselpunk, and while I didn’t have a word for it at the time, my first reaction is “this is so…different.”

Then I got to Final Fantasy IX, and I hated that one. I’ve realized I don’t like Steampunk for the sake of the steam – it was the story that was lackluster, and without a story, you’ve got nothing.

Moving on to Final Fantasy VI (III in the US originally), and it’s back to the mashup of technology and magic that drew me to the series in the first place.

And I think that’s where my love of Dieselpunk really comes from – that juxtaposition of elements that don’t seem like they should mix. Because anything goes, really. (Which is why I laugh at people trying to pigeonhole Steampunk and it’s relatives.) You don’t have to be doing something retro, you can do secondary world and make up you own whole world, and it doesn’t have to be permanently stuck in the dark ages. I have multiple times looked at a story I’m working on and gone “You know what this story needs? A giant mechanical dragon.”

Or a mechanical tiger, or spider, or a character with a mechanical arm after it’s amputated. Or a giant flying aircraft carrier. And how does it work? Powered by magic, of course.

So you can take that “you know what would be awesome?” and bridge that gap in suspension of disbelief with your fantasy element.
-Lindsay Kitson, The Dieselpunkette

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Tags: Europe, Final Fantasy, Lindsay Kitson, US

S.A.M. #52: Grumman Skyrocket

Dieselpunks.org | June 30, 2012

This Saturday, your Air Mail is brought here by an advanced experimental fighter, Buck Rogers at the controls*:

The Grumman G-34 proposal of 1938 for a single-seat twin-engined shipboard fighter anticipated the realization of an operational production example of such a type by quite a few years. In fact, the proposal was then considered to be so advanced that it bordered on the revolutionary; yet only four years later, on 18 April 1942,16 North American B-25 twin-engined bombers were flown off the USS Hornet to attack Tokyo.

Not only was the G-34 an advanced concept, in its original form it was a most unusual-looking aircraft, with the leading edge of its low-set monoplane wing forward of the fuselage nose. The tail unit had twin endplate fins and rudders, and the landing gear was of the retractable tailwheel type, with the main units retracting aft into the wing-mounted engine nacelles. Powerplant comprised two Wright R-1820 Cyclones, each with a three-bladed propeller, these being geared to counter-rotate to offset the effects of propeller torque.

The US Navy was first to order a prototype, the XF5F-1, on 30 June 1938, which was flown for the first time on 1 April 1940.

A number of modifications were introduced subsequently, the most noticeable being an extension of the fuselage nose so that it terminated forward of the wing.

Although failing to win a production order, the XF5F-1 soldiered on until withdrawn from use in December 1944, having done some useful work as a development prototype for the more advanced Grumman F7F.

A land-based version of Grumman’s design interested the US Army Air Force, which ordered a single XP-50 prototype.

Although generally similar to the naval version, it differed by having a lengthened nose to accommodate the nosewheel of the tricycle landing gear and had as powerplant two Wright R-1820-67/-69 turbocharged engines.

First flown on 14 May 1941, the XP-50 was plagued with engine overheating problems and was eventually written off after suffering serious damage when a turbocharger exploded. No further examples of the XP-50 were built.

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Tags: Buck Rogers, Selden Connie Converse, US, XP

Spirit! Salon (Unedited)

Aether Salon | May 28, 2012

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What’s become of the Ziegfeld Girls?

Dieselpunks.org | March 25, 2012

From 1907 to 1931 Florenz Ziegfeld collected the best looking girls from around the Western world to perform in his theatrical spectaculars known as the “Ziegfeld Follies.” These beauties, decked out in Erté designs, gained the attention of the entire US becoming objects of popular adoration.

This pictorial from LOOK Magazine (circa 1938) shows the ‘then’ and ‘now’ of Ziegfeld Girls Hazel Forbes, Fanny Brice, Ruby Keeler, Virginia Bruce, Jessie Reed, Mae Murray, Catherine Moylan, Marion Davies, Peggy Hopkins Joyce, Irene Delroy, Billie Burke, Gilda Gray, Billie Dove, Dorothy Brown Fox, Katherine Burke, Lina Basquette, Barbara Stanwyck, Claire Dodd, Ann Pennington, Paulette Goddard, Louise Andrews, Claire Luce, Gladys Glad, and Helen Morgan.