WWWC caught my attention back in mid-2010 when I heard that there would be a steampunk convention in Tucson (where I live!) and that Abney Park (one of the most popular steampunk bands) would be playing there. Since most steampunk conventions and Abney Park concerts were far away, I was utterly thrilled by this - an awesome convention that I could attend, without worrying about travel time, travel expenses, staying in a hotel, and arranging for pet-sitters. No worries about forgetting to pack a key costume element or the laptop power cord. No wasting time trying to find a decent place to eat. I was in!
In addition to having Abney Park and several other popular artists on the schedule, WWWC had a special gimmick: most of the convention's events were held at Old Tucson Studios, a theme park outside of Tucson. Back in the day, many Western movies and TV shows were filmed at Old Tucson. A fire in 1995 destroyed most of the original buildings (along with props and memorabilia from many of the old films), and the park was rebuilt with a different set-up. In my opinion, it's generally not worth the cost of admission anymore, but it's the perfect setting for a steampunk convention, especially one with a Western theme.
My husband and I decided to spring for the Brass Pass, which gave us 3 days admission to Old Tucson and the convention, and tickets for all of the special events, including the Abney Park concert and the League of STEAM dinner theater. It also gave us VIP status, which meant that we had priority seating at some of the shows.
The festivities started on Friday March 4th, with a special dinner and concert for VIP ticket holders, held at the Hotel Tucson City Center, where most of the evening events were held. You could also pick up your passes, even if you weren't a VIP. We had a small problem picking ours up, as I didn't realize that PayPal had given them my business name rather than my last name, but the con president himself helped us find them, and then checked in with us during dinner to make sure that everything was going alright.
I was a little nervous about the dinner, as Chris and I hadn't been able to really put together steampunk costumes before the convention. We put together some nice semi-Goth, semi-steamy formal outfits for dinner, but I was worried that we'd get the same snobbish reception that we got at the one SCA event that we attended in not-quite-accurate garb. Instead, people were warm and friendly and kept complimenting Chris on his cool eyeball lapel pin. We shared a table with my brother, a mother and daughter visiting from Washington, and we also had a visit from The Emperor of Red Fork, a dimension-hopping gentleman with a mechanical hand empowered by the will of the people. The Emperor was a constant sight throughout WWWC, posing for pictures, chatting with people in line, and overall providing ambiance.
Dinner itself was a mixed bag. I don't know if it was provided by the hotel or an outside caterer, but the chicken was a bit pink and there were plenty of jokes about how the beef might still be mooing, though the veggies were surprisingly not gross or mushy. The cake at least was delicious, and the staff kept our pitchers of water and iced tea full. There was a cash bar on hand for anyone who wanted something a little stronger than tea.
Entertainment was provided by John Magnificent and Steam Powered Giraffe. Jon Magnificent played what I could consider to be pretty standard rock-and-roll, dressed up in steampunk garb and with some steamy stylings on the stage. The music was good, though not what I would usually listen to at home. I did get up and dance. All. By. My. Self. Eventually a few others got onto the dance floor, but I guess most of the crowd was not really in a partying mood.
Steam Powered Giraffe is a group of robots who perform comedy and music. Their set had a definite vaudeville feel to it and was really fun - I didn't dance as much to their music, as they were providing their own robot antics and I wanted to sit back and enjoy them. Usually there are four 'bots, but one had been replaced by a pet human who provided musical accompaniment.
On Friday, it was time for the convention proper! Off we went on the long, scenic drive to Old Tucson Studios. Once there, we got our hands on a schedule book (they weren't ready Thursday night) and set out to see what we could see. First of all, we discovered that the vendors were a bit hard to find, tucked towards the back of the park with no signage to tell you where to find them. Of course, they were on the way to "Stage II" where some of the day's performances were held, so you could find them on accident. Finding vendors was a top priority for us, as poor Chris was running around in jeans and a t-shirt because he needed a costume, and I had a friend there who I wanted to check in with.
We got distracted along the way by the gaming room, being hosted by Hat's Games (our beloved local game shop where we used to play D&D when we all lived in tiny apartments) and Pulp Gamer. Hat's had some gaming stuff for sale, but the main attraction was that Pulp Gamer had a huge open library of games, and there were volunteers on hand to teach you how to play any game that you were interested in. Chris and I got pulled into a game of Sleeping Queens, a fun card game that was apparently dreamed up by a 6 year old! We also met the folks from Cracked Monocle, creators of the steampunk roleplaying game Tephra (I went back on Saturday and picked up a copy of Tephra, which I will review next month after I've had a chance to play it).
My brother complained that he got ignored by most of the vendors, but Chris and I had no such problem. We found the vendors to be a friendly lot in general. There were costumes for men and ladies, hats galore, weapons, jewelry, antiques and more. I not only got to see my friend Kyla of Kyla's Creations, but I also got to meet Michelle from Damsel in this Dress, who I'd purchased from on Etsy. Chris picked himself up a very sharp vest from Last - Tailors at Arms, a bowler hat from our local costume shop Creative Costumes, and a cute hatband with a vacuum tube and other gadgets from a nice leatherworker. I drooled over boots, as I am wont to do, but limited my spending to a fascinator from Kyla and a cute vest and tie-on bustle from Michelle, to round out my masquerade costume.
Speaking of costumes, the only panel or show that we managed to hit during the day was a costuming panel being hosted by members of the League of STEAM (you may be familiar with them as "those steampunk Ghostbusters", although they also deal with werewolves, vampires, zombies, mummies and all manner of supernatural threats). The panel was fun, informative, and laid back. In addition to describing their own costumes, touching on wild west influences as opposed to Victorian English styles, and giving tips on where to find patterns and materials, they also invited the audience to stand up and discuss their costumes and their inspiration.
The League of STEAM was another main draw for the convention, having grown from some guys with a cool concept for their characters when I met them at SDCC a few years ago, to a larger group of men and women with a web series, live performances and an impressive array of props. At WWWC, they were set up in the Courthouse, which was part of the main town square. They had most if not all of their props on display, with League members on hand to discuss and demonstrate them. The fun thing about the League is that they build functioning props - it wasn't unusual to walk by the Courthouse and see Crackitus Potts outside shooting a con-goer with his net gun to demonstrate how they contain zombies. Chris and I and half a dozen other people all got to hold hands and get zapped by a device powers by "baby electric eels." It was all good fun. They also had a vending table, with costumes, props, t-shirts and more.
Did I mention live shows? On Friday night, the League of STEAM put on a dinner theater. Mindful of the iffy food on Thursday night, we grabbed some tasty tamales when we went home to get dressed for the show and check on our dogs. The food Friday was different, but not really much better. The delicious chocolate cake had been replaced by slightly less delicious carrot cake. We shared a table with more friendly steampunks.
The League demonstrated their methods for the domestication of zombies. Apparently, if you catch the zombie-ism in time and start training them, zombies can be controlled via a special collar and taught to do simple household chores - if you don't mind having iron-shaped burns on your shirts and cocktails spilled in your lap. They also didn't cover how well zombie butlers get along with common household pets, so you might want to research that before you find that your dog has chewed off your zombie's leg.
There was a little incident with an audience volunteer getting nipped by a zombie, but the League quickly administered the antidote and promised us that she was alright. However, I don't recall seeing the girl for the rest of the convention... oh well. I'm sure she was around. Surely the League doesn't have enough influence to engineer a cover-up or anything like that. A zombie outbreak at the convention would have been all over the news.
After the dinner theater, we were all shooed out of the ballroom so they could set up for the Chrononaut Ball, a concert featuring local bands The Mission Creeps and The Strand, and special guest Voltaire (who was added to the roster after I purchased my tickets, so he was icing on the cake). This turned into one of the show's major snags - the concert got a seriously late start, and we were all stuck milling around with nothing to do while we waited (well, I guess we could have gone to the gaming room, as Hat's also had one set up at the hotel for evening gaming, but we didn't want to get involved in a game, we wanted to hear some music!). There was a lot of confusion about where we were supposed to be lined up to wait, and a lot of impatience.
Things were so disorganized with this particular concert that The Mission Creeps had already started their set before most people were even in the door. I went and grabbed myself a spot on the dance floor, as the band had a very danceable (but not very steampunk) 80s Goth vibe to it. The dance floor was more crowded than on Thursday, though some people were just kind of hanging out and enjoying the music, as there weren't a lot of seats and they were all far from the stage.
I have to admit, The Strand didn't make much of an impression on me - I think they were kind of metal, kind of industrial. I spent most of their set chilling in the back with Chris and my brother, as I was getting tired and wanted to save my energy for Voltaire. They didn't strike me as bad, they just also didn't really grab me.
Finally, Voltaire took to the stage! I was a bit disappointed that it was just him with his guitar, as when I think of his music, the violin immediately comes to mind. However, he more than made up for it by having an amazing stage presence and really engaging with the audience. For his soundcheck, he played a song that everyone sang along to. He told lots of stories and jokes between songs, and sang special versions of some songs (if you're familiar with his song "Vampire Club" just take a moment to imagine it with lyrics lampooning the Twilight saga). And since it was Wild Wild West Con, he played some songs from his new country-western album "Hate Lives in a Small Town." Since I grew up in a small town, where the only two radio stations were Christian talk and country music, that really resonated with me.
The original plan was that after Voltaire, there'd be a DJ set until 2am, but Voltaire's set ended at 2 and everyone pretty much cleared out - or waited in line for merchandise, signatures, and photos. I chose the latter option, as I had to get "Hate Lives in a Small Town" and well hey, if I'm going to wait in line, I may as well also get a signature and photo! I really applaud Voltaire for staying so late, and being so good-natured as to even sign the hairy chest of the guy in line behind me.
After not really enough sleep, it was back to Old Tucson the next day. There were two special events that I had tickets for, the "Tea Party with the Baroness" (tea, cookies, and readings from all the authors attending the convention), and the steampunk fashion show, featuring designs from many of the vendors.
I was excited about the reading, because it came with a free copy of one of the authors' books, and Cherie Priest was going to be there. I got there maybe 15 minutes before the reading was supposed to start and grabbed a seat in the back row to wait for Jon Magnificent to finish his set. And then I waited... and waited... and waited. The event was more than half an hour late starting, and in the meantime, the authors had gotten bored and had a few drinks, which made things a little more entertaining.
While I was waiting for things to start, I also found that our local used book/entertainment store Bookmans had a table set up with a drawing for a hat full of gear, books, and DVDs, as well as having a game of pick-up-sticks that you could play and win a cool Bookmans logo pin made out of gears. They were pretty free with the pins - I saw them giving pins to people who failed at the game, and when I played, they pointed out what stick I should pick up.
Unfortunately, it turned out that the reason why Cherie Priest was the only author there that I heard of was because all of the other writers were self-published or published by very small presses, and their writing had the sort of quality I've come to expect from that sort of writer - some of it showed promise, but most of it was not that good and it all definitely needed some more polish. At points, I found myself wishing that I wasn't seated in the front row, because then I could have slipped out unobtrusively.
On the bright side, there was tea and cookies, and the con president even went around with a tray of cookies for everyone. And afterward, all of the authors were back in the building that I hadn't realized they were in before, so I was able to chat with Cherie Priest about jewelry and costumes and get my copy of Dreadnought signed. I also gave her props for choosing to read one of the more gruesome passages from that book, which was a nice diversion from the steampunk romances that some of the other authors were reading from.
Because the tea party got such a late start, there really wasn't time to do much of anything before the fashion show, and that kind of annoyed me. It's bad enough to wait around for an event to start when you have nothing else planned, but there was a whole convention going on around me that I couldn't enjoy, because I was listening to the same Jon Magnificent songs I'd already heard Thursday night.
The fashion show was apparently a fundraiser, though since my ticket came with my Brass VIP pass, I didn't feel like I was contributing much. The show featured ensembles from several of the show's vendors, worn by models of varying degrees of skill. Some of the models had a great walk and stage presence and really seemed to be enjoying themselves, whereas others seemed confused or perhaps gripped by a bit of stage fright. The fashions themselves were great, lots of fun costumes for women, men, and even little tykes. There was a DJ providing really good music throughout - lots of Beats Antique and Abney Park and other stuff I didn't recognize but enjoyed. I made sure to take a moment after the show to find him and compliment him, as I figured most people were more focused on the clothes, models, and emcees.
Speaking of emcees, the one real problem with the fashion show was that it was very chaotic. Instead of having one emcee running things, The Baroness from the tea party was intro-ing some of the models, whereas other models were introduced by the designers. The problem was that some people were more prepared than others, and there was a lot of switching microphones back and forth and waiting for people to be ready. I think it would have gone a lot more smoothly if the designers had submitted what they wanted said and one person read it all.
After the fashion show, there weren't really any panels or shows left that we wanted to attend, so we visited the vendors again, did a little more shopping, and hung out in the gaming room for a while, until it closed. Unfortunately, almost everything closed down before the Eternal Source of Steam concert, and that concert was being held at the park. Did I mention that Old Tucson is out in the middle of nowhere? There is literally nothing for miles, and the nearest thing is the Arizona Sonoran Desert Musuem. There's not so much as a McDonald's or Circle K anywhere nearby. The restaurants at Old Tucson aren't that great, so we really didn't feel like eating dinner, and so we just hung out, talking with friends as we saw them, and waited for the show to start.
Super-VIPs (or Chrononauts, as they were more accurately called), were allowed to sit in on the Abney Park sound check, and I heard that was pretty good. I'll talk more about the handling of the Chononauts at the end.
Luckily, by this time the con staff seemed to have their act together, and they got us separated into VIP and non-VIP lines and while I didn't check the time, it felt like things weren't delayed. My brother and I grabbed spots on the "dance floor" in front of the stage and settled in for a night of fun, leaving non-dancer Chris to guard our stuff. He actually managed to snag a seat on the stage stairs and probably had a better view of the show than we did.
The opening act was Veronique Chevalier, and I have to say, if I never have to see her perform again, I'll be fine with that. If I had just wandered into one of her shows during the convention, I would have wandered right out again. I'm trying not to be exceptionally mean about anyone in this report, but her act just left me cold. It consisted of her singing "humorous" songs to the tunes of existing songs, in a very bad French accent, accompanied by an "invsible accordian player" (ie, pre-recorded music). The humor wasn't to my taste, her voice was grating, and she didn't really dance. How bad was her act? She had a song about Cthulhu and I didn't even like that. Don't even get me started on the incredibly awkward birthday song that turned into a song about masturbation. I could tell I wasn't the only one not enjoying it, because most of the people around me were talking with each other, or going to the bar for drinks rather than paying attention to the show.
After that, Unextraordinary Gentlemen took the stage, and fortunately, they were more entertaining. Like most of the bands, they had something of a Goth sound, but their show was incredibly dramatic, with very emotional singing by the lead vocalists. Of course, I liked the fact that they had two dancers in beautiful costumes, with lace fans decorated with Swarovski crystals. Sparkly fans! Oh, be still my heart! Later on, to a more scandalous song, the dancers did a burlesque strip-tease, though because it was an all-ages show they only stripped down to their lingerie, so it was sexy but not inappropriate. I liked the band enough that I picked up their CDs.
There was a bit of a delay while Abney Park set up to play, and apparently the con president was supposed to chat at us, but he got called back to the hotel to fix an emergency, and instead we were stuck with some guy named Jim, who owns a bar. I don't know if he was a financial backer for the convention or just a friend or what, but I have to say he didn't make a good impression on me. He killed the time by telling jokes, most of which were racist, sexist, or otherwise inappropriate.
But then Abney Park took the stage and all was right in the world! They played not one, but two 45 minute sets, and then came back out for an encore and played three more songs. I was happy that they not only played a lot of their newer, more popular steampunk stuff, but also some of their old Goth music that I often use for dance practice at home. I sang, I danced, I got stepped on by the person next to me, and I clapped and screamed and carried on like a fan girl.
Abney Park really puts on a great show. They wear awesome costumes and have modded instruments, of course, to fit the steampunk aesthetic. There's lots of dancing, lots of joking around with each other, and a great rapport with the audience. They seemed really enthusiastic to be there - I'm sure a lot of it was the usual touring band "The fans in
The only downside was that the dance floor, the one we'd been standing and dancing on for 4 hours straight, was concrete. I was sore and achy and felt like an old woman afterward! But there was still a masquerade ball to get to! So off we went to the hotel, where we found that there was really not much of a ball going on... Very few people were there, and most of them weren't dancing. The DJ was spinning some Beats Antique, so I got up and danced a bit, but then he switched to stuff I didn't like and didn't recognize, so we called it a night.
Sunday did not have a lot planned. I was excited about it because there was a belly dance workshop being hosted by local dance troupe Lykiska, but other than that, there weren't a lot of shows or panels. I caught Lykiska's great performance (which looked good even though they were told they'd be performing for an hour, then half an hour, then an hour at the last minute). Then we went to check out the goggle-making workshop, but when we found that they were charging money if you wanted to actually make goggles, we decided to leave. I'd rather buy my own stuff and have my brother help me make a pair in the comfort of my own house, instead of in the hot and poorly-ventilated church house they were holding it in.
Then it was time for the belly dance workshop. Lori, who was teaching it, is a friend of mine and very active in our local dance community, but this was the first time I had the chance to learn from her and I really enjoyed the tribal fusion combos she taught. Because it was a steampunk convention, the troupe had worked together to come up with a cute clock-inspired combo that was challenging but not out of reach, even for the students that had no belly dance experience.
The weird thing was that they had the workshop at the same stage Lykiska was performing at, which was also in the same building as the indoor vendors. This meant that we had an audience while we learned! I'm used to having one or two prospective new students or stray husbands and boyfriends at belly dance class, but an entire audience? Luckily most of them got bored and left, because it was honestly a little distracting, I kept feeling like I had to put on my performance face and smile for them, instead of focusing on learning!
Afterwards, I hit the closing party. It partially overlapped with the workshop, so I'd sent Chris ahead to save me a seat and let me know if I missed anything. Luckily it started a bit late and all I really missed was them repeating some of the announcements from the night before about the future of the convention. I got there in time to have a tiny slice of yummy cake and cheer for all the con staff and volunteers who worked so hard to make the event enjoyable for everyone. Then Jon Magnificent took the stage and we decided to leave, because while he isn't bad, I really didn't need to hear the same songs three times in one weekend.
So what were the announcements about the convention's future? Happy to say, it will be held again next year, on the same weekend! However, they're changing the name, to something along the lines of the "Grand Western Steampunk Festival" to reflect the fact that the focus is more on festival-like content (concerts!) and less on the panels and guests that you would expect from a convention. It will be interesting to see how this works out - I really enjoyed the concerts but also found myself wishing for more variety of panels (keep in mind that the only other convention I've ever been to is SDCC, so obviously I'm a little spoiled for panels).
At the time, their plans included making it a week-long event, though with most things still focused on the weekend. The weekend events will be held at Old Tucson Studios again, but apparently there were complaints about the hotel so they're looking for a different spot. I personally didn't have any problems with the hotel, unless they were the ones providing the lackluster food, but I had heard complaints about a previous convention held there, too, so I guess it's not very good.
Over all, I enjoyed my experience at WWWC. I would have liked to see things run on time more often, and I would have liked it if more of the performers had more than one set, as there were some people I missed out on because they were playing at the same time as something else I was doing. I would like to see more big-name authors or comic people at the event, people who I've actually heard of and read or would like to read. Studio Folgio definitely comes to mind, and maybe Gail Carriger? And while I love belly dance with an undying passion, it would have also been fun to see some more historically-accurate dance forms. I have an on-line friend who apparently came up with a steampunk waltz that can be danced to Abney Park's "Airship Pirates." I may have to give the convention staff her contact info.
Although there were definite snags along the way, the convention staff seemed to be largely working hard to smooth things over as they happened and file things away for next time. When people complained that the vendors and art show were hard to find, (small) signs were placed around the park, and town criers hit the street to let people know what was happening where.
However, there was the issue of the Chononauts. When I purchased our Brass VIP passes, that was the highest level of pass. But later on, they introduced the Chononaut VIP pass, which included everything the Brass level got and more! Priority seating at events. A free shuttle pass to get schlepped between the hotel and the park. A swag bag. Special VIP party with the performers on Friday night! Sit in on the Abney Park sound check! It sounded pretty cool, but it was also pretty expensive, so I decided to skip the upgrade and have money to spend at the vendor area instead. My brother, on the other hand, decided he'd kick himself if he didn't upgrade, and went for it.
As it turns out, I made the better decision. Priority seating? Well, sometimes. For the Voltaire show, they let some Chrononauts in early, but if you happened to be back at your car putting away your prop weapons because - surprise! - you couldn't bring them into the show, you got stuck in line with the Brass VIP folks instead. Swag bags? Nah, just didn't happen. VIP Party? Overlapped with the League of STEAM Show, and from what I heard (my brother chose League of Steam), most of the performers didn't show and it wasn't much of a party. Apparently, the Abney Park sound check and the shuttle pass were the only things that materialized, and they certainly were not worth the sizable cost of the upgrade.
Apparently they did feel bad about not giving the Chrononauts what they were promised, so there was a raffle. At the closing party. And you had to be present to get a ticket. And it was going to be held after the Jon Magnificent show. My brother hadn't even come out to the park on Sunday, so he wasn't there to see if it was any good. I really feel that instead, they should have given the Chrononaut passholders a full or partial refund of the upgrade fees, or promised them upgrades for next year's event, or something. A raffle where you might get a prize certainly does not make up for being denied the goodies you already paid for. My brother did write the con staff to let them know how disappointed he was, and as of the time that I'm writing this report, he has not heard anything back from them.
I will be attending again next year, since hey, I live here! But whether I splurge for a VIP pass again will be largely dependent on who they sign up to come back, what new talent they bring in, and how many other plans I have for next spring. Not from Tucson? It's probably worth driving in from one of our surrounding states, but I'm not sure I'd recommend flying in for it unless there's no good steampunk events within driving distance of your town.