Schedule for 2008

View the 2008 schedule details & Salon details.

Friday Night Event

Friday Night Steampunk Meetup at Alexander's (in the hotel) at 9 pm

Come embrace the future of yesterday in your finest Steampunk gear (or just to admire others!). A fabulous time to make new friends before the rush of the convention. There will be a cash bar at Alexander's and you are welcome to get food from Jersey's (the other hotel restaurant) and bring it into Alexander's.

Saturday Events

Main Performance by Abney Park

Cream Tea Catered by Teaberry's

An exquisite affair for you to enjoy for a nominal extra charge of $15. An assortment of freshly brewed loose teas and delicious freshly baked scones scones with all the trimmings, including real imported clotted cream and lemon curd. This will take place in the lovely hotel restaurant, Alexander's, which will be ours exclusively for the tea. Kwannon will be performing her gorgeous vocals and world instrument accompaniment.

Fashion Show Hosted by Sidonie of To Die for Designs

Masked Ball

An affair to remember! Our ballroom will be beautifully decorated for your enjoyment. Come dressed in your finest and bring your favorite mask and dance the night away to music ranging from gothic to new wave to trance to house to indie bands you are not cool enough to have heard before. Naturally, there will be a few traditional ballroom dance pieces played as well.

Burlesque Performances by The White Elephant Burlesque Society

After successful shows in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, the White Elephant Burlesque Society continues it's Stomp Across America Tour at SalonCon. Hailed as "riveting", "entertaining and innovative" and "downright sexy", White Elephant builds on traditional burlesque and vaudeville, adding a flair all it's own. At this year's SalonCon, come see them in two different shows that promise provocative and mischievous fun for all.

Victorian Household Arts

The things that makes a house a home isn't only what the furniture looked like, but the food that was cooked and the standards to which a house was kept. During the Victorian era in England, there were a number of things that the urban Victorian woman would have done to keep house and nourish her family. This class will cover the primary roles of the Victorian woman, that of housekeeper, mother, and cook and present some suggestions for how to bring those sensibilities into the 21st century.

Ball Room Dance Instruction

Learn how to dance like the Victorians did! Dance instructor Susan de Guardiola will teach authentic but easy couple and set dances of the late nineteenth century. No experience or partner needed. Enjoy the Gothic Dance, Waltz Quadrille, and the infamous Promiscuous Figures!

Guest bio: Susan de Guardiola is a social dance historian residing Connecticut who teachs and speaks on 19th century dance and organizes historical dance events. She writes a dance history blog at Capering and Kickery.

Artist Social

Come meet the visual artists providing wall decor at SalonCon's ConSuite and discuss their works. Interested in showing? Please see here for more info.

Catherynne Valente Book Reading & Signing

Come listen to Catherynne's beautifully intricate fairy tales and get your books autographed.

Ekaterina Sedia Reading & Signing

Come listen to Ekaterina's amazing tales of alchemy, steampunk, and intrigue and get your books autographed.

Ladies Sewing and Mischief Circle (with the Gentlemen Auxiliary chapter)

The best place to catch up on all the day's gossip and make new friends. It's best to bring your own crafts, but we will supply a small amount of sewing supplies.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Meetup

It's the little perfume e-tailer with its own (obsessive) fandom . . . hundreds of "intriguing, compelling body and household blends with a dark, romantic Gothic tone." All scents are hand-blended and contain no animal ingredients. They even had the good taste to donate their wares to SalonCon's Charity Auction! If you're already a BPALhead, show off your own collection for swapping and sniffing; if you'd just like to learn more, we'll be happy to indoctrinate you. The organizer will bring her own swap/freebie pile, and testers of select Limited Edition fragrances. While BPAL's oils are free of alcohol and synthetics, those with allergies or chemical sensitivities may wish to choose a different workshop.

Horseshoes

Close only counts in a game of horseshoes, right? Come get close!

Exquisite Corpse

Ever wondered what a story would sound like if it was written by a group of people who could only see the line that came before their line? Come join us for this traditional writer's block game!

Surrealist Games

It's all about the automatism, darling.

Traditional Seance

Always been curious about what a real Seance looks like? Come find out as we do a short Non-Denominational Seance led by a noted, experienced practitioner. This Seance is designed not to call up specific people (a la John Edwards) but to use a group focus to connect with friendly spirits.

Modern Yarn Spinning

One of the continuous threads since people were people(and some have suggested a bit before) we have told stories. From the tale of hunters to the latest thing that happened at the club last week. This is a happening in that very long tradition, one that you participate perhaps without fully knowing it.

The rules are as follows. Five people are selected at random from the audience. You bring a true story about you or someone you know(so the thing that happened to your best friend's cousin's sister's roomate is right out) and tell all of your old and new friends. You are rated by the studio audience on a scale from 1-10. The scores are added and a winner is chosen. In the event of a tie another story is told and judged. The winner gets the contents of the "magic hat"(a hat passed around the audience about 1/2 way through, so bring something interesting for the hat).

This is happening opposite the cream tea.

Dr. Sketchy's Burlesque Life Drawing

Sick of sketching wax fruit? So are we! Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School is the cure to the common art class. We provide a stunning, sumptuously costumed model, cabaret style skits, and divinely decedent prizes. You bring your sketchpad. Dr. Sketchy's has brought artistic decadence to 50 cities around the world, including New York, Hollywood, London, Paris, Rome, Tokyo and Melbourne, and been covered in the LA Times, Time Out London, Time Out New York, BBC, NPR, The Onion AV Club, and the Washington Post.

Just for the Salon Con, we bring you the bustled, be-corsetted girls of the Peek-a-boo Review, Philadelphia's oldest burlesque troupe. They're a spectacle to make Queen Victoria blush. Dr. Sketchy's founder Molly Crabapple will be on hand to emcee, sign books and scandalize. Also assisting? The crew from Dr. Sketchy's Philly.

Fan Language

Did you just proposition her? Did you just tell him that you want nothing to do with him and do not think highly of his mother either? Come learn to speak without saying a word, all with the flick of a fan! We will have some fans for you to borrow if you did not bring your own.

Saber Demonstration

Not so long ago, In a galaxy not too terribly far away...
Old stodgy professors, street urchins, robots and mad scientists followed a trail of arcane clues towards an ancient treasure of terrible power. The road is paved with violence, madness, and betrayal, will the forces of good prevail?

Join NY Jedi for a performance of Victorian style, Steampunk adventure, Shakespearean trickery, Vaudevillian humor, and of course, LIGHTSABERS!

The New York Jedi are a community of people and teachers who share practical Martial Arts-based and Stage Combat oriented Light Saber techniques. We are non-cannon specific to any story franchise. Members get the option of creating their own character, becoming the Hero or Villain of their dreams! And the one thing that binds us together is our admiration of that classic weapon: the lightsaber.

Head to Toe

Ever wonder where your fellow Victorians, steampunks and time travelers find their wonderful hats and shoes? Loren Dearborn will give an overview of period shoes and discuss sources for buying, making and modifying your own headgear and footwear so that you too can have a closet full of fabulous hats and shoes!

Loren Dearborn has been making costumes for about 15 years now. She is a member of the Costume Society of America and the Victorian Society of Falls Church and a frequent attendee of Costume Con and Costume College and a contributor to the online costume magazine "Your Wardrobe Unlock'd". Her main areas of interest are 18th and 19th century costumes and movie recreations. She has a particular passion for hats and shoes.

Poetry Recital

Join us for a recitation of some of our Guests of Honor's favorite poetry!

Tussy Mussies

Fans weren't the only silent language in the Victorian era. Come join us to learn more about flower language and make a tussy mussy for yourself or to send a message to someone else.

Classical Music Workshop by Nicolas Bremer

Come join us for a workshop on a Classical Music primer which will take us from the Baroque to the modern era, with live performances of music from each period and a discussion of what makes that music special.

Nicholas Bremer - Baritone Nick Bremer is a recent graduate from NYU Steinhardt's classical voice program, studying with Scott Murphree. At Steinhardt, he has appeared in Dido and Aeneas, The Merry Widow, L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, The Magic Flute, and most recently The Gondoliers. In conjunction with NYU, he was also in the chorus of Mabou Mines' avante garde opera Red Beads, which premiered at the Skirball Center. Other operas include La Traviata and The Saint of Bleecker Street.

Period Details

Are you a writer and worried about getting period details straight? Don't know the difference between a bustle and a button? Come join us for a workshop on learning how to get all those little detail right!

Chrono'Nauts Parade

Come in your steampunk or Neo-Victorian finest to compete in a costume parade! There will be all sorts of prizes and goodies!

Crazy Quilting

Curious about quilting? Come join us to learn the art of Crazy Quilting for a small material cost.

Demonstration of the emerging science of Electricity during the Victorian Age

The lecture will be conducted on the emerging science of the age, with a focus on the limitations and possibilities as well as the history of this early technology. This will also include the feud between Thomas Edison and Nickolai Tesla, with their different viewpoints. It will be a glowing presentation with safety at the forefront

We will also discuss: The Electrocuting of an Elephant using a/c current The Sparks from horses iron horse shoes near the local Tesla coil The Edison "acid" man coming to deliver fresh vats of acid to power the large battery in the back yard The fact that with a local Tesla coil you can put light bulbs straight into the ground Edison sending power through wires while Tesla sent power through thin air And simple circuits

Sunday Morning Event

Sunday Brunch at 11 am

Come join us at the hotel restaurant for a big brunch buffet, Alexander's to enjoy each other's company before saying good bye. This event is optional and everyone is responsible for paying for his or her meals.