Steampunk Chicago &
Audible Doggerel pres. POLYPHONIC PANORAMA!

On Saturday June 4th
Steampunk Chicago &
bring you

POLYPHONIC PANORAMA

A showcase of steampunk, vaudeville and heavy blues from around the US and the world.

with

HELLBLINKI (Asheville, NC)

The Hellblinki Sextet... broken tooth blues in a Tux, choral fantasies for agnostic angels, peg-leg waltzes on the rim of Mt. Vesuvius... Psycho-cabaret, southern fried with guerrilla operatics... Hellblinki is prone to suprise, tension, and dramatic release. Dark and experimental, Hellblinki mixes elements of American folk, European cabaret, and Punk Rock experimentation into an intoxicating brew of transcendent madness...

Stylistically the band could be described as psycho-cabaret, southern fried with guerrilla operatics, or as raw pirate-blues, infused with punk rock cinematics.

Hellblinki is punk folk pirate blues, psycho cabaret from the deep deep south.  Know worldwide for dramatic performances and epic recordings, they can occasionally be found in Asheville, NC banging away on a crazy purple bus.

The Hellblinki Sextet is a three piece band from Asheville, NC. Andrew Benjamin plays on drums and guitar, while singing simultaneously.  Valerie Meiss plays accordion and sings in a guerilla operatic style. (She also plays Saw, Toy Piano, Ukelele, and on occasion an instrument she calls a cacaphonium.) JonPaul Hess hold down the bottom with bass guitar, organ pedals, and keytar.

Hellblinki has been introduced by James Brown on Television, accidentally murdered a live fish with a rented minivan, staged a show with over 50 performers in an old vaudeville theatre, has literally been passed out upon by an audience member on a moving bus while performing, almost got in a great deal of legal of trouble for building the prow of a ship on the front of their building (complete with a nude demoness figurehead) as part of a raging Halloween party, has released an Xmas EP (really!) as well as four full length records, wants very badly to do a houseboat tour with lots of frozen drinks, and is definitely not from Finland...
www.Hellblinki.com

FRENCHY & THE PUNK (New York)
Euro-American duo Frenchy and the Punk (formerly The Gypsy Nomads) fuse raucous live guitar looping, cheeky ballads sung in English and French, danceable, modernized old-world inspired melodies and thunderous tribal-march-style drum instrumentals. Get transported to a world full of humor, theatricality, whirling dance and bohemian spirit. Come experience their genre-busting non-traditional take on world cabaret served with a twist of vaudeville and a dash of steampunk flavoring rooted in folk, punk and the vineyards of southern France.

French-born Brit. lead vocalist and percussionist, Samantha Stephenson and American-born punk veteran guitarist Scott Helland of Czech and Portuguese descent, make up this spirited duo. The two powerhouses don't disappoint as they unleash the raw passion of their love for music, dance, and a roaring good time! Touring incessantly coast to coast since 2005 and racking up over 150 shows a year and four full-length albums and a live DVD, they bring their pulse-poundin' tribute to the free spirit lifestyle to alternative music festivals and steampunk/sci-fi/cabaret conventions across the U.S. They will also be touring across the USA and Europe.
www.FrenchyandThePunk.com

CURTIS ELLER'S AMERICAN CIRCUS (New York)
Curtis Eller is New York City's angriest yodeling banjo player. He sings about pigeon racing, performing elephants and Jesus, all of which he has seen with his own eyes. He started his show-business career at the age of seven as a juggler and acrobat in the Hiller Olde Tyme Circus in Detroit, but has since turned to the banjo because that's where the money is. His biggest musical influences are Buster Keaton, Elvis Presley and Abraham Lincoln.  Mr. Eller and his band, The American Circus stubbornly perform and record in New York City. They have appeared at funerals, horse races, burlesque revues and punk rock dumps. Haunted by the ghosts of silent film and wearing a dead man's clothes, Mr. Eller and the band have staggered their way into the hearts of audiences from London and Amsterdam to Los Angeles and Montreal. 2008 promises to see them touring extensively on both sides of the Atlantic ocean.

Along the way, they have shared the stage with strippers, contortionists, glass eaters and folksingers. They play more waltzes than any other band I know of, but nobody ever seems to feel like dancing.  On the latest American Circus CD "Wirewakers & Assassins" Mr. Eller presents songs about John Wilkes Booth, Joe Louis, Fidel Castro, Jack Ruby and Richard Nixon (as well as the usual tales of Civil War generals and Elvis Presley). As always, sporadic yodeling and some strong language should be expected.  Mr Eller's tune "Alaska" was voted "2003's most Popular" on NPR's All Songs Considered. The music has the unmistakable sound of a pistol being fired in an abandoned salt mine: lonesome and violent.

The bands three previous CD's, "Taking Up Serpents Again" (2004), "Banjo Music for Funerals" (2002), and "1890" (2000), prove The American Circus capable of being recorded magnetically. On them you will here true stories about snake handlers and Coney Island, lies about P.T. Barnum and Amelia Earhart, and all the banjo playing and yodeling anyone can reasonably expect in these dark times.  All of the group's recorded output is available at live performances and online at The American Circus Souvenir Shop. Digital facsimiles of these artifacts can be downloaded from I-Tunes and CD Baby. Confederate currency will no longer be accepted.   Onstage and in the recording studio, The American Circus has attempted to capture the spirit of the Harford Circus Fire of 1944. Although there are sure to be many acts of heroism by performers and crew alike, ultimately it will prove to be the greatest disaster in circus history.
www.CurtisEller.com


ELIZA RICKMAN (Los Angeles)
Eliza Rickman is a singer, songwriter and pianist living and performing in California. Her unique and haunting sound combines the lilting sweetness of popular vocalists like Feist or Annie Clark with the gritty sensibilities of PJ Harvey and the playfulness of Kurt Weill. While she performs with a small chamber of musicians at venues like Hotel Cafe (Hollywood) & Viracocha (San Francisco), the toy piano is the central instrument on her EP, Gild the Lily (2009). Full of lovesick lullabies, Gild the Lily marries pure and sultry melodies with melancholy lyrics. The raven-haired, porcelain-skinned songstress serenades listeners into an unexpected vulnerability while leading them on a quest for love by a little girl lost.

Eliza recorded her first full-length effort this winter with Chicago-based engineer Mark Greenberg (Andrew Bird, Wilco, Mavis Staples). The album is anticipated for release in the fall of 2011, and highlights Eliza's talent for writing string arrangements, and includes contributions from percussionist Kevin O'Donnell (Andrew Bird's 'Bowl of Fire') & bassist Tom V. Ray (Neko Case, Jakob Dylan).
www.facebook.com/elizarickman
www.elizarickman.com

DUENOW (Chicago)

From the acid-washed strip malls of suburban Midwestern nowhere, from the ditch-weed and porn filled shoebox under dad's bed, from the muddy graveyards of muscle cars and tortured varmints come the children of Coleco Vision, Reaganomics, and high school shootings. Zach & Dorothea Duenow are the macabre and beautiful mushroom festering on the rot of the American Dream.

The touring duo perform a dizzying blend of genre that ends up sounding something like Eminem, Woodie Guthrie, and The Sex Pistols. Always delivered with manic smiles, their songs paint a picture of a surreal and pornographic Norman Rockwellian world that leaves no skeleton in the closet.

Duenow is Zach Duenow on guitar and the harmonica, and Dorothea "Dot" Duenow on drums. After two albums and extensive touring Duenow took a hiatus but kept making noise in their garage after their two children go to sleep. Now back, Duenow is exploding back on the scene with a passion for the vaudevillian.  Looking back at their website and photos from live performances, their vaudevillian style is apparent. Listening to their album, The Draft LP, true steampunk/post-apocalyptic themes can be felt from the opening track.
www.DuenowMusic.com

Hosted by
Thee Blue Beard

DJs
Steampunk Chicago DJs on the Fusion-O-Scope

Vendors
Highwind Steamworks : Etsy.com/shop/HighwindSteamworx
Artifixer : Artifixer.com/Artifixer/
Urban Archeology : Etsy.com/shop/UrbArchaeology
A Mouse for Tea : Custom and wearable taxidermy!

Time Altered Jewelry : Etsy.com/shop/TimeAltered

At
THE ABBEY PUB -
3420 West Grace Street
Chicago, IL 60618

Doors at 8pm
Show starts at 9pm
Tickets $15 in advance or with RSVP at Do312.com, $20 at the door
21+
Drink specials all night!

This is a show NOT TO BE MISSED!

More info at
www.SteampunkChicago.com
www.AbbeyPub.com
www.Do312.com