Last year at Maker Faire I met so many amazing people! The experience was overwhelming. In fact, on the plane ride back from San Francisco I told the big Aussie sitting next to me that my sniffling was all just due to allergies and not the fact that I was flying at 500 miles per hour away from my new friends!

One of the people I met was an artist named Suzanne Forbes. Suzanne had created a work to be auctioned to benefit the Electronic Frontier Foundation called Defending the Electronic Frontier it was a painting that included representations of some of my work as well as that of Datamancer and others. She and her wonderful painting joined us in the Contraptor's Lounge.

Suzanne is a portrait artist and illustrator living and working in the Bay area.  She will come to your home and paint you and make you look fabulous! She also has a selection of drawings and prints of her work available in her Etsy store.

For more information about her portraiture, click through to her website here.

Boston Favorites HUMANWINE are in town and you can hear them play!

• Saturday February 7th 8:30pm - The Mad Maggies CD Release Party: Pirates Delight

The Accordion Apocalypse
2626 Jennings St. San Francisco, CA 94124
Cost: $10 fer pirate, $15 for regular human

ALL AGES

Pirate’s Delight with: The Mad Maggies, Thee Hobo Gobbelins, Amazing Circus Acts! HUMANWINE will play a few pirate tunes during the evening.

• Tuesday February 24th 8:00pm - Mardis Gras @ The Hazmat Warehouse/Your Hauz

This show is in Oakland, CA
please write to: info@HUMANWINE.org for directions

Cost: $ donation -

ALL AGES

Mardis Gras with Thee Hobo Gobbelins, HUMANWINE and a slew of maniacs doing for you what we love to do.
Expect a St.James Infirmary that will tear your pounding heart out of your chest and lift it to the sky!

I met these folks when we taped the Make:TV piece and was absolutely blown away by their music and by the energy and vehemence with which they live their lives.  They are a personal inspiration.

Follow them on LiveJournal here!

I've been booked for the first ever California Steampunk Convention in Sunnyvale, California - October 31 through November 2! 

I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing but there is sufficient time to put together a really bitch'n presentation and/or demo!  I'll also be participating in a discussion panel or two.

In addition, some of The Steampunk Workshop's bestest friends will be there, and by that I mean Ann & Jeff VanderMeer the editors of Steampunk as well as those roguishly appealing pirates: Abney Park!

Discounted tickets are on sale now until June 15 for $50, they will be $60 thereafter.

Abney Park posing aboard the Neverwas Haul at Maker Faire 2008 (Photo - Libby Bulloff)