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Welcome to my official website.

My name is Jon Magnificent and I am a steampunk recording artist. What is steampunk?  Steampunk is most quickly described as Victorian Science Fiction...but then one does have to know what "Victorian" is (The Victorian era of the United Kingdom was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901) and have a fair idea of what technology existed in that time — and then what the future-imaginings of the Science Fiction authors of that era could have been imagined.... I can simplify this.

Things are steam-powered, mostly.  There are airships in the skies.  No petroleum-based products. No fossil fuels. No gasoline, oil, grease, plastic.

It's the science fiction of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, but also a bit of H. P. Lovecraft as well. So along with the science fiction, there is a bit of magick and a bit of horror, but a whole lot of adventure.

It is also: good manners, intelligent speaking, a great respect for others no matter their age, race or background, a hearty sense of good humor, a brave heart and a want for adventure. It is the age of invention! Anything is possible! Intolerance is not tolerated. Being more literate, more creative, and being of more assistance to ones fellows and ladies are goals worth striving for. It is honor. It is respect. It is a helluva a lot of good fun!

For my part, I had always been fascinated with music, with inventing, with exploring and adventure. I always wanted to know to the fullest extent what are the possibilities? What are the limits, if there are any? And so my life was full of art and music and strange and not-so-strange inventions. I'd read about composers, magicians, inventors, explorers and anything that made life an adventure. When I received Tinker Toys as a gift, I created my own microphone stand with them. That was about age 5. I had magic sets and chemistry sets and electronic sets. My dad was an electronics and design engineer - I picked up a lot of the inventing from him, and parts that would go missing from his workshop. I started playing guitar at age 10. I made my own radio station at age 11. Broadcast range was about 2 houses away on a good day. I lost my father to cancer when I was in 8th grade. The year before that wasn't so good, either. 6th grade was the year I gave up trying to win the heart of a kindergarten sweetheart. Life was a bit rough for a while after I lost my father. I didn't know who to relate to. I only knew what I liked. And I knew a side of life that my school pals hadn't seen yet. We all graduated and went to the private high school where my test score had put me in the top ten of the brightest who applied. But school really wasn't for me any more and after the first semester I was asked to make the choice between dropping from the Honors Program down to the College Prep program, or to leave the school entirely and go to the public high school instead. I opted for the latter.

The public high school, in my first class, was where I first saw the girl of my dreams. Life was going to be ok again. A few months later, by amazing coincidence, she and her mom moved in to a house on my street! I would see her every day. Sometimes many times a day. That inspired much music and a desire to play more instruments and be an even better composer. I could write the song that sweep her away...

That summer, coming home from a concert with her friends, their car was struck by a drunk driver. She died instantly, through the windshield.

By the second half of my sophomore year, I was the guy you'd see with the hair that covered his face who carried his guitar case wherever he went on campus. Mom was raising 5 of us by herself, and for income she started an Italian restaurant. For months, she did her homework by visiting every Italian restaurant within 100 miles. After determining the decor and what dishes and what recipes, she purchased a property not very far from the house that had been a biker bar a few times and couple of other restaurants. She hired a great cook and turned it into a successful business. Instead of the homemade dishes we grew up on, we ate a lot of pizzas from the restaurant. Very good pizzas.

Since mom was busy at the restaurant all day and most of the night, I changed my school schedule. I enjoyed Creative Writing with Williams at the beginning of the day, and it was the only reason I'd get up in the morning for school, and I enjoyed Jazz Band with Osbourne, most of the time, in the afternoons. After Creative Writing, I'd head to the school library with my guitar. No one ever bothered me nor asked why I was there. I'd read books about Medieval times. I'd study the books on the Dead Sea Scrolls. I'd read about woodcarving and instrument making. I'd read books on the occult and about music, too. I'd fine-tune my Creative Writing assignments and I'd do drills and exercises on my guitar. I'd take an early, long lunch and head back in time for Jazz Band. At night, the automated recording from the school would dial my house several times, once for each missed class, and tell whomever of my siblings that answered "...your son or daughter missed one or more class periods today..." After a while, these would just be hung up on without notice given to my mother.

Just before my junior year started, several of my rock star heroes had also died. And I was done being let down and abandoned. I figured I might as well jump into this 'life thing' head first already and see what I could make of it. I took the High School Proficiency Examination. I had to wait about 6 months for the results, and by that time I was still miserable doing my usual daily class schedule, with the addition of attending Physical Education once in a while...my gym shirt and shorts are probably still in a locker somewhere there, still unwashed - it always stunk, which amused me and horrified anyone standing near me at PE. It was March when I received the notice and diploma. I was done. I had passed. I made my plans to head to Los Angeles with my guitar, recording equipment and some friends.

~ to be continued ~