I got my antique vacuum tube radio repaired and the guy handed me a bag with the old tubes in it. I'm trying to decide what to use them for.
Some sort of steampunkish project, maybe? A retro sci fi thing of some sort? I'm thinking some sort of Robert Heinlein-inspired art work, maybe, with blinking lights to look like a prop from a 1950s space movie or something...
It so happens that I am going to see the band Rush at the end of the month here, and in the last decade they've embraced a sort of steampunk kind of decor for their stage setups.
I think it would be cool to make something like the stage props Rush has used in the last few years with their clockwork steampunk theme.
This fictional device is more along the lines of something I could construct and display in my house. It's called a "Gefilter" and it's basically a time machine device that sort of projects alternate histories and timelines for you to view. When it's activated the lights blink and the speaker horn on top (not shown here for some reason) rotates. It was used to show alternate versions of the band, for example what if Rush had used accordions and played eastern European folk versions of Rush songs. Yes, it's really bizarre, but this is Rush we're talking about, so it's awesome bizarre!
Both Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee have roots in Eastern Europe; Geddy's mom is a holocaust survivor. I guess that's where this stuff comes from?