THE HISTORY
Winter 1972:
If I was really serious about making a go of a light show as a business, I should establish it as a business and then try and convince a band, or multiple bands, or a venue to hire me to do lights for them. And so it began. I found out how to register as a business and discovered that the first thing I needed to do was to come up with a name. A lot of people have surmised over the years that I must have chosen Fantasia Light Shows because of the movie Fantasia. But this was not the case. I had actually become quite interested in all the news at that time about the mafia. I bought a book on the life of Al Capone, and other books about organized crime, The Godfather was just coming out and I even bought an Italian to English dictionary to understand the phrases that were used better. One of the meanings of Fantasia (fan-ta-ZEE-ah) in Italian is imagination. Perfect for what I was attempting to do. I registered the name with the state of Minnesota and had some business cards made up to start the promotion of the brand. It was also at this time that my roommate, who was an artist, volunteered to make a logo for me. To read more about the evolution of the logo, click here.
The other thing that happened that propelled me forward in the development of a better light show was discovering a theater group on the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota. It was called Punchinello Players. For more information on Punchinello click here. A girl that I was dating as the time was involved and I quickly decided that I wanted to volunteer to help with lighting (as well as sound and props). Rollie Hofmeister was in charge of doing the lighting for the plays and he taught me so much I couldn’t hardly believe it. We worked with ellipsoidal lights, Fresnel lights, moveable spot lights and something called gels. This amazing piece of colored plastic fit into a metal frame and then slipped into the front of the lights to let you create any type of color wash that you could imagine. They came in hundreds of different colors and the theater group had a big drawer full of them. Some were so used that they were faded in the middle from the heat but they also had big sheets of new ones. My go to colors were bastard amber and surprise pink. They had an assortment of about 20 different lights as well as a grid of spotlights that could also help to create the mood necessary for the play that was being produced. And a big old upright dimmer panel located in a loft above the stage area. I quickly could see how more professional lights and the gels could fit in well with the light show.
I also found out that there were local companies that sold these types of lights and supplies. One was called Teener’s Theatrical Supply in downtown Minneapolis and another was a place called Norcostco, short for Northwestern Costume Company. To see a photo of the inside of Teener’s click here. Norcostco is still in business, check it out by clicking here.
One day when I was hanging around Teener’s, looking at all the great items that they had for sale, I spied something called Flash Powder. The clerk explained to me that magicians used it to create small flashes of light as easily as touching it with a lit cigarette. That conversation started me down a road of figuring out how to get explosions into the light show as a special effect.
I started by making two boards, each having three porcelain light fixtures mounted on them. In the two outside fixtures I put yellow floodlights (ones that had come out of the light columns). I went to a surplus store and found a bunch of old fuses, cheap. I cut out the mica covering over the fuse and filled it up with flash powder. When the assembly was plugged in, the lights came on, shining up to the ceiling and the fuse instantly shorted with the heat generated setting off the flash powder and sending smoke up into the air. It was a pretty good effect. Over time I changed it a bit to use big clear flash bulbs, also a surplus store item, as the means of setting off the powder. I made a cup on the top of the bulb with masking tape, coated the top with spray adhesive and poured the flash powder into the created cup. This way there was a flash to go along with the smoke and lights. The flash bulbs didn’t need 120 volts so I built a battery box with a relay in it. Now I had a special effect that was going to be impressive.
The other theatrical item that shows in that photo was something called a scrim. I learned from working in the theater that a scrim could be used to great advantage to assist in creating effects. It is unique in that when lit from the front is looks opaque but when lit from the back it becomes translucent. It is lightweight, easy to move and set up and doesn’t look wrinkled. I had it made to the size that I wanted by a theatrical supply house and also had black side curtains made to hide the support stands. I used three sections of amateur radio tower to suspend it, which were also lightweight and came apart easily during tear down. It was strong enough that I could also hang lights from the tower sections. It was the perfect background for showing off the overhead projector liquid light show effects that I had created and I also was able to light it from below with a theater strip light which would give an even color throughout and the colors could also be mixed for a great effect. The black lights also could be used to make it glow when the stage was dark. To read up on all the special effects that I used in the show, click here.
I had a couple of bands call about doing lights for them and in those meetings I learned two things. Most bands were looking for a roadie, especially one that owned a van, and they were hoping to find someone who would be happy just being able to hang with the musicians and not want to get paid (like I was early on). I also discovered that it wasn’t nearly as much fun if you weren’t into the style of music that they played. No concrete deals came forth and I continued in the waiting game.
In January of 1974 I did do one memorable gig. A guy that I was working with, and who became a great friend, was named Joe Schneider. He was the drummer in a band called Magic Bus. They were doing a Sno-Daze dance at a Catholic high school and he asked if I would be willing to do lights for them. Of course I did and it was a very memorable night. The gym was full of their fans and they really got into the music, and the lights. I even got spontaneous applause when I switched to the liquid light show portion of the show. It felt great to help make their show more exciting for the crowd and gave me new hope that I would again be doing shows for bands in the (hopefully near) future.
If I was really serious about making a go of a light show as a business, I should establish it as a business and then try and convince a band, or multiple bands, or a venue to hire me to do lights for them. And so it began. I found out how to register as a business and discovered that the first thing I needed to do was to come up with a name. A lot of people have surmised over the years that I must have chosen Fantasia Light Shows because of the movie Fantasia. But this was not the case. I had actually become quite interested in all the news at that time about the mafia. I bought a book on the life of Al Capone, and other books about organized crime, The Godfather was just coming out and I even bought an Italian to English dictionary to understand the phrases that were used better. One of the meanings of Fantasia (fan-ta-ZEE-ah) in Italian is imagination. Perfect for what I was attempting to do. I registered the name with the state of Minnesota and had some business cards made up to start the promotion of the brand. It was also at this time that my roommate, who was an artist, volunteered to make a logo for me. To read more about the evolution of the logo, click here.
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I also wanted T-shirts made, but back in those
days you couldn’t make up T-shirts with artwork on them, at least not at a reasonable price. But I saw a new Traffic album that had just come out
that showed Steve Winwood wearing a T-shirt that looked like Fantasia. It was actually Fantasy, the name of their record label, but that was the idea that I needed and had some gray T-shirts with black lettering made up with Fantasia on them. |
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There was also a local magazine called
Connie's Insider that came out every month with news about local bands and what bands were going to play at the different venues in town. Once a year they did a directory and the listing was free. I signed up and now the business was out there for people to see. |
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There was also a national publication
(international really) called the Official Talent & Booking Directory that did an annual compilation of services to the entertainment industry. It
listed who to contact to book acts, everything from Frank Sinatra to Kiss. There were also sections for every kind of service that you could
imagine for concert support, including lighting. Again the listing was free (and of course you would want to buy a copy of the book with your company name
embossed in gold on the cover) and so later in the years that we operated I did that as well. |
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The other thing that happened that propelled me forward in the development of a better light show was discovering a theater group on the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota. It was called Punchinello Players. For more information on Punchinello click here. A girl that I was dating as the time was involved and I quickly decided that I wanted to volunteer to help with lighting (as well as sound and props). Rollie Hofmeister was in charge of doing the lighting for the plays and he taught me so much I couldn’t hardly believe it. We worked with ellipsoidal lights, Fresnel lights, moveable spot lights and something called gels. This amazing piece of colored plastic fit into a metal frame and then slipped into the front of the lights to let you create any type of color wash that you could imagine. They came in hundreds of different colors and the theater group had a big drawer full of them. Some were so used that they were faded in the middle from the heat but they also had big sheets of new ones. My go to colors were bastard amber and surprise pink. They had an assortment of about 20 different lights as well as a grid of spotlights that could also help to create the mood necessary for the play that was being produced. And a big old upright dimmer panel located in a loft above the stage area. I quickly could see how more professional lights and the gels could fit in well with the light show.
I also found out that there were local companies that sold these types of lights and supplies. One was called Teener’s Theatrical Supply in downtown Minneapolis and another was a place called Norcostco, short for Northwestern Costume Company. To see a photo of the inside of Teener’s click here. Norcostco is still in business, check it out by clicking here.
One day when I was hanging around Teener’s, looking at all the great items that they had for sale, I spied something called Flash Powder. The clerk explained to me that magicians used it to create small flashes of light as easily as touching it with a lit cigarette. That conversation started me down a road of figuring out how to get explosions into the light show as a special effect.
I started by making two boards, each having three porcelain light fixtures mounted on them. In the two outside fixtures I put yellow floodlights (ones that had come out of the light columns). I went to a surplus store and found a bunch of old fuses, cheap. I cut out the mica covering over the fuse and filled it up with flash powder. When the assembly was plugged in, the lights came on, shining up to the ceiling and the fuse instantly shorted with the heat generated setting off the flash powder and sending smoke up into the air. It was a pretty good effect. Over time I changed it a bit to use big clear flash bulbs, also a surplus store item, as the means of setting off the powder. I made a cup on the top of the bulb with masking tape, coated the top with spray adhesive and poured the flash powder into the created cup. This way there was a flash to go along with the smoke and lights. The flash bulbs didn’t need 120 volts so I built a battery box with a relay in it. Now I had a special effect that was going to be impressive.
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In later years,
Charlie Adams from the band
Chameleon showed me an improved product called Newco flash powder. This was the
stuff that the big music acts and professional theater companies used. So I switched to that and retired the original boards, moving to a commercial metal
box made to contain the flash powder. Back to 120 volts, these boxes used a single strand of wire from an 18 gauge cable fastened between two posts with
wing nuts. Plug it in and Boom! |
Here is a perfectly timed photograph of the band Visage just as an explosion occurred.
The other theatrical item that shows in that photo was something called a scrim. I learned from working in the theater that a scrim could be used to great advantage to assist in creating effects. It is unique in that when lit from the front is looks opaque but when lit from the back it becomes translucent. It is lightweight, easy to move and set up and doesn’t look wrinkled. I had it made to the size that I wanted by a theatrical supply house and also had black side curtains made to hide the support stands. I used three sections of amateur radio tower to suspend it, which were also lightweight and came apart easily during tear down. It was strong enough that I could also hang lights from the tower sections. It was the perfect background for showing off the overhead projector liquid light show effects that I had created and I also was able to light it from below with a theater strip light which would give an even color throughout and the colors could also be mixed for a great effect. The black lights also could be used to make it glow when the stage was dark. To read up on all the special effects that I used in the show, click here.
I had a couple of bands call about doing lights for them and in those meetings I learned two things. Most bands were looking for a roadie, especially one that owned a van, and they were hoping to find someone who would be happy just being able to hang with the musicians and not want to get paid (like I was early on). I also discovered that it wasn’t nearly as much fun if you weren’t into the style of music that they played. No concrete deals came forth and I continued in the waiting game.
In January of 1974 I did do one memorable gig. A guy that I was working with, and who became a great friend, was named Joe Schneider. He was the drummer in a band called Magic Bus. They were doing a Sno-Daze dance at a Catholic high school and he asked if I would be willing to do lights for them. Of course I did and it was a very memorable night. The gym was full of their fans and they really got into the music, and the lights. I even got spontaneous applause when I switched to the liquid light show portion of the show. It felt great to help make their show more exciting for the crowd and gave me new hope that I would again be doing shows for bands in the (hopefully near) future.
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And then the call came. To read
more click the light. |
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