THE RIDE
Here is a photo of my 1966 Dodge van that I fixed up to be the “ride” for Fantasia Light Shows.
When I started doing lights for bands I was reminded on more than one occasion that I was not a very important member of the band, certainly didn’t need to get paid, and was even called “dead weight” by one lead singer (who will remain nameless). So, how to make myself more valuable? We didn’t have that much equipment in those days, load in and load out didn’t require roadies.
Then I remembered that in one band the bass player couldn’t sing very well (he also shall remain nameless) but he got a vocal mic. Why? Because he owned the PA that’s why! So I decided that if I had a van and could be the transportation for the band’s equipment, as well as my own, my value to the band, or some other band, could be increased. I was working at Dayton’s Department Store at the time and a friend of mine, Dale Falk, let me know that he was selling his van. Perfect! It wasn’t a lot of money and it had been fixed up pretty well. A new paint job and his dad even had new steel bumpers made at the iron works where he was employed. I hired (the now famous) artist Dan Volenec to paint the logo on the sides and even did a shout out to the little town where I grew up, Moeville, Wisc.
Now we were going somewhere!
When I started doing lights for bands I was reminded on more than one occasion that I was not a very important member of the band, certainly didn’t need to get paid, and was even called “dead weight” by one lead singer (who will remain nameless). So, how to make myself more valuable? We didn’t have that much equipment in those days, load in and load out didn’t require roadies.
Then I remembered that in one band the bass player couldn’t sing very well (he also shall remain nameless) but he got a vocal mic. Why? Because he owned the PA that’s why! So I decided that if I had a van and could be the transportation for the band’s equipment, as well as my own, my value to the band, or some other band, could be increased. I was working at Dayton’s Department Store at the time and a friend of mine, Dale Falk, let me know that he was selling his van. Perfect! It wasn’t a lot of money and it had been fixed up pretty well. A new paint job and his dad even had new steel bumpers made at the iron works where he was employed. I hired (the now famous) artist Dan Volenec to paint the logo on the sides and even did a shout out to the little town where I grew up, Moeville, Wisc.
Now we were going somewhere!