Liquid light shows
Encyclopedia
Liquid light shows or psychedelic light shows surfaced in the mid 1960s and early 1970s in America and Europe.
Leading names were Glen McKay’s Headlights (Jefferson Airplane's usual light show) The Joshua Light Show
/Joe's Lights/Sensefex located in NY), Tony Martin (first Fillmore West lightshow, Electric Circus, NYC design and perform-1967-70;visual compositions with new music-San Francisco Tape Music Center;2010:lightshow at The Boiler,NYC.. Elias Romero (SF), Mike Leonard (lights for Pink Floyd) (UK), Mark Boyle
's Lights/Joan Hill (UK), Lymbic System (Mark Hanau) (UK), The Pig Light Show (NY), Lights by Pablo (NY), The Brotherhood of Light (SF), Little Princess 109 (SF), LSD, Abercrombe Lights (SF), and the Single Wing Turquoise Bird light show. (California)
s and a couple of color wheels or as complex as shows with ten or more operators, 70 plus projectors (including liquid slide, liquid overhead, movie and still image models plus a vast array of highly advanced (for the time) special effects equipment).
The style and content of each show was unique but the object of most was to create a tapestry of multimedia live event visual amplification
elements that were seamlessly interwoven, in a constant state of flux and above all, reflected the music the show was attempting to depict in emotional visual terms.
While the shows on both side of the Atlantic had much in common they differed in two important ways. First, the American shows tended to be larger, with seven operators and over thirty projectors not being exceptional. In contrast, the shows in England seldom had more than three operators and ten or so projectors. Second, American shows were generally built around the overhead projector with the liquids in large clock cover glasses. Shows in England and Europe, in contrast, used modified 2" sq. slide projectors which had their Woods glass heat filters (one or both) removed and employed two layers of slide cover glasses with two liquids (oil and water based, in the early days) between each layer. The surface tension of the liquids largely retained the mixtures, but the process was nevertheless very messy indeed and operators had their hands almost permanently stained by the dyes. A popular choice of coloured liquids for lightshows was Flo-Master
ink, a product developed for use in permanent marker pens. It gave vivid colours but it was extremely difficult to remove from fingers and from clothing!
Two groups that are associated with the light shows they worked with above all others are Jefferson Airplane
and the Headlights light show in America and Pink Floyd
with light artist Mike Leonard in England.
. Headlights was one of the largest and most complex light shows and is remembered for the countless shows it performed with Jefferson Airplane
. McKay was born in Kansas City in 1936 to a minister's household, attended Kansas City Junior College and the Kansas City Art Institute, and then went to live and paint San Miguel de Allende, Mexico in the early 1960s. He is quoted as saying "I’m providing a new door to the consciousness of sound and color to be so in touch with the emotion and the rhythm of the experience losing any sense of separation between the color, moving images and the sound". Glenn McKay creates luminous projected images, a.k.a. light shows, and has been doing this for four decades, starting with Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, then at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and in 1999 with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He is also a successful painter and photographer.
Mike Leonard (UK) was the renowned designer of the light shows and lighting effects for Pink Floyd
.
The Joshua Light Show
(also known as Joe's Lights and Sensefex) located in New York was founded by a film maker called Joshua White
.
The show was the ‘house lightshow’ at Bill Graham (promoter)
's Fillmore East
for almost its entire existence. Formed from a lighting company called Sensefex which had been started by Joshua White, Thomas Shoesmith and Bill Shwarzbach, they moved to the Fillmore and became the Joshua Lightshow. Cecily Hoyt had now joined the team. Later they changed their name to Joes Lights having parted company with Joshua White. A video of Joshua White at work showing how some of the effects were achieved can be found here.
Brotherhood Of Light (SF) was formed in 1968 as a collective group of lighting and multimedia specialists. Brian Eppes, Brother Ed Langdon, Marcus Maximist and Bob Pullum gathered for the purpose of visually enhancing and augmenting the psychedelic music of the day. Unlike standard stage lighting, which was generally static and non-interactive, Brotherhood Of Light utilized liquid dyes, overhead projectors, color wheels, slide projection and 16mm film to produce not just a light show, but a live multi-sensory musical experience. The show performed at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom
and Fillmore West
with such classic acts as The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Doors
, Led Zeppelin
, Traffic
, Ike and Tina Turner, B.B. King, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Janis Joplin
, Creedence Clearwater Revival
, The Who
, Santana
, the Grateful Dead
and the Allman Brothers Band. On a typical night in 1970 you could see, The Byrds
, Fleetwood Mac
and John Hammond
with Brotherhood Of Light providing visuals for all three bands or on a night later that year, Joe Cocker
, Leon Russell
and Van Morrison
. They also performed at the Grateful Dead
New Year's Eve shows at Winterland.
Mark Boyle (light show). United Kingdom. Personnel:Mark Boyle, Joan Hills, Des Bonner, Cameron Hills. Born in Glasgow in 1934, Mark was already producing art in many forms such as paintings, installations and sculptures and had many exhibitions in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London prior to getting involved with light shows. In 1966, Mark Boyle's, the Son et Lumeniere for Earth, Air, Fire and Water ran at the Cochrane Theatre, London, closely followed by the Son et Lumeniere for Insects, Reptiles and Water Creatures and the Son et Lumeniere for Bodily Fluids and Functions. These events were ground breaking in respect of projected lighting and consisted of chemical and physical reactions projected onto a screen whilst being surrounded by various taped sounds.
Elements of this lightshow evolved and performances were made at the legendary UFO Club
in London’s Tottenham Court Road. Later that year he formed the Sensual Laboratory with Joan Hills, who would later become his wife. In 1967 the first of many collaborations started with The Soft Machine
, with shows at the Edinburgh Festival
and also in Holland and France. Also in 1967 Liquid Light Environments ran at the UFO throughout the year. During 1967 Mark invented and patented a machine with a light sensitive screen that could do three colour separation on anything that was projected onto it and turn it into sounds, i.e. one colour would create one type of sound and another colour would create a totally different sound. Concerts with The Soft Machine followed in Holland and again in France as well as work on the Structure of Dreams at the Arts Lab, London.
In 1968, the Sensual Laboratory toured in the USA and Canada with Soft Machine
and Jimi Hendrix
as well as staging a controversial production at London’s Roundhouse ‘Bodily Fluids and Functions. This consisted of a couple copulating on stage whilst being wired up to ECG and EEG which were projected from closed circuit TV onto a huge screen. With heartbeats and brainwaves on display, every second of the experience was shared by the audience. Also in 1968 was the Liquid Light Environment produced for the opening of the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts
) in London.
The Pig Light Show (Saint Elmo’s Fire) started by Marc L. Rubinstein in 1965 as Saint Elmo’s Fire. The name was changed after (in his own words) "a strange episode having to do with a Mothers of Invention concert at the Garrick Theatre in the Village", which resulted in Marc being given the local nickname "Pig", and the light show was known as Pig’s Light Show.
The first Pig Light Show was at the Fillmore East
under the direction of Marc L. Rubinstein” with Larry Wieder on reflectives, Patrick Waters on liquids, Mark Miller at the controls and in charge of slides. Later they were joined (for a while) by, Joe Lipton and Marvin Chanes, who had had a show called London Lights.
The Single Wing Turquoise Bird lightshow troupe worked in Los Angeles and Venice, California.
Famous for their wide screen lightshows at the Shrine Exposition Hall in Los Angeles in 1967 and 1968, and later for their series of evocative multimedia performances at various venues, most notably in the Cumberland Mountain Film Company studio in the loft above the Fox Venice Theatre, 1970 - 1975.
They did lightshows for The Chambers Brothers
, Velvet Underground, Grateful Dead
, Big Brother and The Holding Company
, Pacific Gas & Electric, Steve Miller Band
, Taj Mahal
, Dr. John
, Sons of Champlin
, BB King, The Yardbirds
, Pinnacle
, Traffic
, and Quicksilver Messenger Service
.
Elias Romero light shows featured Elias Romero and Ray Andersen (who was also the manager of The Matrix at the time). Although he never went on to work the ballrooms, Romero was a long-time "light artist" with his own distinct approach utilising a unique, all-liquid show. Famous shows include the 9 March 1966 Big Brother and the Holding Company
show at the Firehouse, 3763 Sacramento Street, San Francisco.
Lights by Pablo are best remembered for the Liberation News Service
Benefit at the Hotel Diplomat in NYC in May 1969. The concert featured the MC5
(Motor City Five).
Little Princess 109 became the house light show for Bill Graham Presents in 1968. Little Princess 109 worked at Fillmore West and Winterland continuously from December 1968 until Fillmore West closed in July 1971. According to the records of the Bill Graham Presents archives, they worked for Graham longer than any other light show, and performed more nights of light than any show for the entire Fillmore/Fillmore West/Winterland period.
Light Sound Dimension (LSD) was possibly the first psychedelic lightshow and was operated by the legendary Bill Ham.
Bill pioneered kinetic lighting and actually used this technique at the Red Dog Saloon back in 1965. It was also at the Red Dog Saloon where Chet Helms first met Bill and asked him to produce lightshows at the Avalon Ballroom.
Abercrombe Lights were formed in 1966 and did many shows at Bill Graham’s Fillmore Auditorium. The man behind it all is George Holden, who is still very much a key player on the Bay Area lighting scene. Abercrombe Lights lit most of the SF bands over the years including the Grateful Dead
, Country Joe and The Fish
and Jefferson Starship
.
Leading names were Glen McKay’s Headlights (Jefferson Airplane's usual light show) The Joshua Light Show
The Joshua Light Show
The Joshua Light Show, created by Joshua White, was one of the trailblazing liquid light shows renowned for its psychedelic art lighting a backdrop behind many live band performances at the Fillmore East in the East Village area of New York City, USA, during the late sixties and early seventies.-...
/Joe's Lights/Sensefex located in NY), Tony Martin (first Fillmore West lightshow, Electric Circus, NYC design and perform-1967-70;visual compositions with new music-San Francisco Tape Music Center;2010:lightshow at The Boiler,NYC.. Elias Romero (SF), Mike Leonard (lights for Pink Floyd) (UK), Mark Boyle
Mark Boyle
Mark Boyle was an artist born in Glasgow and known for his work in the cultural UK Underground of the 1950s around the Traverse Theatre, and exhibiting since 1985 with Joan Hills and their children Sebastian and Georgia as Boyle Family.The World Series pieces involve the meticulous re-creation of...
's Lights/Joan Hill (UK), Lymbic System (Mark Hanau) (UK), The Pig Light Show (NY), Lights by Pablo (NY), The Brotherhood of Light (SF), Little Princess 109 (SF), LSD, Abercrombe Lights (SF), and the Single Wing Turquoise Bird light show. (California)
Brief history
Liquid light shows surfaced on both sides of the Atlantic around 1966 and were an integral part of the Progressive music scene well into the seventies. Shows could be as simple as a single operator and two or three modified slide or overhead projectorOverhead projector
An overhead projector is a variant of slide projector that is used to display images to an audience.-Mechanism:An overhead projector typically consists of a large box containing a very bright lamp and a fan to cool it. On top of the box is a large fresnel lens that collimates the light...
s and a couple of color wheels or as complex as shows with ten or more operators, 70 plus projectors (including liquid slide, liquid overhead, movie and still image models plus a vast array of highly advanced (for the time) special effects equipment).
The style and content of each show was unique but the object of most was to create a tapestry of multimedia live event visual amplification
Live event visual amplification
Live performance events including theater, music, dance, opera, use production equipment and services like: staging, scenery, mechanicals, sound, lighting, video, special effects, transport, packaging, communications, costume and makeup to convince live audience members that there is no better...
elements that were seamlessly interwoven, in a constant state of flux and above all, reflected the music the show was attempting to depict in emotional visual terms.
While the shows on both side of the Atlantic had much in common they differed in two important ways. First, the American shows tended to be larger, with seven operators and over thirty projectors not being exceptional. In contrast, the shows in England seldom had more than three operators and ten or so projectors. Second, American shows were generally built around the overhead projector with the liquids in large clock cover glasses. Shows in England and Europe, in contrast, used modified 2" sq. slide projectors which had their Woods glass heat filters (one or both) removed and employed two layers of slide cover glasses with two liquids (oil and water based, in the early days) between each layer. The surface tension of the liquids largely retained the mixtures, but the process was nevertheless very messy indeed and operators had their hands almost permanently stained by the dyes. A popular choice of coloured liquids for lightshows was Flo-Master
Flo-Master
Flo-Master was a popular brand of inks and markers in the latter half of the 20th century, remembered particularly for the colorful opacity of the inks...
ink, a product developed for use in permanent marker pens. It gave vivid colours but it was extremely difficult to remove from fingers and from clothing!
Two groups that are associated with the light shows they worked with above all others are Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
and the Headlights light show in America and Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
with light artist Mike Leonard in England.
Leading shows
Glenn McKay's Headlights staged "An Evening with Glenn McKay's Headlights" at the Whitney Museum in New York in 1968, after a curator saw his show at the Fillmore EastFillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...
. Headlights was one of the largest and most complex light shows and is remembered for the countless shows it performed with Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....
. McKay was born in Kansas City in 1936 to a minister's household, attended Kansas City Junior College and the Kansas City Art Institute, and then went to live and paint San Miguel de Allende, Mexico in the early 1960s. He is quoted as saying "I’m providing a new door to the consciousness of sound and color to be so in touch with the emotion and the rhythm of the experience losing any sense of separation between the color, moving images and the sound". Glenn McKay creates luminous projected images, a.k.a. light shows, and has been doing this for four decades, starting with Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, then at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and in 1999 with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He is also a successful painter and photographer.
Mike Leonard (UK) was the renowned designer of the light shows and lighting effects for Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
.
The Joshua Light Show
The Joshua Light Show
The Joshua Light Show, created by Joshua White, was one of the trailblazing liquid light shows renowned for its psychedelic art lighting a backdrop behind many live band performances at the Fillmore East in the East Village area of New York City, USA, during the late sixties and early seventies.-...
(also known as Joe's Lights and Sensefex) located in New York was founded by a film maker called Joshua White
Joshua White
Joshua White may refer to:* Josh White , American musician and civil rights activist* Joshua White, visual musician of The Joshua Light Show* Josh White , journalist for the Washington Post, and elsewhere...
.
The show was the ‘house lightshow’ at Bill Graham (promoter)
Bill Graham (promoter)
Bill Graham was an American impresario and rock concert promoter from the 1960s until his death.-Early life:...
's Fillmore East
Fillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...
for almost its entire existence. Formed from a lighting company called Sensefex which had been started by Joshua White, Thomas Shoesmith and Bill Shwarzbach, they moved to the Fillmore and became the Joshua Lightshow. Cecily Hoyt had now joined the team. Later they changed their name to Joes Lights having parted company with Joshua White. A video of Joshua White at work showing how some of the effects were achieved can be found here.
Brotherhood Of Light (SF) was formed in 1968 as a collective group of lighting and multimedia specialists. Brian Eppes, Brother Ed Langdon, Marcus Maximist and Bob Pullum gathered for the purpose of visually enhancing and augmenting the psychedelic music of the day. Unlike standard stage lighting, which was generally static and non-interactive, Brotherhood Of Light utilized liquid dyes, overhead projectors, color wheels, slide projection and 16mm film to produce not just a light show, but a live multi-sensory musical experience. The show performed at San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom
Winterland Ballroom
The Winterland Ballroom, often referred to as Winterland Arena or simply Winterland, was an old ice skating rink and 5,400-seat music venue in San Francisco, California...
and Fillmore West
Fillmore West
The Fillmore West was an historic music venue in San Francisco, California made famous by concert promoter Bill Graham. Named after Graham's original "Fillmore" location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard, it stood at Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue and was formerly...
with such classic acts as The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
, Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, Traffic
Traffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
, Ike and Tina Turner, B.B. King, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
, Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....
, The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, Santana
Santana (band)
Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
, the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
and the Allman Brothers Band. On a typical night in 1970 you could see, The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
, Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
and John Hammond
John P. Hammond
John Paul Hammond is an American blues singer and guitarist. The son of record producer John H. Hammond, he is sometimes referred to as "John Hammond, Jr.".-Background:...
with Brotherhood Of Light providing visuals for all three bands or on a night later that year, Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
, Leon Russell
Leon Russell
Claude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....
and Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
. They also performed at the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
New Year's Eve shows at Winterland.
Mark Boyle (light show). United Kingdom. Personnel:Mark Boyle, Joan Hills, Des Bonner, Cameron Hills. Born in Glasgow in 1934, Mark was already producing art in many forms such as paintings, installations and sculptures and had many exhibitions in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London prior to getting involved with light shows. In 1966, Mark Boyle's, the Son et Lumeniere for Earth, Air, Fire and Water ran at the Cochrane Theatre, London, closely followed by the Son et Lumeniere for Insects, Reptiles and Water Creatures and the Son et Lumeniere for Bodily Fluids and Functions. These events were ground breaking in respect of projected lighting and consisted of chemical and physical reactions projected onto a screen whilst being surrounded by various taped sounds.
Elements of this lightshow evolved and performances were made at the legendary UFO Club
UFO Club
The UFO Club was a famous but shortlived UK underground club in London during the 1960s, venue of performances by many of the top bands of the day.-History:...
in London’s Tottenham Court Road. Later that year he formed the Sensual Laboratory with Joan Hills, who would later become his wife. In 1967 the first of many collaborations started with The Soft Machine
The Soft Machine
The Soft Machine is a novel by William S. Burroughs, first published in 1961, two years after his groundbreaking Naked Lunch. It was originally composed using the cut-up and fold-in techniques from manuscripts belonging to The Word Hoard...
, with shows at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
and also in Holland and France. Also in 1967 Liquid Light Environments ran at the UFO throughout the year. During 1967 Mark invented and patented a machine with a light sensitive screen that could do three colour separation on anything that was projected onto it and turn it into sounds, i.e. one colour would create one type of sound and another colour would create a totally different sound. Concerts with The Soft Machine followed in Holland and again in France as well as work on the Structure of Dreams at the Arts Lab, London.
In 1968, the Sensual Laboratory toured in the USA and Canada with Soft Machine
Soft Machine
Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...
and Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
as well as staging a controversial production at London’s Roundhouse ‘Bodily Fluids and Functions. This consisted of a couple copulating on stage whilst being wired up to ECG and EEG which were projected from closed circuit TV onto a huge screen. With heartbeats and brainwaves on display, every second of the experience was shared by the audience. Also in 1968 was the Liquid Light Environment produced for the opening of the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
) in London.
The Pig Light Show (Saint Elmo’s Fire) started by Marc L. Rubinstein in 1965 as Saint Elmo’s Fire. The name was changed after (in his own words) "a strange episode having to do with a Mothers of Invention concert at the Garrick Theatre in the Village", which resulted in Marc being given the local nickname "Pig", and the light show was known as Pig’s Light Show.
The first Pig Light Show was at the Fillmore East
Fillmore East
The Fillmore East was rock promoter Bill Graham's rock venue on Second Avenue near East 6th Street in the East Village neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York City. It was open from 1968 to 1971, and featured some of the biggest acts in rock music at the time...
under the direction of Marc L. Rubinstein” with Larry Wieder on reflectives, Patrick Waters on liquids, Mark Miller at the controls and in charge of slides. Later they were joined (for a while) by, Joe Lipton and Marvin Chanes, who had had a show called London Lights.
The Single Wing Turquoise Bird lightshow troupe worked in Los Angeles and Venice, California.
Famous for their wide screen lightshows at the Shrine Exposition Hall in Los Angeles in 1967 and 1968, and later for their series of evocative multimedia performances at various venues, most notably in the Cumberland Mountain Film Company studio in the loft above the Fox Venice Theatre, 1970 - 1975.
They did lightshows for The Chambers Brothers
The Chambers Brothers
The Chambers Brothers is a soul-music group, best known for its 1968 hit record, the 11-minute long song "Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions with modern psychedelic and rock elements, spawning a heady mix...
, Velvet Underground, Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
, Big Brother and The Holding Company
Big Brother and the Holding Company
Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane. They are best known as the band that featured Janis Joplin as their...
, Pacific Gas & Electric, Steve Miller Band
Steve Miller Band
The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1967 in San Francisco, California. The band is managed by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals, and is known for a string of mid-1970s hit singles that are staples of the classic rock radio format.-History:In 1965, Steve Miller and...
, Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal (musician)
Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...
, Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
, Sons of Champlin
Sons of Champlin
The Sons of Champlin is an American rock band, formed in the late 1960s and hailing from the San Francisco-Bay area. They are fronted by vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist Bill Champlin, who was also a member of the rock band Chicago.-Early years:...
, BB King, The Yardbirds
The Yardbirds
- Current :* Chris Dreja - rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Jim McCarty - drums, backing vocals * Ben King - lead guitar * David Smale - bass, backing vocals...
, Pinnacle
Pinnacle
A pinnacle is an architectural ornament originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire...
, Traffic
Traffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
, and Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service
Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band, formed in 1965 in San Francisco.-Introduction:Quicksilver Messenger Service gained wide popularity in the Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe and several of their albums ranked...
.
Elias Romero light shows featured Elias Romero and Ray Andersen (who was also the manager of The Matrix at the time). Although he never went on to work the ballrooms, Romero was a long-time "light artist" with his own distinct approach utilising a unique, all-liquid show. Famous shows include the 9 March 1966 Big Brother and the Holding Company
Big Brother and the Holding Company
Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane. They are best known as the band that featured Janis Joplin as their...
show at the Firehouse, 3763 Sacramento Street, San Francisco.
Lights by Pablo are best remembered for the Liberation News Service
Liberation News Service
Liberation News Service was a New Left, Underground press news service which published news bulletins from 1967 to 1981.-History:The Liberation News Service was co-founded in the summer of 1967 by Ray Mungo and Marshall Bloom after the two of them were separated from the United States Student...
Benefit at the Hotel Diplomat in NYC in May 1969. The concert featured the MC5
MC5
The MC5 is an American rock band formed in Lincoln Park, Michigan and originally active from 1964 to 1972. The original band line-up consisted of vocalist Rob Tyner, guitarists Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith, bassist Michael Davis, and drummer Dennis Thompson...
(Motor City Five).
Little Princess 109 became the house light show for Bill Graham Presents in 1968. Little Princess 109 worked at Fillmore West and Winterland continuously from December 1968 until Fillmore West closed in July 1971. According to the records of the Bill Graham Presents archives, they worked for Graham longer than any other light show, and performed more nights of light than any show for the entire Fillmore/Fillmore West/Winterland period.
Light Sound Dimension (LSD) was possibly the first psychedelic lightshow and was operated by the legendary Bill Ham.
Bill pioneered kinetic lighting and actually used this technique at the Red Dog Saloon back in 1965. It was also at the Red Dog Saloon where Chet Helms first met Bill and asked him to produce lightshows at the Avalon Ballroom.
Abercrombe Lights were formed in 1966 and did many shows at Bill Graham’s Fillmore Auditorium. The man behind it all is George Holden, who is still very much a key player on the Bay Area lighting scene. Abercrombe Lights lit most of the SF bands over the years including the Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...
, Country Joe and The Fish
Country Joe and the Fish
Country Joe and the Fish was a rock band most widely known for musical protests against the Vietnam War, from 1966 to 1971, and also regarded as a seminal influence to psychedelic rock.-History:...
and Jefferson Starship
Jefferson Starship
Jefferson Starship is an American rock band formed in the early 1970s. The group is a spin-off from the iconic 1960s psychedelic/folk group Jefferson Airplane. The band has undergone several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the same Jefferson Starship name...
.