Summer of 1978

In the summer of 1978 after graduating from SUNY Buffalo I soon started my first real job, and it was even in my field.
I was working at Lycian Stage Lighting as a general shop worker and would learn several new skills by summer’s end.
I had met the owner, Richard Logothetis, the previous summer when his shop was still on Long Island but has since moved to a new and bigger shop in upstate Sugar Loaf, NY

http://www.lycian.com/

I worked mainly on two different things that summer, PAR Can lighting instruments and Indexing Color Wheels.
There was a lot of basic sheet metal work in making both units; layout, cutting, bending and welding.
I used a spot welder to make the PAR Cans and it took about 45 welds to finish one unit.
It is wise to use gloves when you are welding or working with sheet metal but I found it easier not to wear them most of the time.
I quickly learned where the hot spots where as I moved the units around in the welder.

Ouch!

The PAR Cans were a basic part of most rock shows at that time; a simple metal shell that held the PAR64 lamps that looked like old car headlights.

A PAR Can, but not a Lycian

 

I always thought that the ones we made were better and stronger than others I had seen and whenever I come across them today I look to see if they are ones that I made.

The other big project was making the new Indexing Color Wheels which allowed a designer to have five different colors in one light.
Compared with today’s equipment these seem like nothing special, but back in 1978 they were cutting edge.
They looked like regular Color Wheels that would simply spin in circles, but what made these different is that they could be set to stop at any of the colors the designer wanted.
One order was sent out with Blackstone the Magician and other was used by Tharon Musser on Broadway in the Musical Ballroom.

Some of the parts came in already punched out from another shop but the outside edge of the bigger size frames had to be cut manually with a Foot Shear.
It would take about 100 cuts to make the square frame round and I would go into some Zen moment as I turned the frame a little after each cut.

Crunch, crunch, crunch . . .

There was also some wiring to do on the control boxes and everything had to get painted.
I visited Richard’s new shop several years ago and there is a special paint area that had with a negative air suit and the powered paint sprayed on to the electrically charged units which are then put in an oven to bake the paint on.
Back in 1978 I had a little spray booth with a small turntable that was out the back door of the shop and lots of cans of spray paint.
Today Lycian makes only follow spots which are very popular and widely used, but at the time I worked for him he was just starting to design his first units.

I learned a great deal that summer and enjoyed my time working there.
There was even time for a few fun adventures both in and outside the shop.

Finally Graduation from SUNY Buffalo

Since my last blog entry our current production of “The Story” had a four show run at Geva Theatre Center in Rochester and now we have brought it back to Brockport for a two week run.
Trucking the set to and from Geva was lots “Fun” and went better than I had hoped, or is that feared.

"The Story" 2010

Back to 1978 . . .
The last month or so for me in college at Buffalo was a wild, crazy and a lot of fun.
I only had one real class, Art History II on Tuesdays and Thursdays, plus an independent study in Theatre so I had plenty of time to work on my last production for the Theatre Department, the outside theatre design job, and one last big music concert.
For the production of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” I was designed both the scenery and lighting and was able to bring in one of my friends to help.
Barry helped me put up the temporary lighting trees and wire in the portable dimmers into the church hall we were using.
There was also a shop teacher who also helped me build the set, but I was very surprised when we went to his shop to do some work.
It turned out that he was an elementary school shop teacher, something I never heard of before.
The shop was cute, with small work benches; I thought this must be what Santa’s work shop looked like, but there were no elves to be found.

When the building of a set gets behind I often look but never find any of the magic shop elves who build stage sets.
Often I think many of my students really believe that shop elves build the sets and seem so surprised when they are required to do the work.
Ahh, they might get their wittle hands dirty.
We have soap.

There were still many parties go to and one host.
I used part of my pay from the outside design gig to have a big graduation party.
The party must have been good but for some reason I do not remember it.
I started to sample the drinks a little too early and a little too much and missed most of the party, but from what I found left behind on a table the next day it must of been a good time for all.
There was a baggie with over a half once of really good . . . . . What? No, my housemates and I found nothing, nothing at all.

There were so many things were happening all at once, it seemed that there was too much to do with the end of College and getting ready for Grad School.
Of course it was during this big whirl of events that I picked this time to develop a crush on someone and then found out later that someone else had a crush on me, but I was too busy flirting, too blind or just too stupid to see it.
Well this blog is about my life in Theatre and not my wild love life.
For those stories you will have to read elsewhere:

Dear Penthouse,
After working all day in the Theatre, listening to a friend’s band play all night, I hosted an       afterhour’s party for the musicians and a few friends. 
What happened later you would not believe . . .

Hey!, Back to Theatre.
As school came to an end I was surprised to find out that some of my friends who were the biggest partiers not only graduated but got into Grad school, some even went to Law School.
One of the last things I did in Buffalo before I left was help a friend move a safe out of his house on the day of graduation.
What a wild way to end four years at UB.

Summer was straight ahead along with some new adventures; working for a stage lighting manufacturing company, going out to Michigan to find a place to live for the fall and a stopover back in Buffalo.
Stories to follow.