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Researchers in a California laboratory in 1960 operated the first functioning laser. About a decade later, as the laser evolved past its primitive state, it became advanced enough to use as a visual spectacle in rock concerts, most notably by psychedelic rockers Pink Floyd.

Now, a similar blending of technology and entertainment has found its way to the University of Maine.

Every so often for a few weeks at a time, the Maynard F. Jordan Planetarium on campus presents a series of laser shows set to classic music by artists like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, U2, Madonna and a variety of others.

“The idea of laser shows in planetariums is as old as lasers themselves, but the good systems are extremely expensive running towards $65K for a basic package,” wrote planetarium director Alan Davenport in an email.

“As soon as I discovered a package we could lease inexpensively for short runs, we added it to our annual programming about three years ago,” he added.

The planetarium uses SkyLase, a solid state laser projection system produced by Audio Visual Imagineering, a company based in Florida.

According to Davenport, there are about 10 different shows that feature either an entire classic album, a playlist of an iconic band’s greatest hits or a mix of pieces from several artists with a unifying theme.

“Added to [the music] are the laser patterns illustrating each song with both streaming, sailing, pulsing geometric patterns, and animated characters and objects from the tune,” Davenport wrote.

Although the lasers only project in red, green and blue, the shows are entertaining and the technology behind them is a bit more complex than your average science fair project.

“Laser projectors are driven by digital signals from the sound system,” Davenport wrote. “These signals were originally created by computer and play from the same player where the sound is recorded.”

The digital commands are inaudible and move the electronic motors, which adjust the mirrors that the light bounces off of and onto the surface of the dome.

The lasers’ lights overlap each other to produce several different colors of light.

“These scanners, not unlike the scanners you see at the store checkout, are so precise that lines drawn by the red laser can overlap the green laser lines and mix to create yellow,” Davenport wrote.

“Yes, red plus green makes yellow. These are lasers, not finger paints,” he added.

The lasers can be programmed to trace figures and patterns thousands of times every second. This happens so quickly, the human eye perceives these rapidly projected dots as unbroken lines.

“One cool thing to do is blink really fast to make the figures lose big chunks of their pattern,” Davenport wrote.

This weekend alone, there are several shows to take in.

On Friday at 8:15 p.m., Pink Floyd’s classic album “The Dark Side of the Moon” will take over the planetarium, accompanied by psychedelic laser visualizations.

On Saturday at 1 p.m., there will be a laser show featuring some of Metallica’s greatest hits, like “One,” “Enter Sandman” and “Master of Puppets.” At 7 p.m. later that day, “Laser Beatles” will thrill all fans of the “Fab Five.”

Also on Saturday is a presentation called “Laser Star Stories.” The show is an educational tour through the constellations in the night sky, where “lasers draw out their stories while a wise old owl narrates,” according to the planetarium’s website.

When the planetarium isn’t presenting laser rock shows, its regular programming consists of educational and entertaining looks at the night sky, the constellations and the myths behind them. The laser shows are fun, but the planetarium’s main mission is to educate.

“It would be great to have people come to both types of programming when they realize it is all here for them to enjoy,” Davenport wrote. “On the other hand, we [want] to use this unique venue in as many ways as possible to serve the needs of the campus academically and culturally.”

Aside from the laser shows, the planetarium is trying something new.

“Video Dark Side” is a presentation of “The Dark Side of the Moon” in a new way. Instead of lasers, this show uses video projected onto the planetarium’s domed ceiling that features computer-generated animation.

During certain songs, the video is like an iTunes visualizer on steroids, since it was designed specifically to match the audio in pace and mood. During the album’s second track, “On The Run,” the visuals move around in subdued chaos, much like the song. The patterns are so immersing that at times, it feels as though the room is spinning.

In other songs, the visuals are nostalgically cheesy, but appropriately so. For example, “Time” features ticking clocks and “Money” has bouncing coins and dancing cash registers syncing up with the noises in the beginning of the song.

Employees of the planetarium hope the SkyLase laser shows will draw visitors for both the music shows themselves and the educational programming they also offer on a more regular basis.

“Our primary mission is to promote science education and especially astronomy and space science knowledge,” Davenport wrote. “The planetarium can present excellent models and programming for other subjects than astronomy, and it should be able to enhance campus life on a recreational level too.”

A complete schedule of SkyLase laser shows, which run until Feb. 26, is available on the Maynard F. Jordan Planetarium’s website, galaxymaine.com. Most shows are priced at $4.

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Source: google news

Pink Floyd is, arguably, one of the most important rock bands of the last 50 years. Having formed in London in the mid-1960s, the band released a string of influential albums including “Dark Side of the Moon,” “The Wall” and “Wish You Were Here.” Unfortunately, many fans have never had the chance to see the band play live.

To help remedy this, the Pink Floyd Experience was formed as a way to recreate the Pink Floyd concert experience, complete with a full light and video show. The goal was to make the experience more intimate by making it work in theaters.

For the Pink Floyd Experience’s State Theatre performance, the band will play the classic Pink Floyd album “Wish You Were Here” in its entirety. The album, written by Roger Waters, deals with original Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett’s declining mental state; it also serves as a critique of the music business. “Wish You Were Here,” which was released in 1975, was recorded at the famed Abbey Road Studios.

Wednesday’s concert also will include classic songs such as “Comfortably Numb” and “Money.”

Source: yahoo news

“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower Apologies for the sound….

?-? Pink Floyd . Sebbene agli inizi siano stati influenzati prevalentemente dal rock psichedelico e dallo space rock, il genere che meglio rappresenta la maggior parte dell’opera dei Pink Floyd, caratterizzata da testi filosofici, esperimenti sonori, grafiche innovative e spettacolari concerti, è il rock progressivo. . Nel 2008 si è stimato che abbiano venduto circa 250 milioni di dischi in tutto il mondo, di cui 74,5 milioni nei soli Stati Uniti d’America. . I Pink Floyd hanno influenzato considerevolmente la musica successiva, dai gruppi progressive degli anni settanta, come Genesis e Yes, fino a musicisti contemporanei, come Nine Inch Nails, Dream Theater e Porcupine Tree. . Il gruppo, nato a Londra nel 1965, viene fondato dal cantante e chitarrista Roger Keith “Syd” Barrett, dal bassista George Roger Waters, dal batterista Nicholas Berkeley “Nick” Mason e dal tastierista Richard William “Rick” Wright. Nel 1968 si aggiunge al gruppo il chitarrista David Jon “Dave” Gilmour, che sostituisce Barrett, costretto da problemi psichiatrici esacerbati dall’uso di droghe pesanti ad abbandonare il gruppo. . La band, dopo essersi fatta notare grazie a lavori di stampo psichedelico, raggiunge la maturità con Atom Heart Mother e Meddle, e si afferma a livello mondiale con The Dark Side of the Moon ei successivi album, tra cui Wish You Were Here, Animals e The Wall, che consegnano i quattro alla storia del rock. La formazione non subisce sostanziali cambiamenti fino al 1985 ……

Tickets are $37-$57.

The Machine has forged a 20 year reputation of excellence, extending the legacy of Pink Floyd, while creating another legacy all their own. Over the years, The Machine has touched the hearts and souls of many, selling out theaters, large clubs and casinos across North and Central America, Europe and Asia. They have also appeared at renowned music festivals such as Bonnaroo, Riverbend, Gathering of the Vibes, Buffalo’s Artpark, and Germany’s Rock of Ages. The New York based band focuses on making every show an authentic Floydian experience for their fans. Known for performing a diverse mix of The Floyd’s extensive 16-album repertoire (complete with faithful renditions of popular hits as well as obscure gems), The Machine’s stellar musicianship, dramatic lighting and video, and their passionate delivery sets them above and beyond the rest.

In the classic tradition, The Machine explores collective improvisation paralleling and even rivaling that of an early 1970’s Pink Floyd mentality. Their use of expanded theatrical elements and elaborate stage displays continues in the spirit of the later Floyd lineups of the 1980’s. The band is also known for recreating entire albums as a part of their show, accepting requests from fans, and for taking an A to Z approach in which one song is played for every letter of the alphabet. Additionally, the quartet has been sharing the stage with full symphony orchestras, including the Atlanta, Detroit, Pittsburgh and San Diego Symphonies.

The members of The Machine include founding members Todd Cohen (drums) and Joe Pascarell (guitar, vocals), and long time stagemates Ryan Ball (bass, vocals) and Scott Chasolen (keys, vocals).

The Mayo Performing Arts Center is located at 100 South St., Morristown.

For ticket information, call 973-539-8008 or visit mayoarts.org.

Source: google news

Tickets are $37-$57.

The Machine has forged a 20 year reputation of excellence, extending the legacy of Pink Floyd, while creating another legacy all their own. Over the years, The Machine has touched the hearts and souls of many, selling out theaters, large clubs and casinos across North and Central America, Europe and Asia. They have also appeared at renowned music festivals such as Bonnaroo, Riverbend, Gathering of the Vibes, Buffalo’s Artpark, and Germany’s Rock of Ages. The New York based band focuses on making every show an authentic Floydian experience for their fans. Known for performing a diverse mix of The Floyd’s extensive 16-album repertoire (complete with faithful renditions of popular hits as well as obscure gems), The Machine’s stellar musicianship, dramatic lighting and video, and their passionate delivery sets them above and beyond the rest.

In the classic tradition, The Machine explores collective improvisation paralleling and even rivaling that of an early 1970’s Pink Floyd mentality. Their use of expanded theatrical elements and elaborate stage displays continues in the spirit of the later Floyd lineups of the 1980’s. The band is also known for recreating entire albums as a part of their show, accepting requests from fans, and for taking an A to Z approach in which one song is played for every letter of the alphabet. Additionally, the quartet has been sharing the stage with full symphony orchestras, including the Atlanta, Detroit, Pittsburgh and San Diego Symphonies.

The members of The Machine include founding members Todd Cohen (drums) and Joe Pascarell (guitar, vocals), and long time stagemates Ryan Ball (bass, vocals) and Scott Chasolen (keys, vocals).

The Mayo Performing Arts Center is located at 100 South St., Morristown.

For ticket information, call 973-539-8008 or visit mayoarts.org.

Source: yahoo news

Pink Floyd Considering More Reissues After The Wall

Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 02.08.2012

Drummer speaks on delving into its vault after The Wall reissues…

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason recently spoke about the possibility of doing more reissued albums on the heels of its upcoming expanded editions of The Wall that are set to drop on February 28th. Check out the highlights:

Nick Mason on possible further reissues: “The idea was always to see whether people like these things or not. If they do, of course we could do more. I think it’s an exercise that bears repeating… but I think there might be things to be done that would be rather different to what we’ve done so far.”

Mason on doing collections from eras, rather than individual album reissues: “We wouldn’t do one album like ‘Piper (at the Gates of Dawn)’ on its own. Maybe we’ll take ‘Saucer (Full of Secrets)’ and ‘Piper’ and maybe one other one and do an early years thing — partly because there just isn’t the material in some cases. That might be a more interesting exercise.”

Sound engineer Andy Jackson on recently-discovered material: “There’s quite a bit of very, very early stuff, before they had a deal, with Syd (Barrett) in the band when they were still trying to be an RB band. It’s not, like, early versions of songs that turned up on their albums or anything. It’s RB classics, the same as everybody else was playing back them. There’s a lot of recordings that may be brilliant for a future project.”

Mason on whether Animals will get an expanded reissue: “The answer is I don’t know. ‘Animals’ is the one record Roger (Waters) said he’d like to have a go at remixing. That might be an exercise worth doing. Maybe David (Gilmour) disagreed enough that we could release David’s remix and Roger’s remix and, ideally, my remix as well.” Jackson, meanwhile, notes that, “There’s only a finite amount of stuff in the archives. It’s a question of what there is and can we find it? That will determine what we do in the future.”

Mason on The Wall’s reissue: “What’s great is we have a greater depth of material for (‘The Wall’) than we had for the other albums. We have Roger’s demos followed by the band demos followed by the final thing, and that makes a big difference. You can really hear how (‘The Wall’) came together.”

Mason on the rumored conflict while making the album: “The sort of concept people have is that this was a record hewn out of rock by very angry people, and I think that’s not really the case. A lot of the album was pretty civilized in terms of people getting on with it. I think it all felt fairly positive. Things fragmented later on, quite late in the recording. There was a big blowup, particularly between Roger and Rick (Wright, who was kicked out of the band) towards the end of the process. But the majority of that process I remember as being pretty creative and businesslike, really.”

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Source: bing news

Tickets are $37-$57.

The Machine has forged a 20 year reputation of excellence, extending the legacy of Pink Floyd, while creating another legacy all their own. Over the years, The Machine has touched the hearts and souls of many, selling out theaters, large clubs and casinos across North and Central America, Europe and Asia. They have also appeared at renowned music festivals such as Bonnaroo, Riverbend, Gathering of the Vibes, Buffalo’s Artpark, and Germany’s Rock of Ages. The New York based band focuses on making every show an authentic Floydian experience for their fans. Known for performing a diverse mix of The Floyd’s extensive 16-album repertoire (complete with faithful renditions of popular hits as well as obscure gems), The Machine’s stellar musicianship, dramatic lighting and video, and their passionate delivery sets them above and beyond the rest.

In the classic tradition, The Machine explores collective improvisation paralleling and even rivaling that of an early 1970’s Pink Floyd mentality. Their use of expanded theatrical elements and elaborate stage displays continues in the spirit of the later Floyd lineups of the 1980’s. The band is also known for recreating entire albums as a part of their show, accepting requests from fans, and for taking an A to Z approach in which one song is played for every letter of the alphabet. Additionally, the quartet has been sharing the stage with full symphony orchestras, including the Atlanta, Detroit, Pittsburgh and San Diego Symphonies.

The members of The Machine include founding members Todd Cohen (drums) and Joe Pascarell (guitar, vocals), and long time stagemates Ryan Ball (bass, vocals) and Scott Chasolen (keys, vocals).

The Mayo Performing Arts Center is located at 100 South St., Morristown.

For ticket information, call 973-539-8008 or visit mayoarts.org.

Source: bing news

Posted February 8, 2012 by Floydian Slip

1. Fearless
   Meddle (1971)
2. Astonomy Domine
   Pulse (1995)
3. Night of 1,000 Furry Toys
   Broken China (Rick Wright) (1996)
4. Point Me at the Sky
   The Early Singles (1992)
5. As Long as I Have You (*Floydian Slip Up*)
   Boston Crabs (1965)
6. Clowns and Jugglers
   Opel (Syd Barrett) (1988)
7. Free Four
   Obscured by Clouds (1972)
8. Heartbeat, Pigmeat
   Zabriskie Point (Film soundtrack)  (1970)
9. Young Lust
   The Wall (1979)
10. There’s No Way Out of Here
    David Gilmour (David Gilmour) (1978)
11. A Great Day for Freedom
    The Division Bell (1994)

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Posted in Radio show, Songlists | No comments

Source: floydianslip

Posted February 8, 2012 by Floydian Slip

Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason and long-time recording engineer for the band Andy Jackson have told Billboard more reissues might be on the way following this month’s boxset of “The Wall.”

“The idea was always to see whether people like these things or not. If they do, of course we could do more,” Mason says.

“There’s quite a bit of very, very early stuff, before they had a deal, with Syd (Barrett) in the band when they were still trying to be an RB band,” says Jackson, who’s been a major player behind the boards of the entire “Why Pink Floyd?” remaster campaign.

“It’s not, like, early versions of songs that turned up on their albums or anything. It’s RB classics, the same as everybody else was playing back them,” he adds. “There’s a lot of recordings that may be brilliant for a future project.”

Read Billboard’s story online.

“The Wall” will be released Feb. 28.

A couple weeks ago on “Floydian Slip” we played an early band demo of “Young Lust.”  Be listening for “The Doctor,” an early version of “Comfortably Numb,” on Show #828, airing on all 30 Random Precision Radio Network stations Feb. 16-22.

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Posted in Merchandise, Nick Mason, Personnel, Why Pink Floyd? remasters | No comments

Source: floydianslip