Rainbow Lights was the "house" light show for the psychedelic boogies we had at the Albion Community Center in Albion, California (Mendocino County), in the early and mid-1970s.
Rainbow Lights was created by myself, Robert Gluckson, our friend Tom, an art teacher drop-out, and aided by my friends Dewey McKay and Kay Rudin, plus whoever stopped by to play with the oil and food coloring swirling round in the clock face on top of the overhead projector.
We did a really nice gig in '76 at Crown Hall in Mendocino and another "disco" (ugh) for the Fort Bragg High School. Had some pretty wild effects going, with science fiction slides, 8 mm silent movies (including the "backwards" movies originated by my pre-teen self, bro, and sis, from our Rancho Park, LA childhood), even a 16 mm excerpt of Fantasia.
Only problem was getting paid enough to keep us in projector bulbs. When the overhead kept shorting the $25 bulbs out, we semi-retired.
The show was occasionally revived; accompanying Paul Horn at College of the Redwoods in 1981; when I became a graduate asssistant and got to teach "Popular Culture" in Bowling Green,
Ohio in early 1990; at a "What Happened to the Hippies" class offered at the University of Washington, around '92; and at a Seattle Rave, where I saw how outclassed we were by modern technology.
Still, we beat the pants off all the lame "laser" light shows I've seen.
Robert Gluckson - 2002
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