For the uninitiated, well, how can I describe The Firesign Theatre, four or five crazy guys that took a love of old radio shows, dosed it with whatever was being served in the '60s, and alchemically produced radio plays on LPs that grew in depth the more that you listened. I was talking about the TV show "Lost" with someone a while ago, and I claimed that "Lost" was written knowing full well that TV shows were being packaged as DVD sets -- the show was packed with obscure asides and references because they knew that people would watch them many times over. With LPs, Firesign had the same canvas -- a medium that could bear repeated listening.
I'll go more into The Genius That Is Firesign in another post; this one's about the live experience.
1993: FS have reunited for a 'back from the shadows' tour. It's a love-fest. The Paramount is full of fans quoting the material as it's performed, and it's celebratory, not obnoxious.
Cut to 2000. I'm a member of the Washington Library Association, and they've just announced the theme of their conference: R/evolution. The blurbs they provide strike me as familiar -- isn't this what FS talked about in their albums, the future as past, media as a tool of propaganda and commercialism -- wow, wouldn't it be great if they could be part of this? So I e-mailed the program coordinator guy, and he says, "That would be perfect! (he's a fan) -- do you know them?" Umm, no, but I know that one lives on Whidbey, and another lives on Fox Island -- maybe we can at least get those guys to show? So, with no introduction, I decide to get in touch with Phil Austin and David Ossman. Emails, faxes, even letters are sent out. Then one of the most surreal moments of my life: Phil Austin, voice of Nick Danger, calls me at the Ferndale Library. I still get goosebumps thinking about it. Can you even imagine hearing that voice calling you on the phone? It was like I'd become part of one of their routines...
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