FunkyParrot.com, an international website? Well, it always was an
outlandish name, so who would want to register it?
I did, so, here's a personal perspective of what was going on in Nuneaton in the mid to
late 1970's.
I was in my late 20s (Makes me rather old now!!!)
Kinetic lighting was in it's infancy, I saw it as a much more impressive form of presentation
than the garish flashing boxes that most D.J.s were presenting with their Discosound or Fal sound systems, mostly with crystal
pickup cartridges.
YES! the frequency response was marginally better than that of the telephone, but probably
sounding better than that of MP3 if used on the sound systems available today.
None of us had the finance packages available today anywhere within our grasp. CASH
was neccessary to buy gear.
A VERY BRIEF HISTORY
In the early '70s, Disco lighting had moved on from
rotating mirror globes and static ultra violet tubes (which caused anything white to glow radiantly) to sound to
light units, pulsating with the music.
As most underwear was white in those days, often worn
under dark clothing, many males (including D.J.s) regretted the passing of the ultra violet fashion.
Some D.J.s decided that sound to light units were
rather brash and moved in the direction pioneered in the late '60s by Peter Wynne Wilson, the man behind Pink Floyd's Lightshow
. He boiled oil in educational projectors, but progressed to invent the Splodascope and Total Eclipse, components
used in Funky Parrot's lightshow.
At the outset, the Aldis Tutor was favourite choice for projecting these effects,
but then, the Tutor 2 was born. Optikinetics started by making effects for these and other Rank projectors,
they approached Rank to make a modified product for their intended market. The giant conglomerate refused such a menial request.
So, what is actually left of the Rank Organisation?
To the best of my knowledge, it's a few casinos and Mecca bingo! Check
it out; http://www.rank.com/
Above was an animation, created from a black & white still photo taken at the chase in 1975.
Below, is a later animation, created from two still colour slides taken at the Trocadero night
spot, Weston Hall Bulkington in 1973. The two Sound City 120 P.A. amps can be seen to the right of the D.J. picture, as can
be seen, Tutor 2 polystyrene packaging pieces covering the name on the disco console. (It wasn't my deck unit).
ARE YOU IN THE AUDIENCE????
I have recently discovered the actual Winfield Leader Diary (purchased from Woolworth's
of course) used for the bookings of 1974.
Entered in December is the first booking of what was to become a five year residence, a trial
at the Chase, Nuneaton.
Lighting was from 5 x Tutor 2s on the first gig, sound from 2 x Sound City 120 P.A.( delivering
120 watts per channel) a pair of Fane Crescendo 15" for the lower end, with Goodmans Hi-fax for the upper.
The Sound system was rapidly upgraded to the Amcron DC300A amp with Gauss 15" for the lower end,
the Crescendos being relegated to middle. The Hi-fax were constantly blowing voice coils, so they were replaced with Fane
920 horns, in later days, Motorola piezo horns were added for a crisp upper treble.
View from the stage at the Chase Hotel Nuneaton,
where I spent many memorable Sunday nights in the mid to late 1970s; from left, spot those records in perfectly sized bread
crates, typically Sunblest, they were red, but Weetabix used some nice blue ones. "Unlawful possesion is an offence" was embossed
on each side.
The turntable unit was a custom built one with
an early Citronic mixer, actual turntables being Garrard AP 76.
Spot the S.I.S. N.A.B. cartridge jingle machine on the
left, the cartridges alongside in a plastic storage rack.
I still have the Shure Unidyne III microphone today!!
What is the point of this website??? Well, following the demise of my band, Soul Station,
there's a website going free. Having collected a few of the lighting effects that I used to operate years ago, such as Tutor
2s, prism rotators, even a splodascope, surprised to find that there were any still in existence, I decided to share
a few pictures on the web.
But! Hold it! don't I have the rather nice sound system that was used by the band?( An
Allen & Heath 500 watt amp, Electrovoice speakers) Haven't I replaced most of my vinyl collection with CDs, yes, I've
managed to find many of those Northern classics, Motown obscurities, Reggae roots.......... All we need is a twin CD
player.......
Normally above the crowd and outasight.
Spot the attachments fitted!!
There's now a few more reflections and views to the future of this ageing D.J. on
