1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to 2 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: the show, fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so 3 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: much for tuning in. We can't wait to introduce you 4 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 1: to the Man, the myth, the legend, the super producer, 5 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:45,599 Speaker 1: mister Max Tracksuit, Beil Bottoms, Williams, Shiny Boy, Shiny Boy Williams. 6 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:49,280 Speaker 2: Wait, so you did not wait that I have been introduced? 7 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:50,519 Speaker 3: There he is. 8 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: That's Noel Brown, you heard as well. I am Ben 9 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: Bullen as well, and Noel. We are very excited about 10 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,800 Speaker 1: this one. We've been working on it for a minute 11 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: a while ago, sixty of them. 12 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:07,800 Speaker 3: A while ago. 13 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,400 Speaker 1: Of course, we were talking off air, as we do, 14 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: and I think we were all three of us just mystified. 15 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 1: But you know what it was. It was one of 16 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: our conversations about how strange things seem normal, and you, 17 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 1: in an earlier pitch meeting, you said, guys, do you 18 00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:32,760 Speaker 1: think about disco balls? 19 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 3: Yeah? 20 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:35,400 Speaker 4: And it's funny because that was a while back and 21 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 4: it hadn't really occurred to me at the time that 22 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:42,880 Speaker 4: disco balls has sort of seen a bit of a resurgence, 23 00:01:42,959 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 4: a renaissance, a renaissance, a disco ball renaissance in the 24 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 4: form of like TikTok's decor things and projects, art projects, 25 00:01:52,200 --> 00:01:54,720 Speaker 4: crafts and stuff like that, and also pinterest even as 26 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 4: far back as and little. 27 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: Homemade disco balls, you know. 28 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 4: Yep, at c stores in like fruit shaped disco balls 29 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 4: and anything kind of sparkly and mirrored, and a lot 30 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:09,400 Speaker 4: of this kind of new disco ball boom times can 31 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:12,639 Speaker 4: be traced back to like a lot of things trends 32 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:16,919 Speaker 4: to COVID times, but even further back than that, I think, 33 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:20,160 Speaker 4: you know, both of us probably pictured starting an episode 34 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:22,640 Speaker 4: about the history of disco balls, talking about you know, 35 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:25,760 Speaker 4: disco but whether you grew up you know, cut cutting 36 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:28,640 Speaker 4: rugs in the East Village disco texts of the seventies, 37 00:02:28,760 --> 00:02:31,080 Speaker 4: or like Ben and I have been to an LCD 38 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:34,320 Speaker 4: sound System show in the last decade or so. Oh, 39 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 4: that's massive disco ball they have on their stage and 40 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 4: it's an incredible lighting effect, which we'll get to. Or 41 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 4: speaking of lighting effects, you're just into having sparkly twinkle 42 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:48,359 Speaker 4: lights dancing. 43 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:49,639 Speaker 3: Around your bedroom or living room. 44 00:02:50,120 --> 00:02:53,600 Speaker 4: You're probably familiar with the iconic lighting effects slash art 45 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 4: object colloquially known as the disco ball, but then I 46 00:02:57,600 --> 00:02:59,920 Speaker 4: think we both thought we'd probably start this conversation about 47 00:02:59,919 --> 00:03:03,359 Speaker 4: the history of disco balls talking about disco Yes, not 48 00:03:03,480 --> 00:03:04,119 Speaker 4: the case though. 49 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:14,119 Speaker 1: Eh, well, we're going in a different direction as you 50 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: as you called it there, Noel, I want to credit 51 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:20,520 Speaker 1: where due is very important to me personally, so I 52 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: just want to thank you in advance for being our 53 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 1: research associate on this excellent work here. You you dug in, 54 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:32,679 Speaker 1: you did the research, and you've delivered a lot of 55 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:35,400 Speaker 1: stuff I didn't know about disco balls. So I'm going 56 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: to learn from you. 57 00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 4: Where you know, I get a little pet project and 58 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:41,160 Speaker 4: will be in my bonnet every now and again. But 59 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,200 Speaker 4: this is a It definitely intersects with a lot of 60 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 4: other stuff that I'm interested in, and I personally own 61 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 4: about five disco balls in my house. But like we teased, 62 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 4: would you believe that the origins of this delightful mirroage 63 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:59,280 Speaker 4: sphere or date back way way way wait, wait, wait, wait, 64 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 4: way further than John Travoltz's iconic disco dancing in Saturday 65 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:03,280 Speaker 4: Night Fever. 66 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 3: So let us go. Let's take it back way back. 67 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 4: Not to the psychedelic sixties or the booming fifties or 68 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 4: what is it the wartime forties or the Roaring twenties. 69 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 4: Let's go way way back to the early nineteen hundreds, 70 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:18,520 Speaker 4: where we joined the beginning of the story of the 71 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:20,160 Speaker 4: disco ball already in progress. 72 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:24,039 Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, this is a phrase that you taught 73 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:29,240 Speaker 1: me through your research the Myriad Reflector. You might remember 74 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:34,440 Speaker 1: the slightly lesser beloved Arcade Fire album Reflector that was 75 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:37,560 Speaker 1: produced by James A. Murphy of LCD sound System and 76 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 1: had a bit of a disco feel to it. And 77 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 1: they're talking about they have the most popular song on 78 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: there was called Reflector. Pretty certain that is a reference 79 00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: to the original name for the disco ball, which was. 80 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:50,880 Speaker 3: The Myriad Reflector. 81 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:54,920 Speaker 4: We, as we've mentioned, typically think of it as linked 82 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:58,600 Speaker 4: to the disco era of the seventies. However, the first 83 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 4: kind of piece of decor let's call it, or a 84 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:05,719 Speaker 4: lighting effect or whatever, actually dates all the way back 85 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 4: to eighteen ninety seven. I was off by three years, 86 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:13,960 Speaker 4: but hey, you know, not too bad to good old Charlestown, Massachusetts, 87 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 4: where members of a local electricians union were getting together 88 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:22,680 Speaker 4: for their annual Electricians Ball. Oh so yeah, like they did, 89 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:26,520 Speaker 4: and they decided to take their electrician skills and parlay 90 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:27,760 Speaker 4: those into a. 91 00:05:27,720 --> 00:05:31,920 Speaker 3: Cool kind of showpiece. I guess for this shindick. 92 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, yeah yeah. They were getting this from vinepaar 93 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:41,400 Speaker 1: dot com. Their idea was that they would make a thing, 94 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:46,000 Speaker 1: as you said, Noel, a flex really a showpiece ornament 95 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 1: that could emit light visible for miles around Boston. And 96 00:05:52,600 --> 00:05:58,320 Speaker 1: to do this they created invented their own incandescent lamps 97 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:01,719 Speaker 1: that would cast a no number of colors and a 98 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:06,680 Speaker 1: carbon arc that are all reflected off what they called, 99 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:10,360 Speaker 1: as you said, a mirror ball. And we first learned 100 00:06:10,360 --> 00:06:15,240 Speaker 1: about this in the Electrical Worker, which was the Electricians' 101 00:06:15,680 --> 00:06:19,040 Speaker 1: union magazine trade paper whatever you might call it. One 102 00:06:19,080 --> 00:06:23,560 Speaker 1: hundred percent the bulletin posted in the magazine promised a 103 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:27,440 Speaker 1: new novelty that would change a hall into a brilliant 104 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 1: fairy land of flashing, changing living colors, a place of 105 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: a million colored sparks darting and dancing, chasing one another 106 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 1: into every nook and corner, filling the hall with dancing 107 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:42,039 Speaker 1: fireflies of one thousand hues. 108 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:46,039 Speaker 4: Gotta give them notes for using dancing a future too 109 00:06:46,080 --> 00:06:48,840 Speaker 4: many times, or at least but the rest of this 110 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:49,920 Speaker 4: is it not poetry? 111 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:50,839 Speaker 1: I love it in a. 112 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:54,839 Speaker 3: Place, a place span of a million colored sparks. 113 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:57,359 Speaker 1: I like the way you did the intonation of thousand 114 00:06:57,520 --> 00:06:59,320 Speaker 1: hues by the way, thank you. 115 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:02,920 Speaker 3: Yeah, it feels like a place that I want to 116 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:03,360 Speaker 3: go to. 117 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, there it is. And this was at the time 118 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:11,000 Speaker 1: a one off thing, a very special unique boy. It 119 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:13,960 Speaker 1: was custom made for the Gup Party. Yeah, they weren't 120 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:17,120 Speaker 1: planning to make a hundred of these and sell them 121 00:07:17,160 --> 00:07:23,840 Speaker 1: throughout New England until a guy named Louis Bernard Woost 122 00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:30,920 Speaker 1: Woeeste applied for a patent because the streets were watching. 123 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 1: And so in nineteen seventeen, as he said, this guy 124 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:37,960 Speaker 1: goes to our friends at the US Patent Office and 125 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:42,400 Speaker 1: he says, I got a crazy pitch. You heard he reflectors, Right, 126 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:45,680 Speaker 1: you've heard of the word myriad, Well, why not a 127 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 1: myriad reflector. 128 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 4: Which just means a lot of reflectors, that's all it means. 129 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 4: Myria just means many, you know, multitudes of a plenty 130 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 4: and you know, so ultimately, while it may sound like 131 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 4: a clever marketing kind of name, it really is just 132 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 4: like a descriptive for the purposes of filing the patents 133 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 4: which we're going to read from. 134 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 1: He does get the patent. He's got a company out 135 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: there in the Natty, Cincinnati. I don't know if they 136 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,520 Speaker 1: called it the Natty in nineteen seventeen, but in the 137 00:08:15,640 --> 00:08:20,400 Speaker 1: nineteen twenties they said, look, we're going to fill all 138 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:25,640 Speaker 1: your favorite clubs, all your dance holes with these dancing 139 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 1: fireflies of a thousand que thousand hues. 140 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:31,680 Speaker 5: So that's good. 141 00:08:31,720 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 3: That's more marketing speak right there. Let's let's read a 142 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:37,080 Speaker 3: little bit more from the inventor himself. When it gets 143 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:42,239 Speaker 3: a little more dry, but not too much less delightful, 144 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:44,040 Speaker 3: you want to you want to take this one, Ben, 145 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 3: and we go back and forth. 146 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:49,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, let's round, Robin. Sounds great, all right. So, pulling 147 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:54,199 Speaker 1: from the actual facts, patent shout out Lauren Vogelbaum, our 148 00:08:54,240 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 1: buddy says, my invention relates to reflectors to be used 149 00:08:57,679 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 1: for exhibition or theatrical purpose is for the production of 150 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:04,280 Speaker 1: effects effects. 151 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:04,840 Speaker 3: Exactly. 152 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:05,280 Speaker 1: Love that. 153 00:09:05,559 --> 00:09:07,480 Speaker 4: You got to think about this too, man, because now 154 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:09,640 Speaker 4: we think of like effects, lighting. 155 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:11,840 Speaker 3: Effects, special effects, visual effects. 156 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 4: But this is I think a pretty novel use of 157 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 4: this term. He needed something to call it right like, 158 00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:20,000 Speaker 4: and maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm reaching here, but it 159 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 4: does feel like as early as this was file that 160 00:09:22,880 --> 00:09:26,480 Speaker 4: this is probably where you start to see this term, 161 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 4: if not coined by him, it's around this time where 162 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:33,080 Speaker 4: you start to see maybe more theatrical devices that are 163 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,240 Speaker 4: there to generate an effect. Although now that I think 164 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:38,760 Speaker 4: about it, Ben, I bet you even farther back than that, 165 00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 4: because it makes me think of the kind of tricks 166 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:43,560 Speaker 4: that mediums would pull, you know, back in the day 167 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:47,559 Speaker 4: and having dry ice and various things. So I'm probably reaching. 168 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: Well, every every patent is a pitch. I think we're 169 00:09:50,559 --> 00:09:52,080 Speaker 1: with you on this wouldn't because. 170 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:54,600 Speaker 4: No, no, I just mean the term effects feels like 171 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:56,240 Speaker 4: there may have been a time where it was a 172 00:09:56,280 --> 00:09:58,079 Speaker 4: little more novel than than it is today. 173 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:02,520 Speaker 3: And I might misjudging it timeline here a little bit, 174 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:03,760 Speaker 3: but it just was worth mentioning. 175 00:10:03,920 --> 00:10:07,600 Speaker 1: But he goes on. Luis goes on to specify and 176 00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:09,880 Speaker 1: explain what he means by effects. 177 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:10,400 Speaker 3: He does. 178 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,080 Speaker 4: He goes on in the patent, the object of my 179 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 4: invention is to produce a myriad reflector reflecting surfaces, the 180 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 4: same to be arranged in such a manner that the 181 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 4: several reflections shall be projected at varying angles. The device 182 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:28,640 Speaker 4: itself being arranged so that it may be rotated or 183 00:10:28,679 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 4: otherwise moved, so that the reflections may create spectacular effects. 184 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 1: Okay, all right, we're escalating a little. 185 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:36,680 Speaker 3: We are. 186 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:40,280 Speaker 1: We started with effects and now it's a spectacular effect. 187 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:40,920 Speaker 3: That's true. 188 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:44,840 Speaker 1: I can hear I can hear Louie gassing himself up 189 00:10:44,880 --> 00:10:45,720 Speaker 1: as he's writing this. 190 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 4: One hundred recent It is fun to read these patterns 191 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 4: sometimes because while there is some sparkly no pun intended 192 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:54,240 Speaker 4: language in here, in general it is just a very 193 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:56,800 Speaker 4: cut and dry description of what makes the thing unique, 194 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:59,320 Speaker 4: and that's obviously very necessary for a pattern. 195 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:00,000 Speaker 3: We'll reread it. 196 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:05,760 Speaker 4: These last two points that basically outlines those exact things 197 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:06,640 Speaker 4: what makes it unique. 198 00:11:06,800 --> 00:11:09,440 Speaker 1: Right, and it's design, which you have to prove for 199 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:12,920 Speaker 1: a patent, and do check out our excellent series on 200 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:17,440 Speaker 1: patents and IP. I can call it excellent because we 201 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:19,440 Speaker 1: didn't write it. Our pal Max did. 202 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:21,440 Speaker 3: So here we go. 203 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:25,720 Speaker 2: Somehow it is not absolutely boring, and I don't know how. 204 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:28,520 Speaker 4: Oh, I really agree this stuff is fascinating. I think 205 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:31,640 Speaker 4: all of us says. We definitely try to. We're like 206 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:33,680 Speaker 4: a dog with a bone with patents and IP. 207 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 1: So here is the first point, we'll round Robin this. 208 00:11:38,679 --> 00:11:43,560 Speaker 1: Louis specifically goes to Uncle Sam and describes what we 209 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:48,120 Speaker 1: would call the disco ball. He says, you guys know mirrors, right, 210 00:11:48,600 --> 00:11:50,839 Speaker 1: He doesn't say that, but that's his pitch. He says, 211 00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: a myriad reflector comprising mirrors mounted to form a polyhedron, 212 00:11:55,760 --> 00:12:00,360 Speaker 1: bounded by a convex system of playing faces E L 213 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: A N E in combination with means for suspending the device, 214 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:07,280 Speaker 1: the little thing that you hang it from, so that 215 00:12:07,360 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: it may be swung and rotated simultaneously to produce way 216 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:17,960 Speaker 1: for it myriad reflections when light rays from an extraneous 217 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,240 Speaker 1: source are through there on, I. 218 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:22,960 Speaker 4: Would argue he should have used the word external instead 219 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:27,559 Speaker 4: of extraneous. There does an extraneous mean it's like extra 220 00:12:27,720 --> 00:12:28,760 Speaker 4: and not necessary. 221 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:30,560 Speaker 3: Yeah, kind of. 222 00:12:31,320 --> 00:12:34,400 Speaker 1: External would be good because. 223 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 4: It's not contained within the device and it's required separate, 224 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:40,120 Speaker 4: like external light source not included. 225 00:12:40,320 --> 00:12:42,880 Speaker 3: Let's just say, but, y'all, what he's. 226 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,360 Speaker 4: Doing here is very brilliantly and plainly and of course 227 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:49,000 Speaker 4: a little dryly describing how mirrors work and the fact 228 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:51,680 Speaker 4: that it's convex, and that is is it's arranged in 229 00:12:51,760 --> 00:12:55,240 Speaker 4: the circular or spherical array is what gives you that 230 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:59,720 Speaker 4: massive spread and throw of these light rays as they're 231 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 4: reflect off of those surfaces and then bouncing in all 232 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 4: different directions, essentially in three hundred and sixty degrees in 233 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:10,280 Speaker 4: all directions, because there's one of these on every possible 234 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 4: inch of the surface area of the ball. And that's 235 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:16,120 Speaker 4: what gives you this insane coverage. And the bigger the ball, 236 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 4: the more insane the coverage. That LCD sound System one. 237 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:22,120 Speaker 4: Then when they hit that for a lighting effect, it 238 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:24,680 Speaker 4: lights up the whole theater like and it's you know, 239 00:13:24,720 --> 00:13:26,560 Speaker 4: if there's smoke in the room, you start to see 240 00:13:26,559 --> 00:13:29,760 Speaker 4: these just what's the word swaths of light kind of 241 00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:33,120 Speaker 4: cutting through the fog, and it's an absolutely remarkable thing 242 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:36,000 Speaker 4: to behold. And I actually included a second point here, 243 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 4: but Ben pointed out off Mike that is basically the 244 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:41,480 Speaker 4: same thing except for what Except as. 245 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:46,800 Speaker 1: The mirrors are separated from each other, the facets are 246 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:50,000 Speaker 1: separated by a non reflecting subst got it, which is 247 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,079 Speaker 1: why the mirror ball, the myriad reflection looks. 248 00:13:52,840 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 3: Like a grid. There you go, one hundred percent, that's 249 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:56,120 Speaker 3: exactly right. 250 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:08,240 Speaker 4: Let's jump into the rise fall rerise and reimagining of 251 00:14:08,280 --> 00:14:11,200 Speaker 4: the myriad reflector, or as it came to be known, 252 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:13,800 Speaker 4: the mirror ball or the disco ball. So this company 253 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:16,520 Speaker 4: that you talked about, Ben Stevens and Wost, we don't 254 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:17,400 Speaker 4: know much about Stevens. 255 00:14:17,440 --> 00:14:19,400 Speaker 3: We know about Wost, who's the one who filed the patent. 256 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:24,920 Speaker 4: Their flagship magnificent globe, as they marketed it. It was 257 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:28,360 Speaker 4: twenty seven inches and covered with, as they described it, 258 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:30,560 Speaker 4: more than twelve hundred special made mirrors. 259 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:34,960 Speaker 3: They were able to sell these like hotcakes to dance halls, 260 00:14:34,960 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 3: like you said, Ben, skating rinks, jazz clubs, nightclubs. 261 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:42,560 Speaker 4: This is obviously very much pre disco. This is more 262 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:46,040 Speaker 4: in the pre war kind of swinging, you know, big 263 00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:49,080 Speaker 4: band era, right, yeah, yeah, and this. 264 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,400 Speaker 1: Has got to be a banger. When you go into 265 00:14:51,480 --> 00:14:54,480 Speaker 1: the club, you know you're in the party district. You 266 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:58,040 Speaker 1: can go here, jazz at one of three places. Which 267 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:00,240 Speaker 1: place are you gonna go to? You're gonna go to 268 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 1: the one with the mirror ball. People are space man. Yeah. 269 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:09,360 Speaker 1: There's a nineteen twenty one copy of Illustrated World that 270 00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:14,400 Speaker 1: features a photograph of what we call the disco ball today, 271 00:15:14,640 --> 00:15:17,800 Speaker 1: and it says, no, this is not a photograph of 272 00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:22,320 Speaker 1: the Heavens, the Milky Way, or New Constellation. It was 273 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:25,600 Speaker 1: made at a dance palace in Dayton, Ohio. 274 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,720 Speaker 3: Sounds like a disk at the end. There no offense 275 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:29,960 Speaker 3: to date, No, no offense. 276 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 1: We love you. 277 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 4: This is hilarious, especially when you did it in that voice. 278 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 4: And I love the idea of a dance palace bio. 279 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:40,560 Speaker 2: Actually, I'm trying to think Dayton and Canton share an airport. 280 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:42,280 Speaker 2: I actually have family in Dayton, Ohio. 281 00:15:43,760 --> 00:15:44,800 Speaker 1: I'm sorry for your loss. 282 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, no, no, I am not someone who lives in 283 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:50,520 Speaker 2: Ohio for very obvious reasons. 284 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:53,120 Speaker 4: Well, I'm sure there's great things about it, and it 285 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:54,880 Speaker 4: would appear that one of those great things might have 286 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:57,480 Speaker 4: included a disco ball, an early example of a badass 287 00:15:57,520 --> 00:15:57,920 Speaker 4: disco ball. 288 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,400 Speaker 1: Wait, wait, why are we? Why are we weirdly dissing 289 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:02,440 Speaker 1: the Buckeye State here? 290 00:16:02,440 --> 00:16:04,160 Speaker 3: I didn't mean too. It was my fault I started, 291 00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 3: and I fully walk it back. Y'all are great. 292 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:09,800 Speaker 2: We love four and a half years of this podcast 293 00:16:09,960 --> 00:16:12,640 Speaker 2: experience of dissing Ohio, and I'm not changing now. 294 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:16,200 Speaker 3: All right, all right, Well, let's it's differences that make 295 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:16,960 Speaker 3: us a good tea. 296 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:19,600 Speaker 4: It sure is so there was a bit of a 297 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 4: boom time for the disco ball followed by a bit 298 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:25,920 Speaker 4: of an approaching bust time. A depressions came. Yeah, I 299 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:27,440 Speaker 4: it was a bit of a depression. No one was 300 00:16:27,480 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 4: wanting sparkles at this point. They wanted, you know, to 301 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:33,120 Speaker 4: be able to feed their families. So Stevens and Wost 302 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:36,320 Speaker 4: did stop production of the disco balls, and it kind of, I. 303 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:39,240 Speaker 3: Don't know, took a back seat in the zeitgeist for 304 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:43,840 Speaker 3: quite a while. Wasn't produced again until the nineteen forties 305 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 3: when we have a new company entering the chat ooh. 306 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:50,880 Speaker 1: And I love their name. Just from a writing perspective, 307 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:55,680 Speaker 1: Omega National Products sounds like Illumination Global Dlimited. 308 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:58,840 Speaker 4: It does very much so, and call back to our 309 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:03,760 Speaker 4: recent Kentucky Derby episode. This company was based in Louisville, Kentucky. 310 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:09,240 Speaker 4: So at this point the company is has I don't know, 311 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:12,280 Speaker 4: they're back to it. They're kind of capitalizing on some 312 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:17,120 Speaker 4: of the popular art deco okay styles they're popular at 313 00:17:17,119 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 4: the time, modestly successful at first, but not an immediate hit. 314 00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:26,240 Speaker 4: What set the Louisville company, Omega National Products apart from 315 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:29,200 Speaker 4: Stevens and woe's was that they weren't just making the balls. 316 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:34,919 Speaker 4: They were making this flexible, like faux fabric y type 317 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:40,439 Speaker 4: the sheets of mirrored material that were again in keeping 318 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:42,879 Speaker 4: with that Art Deco furniture style of the era that 319 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:47,240 Speaker 4: was super popular and you could like bedazzle stuff. You 320 00:17:47,320 --> 00:17:52,919 Speaker 4: may remember Liberaci's very you know, iconic mirrored piano that 321 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:56,400 Speaker 4: was done using these flexible mirror ball sheets. 322 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:01,800 Speaker 1: Yeah. Liberacci famously the most subtle musician in history. 323 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:02,520 Speaker 3: Yep. 324 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:05,320 Speaker 4: And also I mean I got there's this incredible clip 325 00:18:05,359 --> 00:18:07,520 Speaker 4: of him from I think he was on laughing that 326 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:10,439 Speaker 4: mega sixties show where all the like girls kind of 327 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:13,200 Speaker 4: wore bikinis and painted their bodies and Goldie Hawn was 328 00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:15,360 Speaker 4: on it originally, I want to say. And he does 329 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:18,920 Speaker 4: this thing where he's like, hey, young people, what you 330 00:18:19,119 --> 00:18:22,399 Speaker 4: groove in this Liberaci? And I'm here with you, And 331 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:25,119 Speaker 4: it's like the most go home dad. 332 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,440 Speaker 3: Kind of thing you've ever seen in your life. Deedly, 333 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:32,360 Speaker 3: do do you feeling groovy? Liberacis he's turning on, That's 334 00:18:32,359 --> 00:18:32,919 Speaker 3: what he says. 335 00:18:33,880 --> 00:18:38,000 Speaker 1: And Omega is turning on for sure, because they are 336 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:43,920 Speaker 1: the only source of this new miracle substance, this application 337 00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:48,080 Speaker 1: of mirrored sheets in that grid thing. They're saying, we 338 00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:51,920 Speaker 1: don't just make balls. You name an object, we can 339 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:56,280 Speaker 1: put our mirror amalgamation upon it. And so they get 340 00:18:56,280 --> 00:19:01,080 Speaker 1: a bunch of clients. We're talking jukebox hauls, amusement parks. 341 00:19:01,359 --> 00:19:04,600 Speaker 1: People are coming to them and asking them to put 342 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:08,600 Speaker 1: this stuff on any imaginable thing. But the main thing 343 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 1: they still love is the original mirror ball. 344 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 3: That's right. 345 00:19:13,160 --> 00:19:16,840 Speaker 4: And these things, you know, ranged in size for any budgets, 346 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:21,280 Speaker 4: and they were produced largely by women because this is 347 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:24,879 Speaker 4: during World War Two, and as we've talked you know 348 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:28,040 Speaker 4: often on the podcast, the men were away and the 349 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:31,720 Speaker 4: women took over those factory jobs, and it led to 350 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:33,879 Speaker 4: of course the whole Rosie the Riveter thing and a 351 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:36,600 Speaker 4: lot of like you know, demands for equal rights for 352 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,400 Speaker 4: women because like you know, women get the job done. 353 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:40,960 Speaker 3: I mean, and that's absolutely true. 354 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:45,359 Speaker 4: And it's weird that it took this to create that outcry, 355 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:48,720 Speaker 4: but sometimes that's what it takes, I guess, especially. 356 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:50,760 Speaker 3: In times where things are maybe a little more backwards. 357 00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:54,040 Speaker 1: Dude, It's like we were saying in this is a 358 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:58,760 Speaker 1: bit backstage, and I acknowledge this may sound pretentious, but 359 00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:02,399 Speaker 1: we have literally travel the world teaching people how to 360 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:06,119 Speaker 1: make a good show. And maybe one day you and 361 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:07,600 Speaker 1: I will make a good show as well. 362 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:10,159 Speaker 4: Yeah, who knows, maybe someone will travel to us to 363 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 4: teach us how to do it. 364 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:13,800 Speaker 1: But one of the key things that I think speaks 365 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: to Omega's brilliance here is that they decided to meet 366 00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:21,720 Speaker 1: the consumer where they're at. I think it's key to 367 00:20:21,800 --> 00:20:24,400 Speaker 1: meet people where they're at. And so they say, we're 368 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: not just going to make one size fits all mirror balls. 369 00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:33,359 Speaker 1: We're going to see if someone can just afford a 370 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:35,200 Speaker 1: tiny one, A tiny boy that's. 371 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:37,720 Speaker 3: For you for your keys, maybe you know, put it 372 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:38,400 Speaker 3: on your key rank. 373 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:42,360 Speaker 4: So yeah, no, it's they are absolutely meeting the customer 374 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:46,159 Speaker 4: where they are six feet They're accommodating all sizes and 375 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:48,879 Speaker 4: budgets and needs, and they go from the two inches 376 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:54,600 Speaker 4: you mentioned, Ben to six feet in diameter. We even 377 00:20:54,680 --> 00:20:57,280 Speaker 4: see ones as large as forty eight inches, amounting to 378 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:01,480 Speaker 4: you at the time, y'all four grand and we must 379 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:03,840 Speaker 4: inflation calculator that bad boy. 380 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:05,920 Speaker 3: So let's can we get a Can we get a boop? Max? 381 00:21:06,119 --> 00:21:06,840 Speaker 3: Do you want a boop? 382 00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 2: I'll take a boop, dude, I'm booping currently, this is 383 00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:12,480 Speaker 2: a boop. 384 00:21:13,359 --> 00:21:17,320 Speaker 4: Nineteen forty four thousand dollars. We're forty esque ish. We 385 00:21:17,359 --> 00:21:21,840 Speaker 4: don't have an exact number here in today's dollars. Twenty grand, 386 00:21:22,520 --> 00:21:26,440 Speaker 4: twenty wow, that's a lot of cheddar. That's a ball scratch. 387 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:29,159 Speaker 4: It's a big ball, man, You got you gotta throw 388 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:31,959 Speaker 4: down if you want to ball that size. Omega National, 389 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:35,360 Speaker 4: to your point, Bend had the monopoly on this this product. 390 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,800 Speaker 4: They at one point we're producing as many as ninety 391 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 4: percent of the world's disco balls. 392 00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:46,480 Speaker 1: What a cool so. I love specific brags and flexes. 393 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:48,800 Speaker 3: I like the Glitter Company. Remember when we discussed it. 394 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah, that's a good callback. I love the 395 00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:56,919 Speaker 1: idea of picture it this way. You are in the 396 00:21:57,000 --> 00:22:00,840 Speaker 1: c suite of a mega national and maybe you're going 397 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:04,800 Speaker 1: on a date, right, You're meeting your prospective spouse in 398 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:08,000 Speaker 1: the future, because everyone was getting married back then. And 399 00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:10,440 Speaker 1: they say, what do you do? And you say, I 400 00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:14,520 Speaker 1: make ninety percent of the world's disco balls, not one 401 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 1: hundred percent. 402 00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:19,760 Speaker 3: No, one hundred percent. I would kill to be that person. 403 00:22:20,640 --> 00:22:20,879 Speaker 3: We know. 404 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:25,480 Speaker 1: The company should pointed out, continues to produce mirrored balls 405 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:31,040 Speaker 1: disco balls for a lot of big time operations. And 406 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:33,640 Speaker 1: you want the best, you go Omega, you go Omega? 407 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:35,720 Speaker 1: What do you want the best? That's a free tagline. 408 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,119 Speaker 1: By the way, guys, you're welcome. They've been at it 409 00:22:38,119 --> 00:22:39,240 Speaker 1: for a long time. They should know. 410 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:42,120 Speaker 4: It would appear that some of their high end clients 411 00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:45,920 Speaker 4: are folks like Beyonce, who really is responsible in many 412 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:49,040 Speaker 4: ways for the resurgence of the disco ball, because it's 413 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:51,360 Speaker 4: a big part of her or has been a big 414 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:54,639 Speaker 4: part of her stage performances. And Madonna, I want to 415 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:56,400 Speaker 4: say in the nineties, there might have been the late 416 00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:59,520 Speaker 4: eighties or mid eighties, like there was a concert tour 417 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 4: where she would merge from a giant disco ball that 418 00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:04,560 Speaker 4: would crack open. And they also produce them for like 419 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,240 Speaker 4: film and television shows like Dancing with the Stars and 420 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:10,640 Speaker 4: even the Academy Awards. 421 00:23:10,760 --> 00:23:13,879 Speaker 1: Oh that makes sense. Yeah, shout out to Oscar. But 422 00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:18,560 Speaker 1: we have a question that I think is on everybody's mind. 423 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:22,600 Speaker 1: How did the idea of the myriad reflector or the 424 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:28,960 Speaker 1: mirrored ball become so inherently tied to the era of disco. 425 00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:33,639 Speaker 4: Well in the nineteen seventies, we really did start to 426 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:37,800 Speaker 4: see these guys being strung up in disco texts and 427 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:43,840 Speaker 4: made a fixture of the zeitgeist and of pop culture. 428 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,280 Speaker 4: It is tough to kind of pin down, as the 429 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:51,639 Speaker 4: vine par article points out, exactly which club in New 430 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:55,720 Speaker 4: York City first kind of brought these glowing do dads back, 431 00:23:56,440 --> 00:23:59,720 Speaker 4: but places like the Loft in the East Village in 432 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:04,080 Speaker 4: New York played a huge role, as well as a 433 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:09,480 Speaker 4: venue known as The Gallery, which was created by an 434 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:13,600 Speaker 4: iconic disco booster named Nikki Siano. I just want to 435 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:15,679 Speaker 4: take this opportunity to if you want to do a 436 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 4: deeper dive into disco that includes a lot of this stuff. 437 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 4: Great podcast I worked on some years ago with this 438 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:24,640 Speaker 4: cooly cool guy named Steve Greenberg who's a record producer 439 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:28,040 Speaker 4: and he was around during a lot of this stuff, 440 00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:31,280 Speaker 4: and he does a super deep dive into the history 441 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:34,120 Speaker 4: of disco in the Speed of Sound podcast. We did 442 00:24:34,119 --> 00:24:38,719 Speaker 4: like a multi part series on disco that includes Saturday 443 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:41,560 Speaker 4: Night Fever nineteen seventy seven, huge smash hit movie with 444 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:45,800 Speaker 4: John Travolta where he does a very iconic disco dance 445 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:50,200 Speaker 4: featuring a mirror ball and an unfortunate event that kind 446 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 4: of brought Disco to its knees the Disco Demolition Night 447 00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:57,840 Speaker 4: in Chicago at Comiski Park. 448 00:24:58,400 --> 00:25:03,000 Speaker 1: Right and pretty long time fellow Ridiculous historian, you may 449 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:07,880 Speaker 1: recall that we did an entire episode on Disco Demolition Night. 450 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:13,040 Speaker 1: This was a pivotal moment in history. It's about forty 451 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 1: six years after this occurred. It was a promo event 452 00:25:17,200 --> 00:25:22,199 Speaker 1: on July twelfth, nineteen seventy nine. Long story short, do 453 00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:26,640 Speaker 1: check out the episode the Chicago White Sox Twilight doubleheader 454 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:32,760 Speaker 1: against the Detroit Tigers, and it quickly fell into pandemonium 455 00:25:33,240 --> 00:25:37,600 Speaker 1: because of the activity of a guy we could call 456 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:41,440 Speaker 1: a predecessor of a podcaster, a DJ named Steve Dahl. 457 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:46,840 Speaker 1: He was known on WLUP ninety seven point nine Rock Yeah, 458 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:50,800 Speaker 1: Pardon my Radio voice for mocking disco. He didn't like disco. 459 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:54,480 Speaker 1: He had been fired from a previous gig because the 460 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:58,800 Speaker 1: station switched from rock to disco, and Steve had principles. 461 00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:02,160 Speaker 1: So they asked all these fans to bring with them 462 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,040 Speaker 1: a disco record when they when they came to the game, 463 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:08,720 Speaker 1: and if you brought a disco record, you got a 464 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:12,959 Speaker 1: discount on admission. You would get ninety eight cents admission 465 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:17,760 Speaker 1: and you would lend your well, you donate your disco 466 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:23,560 Speaker 1: vinyl to be gathered up and then blown up live 467 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:26,399 Speaker 1: in front of the audience between the games. It did 468 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:27,120 Speaker 1: not go well. 469 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:29,359 Speaker 3: It didn't go out for various reasons. 470 00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:30,600 Speaker 4: But I don't know if we talked about this in 471 00:26:30,640 --> 00:26:32,239 Speaker 4: the episode then, but it does occur to me that, 472 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:36,760 Speaker 4: like vinyl records are sharp, doesn't it seem like someone 473 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:38,240 Speaker 4: could catch some shrapnel from this. 474 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: That's exactly what happened. 475 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:43,560 Speaker 4: Oh okay, I'm not remembering cool check out the episode. 476 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:46,160 Speaker 2: It was terrible and they oversold the event and stuff 477 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:48,320 Speaker 2: like that. I just want to jump in here and 478 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:52,240 Speaker 2: draw a recent parallel to I know I mentioned to 479 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:55,200 Speaker 2: you guys, but it's been referred to as Baseball fire Festival. 480 00:26:55,440 --> 00:27:01,760 Speaker 2: But this past season they held a baseball game at 481 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,000 Speaker 2: I forgot which speedway was, but at of speedway event 482 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:07,920 Speaker 2: and they marketed and it had the Atlanta baseball team 483 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:09,239 Speaker 2: in it. So that was a big deal around us. 484 00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:11,560 Speaker 2: But it was like something that it had a massive 485 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:14,879 Speaker 2: rain delay the entire time. But oh, I remember hearing 486 00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:17,040 Speaker 2: about this, and but like it's like one of these 487 00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:18,720 Speaker 2: things where it's like, oh, yeah, you heard all these 488 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:19,439 Speaker 2: things that happened. 489 00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 3: It's so bad. 490 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:22,840 Speaker 2: And then you find out beforehand that there was like 491 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:26,280 Speaker 2: they were selling seats that didn't face the field. They 492 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:29,399 Speaker 2: ran out of hot dog buns before the game started, 493 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:33,080 Speaker 2: handing people just single hot dogs and stuff. 494 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:34,639 Speaker 1: Throwing at them. 495 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:35,679 Speaker 3: So if you've. 496 00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:38,280 Speaker 2: Heard of for the listeners out there, if you've heard 497 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:40,880 Speaker 2: of that story that happens to year, I just wanted 498 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:44,200 Speaker 2: you to know that Disco Demolition Night was so much worse. 499 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 4: Oh my god, I mean it's outrageous. Like I didn't 500 00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:48,680 Speaker 4: even remember about the shrapnel. So do check that out. 501 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:49,560 Speaker 4: It makes perfect sense. 502 00:27:49,600 --> 00:28:18,560 Speaker 5: But most of the facts. 503 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:12,440 Speaker 3: Max with the facts. 504 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:16,080 Speaker 4: Indeed, most importantly I think for our purposes here is 505 00:28:16,119 --> 00:28:19,480 Speaker 4: that this really represented this shift into like almost a 506 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:23,640 Speaker 4: demonization of disco. There already was a lot of tension 507 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:26,720 Speaker 4: from the rockers, you know, folks that were more into 508 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:31,360 Speaker 4: like heavier music. I imagine this era. Yeah, definitely, we've 509 00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:35,639 Speaker 4: got punk happening. Disco definitely has been around, sort of 510 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:39,000 Speaker 4: maybe seen as having its having had its heyday, and 511 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:40,600 Speaker 4: people are a little sick of it. And I'm not 512 00:28:40,640 --> 00:28:44,280 Speaker 4: saying that's wrong, but the way this was handled was 513 00:28:44,360 --> 00:28:48,160 Speaker 4: in fact wrong because Disco was, of course a huge 514 00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 4: part of the black, Latino and queer community, that club culture, 515 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:57,760 Speaker 4: and that musical scene, and there was a sense at 516 00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:00,680 Speaker 4: this event that folks were not only prote and the music, 517 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:03,760 Speaker 4: but protesting the people that made it and. 518 00:29:05,880 --> 00:29:07,040 Speaker 3: Becoming a culture war. 519 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:16,960 Speaker 1: We know that disco, being the new kid on the 520 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:21,400 Speaker 1: block genre wise, was clearly going to be vulnerable to 521 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:26,160 Speaker 1: attack and criticism and mockery. And this is what leads 522 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:30,200 Speaker 1: folks like Nile Rogers, co founder of a band called 523 00:29:30,280 --> 00:29:31,880 Speaker 1: Sheik the Disco Band. 524 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:32,280 Speaker 3: Uh. 525 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,680 Speaker 1: He looked at the footage the day after this happened 526 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:39,240 Speaker 1: in Kmisky Park and he said to us, it felt 527 00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:44,080 Speaker 1: like a Nazi book burning. Thank goodness they didn't burn 528 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:49,320 Speaker 1: all the disco records, because I unreservedly love a lot 529 00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:51,880 Speaker 1: of disco. I'm stupid super into it. 530 00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:54,520 Speaker 4: See, I love it very much as well. I love 531 00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:58,120 Speaker 4: the hypnotic kind of repulsiveness of it. I love a 532 00:29:58,160 --> 00:30:00,520 Speaker 4: lot of the arrangements. 533 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:02,640 Speaker 3: Fun are you kiddy? Yeah? 534 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:04,280 Speaker 4: Absolutely, And I mean I really love a lot of 535 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:06,560 Speaker 4: electronic music as well, and a lot of that was 536 00:30:06,600 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 4: begat from disco culture, like techno and house music and 537 00:30:10,280 --> 00:30:12,960 Speaker 4: four on the Floor that beats that is so propulsive 538 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:17,840 Speaker 4: and hypnotics Kroud rock over in Germany, things like craft 539 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:22,280 Speaker 4: work and can and things like that. While they were 540 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:26,440 Speaker 4: pre disco, there is a similar hypnotic kind of what's 541 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:28,520 Speaker 4: the word that Alex Williams likes to use a lot 542 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:32,440 Speaker 4: motoric beat quality that is sort of this trance inducing 543 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:33,480 Speaker 4: sort of type of music. 544 00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:34,840 Speaker 3: So red meat for me. 545 00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 1: That's our composer, Alex Williams. You'll recognize them at the 546 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:40,400 Speaker 1: beginning and end of every episode. 547 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:42,959 Speaker 3: Mm hmm, you sure will. But I guess we can 548 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:43,719 Speaker 3: wrap this episode. 549 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:45,080 Speaker 4: I'm just kind of bringing it back to what we 550 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:48,320 Speaker 4: talked about at the top, this idea of disco balls. 551 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:52,280 Speaker 4: Disco has been having a resurgeon since the early two thousands, man. 552 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:54,800 Speaker 4: I mean, like a lot of that New York sleeze 553 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:58,400 Speaker 4: kind of music like the Yeah Yeah yeahs, and a 554 00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:00,400 Speaker 4: lot of that dance punk kind of stuff like The 555 00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:04,000 Speaker 4: Rapture and Phoenix even and you know, a lot of 556 00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:07,760 Speaker 4: bands have been truly honoring that four on the floor 557 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:11,160 Speaker 4: and kind of disco quality LCD sound system as we mentioned. 558 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:16,920 Speaker 4: But as a art object, disco balls have really kind 559 00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:19,480 Speaker 4: of come back in a big way since. 560 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:22,920 Speaker 1: COVID right, yeah, yeah, and I think this is something 561 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:25,480 Speaker 1: a lot of us have encountered in our own neck 562 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:29,520 Speaker 1: of the Global Woods. The lockdown, Max, give me dramatic 563 00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:35,720 Speaker 1: music here in a word where you can't go outside. 564 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:39,360 Speaker 1: What do you do to make your home more interesting? 565 00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:43,600 Speaker 1: Disco ball? 566 00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:44,680 Speaker 3: That's right. 567 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:47,920 Speaker 1: People are buying disco balls for their own homes, which 568 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:50,640 Speaker 1: I love. And nol, I believe that you are the 569 00:31:50,680 --> 00:31:53,600 Speaker 1: proud owner of a couple of myriad reflectors. 570 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:56,000 Speaker 4: Yeah, I got one upstairs as small. I got ones 571 00:31:56,040 --> 00:31:58,280 Speaker 4: downstairs at my studio this medium, and I have like 572 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:00,520 Speaker 4: a couple of sort of artsy stized one. 573 00:32:00,520 --> 00:32:03,200 Speaker 3: They have one that looks like it's melting. I just 574 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:04,000 Speaker 3: it's fun. 575 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:07,600 Speaker 4: And a YouTuber that I was watching, I'm sorry I 576 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 4: didn't copy the link, but just look up history of 577 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:12,400 Speaker 4: disco balls on YouTube and. 578 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:14,320 Speaker 3: You'll find this video. It's like nine minutes. 579 00:32:14,680 --> 00:32:17,200 Speaker 4: She pointed out that I think a lot of people 580 00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:19,440 Speaker 4: really started getting into disco balls and they realized that 581 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:22,880 Speaker 4: it would also reflect daylight. So you just hanging in 582 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:24,920 Speaker 4: your living room and you have really nice natural light 583 00:32:24,960 --> 00:32:29,960 Speaker 4: coming in. You wake up in the morning to a sparkly, dancy, twinkly. 584 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:32,760 Speaker 3: Light show and it roles. It just feels good, you know. 585 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:37,080 Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, I could see that. We know that one 586 00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:42,000 Speaker 1: producer of disco balls not related to Omega, a person 587 00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:45,719 Speaker 1: named Libby Rasmussen, talked to The New York Times and 588 00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:49,480 Speaker 1: said that during her first year of disco ball production, 589 00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:54,640 Speaker 1: during the COVID lockdown, she got over five thousand orders 590 00:32:55,120 --> 00:33:00,160 Speaker 1: and further demand seemed to be increasing. You also so 591 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:04,840 Speaker 1: found a stat from Etsy that appears to confirm this trend. 592 00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:07,480 Speaker 4: Yeah, from that same New York Times piece that the 593 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:12,760 Speaker 4: vine Pair article referenced, Etsy searches for disco ball increased 594 00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:16,880 Speaker 4: nearly four hundred percent in twenty twenty two during the 595 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:19,760 Speaker 4: past three months and when that article was released compared 596 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:23,640 Speaker 4: to that same time period the previous year. Another person 597 00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:26,840 Speaker 4: that they spoke to, a let's see Sophie Peoples and 598 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:31,840 Speaker 4: artists from Oakland, California, talks about the kind of inseparability 599 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:35,000 Speaker 4: from gay nightlife and culture. They say, being in the 600 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:37,560 Speaker 4: queer community, disco balls have kind of always been a 601 00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:39,640 Speaker 4: part of that culture and a part of nightlife, and 602 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:42,520 Speaker 4: tucked inside of our apartments and hanging from our windows 603 00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:45,920 Speaker 4: and sitting in the soil of our houseplants. Oftentimes, queer 604 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:48,400 Speaker 4: and trans people are kind of the creative pavers of 605 00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:51,520 Speaker 4: what's on trend, and it just sometimes takes everyone else 606 00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:54,240 Speaker 4: a little bit longer to catch up. And that's absolutely 607 00:33:54,240 --> 00:33:56,479 Speaker 4: true of a lot of slang, of a lot of 608 00:33:56,680 --> 00:34:01,360 Speaker 4: cultural things, trends, clothing, fashion, etc. You can trace a 609 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:04,520 Speaker 4: lot of that back to the queer community, and you know, 610 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:06,320 Speaker 4: like drag culture and things like that. 611 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:11,440 Speaker 1: Sure, the recursive property of esthetics, right, million we talked 612 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:14,759 Speaker 1: about the nineties with nineteen nineties. Sorry, I have to 613 00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:18,919 Speaker 1: date myself and specify with our pal Ross Bettisch, who 614 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:21,840 Speaker 1: is going to be returning for a conversation about wrestling. 615 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:27,440 Speaker 1: We're really excited there. We know that, look, everything that 616 00:34:28,719 --> 00:34:33,600 Speaker 1: is cool at some point will become uncool and it 617 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:38,360 Speaker 1: will become cool again. Society is a lot of things, 618 00:34:38,440 --> 00:34:42,120 Speaker 1: but not particularly original, right. 619 00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:44,920 Speaker 4: I want to know it's cyclical for sure. And in 620 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:48,960 Speaker 4: fact that a vine Pear article that we've been referencing 621 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:53,319 Speaker 4: the headline of it is the Spinning, Shimmering History of 622 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:56,440 Speaker 4: the Disco Ball and begins with the line everything old 623 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:00,920 Speaker 4: is new again, And that comes from the very pithy 624 00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:05,480 Speaker 4: singer songwriter Peter Allen who's more of a musical theater guy. 625 00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:08,279 Speaker 1: Big fan of musical theater. I dig it, I have 626 00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:11,719 Speaker 1: a pitch for you guys, just thinking out loud here. 627 00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:15,840 Speaker 1: You know, I'm a damn peer. I'm not a sunlight entity. 628 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:18,600 Speaker 1: Is there a way to make it like a dark 629 00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:21,760 Speaker 1: disco ball, like something that will reflect darkness. 630 00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:24,560 Speaker 4: It's a good question. That would be really cool. Maybe 631 00:35:24,719 --> 00:35:26,560 Speaker 4: like if you cover it with tiny black holes. 632 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:29,520 Speaker 1: Okay, there we go, or like the you know, now 633 00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:32,680 Speaker 1: my head's in hot topic and dad zooks gosh, speaking 634 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,319 Speaker 1: a date in yourself. I wonder about a black light 635 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:40,320 Speaker 1: disco ball. I feel like there are so many directions 636 00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:45,879 Speaker 1: people can take the concept of myriad reflectors too. You know, 637 00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:50,160 Speaker 1: this is just a brilliant invention and I can't thank 638 00:35:50,200 --> 00:35:53,600 Speaker 1: you enough, Nol. I love learning about inventions. 639 00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:55,839 Speaker 3: No man, we all do, and thank you as well. Ben. 640 00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:58,799 Speaker 3: And if you want on your own melted disco ball, 641 00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:02,600 Speaker 3: look no further than melteddisco ball dot com, where you 642 00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:06,000 Speaker 3: two can have one of any number of melti diisco 643 00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:07,399 Speaker 3: ball arrangements. 644 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:11,520 Speaker 4: And they're super affordable and super fun. Not sponsored by them, 645 00:36:11,560 --> 00:36:14,600 Speaker 4: but I asked. I was tickled that they have their 646 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:19,080 Speaker 4: own domain, and I believe they were featured in Vogue 647 00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:24,400 Speaker 4: and trend Book according to their own website that claims 648 00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:25,880 Speaker 4: that they are the new trends. 649 00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:28,399 Speaker 3: Take that for what it's worth. Amazing. 650 00:36:28,640 --> 00:36:33,600 Speaker 1: I want one. This is the next gift for your 651 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:36,560 Speaker 1: loved one. This is a great way to surprise people. 652 00:36:36,600 --> 00:36:39,640 Speaker 1: By the way, totally the the idea of like Okay. 653 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:44,520 Speaker 1: So recently I received a very thoughtful gift from a 654 00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:47,640 Speaker 1: friend of the show. I've been thinking a lot about 655 00:36:47,640 --> 00:36:53,640 Speaker 1: how astonishing and profound a thoughtful gift can be, you know, 656 00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:59,360 Speaker 1: not a gift card, not a Hallmark card, just something 657 00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:01,959 Speaker 1: that means I know who you are and I think 658 00:37:02,000 --> 00:37:05,440 Speaker 1: about you. Gosh, yes, and a disco ball you have 659 00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:09,000 Speaker 1: persuaded me knowl absolutely fits that criteria. 660 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:12,160 Speaker 4: Well, I think so too, and Kate Regev, an architect 661 00:37:12,200 --> 00:37:17,160 Speaker 4: and historian at Zubatkan owner representation in New York City, agrees, 662 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:18,960 Speaker 4: And I think we'll close out the episode with a 663 00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:22,040 Speaker 4: quote from them from that New York Times piece. I 664 00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:24,680 Speaker 4: do think that there are cultural shifts that are going 665 00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:27,680 Speaker 4: on that also play into the return of nineteen seventies design. 666 00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:32,320 Speaker 4: There's a decadence and exuberance and shapes and materials, shiny 667 00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:36,120 Speaker 4: metals like brass and chrome, bright patterns and bold tones 668 00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:39,440 Speaker 4: like orange and avocado green. That speaks to people's interests 669 00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:42,560 Speaker 4: today in moving away from the cozy, homey, comforting spaces 670 00:37:42,600 --> 00:37:45,600 Speaker 4: we craved during the heat of the pandemic. I think 671 00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:48,840 Speaker 4: people are looking for ways to celebrate again. They're looking 672 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:50,240 Speaker 4: for moments of joy. 673 00:37:50,719 --> 00:37:54,799 Speaker 1: And with that, thank you so much for tuning in, 674 00:37:54,960 --> 00:37:59,680 Speaker 1: fellow disco fans, fellow fans of Stay It Alive, Stay 675 00:37:59,719 --> 00:38:02,680 Speaker 1: In All Live. Big, big thanks to our super producer, 676 00:38:02,840 --> 00:38:07,520 Speaker 1: mister Max Williams, our research associate for today's episode. 677 00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:08,440 Speaker 3: Noel Brown m M. 678 00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:12,200 Speaker 4: Thanks too, Alex Williams who composed our theme, the Disco 679 00:38:12,280 --> 00:38:16,759 Speaker 4: Boy himself, the Disco Duck, and Christ Frasciotis and Nieves 680 00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:17,680 Speaker 4: Jeff CODs here in spear. 681 00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:21,680 Speaker 1: Also big thanks to our pals that Ridiculous Crime. If 682 00:38:21,719 --> 00:38:24,919 Speaker 1: you dig us, you will love them. Take our word 683 00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:28,600 Speaker 1: for it. They're very much disco people, and I think 684 00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:30,360 Speaker 1: it's time to let the ball drop. 685 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:33,040 Speaker 3: Yeah, let's go take a little disco now. We'll see 686 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:42,640 Speaker 3: you next time, folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 687 00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:45,799 Speaker 3: the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to 688 00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:46,760 Speaker 3: your favorite shows.