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So back in the early 1970s, our band Universe was playing around lower Michigan and in Ontario. Mostly dance bars, though for some reason a lot of high school dances in Ontario liked us. I set up the sound system, pretty basic. We played one gig at a club called Heaven in Drayton Plains, a suburb of Pontiac, or if you prefer, a far fringe of Detroit.
Heaven was unusual, it used to be a bowling alley, so they left the lanes, filled in all the gutters and it made a dandy dance floor. The stage was over in one corner. The stage was round, and it rotated. Like the classic Three Stooges movie where the fireplace spins around and now you are on the other side of the wall. The stage had a wall across th center. It was basically two stages back to back. The club hired two bands. You played a set, then hit the button and the stage rotated around and the other band emerged. The fun was, at the end of our set we got with the other band and we either started a tune they knew and they finished it as the stage spun Or we just did a jam. In either case we were still playing as we rotated out of sight, and the other team rotated into view already playing.... the same song.
One problem, all my mic cords had to be unhooked before we spin, or they'd go with the stage. I had built a snake, and the head was at the back corner of the stage, so tearing out all the mic cords was at least at one place. Unplug them all and toss the head off the stage proper.
Now in exploring the place, I discovered there was space behind a wall along one side. In fact, they had left the old pinsetter machines in place and just put a wall in front of them. Big complex machines, lots of moving sub assemblies. And I saw that the cables connecting these subassemblies were joined by big AMphenol screw-on connectors. I forget now, but 50-80 pin jobs. Bingo. SO I climbed onto one machine and took a mated pair of these. I mounted half the connector on my snake head, and put the mate on the end of my snake cable. Now when I came time to spin out of view, I just spun the collar of my connector and parted it. I felt darn clever.
Heaven was unusual, it used to be a bowling alley, so they left the lanes, filled in all the gutters and it made a dandy dance floor. The stage was over in one corner. The stage was round, and it rotated. Like the classic Three Stooges movie where the fireplace spins around and now you are on the other side of the wall. The stage had a wall across th center. It was basically two stages back to back. The club hired two bands. You played a set, then hit the button and the stage rotated around and the other band emerged. The fun was, at the end of our set we got with the other band and we either started a tune they knew and they finished it as the stage spun Or we just did a jam. In either case we were still playing as we rotated out of sight, and the other team rotated into view already playing.... the same song.
One problem, all my mic cords had to be unhooked before we spin, or they'd go with the stage. I had built a snake, and the head was at the back corner of the stage, so tearing out all the mic cords was at least at one place. Unplug them all and toss the head off the stage proper.
Now in exploring the place, I discovered there was space behind a wall along one side. In fact, they had left the old pinsetter machines in place and just put a wall in front of them. Big complex machines, lots of moving sub assemblies. And I saw that the cables connecting these subassemblies were joined by big AMphenol screw-on connectors. I forget now, but 50-80 pin jobs. Bingo. SO I climbed onto one machine and took a mated pair of these. I mounted half the connector on my snake head, and put the mate on the end of my snake cable. Now when I came time to spin out of view, I just spun the collar of my connector and parted it. I felt darn clever.
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