Light music

Music, lasers mix for performance

Bluesy moans and mystical lyrics pumped through Osmond Lab this weekend, putting a decidedly unscientific twist on the usual home for quantum mechanics and electricity discussions.

But the images on the screen made it clear that this performance was being sponsored by the Society of Physics Students. With a 50-minute laser light show, the group dragged Led Zeppelin into the 21st century.

"Every year, the show has surpassed our expectations," said David Volpe (junior-chemistry), a member of the Society of Physics Students.

Images of couples dancing, wizards and strange creatures were paired with abstract, spinning shapes, all choreographed to go with the music.

At times, the lasers added new dimension to the songs. In "The Battle of Evermore," an abstract creature danced in the moonlight, while the lady in "Stairway to Heaven" was provided with a fancy car.

- David Volpe, junior-chemistry

Other interpretations were a bit stranger. During "When the Levee Breaks," the eerie outline of Illinois spun to the lyrics, "I'm going to Chicago."

While students watched new interpretations of their old favorites, driving them to occasional hooting and pounding on the chairs, what they were actually seeing was a single dot moving around the screen, tracing images several times in a fraction of a second, Volpe said.

This technique is similar to television, which only lights a single pixel at a time, but does it so quickly that an entire image seems to be appearing at once, he said.

For the four-person team at Prismatic Magic, creating a 50-minute show is a huge undertaking, taking a total of 240 hours of programming, said co-owner Jule Cucci. The group has made three shows this semester, including a U2 show that debuted Friday and a Pink Floyd show that begins next weekend.

Students who saw the show said they couldn't get enough. Paul Freund (freshman-English) said it should have been longer.

However, Josh Dubnansky (senior-marketing), who came mainly to hear the music, was annoyed that one song added at the end, Don McLean's "American Pie," was not a Led Zeppelin song.

"They should have played more Zeppelin," he said.