November 17, 1966: Live and On The Air, it's KPFK-FM with the distinguished voices of Phil and David and Philip and Peter. "The Oz Film Festival" seeded the public awareness and cultural impact of The Firesign Theatre that has continued for over 40 years. The experience is there in the recordings of Waiting For the Electrician, Don't Crush That Dwarf, Boom Dot Bust, or Box of Danger. Call it parody, improvisation, satire or "stream of consciousness." It fits all these and more; the language of surreal imagination and intellect. Austin, Ossman, Proctor and Bergman -- can't imagine a world without them!
Who Am Us, Anyway?
The original Chromium Switch newsletter for fans of The Firesign Theatre existed from 1972 to 1975. Also known as FIREMAIL, the list readership increased after being mentioned on the liner notes of The Giant Rat of Sumatra
CS, Firezine, FAlaFal Database
One of my earliest goals when creating the 'chromiumswitch' domain was to include scans of my original Chromium Switch "print" editions. Now those issues are available here.
After months of planning and design, Chromium Switch is pleased to announce the launch of The Firezine Archives, a comprehensive collection of graphics from Fred Wiebel's library. These are sorted into folders, such as "Recordings" and "Books." When you register you'll be able to access unique features, including "Lightbox," where you collect your favorites and download them later, in a single compressed file. Many thanks to Fred for his collaboration with Switch on this project.
The complete collection of Four-Alarm FIRESIGNal is now online. In the 1980's and 1990's, Elayne Riggs published this informative and insightful periodical.
Philbert's Phunnies
Now available, exclusively at Chromium Switch, the continuing series of Firesign Theatre cartoons by Phil Fountain.
"...Shout Factory has done a superb job in offering this material with very clean sound and an excellent presentation with intro essays by the various characters associated with Danger in one form or another, including Danger himself, Rocky Rococo, and others. If you are heretofore unacquainted with Nick Danger and interested in humor, in particular classy subversive humor that spoofs everything associated with American culture, you have no idea how much this is for you. Those well versed in both the Firesigns and Danger are already smiling at the thought of such a document."~Thom Jurek, AMG
June 2009
TFT aficionado, Firehead and Chromium Switch correspondent/cartoonist Phil Fountain writes of his weekend in Monterey with the amusing and insightful "Travels with Porgie" - the first of 2 parts.
The Firesign Theatre had an outstanding performance on April 24, 2009 at the Golden State Theatre in Monterey, California, celebrating Nick Danger's 40th birthday! Thanks to Phil Fountain for the photo (above) taken from his balcony seat. Also check out Bob Hardy's website with Monterey pictures, and photos from my Firesign group at Facebook.
In honor of the April 24th Firesign show, here's a brand new Philbert cartoon, exclusively for Chromium Switch.
Ken Gammage sent along this review of Bozos from 1972.
Announcing the first collaborative encyclopedia about The Firesign Theatre: WikiRococo. This has a simpler interface than Wikipedia, but uses the same principle of public editing and discussion. It's a "work in progress" and will depend on the input of Firesign fans and friends. Please register there and check out the many categories available for editing. Read the "Users Help" section and test your formatting in The Sandbox.
Most of us are aware of the rapid growth of Facebook. I knew there were some privacy issues, and I wasn't sure how to utilize the site. Within a week I reassessed my perception and can now say that Facebook is more than you'd ever think it would be. It's a great networking tool, and I've found many new Firesign Theatre "Dear Friends" to add to my growing list. There are several Firesign groups at Facebook you can check out: Lovers of Firesign Theater, Don't crush that dwarf, hand me the pliers! and one just for Chromium Switch. Please have a look when you can and re-energize your Firesign Theatre soul!
Starting with his recollection of L.A. radio in the 60's, and continuing through the genesis of Radio Free Oz, Firesign cartoonist Phil Fountain writes about the Box of Danger collection. Be sure to check out Phil's other entries at A News Café dot com.
Here's another review of the Box of Danger release plus an interview with The Guys by Kurt Luchs of The Big Jewel.
From the International Mystery Writers' Festival: Special audio CD of the 2008 Live Radio Theatre - the special event performances (double-bill) of Ray Bradbury's "It Burns Me Up" and Mary Higgins Clark's "My Gal Sunday." This hour-long program features fine performances by our Live Radio Players including Gary Sandy, Phil Proctor, David Ossman, Melinda Peterson, Amy Walker, and many talented others (including Firesign friend Richard Fish) with remarks by Mary Higgins Clark. Fully dramatized with sound effects and music, the recorded live performance brings you into our theatre through the magic of "radio", which you can enjoy at home, on the road, or as a special experience with family and friends. Both the live stage performances and the CD were produced in association with Otherworld Media, a multiple Grammy-nominated and international award-winning audio production team headed by Judith Walcutt and David Ossman.
Check out this April 2008 interview from "Air America" featuring David Ossman on The Lionel Show.
Just located this Phil Proctor interview from May, 2008. Phil was a guest on Blog Talk Radio's D'Antoni and Levine Show. Tom D'Antoni is an Oregon-based writer/TV producer and Art Levine is a Washington D.C.-based reporter. Clip runs for about 30 minutes.
From KPFK comes an interesting artifact that appeared in their publication The Folio.
News Archive --- Link to Firesign Articles from Previous Months
