July 24th, 1966: Live and On The Air, it's KPFK-FM with the distinguished voices of Phil and David and Philip and Peter. "Radio Free Oz" 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
Newsletter Archives
One of my earliest goals when creating the 'chromiumswitch' domain was to include scans of the original Chromium Switch newsletter from the 1970's. 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
January 2010
Chromium Switch The Firesign Theatre Webzine, is now ready for viewing and download. CLICK THE COVER ART ABOVE FOR THE PDF An exclusive publication featuring interviews, photos, letters to the editor, and many more Firesign related articles. A four-issue (1 year)
subscription is just $20, or choose single issue ($5.00) or newsletter-only (4 issues/$3.00) options. New subscribers will be automatically entered in a drawing for autographed Firesign Theatre items. Premiere issue #1 features interviews with Phil Proctor and William Stout, excerpts from "the Edgar Letters," and special content you'll only find in "It's Just This Little Chromium Switch Here."
The Firesign Theatre will perform live at The Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, in Langley WA, on January 8th and 9th, 2010. The legendary quartet continues their Pacific NW tour with shows in Kirkland at The Kirkland Performance Center on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 7:30pm, then Sunday, Jan. 24 at 3:00 PM and 7:30 PM at The Theatre On The Square in Tacoma. Ticket information and show details available here.
On August 24, 2001, the Firesign Theatre filmed a stage show at CBS studios in Los Angeles for a PBS special titled "Weirdly Cool". The special was shown on many PBS stations that December. "Chromium Switch" correspondent/cartoonist Phil Fountain recently obtained Phil Proctor's original script from this show. It includes Phil's handwritten annotations and is autographed on page 1 by all four members of Firesign. [The entire script is not publicly available at this time.] Thank you Philbert for sharing this bit o' Bozo history.
Chromium Switch correspondent/cartoonist Phil Fountain offers Part 2 of his April 2009 experience in Monterey, "Travels with Porgie - Stalking The Firesign Theatre," complete with illustrations and photos.
The Firesign Theatre had a successful 4-night run in Hollywood at the historic Barnsdall Gallery Theater. Positive reviews and comments everywhere. Thanks to Paul Pomes for these concert photos.
Available for the first time, official Chromium Switch T-shirts, exclusively by Phil 'Philbert' Fountain.
Phil Proctor will be the guest narrator for "The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote: Words and Music From the Time of Cervantes" at these 4 venues: Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Arts, Whittier (Calif.) College, Nov. 4; Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, Nov. 7; University of Richmond, November 9; 92nd Street Y, NYC, NY, Nov. 11. Music by The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet.
Just launched, a full-featured online discussion forum for The Firesign Theatre: fireheads.org...Exclusive content for Firesign fans!
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. Included in this PDF are illustrations and photos exclusively for Fireheads.
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! Check out Bob Hardy's website with Monterey pictures, and photos from my Firesign group at Facebook.
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.
News Archive --- Link to Firesign Articles from Previous Months
