July 24, 1966: KPFK-FM in Los Angeles features the debut of Radio Free Oz with Peter Bergman (and his occasional guests Messrs. Austin, Ossman and Proctor). These broadcasts were the genesis of The Firesign Theatre. For over forty years we've had the pleasure to experience comedic history in such recordings as Waiting For the Electrician, Don't Crush That Dwarf, Boom Dot Bust, Box of Danger and many more. Call it parody, improvisation, satire or "stream of consciousness." It fits all these and more; the language of surreal imagination and intellect. The Firesign Theatre -- 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


Tom Gedwillo
Founding Editor/Publisher
Phil Fountain
Co-Editor/Publisher/Graphics















You can't get there from here.









"The pyramid is opening!"
"Which one?"
"The one with the ever-widening hole in it!"









This is a line of Indians leaving beautiful Rancho Malario--to make room for YOU! Here's the beautiful Trail of Tears golf course...









So do your part today, Joe. Join with millions of your neighbors and turn in your shoes!
For INDUSTRY!









If you push something hard enough, it will fall over.











































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








November/December 2011


...AND NOW FOR THE RUMORS BEHIND THE NEWS

This just in from Peter Bergman: "The Firesign Theatre comes to Web radio via Radio Free Oz. "Faster Than The Speed Of Light" is the first of their new Web radio series, TALKING OVER EACH OTHER. There's no time for a learning curve when Phil Proctor has a sound effects box, Phil Austin leans back and yells Al Sharpton at will and Dave is ever ready to throw surrealist gas on the flames. Me, I had a totally wonderful time; but can not be held responsible for the non-linear, deconstructive, full-on loony and disturbingly unpredictable nature of the humor. It's non stop. Take a breath and put it in your ears." how to invest money in amazon

Firesign Theatre Live: Kirkland, Washington on November 18 and 19; Portland, Oregon on December 9 and 10. Ticket info available here.

The Firesign Theatre are now on Twitter @FiresignNews. Get Firesign events, announcements and breaking news before it happens.

A special screening of Everything You Know Is Wrong and Martian Space Party was held July 3, 2011 at The Cinefamily, Los Angeles. The 2nd Annual "Everything Is Festival" featured Phil Proctor and Peter Bergman.

   The Firesign Theatre and Seeland Records is proud to present Duke Of Madness Motors, the long-awaited ultra-comprehensive "Dear Friends" radio reissue that fans have been dreaming of for decades. This is the ultimate box-less boxed set of Firesign's complete broadcast output for the years 1970-1972, when they were blowing minds on Los Angeles radio with The Firesign Theatre Radio Hour Hour, Dear Friends, and Let's Eat. Our reissue package is nothing less than the complete history of the period in one 108-page book and one DVD-ROM of MP3 data. The book contains an 8000-word historical essay, new interviews with Firesign and their producer and engineer, complete show rundowns, original scripts, vintage Phil Proctor photocollages, found objects and much more. Meanwhile the DVD-ROM is a data disk containing every show of the era, fully restored and remastered, encoded to MP3 - over 80 hours in all. Dump to your hard drive and let the fun begin. Duke Of Madness Motors is now available directly from the Firesign Theatre website, and it's a limited print run, so act soon! There's gotta be more than a thousand of you Fireheads still alive and salivating for one of these babies. One book-plus-DVD costs just $45 postage paid to the U.S. and Canada, or $50 post paid worldwide (we accept PayPal, credit cards, checks, or well-concealed cash). Peter Bergman and official Firesign archivist Taylor Jessen (the creative genius behind DOMM) talk about this project on Dangerous Minds with Richard Metzger.

The Firesign Theatre concluded their run of 2010 live performances with stops in these venues: June 11, 12 in Portland OR; June 13 in Eugene OR; June 25 in Ashland OR; June 26 in Redding CA; October 8 in San Rafael CA; and October 22 and 23 in Los Angeles. Thanks to Paul Pomes for these concert photos from L.A.

Podcast/RSS now available for Peter Bergman's Radio Free Oz. Bergman and the newly formed Firesign Theatre launched RFOz on Los Angeles radio in 1966. The show set the trend for what would become known as "underground radio." This new Internet-based version began in the Spring of 2010. Join Peter and co-host David Ossman for these weekly shows and follow updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Chromium Switch The Firesign Theatre Magazine, is an exclusive publication featuring interviews, photos, letters to the editor, and many more Firesign related articles. Our 2nd issue features interviews with The Ossmans, Shadoe Stevens, and Joel Hodgson; news on Peter Bergman's "Radio Free Oz" and much more. Only $2.49 for the single issue download, available here. STILL AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD IS THE PREMIERE ISSUE FEATURING INTERVIEWS WITH PHIL PROCTOR AND WILLIAM STOUT. netflix invest So line up, sign up, and re-enlist today at "It's Just This Little Chromium Switch Here."

The Firesign Theatre performed at The Whidbey Island Center for the Arts on January 8th and 9th, 2010. The legendary quartet continued their Pacific NW tour with shows at The Kirkland Performance Center on Jan. 23 and at The Theatre On The Square in Tacoma on Jan. 24.

 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. Our own 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 Co-Editor/Publisher 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 (October 2009) at the historic Barnsdall Gallery Theater with "Forward Into the Past". investment in amazon Positive reviews and comments everywhere.

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