GALAXY Project: a quick update
/In three weeks I will transport all three storage tubs to Emergence, a small burn in South Carolina, and GALAXY will have its burn debut.
Nothing has really changed about GALAXY since we installed it at Unsilent Night Newnan back in December, but this week I finally ordered a generator so that we can recharge the batteries every morning at the burn. This was agonizing: On the one hand, I didn’t want to spend $5,000 on a generator; on the other, shouldn’t I buy one that could run our refrigerator in an emergency here in the default world?
I finally settled on this one, because 1) it’s lighter than the big guys, and I’m the one who has to store it, pack it, transport it, etc.; and 2) it can run on either gasoline or propane. I figure if I run it on propane, then I don’t have to deal with storing/transporting it with gasoline (or draining it).
Recently a random piece of music crossed my consciousness, and that triggered an idea for GALAXY that I can’t put into practice for Emergence, but I intend to save my pennies to do for Alchemy: a silent disco!
For those who have never encountered the term, it’s exactly what it sounds like: participants wear headsets that are tuned to a small transmitter, and a DJ pumps the music to them. Everybody can have a head-banging time without disturbing the neighbors.
(A bystander might be nonplussed coming upon a horde of dancers all getting down in perfect silence. You can see that concept in action with Improv Everywhere’s MP3 Experiments, which I adapted for a couple of summers at GHP. Fun times. I should probably do one for the burn.)
Amazon offers several silent disco kits; more work is required.
In the meantime, here are two tracks that are already in the playlist:
Imagine walking up to the disco desk, picking up headsets, and then hearing this music as you explore GALAXY.
Excelsior!
