It all started in June 1975, when
I was working part ~time at a Community School in Fife, Scotland.
One of my ex ~teachers, a PE instructor was organising a school
disco which was to take place the following week, and asked me
if I knew of anyone who could provide the music. I had some experience
of such things which I had gained at a local youth club, and without
a second thought, said that I would provide the entertainment.
It didn't seem important at the time that I had no equipment or
records.
My main source of income at this time was as a result of being
a medical lab technician ( no Quincy jokes please ) so, because
I had to work through the day, my Dad and a friend of mine had
the unenviable task of acquiring the necessary equipment. This
was no easy task, and many miles were driven during that week.
The strange thing about it is that after scouring the countryside,
high and wide, the equipment eventually came from a town 15
miles away.
Anyway, I digress. When I came in from work on the night of
the function, the equipment, stereo Citronic twin turntables
with 100 watt built - in amplifier and speakers were lying in
boxes on the lounge floor. The whole lot cost £200 ~ that
was a lot of money in those days ~ I suppose it still is if
you're like me and always skint. So far so good. All I needed
now was records and a crash course in operating the equipment.
I pulled in a few favours from people at the local youth club
~ remember that bit? ~ and managed to borrow four boxes of records
( that was about 200 in total ). On the night of the function
we transported our newly bought equipment to the venue in a
car. That was a site to behold by the way. Amazingly, when we
set up the equipment it worked first time ~ this was taken as
truly a wondrous omen. Almost as amazing as our setup procedure,
the first function went without a hitch. The result of this
was that we were offered a Friday night residency at the Community
School ( which actually went on until 1983 ). PowerPlay was
born.
With time came more sound and lighting equipment, records ~
the black vinyl ones ~ and the confidence to expand our borders
and try our hand at other types of functions ~ weddings, engagement
and birthday parties, and even summer roadshows. You name it,
we did it ~ from a servicemen's children's party in an American
Airforce base ( and that was an experience and a half ), to
student parties in Edinburgh and even a funeral wake.
In the late 70s and early 80s, the PowerPlay light show was
18 feet from end to end, rather a lot to carry about, but it
all fitted into a small covered horsebox trailer. It's changed
a lot since then, thank goodness (I'm not as young as I used
to be). Our catchment area for functions stretched from Edinburgh
to Arbroath, and all parts in between, although the bulk of
our work occurred in Fife. Being somewhat of a retrovert, I
think these were my favourite times. We did things then that
we would never think of doing now ~ but I won't go into the
gory details.
Between 1980 and 1983 the sound equipment was changed, not
once, but twice ~ the final choice being Citronic (again) 200
watt stereo turntables and built ~ in amplifier. This was the
choice of sound equipment for years to come.
When the family started to arrive the PowerPlay activities
were somewhat curtailed (for obvious reasons). Child number
1 appeared in 1983 (a girl ~ boy, could she cry, and by the
way she hasn't stopped since), number two in '84 (a boy ~ I
think) and finally number three in '88 ( another boy ~ thank
god).
Now, the boys in particular are a great benefit, and travel
to most events. The young 'un is very good at lifting heavy
things (giving dad an easier life), and has quite an aptitude
for mixing CDs. Son number 1 is very good at moaning.
Oh, did I just mention CDs? We've done away with records now
and use CDs. Isn't it amazing how much music can be put on such
a small disc? Oops, there I go digressing again. We find CDs
more efficient for two main reasons:
1.The quality of sound from a CD is far superior
to that of a record (isn't it).
2.CDs, being smaller than records, take up less
space for storage (good one that).
Currently our sound system consists of a purpose
~ built dual CD console with auto start fader facility, KAM
mixer (all housed in a flight case) and ADD speakers all driven
by a Realistic stereo amplifier.
Lighting varies from venue to venue, but includes
Hypermoon II, Martin, Prolight, Light Splash units and (not
always) Strobes and Smoke machines.
