Re-Discovering The Firesign Theater

I suspect I can still recite the words to both sides of “Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him” and “How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You’re Not Anywhere At All.”

marx-and-lennon.jpgI listened to the Firesign Theater last night. If you are of a certain age and hung with a certain crowd you know the Firesign Theater. You know them well.

I was petrified Firesign would be like nearly everything else I re-discover from the 60s and 70s–it hadn’t aged well. Fear unfounded. They were ahead of their time. We’re only now catching up.

I dropped a reference to Firesign via Twitter and had a bunch of people respond with lines from one of their records. I suspect I can still recite the words to both sides of “Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him” and “How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You’re Not Anywhere At All.” Their records (this was the pre-cassette, pre-CD, pre-digital era) were intellectual and silly simultaneously.

Here’s a very short sample from their webpage.

I searched and found Phil Proctor’s email address and sent him a note. His was the first Firesign name that came to mind. I don’t know him. He responded quickly.

“Talk about “old stuff”! We started in the 60s and now we’re in our 60s, which begs the question, “How Can We Be in 2 Places at Once, when we’re actually in cyberspace?”

I listened to my Firesign Theater records and listened again… and again… and again. These guys were like gods to me. I wonder if they knew?

One thought on “Re-Discovering The Firesign Theater”

  1. Firesign Theatre repository featuring Chromium Switch newsletter, Edgar Bullington session notes, Phil Fountain cartoons, Firezine Archive, and Four-Alarm FIRESIGNal

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