Riddle me this:
Where do bad rainbows go?
To prism. It's a light sentence, but it gives them time to reflect.
The Dark Side of the Rainbow
Sometime during the dull days of the pandemic, Pink Floyd floated back into my listening queue like Glinda the Good floating into Munchkinland. (Foreshadowing!) I think it was because once the great and powerful Algorithm discovered my fondness for Floyd guitarist David Gilmour's music, it kept throwing concert clips and interviews at me. Which I rather enjoyed, until it became too much.
Then suddenly came the 50th anniversary of The Dark Side of the Moon, one of the greatest albums of all time.*
Naturally, knowing which state I live in, the Algorithm offered this:
Which got me thinking.
It's been years since I first watched The Dark Side of the Rainbow, the astounding Dark Side of the Moon/Wizard of Oz mash-up at the Lawrence Arts Center. More years than Judy Garland had when she became Dorothy Gale to all of us. Maybe it's time to show it as a Lawrence Public Library program, thought I, and throw in a little something extra.
Sadly, Pink Floyd has disbanded, so scratch that idea, and the cast of The Wizard of Oz is now somewhere over the rainbow. Not coming up with anything movie-related, I turned to the music. It wasn't long before I realized the obvious, did a quick online search, and promptly contacted the Astronomy Associates of Lawrence.
A Total Lunar Eclipse on March 13–14
For we are about to experience a total lunar eclipse! Early in the morning of March 14 the full moon will move into the shadow of the Earth, and go dark red.
And we reach the point of this blog: To get you ready for the great gig in the sky (iykyk), on Thursday, March 13, from 7–8 PM, the Astronomy Associates will be in the library auditorium with a presentation on all things lunar and all things eclipse.
Due to the relatively large shadow cast by the earth, lunar eclipses last a fairly long time — about six hours this time around. If it's not obscured by clouds and if you are awake, your chances of seeing it are good. Night owls and flying monkeys rejoice, the peak for this one arrives at 1:58:43 AM Friday, with the totality lasting over an hour.
Later, after we've caught up on our sleep, we're off to see The Dark Side of the Rainbow, in all its black and white and Technicolor glory, on Friday, March 14, from 6–8 PM in the Auditorium.
In case you're not sure about this, a few movie-music synchronicity teasers:
"Balanced on the biggest wave..." sings Pink Floyd, as Dorothy balances on a farm fence.
"Out of the way, it's a busy day, I've got things on my mind," they sing, and the Munchkins move aside to allow Dorothy (and her little dog, too!) to follow the Yellow Brick Road.
"The lunatic is on the grass." Enter Scarecrow.
"All that you say..." and the rusty Tin Man suddenly talks.
"Waiting for someone or something to show you the way," and the Gatekeeper opens the doors to the Emerald City.
You get the idea. Pink Floyd band members and Dark Side of the Moon sound engineer Alan Parsons all insist that the album is NOT based on the movie, though one obsessive list I found had over 100 of these sorts of coincidences! As a Kansan, you owe it to yourself to see how many you can discover, and dare your friends to find more.
You Can't Spell Serendipity without "Pi"
Bonus! As you surely know, in addition to the total eclipse of the moon early that morning, March 14 is Pi Day -- a perfect coincidence with stars and planets and moons and circular movies featuring twisters.
And in the end it's only round and round. And round.
*500 weeks(!) on the Top Album Sales chart, as I write.
-Jake Vail is an Information Services Assistant at Lawrence Public Library.
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