Puff! Foomp! Foof! Boom! The 11-ton Large Hot Pipe Organ (www.lhpo.org) redefines industrial music with a blast of flaming propane gas. A house-sized assemblage of 20 steel pipes ranging in height from 11 to 33 feet, the instrument is played via two PowerBooks and a MIDI keyboard and drumpads. The computers generate the background rhythm, while the MIDI signals control the gas valves and igniters (each hour-long performance burns about 800 pounds of fuel).
An upgrade of 19th-century flame organs, this percussive beast was built by fire artist Bastiaan Maris and MIT computer science grad student Geo Homsy in 1993. With a half-dozen European shows under their belts, the two are talking with Burning Man 2001 organizers about a US debut.
"It's not just sound," says Homsy. "It's light. It's heat. It's smell. It's steam coming off the pipes. It's people screaming with excitement."
ELECTRIC WORD
Sight Manager
Live/Work Space
Blew Note
Enter The Dragon
Ring Of Fire
Spin Control
