Looking at the moment captured in the Bob Minkin photo posted here, this Nashville-based designer is reminded of another music city: New Orleans. That makes perfect sense, given that the city that gave the world jazz has always been an incubator of joyful, free-flowing creativity unburdened by the weight of old rules… exactly the kind of vibe that radiates throughout Dave Quinn’s onstage color tapestry!
The magical mixes that captivated in this photo were created during a winter tour by Darkstar Orchestra, a celebrated band that plays the music of the Grateful Dead. That too makes sense. Those who had the privilege of seeing Jerry Garcia and his bandmates are still warmed by the memories of the pure joy they experienced taking in the unexpected and unconventional improvisational musical mixes they so gleefully conjured up tour after tour.
Quinn is pursuing something very similar here, only instead of mixing guitar riffs and harmonies like the Grateful Dead or trumpets and saxophones like those pioneering jazz artists, he is rolling happily along uncharted paths with color. The result, as is so often the case when this brand of creativity happens, delights both the eyes and the heart.
We talked to Quinn about his colorful creation.
The rainbow you created is spectacular, but did you worry that putting too many colors on the stage at once would blur things?
“I really try never to use more than three colors at a time. Here I’m def using four, maybe more if you count the different spectrums of blues and purples. Also, in this position, some of the beam’s mixing is making new colors of its own, which I like to do. I first discovered this after looking at pics from a show years ago from the Anthem in DC.”
Were there any colors you thought of using, but ultimately decided to leave out?
“I will use white sometimes in this song that was playing when this photo was taken (“Music Never Stops”), depending on what other songs are in the set. There are always purples, green and blues in the color scheme — plus magenta most of the time. But if a show’s set has another song with a similar color scheme, I’ll add white just to make it more distinct and not a repeated look color-wise. That is what I did here.”
Which color (or colors) did you decide to use first?
“Green and blue. I don’t know why, but this song, since day one, has started with these two colors. And I would usually just do a yellow chase through the look, but then later decided to add magenta, and I’ll still do the yellow sin chase during the Jam.”
Which was the most challenging color to work with?
“I’d say green is the most challenging. I don’t like how green looks on the skin of performers, and I find green hardest to match with other colors. Green is probably the only color that I would never do just a full look with. I have color wipes of every color except green. But funny enough, most of my favorite pictures of my lights have green in the look!
You kept your colors pretty symmetrical. Why was that?
“Symmetry is a big part of my show. I’d say 90, maybe even 95-percent of my show is symmetrical. I do have actual positions that are asymmetrical, and some color looks that are as well. But most of the time I keep a balance to things.”
You mentioned white before, so how would you describe the role that white played in this design?
“Besides, the front light is very little. “
What was the vibe you hoped to evoke by creating this rainbow of so many different colors?
“This particular song is a dance party. One of the hits and a song the crowd loves to sing and dance along to. Like 70s disco/funk feel… I’m assuming, since I wasn’t born until after disco was dead. So big, wide gobos, fun colors. The purples and greens remind me of New Orleans, and there’s no better place to party/dance than there.”
Thanks to Bob Minkin, Facebook @Bob Minkin Photography
