Check out this Star Wars-themed Christmas light display in Newark, CA, rocking the neighborhood with nine tunes from the movies.
I built all the props using wood, metal, acrylic and corrugated plastic. I am a music/teacher director for a living (COVA Conservatory in Oakland and Centerville Presbyterian Church in Fremont), hence the massive instruments! If you look closely (especially during the Cantina song) the instruments are playing the real notes! …The guitar is 17′, the piano is 19′ and the drums are standard. About 12,500 channels running around 100,000 lights.
There once was a manager in my office whose radical frontyard Christmas light display repeatedly won the city of Burbank’s top award. He was a piker next to this Star Wars fan! Could his lights be seen for miles? No. Did he need to make sure his lights didn’t shine into airline flight paths? No. Did he raise thousands for charity? No – the donations he sought were to pay his own power bill. The owner of the Newark display says due to LED technology the power bill is only $100 a month. He uses his light show to attract donations to a church food program.
Discover more from File 770
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
“Only $100/month” is more than my entire electric bill for my house. One wonders if he’s given any thought to his carbon footprint, and to what his Christmas light display is doing to lessen the likelihood of future “white Christmases”.
So there’s only a short writeup describing the display itself (which is admittedly awesome), but — holy crap! — how do you do something like this without throwing in the words “John Williams” at least once?
Some people in my area cover the trees in their front yards and have the lights on full time and wonder why they have dead trees in the spring.
Oh, come on Morris… Surely our carbon footprints can leave some room for a dance of whimsy!
I once dated a girl who lived across the street from the ex-manager of Mike’s, in 1969. Small world.
“Now feel the might of this fully OPERATIONAL Battlesta- uh, house.”