Pink Floyd’s space odyssey ends
Ryan McCullough
“I didn’t expect to have 700 people coming to my show in one day, that’s ridiculous,” said MCC student, Brian Thill. Thill isn’t in a band. He doesn’t even perform in plays. Thill is the mind behind “A Tour of the Universe with Pink Floyd”, a recent feature at MCC Astronomy Nights.Astronomy Nights are a monthly occurance at MCC’s planetarium. The shows run every half hour from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. If the sky is clear, telescopes are brought out.
Thill’s show was introduced in July 2010. The turnout was so large, two extra shows were scheduled in July and one in August.
“I wanted you to feel like you’re in the backseat of a Cadillac, just relaxin’, just tourin’ the universe, listenin’ to some good tunes, and you’re doin’ it in style,” said Thill about the show.
Thill proposed the idea for a Pink Floyd inspired planetarium show to Kevin Healy, MCC physical science instructor.
“Pretty much every planetarium has a Pink Floyd show. So, I figured we might as well join the crowd,” Healy said.
Thill then got sound design students from Kieth Heffner’s Sound Design 2 class to make a mix of the Pink Floyd album, “The Dark Side of the Moon.”
“I’m like the catalyst for this whole thing,” Thill said.
Thill and Manh Louong, a previous MCC student, put together the visuals for the show, with Healy’s oversight.
“We had this idea of flow. We wanted to do constellations, planets, stars, then the whole milky way, then the whole universe, and then come back to the beginning again,” Healy said.
William Bradford and James Quinlin handled the music. Bradford and Quinlin each worked separately then combined their projects.
“It was a whole ‘nother thing,” Bradford said.
While the Sept. 1 show will be the last showing of a “Tour of the Universe with Pink Floyd,” the show will be kept around for later viewings.
“I wanted to create something here and leave a footprint at MCC,” Thill said.
Thill was the first student to undertake an independent study project like this.
“Now, seven students are signing up for the an independent study like mine.We’re gonna have more of this,” Thill said.
If students are interested in volunteering, contact Kevin Healy at khealy@mesacc.edu.
