Synchronizing light and sound

The marriage of laser light shows and rock music is one not to be missed. Droves of music lovers [HTML_REMOVED] young, old, hipsters, families and everyone in between come to experience what has become a rite-of-passage for newcomers and veterans to Seattle: hypnotic laser dome shows at the Pacific Science Center.

Artists such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles grace the play list and new artists are added often. Situated just beyond the entrance to the Center, the Seattle Laser Dome spans 80 feet in diameter, seats up

and blasts a cool 14,000-watts of sound while lasers dance in the dark

abyss. Where else can staring at the ceiling be so amusing?

The dome itself was designed by Buckminster Fuller, a famed Space Age architect. He designed it for the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, the same fair that introduced the Space Needle.

He developed the dome's style, called "geodesic," a term that describes an architecturally spherical structure. One of the largest geodesic domes in the world is the Tacoma Dome, and while the Science Center's dome is a bit smaller, it lends itself to a more intimate experience with lasers.

The theater operations manager for the dome, Philip Rowe, reminisced on going to concerts at the HUB and working the 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. shift at the KCMU radio station (now KEXP) as an undergraduate at the UW. He started his career as an usher with the Science Center 10 years ago.

Having run the show for a decade, managing a Seattle staple requires a level of commitment.

"This is the reason why I'm still here," he said.

The dome, given its impressive physical structure, surprisingly operates on grassroots promotion. The dome has received sponsorship for a live show, and uses record stores and MySpace to boost its venue. But mostly, the dome depends on word-of-mouth and personal recommendations to bring people in.

"We do all the advertising ourselves," Rowe explained

The laser dome's appeal has also risen as an up-and-coming venue for live bands to perform, such as The Divorce. They played along with the lasers, resulting in an impressed audience.

Junior Roselle Kingsbury was impressed by how well the lasers enhanced the show.

"It really makes you get into the music," Kingsbury said.

Having existed for nearly 45 years of thrills, the dome was originally called the "Spacearium" and used for viewing a 10-minute movie simulating a trip through outer space, according to the Official Guidebook to the World's Fair.

A certain king even dropped by when in first opened. Rowe mentioned that, yes, "Elvis has been in the building."

The dome was converted for use with lasers in 1979, Rowe said. LFI International, an institution for laser show distribution, provided the necessary library of laser shows. The dome then accumulated its own staff of laser artists.

John "Laser Ivan" Borcherding joined the Seattle dome team through Laser Fantasy. He's completed more than 10,000 laser shows to date.

The Seattle dome has acquired the necessary equipment to design shows entirely on-site, such as the Sublime and Laser Queen shows. There is no need to buy shows from libraries anymore, Rowe said. A staff of five works together to design each show.

The dome-going crowd covers a wide demographic, accumulating at the Pacific Science Center entrance with blankets and pillows in-hand, waiting to be allowed inside the dome, where a wild experience awaits them.

Careful, though: Center staff can turn people away if a popular show is sold-out, and latecomers won't be seated, so it's wise to arrive early.

Rowe mentioned police on-site to discourage any shenanigans that may be tempting in the veil of darkness inside the dome.

"We are fighting stereotypes of who comes in here," Rowe said.

He says the shows appeal to a wide audience, including college students and adults coming back after having gone as a teenager.

Renee Lurker, a recent UW graduate, went to a free one-night-only promotional "Muse" laser show.

"It was awesome, psychedelic even," she said. "It makes you feel like you're in another world."

The Beatles show runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening, and the venue's longest running show, Pink Floyd's "The Wall," runs Friday and Saturday nights at midnight.

Bring a pillow or a jacket to rest your head on while lying down[HTML_REMOVED] [HTML_REMOVED] the best way to feel the thundering sound system [HTML_REMOVED] and get cozy for the hour or so of laser entertainment. Thursday is "cheap-date" night for $5 a show, $8 Friday through Sunday.

New shows are introduced often: Laser Queen debuts in October, along with a night of Dark Side of the Rainbow.

As the dome's MySpace site boasts, "There's no place like Dome!"

[Reach reporter Evelyn Fenner-Dorrity at features@thedaily.washington. edu.]