It Takes A Tune-Up To Tango
For years, visitors to Elmwood Avenue have been gazing upon a partially lit neon work of art at Bidwell Parkway above Sahara Grill. Every once in a while there were reports that the neon was getting repaired... then nothing. That's not the case anymore as this Wednesday marks the official relighting of the Neon Tango Dancers. Thanks to the work of the Elmwood Village Association, the Buffalo Tango Society, NAS Quicksigns and Joe Golombek, the dancers will once again strut their stuff high overhead one of the Top 10 Great Neighborhoods in America. The lighting ceremony will take place at 6:15pm on Wednesday.
Following is from an interview with Laura Rankin, the artist behind the neon sculpture (see post):
"Boy, this takes me back...
"I think we put that project together somewhere between 1980 and 1982. (The actual year can be found on the copyright date in the lower right hand corner of the Tango sign.) I haven't been on Elmwood Ave. for over 10 years so I didn't realize that the Tango Dancers and the blue neon lines were in such disrepair. Bravo to the Buffalo Argentine Tango Society, Councilmember Joseph Golembek, and Barbra Kavanaugh for creating and finding the resources to restore it. Thank you!
"At the time, it was an exciting project to work on. Dan Sack, Andy Ferullo and I were invited to participate, and I designed the Tango Dancer billboard. I think I still have the original drawings from the project. (I hope I do. They were here somewhere last time I checked.) I'd never done anything for a moving neon piece and all the criteria I had to be mindful of was challenging, especially the number of times neon could overlap (2, not 3). Then I had to draw the thing to scale--10' x 20'--on these huge rolls of brown paper that were tacked to the wall in a neon shop on the West side. (I can't remember the name of the shop.)
"Anyway, the project has a special place in my heart.
"I thought the blue we chose for the neon lines on the buildings was gorgeous. (I have a memory that the particular blue had to be imported from Germany because the richness of the color wasn't available in the states at that time. We looked at dozens of neon color samples.)
"Also, I can't tell you how fitting it is that the Tango society wants to restore it --and not just because of the obvious Tango billboard. The blue neon lines on the buildings were purposely designed to be of different lengths as well as at different heights from the ground. It's more interesting from a design point of view, sure, but the concept was that the lines would represent a kind of 'visual music' as you looked, or drove, down Elmwood Avenue.
"The blue neon created a visual rhythm... maybe even a Tango...
"I especially loved the blue neon lines on a rainy Buffalo night: how they seemed to be everywhere--on the buildings, splashing in the street, on the sidewalks, in windows, on faces, and sliding over passing cars.
*Now can we get the rest of the blue neon tubes fixed? The new Pano's building adds an electrifying piece of the long abandoned blue neon puzzle. Could the fresh strip of blue get people to rally behind that effort too?
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Comment Options
comptart_lws
Litelab Corp (nearly 30 years on Elm Street @ Sycamore) manufactured the lighting cross-fade control. There's a company you might want to profile — quite (locally) but, dedicated to a downtown Buffalo location when "everyone else" was bailing. I think they were involved in the new Burchfield-Penney Museum (LEEDS, right?) Quite an impressive list of projects this company has had over the decades.
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stephenjames716
this is an awesome billboard and it's great to see it getting fixed up.
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comptart_lws
I should have also mentioned: Laura did a great job of making a timeless design. That sign has never looked badly "dated" (no disco hair or bad outfits). I'm glad to see it being rejuvenated
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sbrof
I am also glad to see this in working order again. As a younger kid I always liked to go around it. very fun. Like the bowling balls on Volker lanes.
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DanielSack
Thank you Barbara Kavanaugh of the Buffalo Tango Society, and Joe Golombek.
And thank you to the late Jimmy Griffin and Larry Quinn for letting the project happen. I really thought it was too odd a project for Buffalo's City Hall to allow and to fund. Also credit is owed to the late Ralph Cammarata who worked tirelessly to convince Elmwood business owners to go along with the project.
Yes, Litelab's specially designed crossfade dimmer is still working after 27 years! Not too many electronic items work that long - Kudos to Barry Besmanoff and Rick Spaulding.
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onestarmartin
any chance of the rising moon to rise again along with the other neon strips working again on all the buildings?
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Antiques_Allentown
I know that some of the blue still exists, but I think it would be neat to see the neon correspond to the Red, Yellow, Green, Blue banners that Forever Elmwood intalled. Does anybody know how much it would cost to do the average storefront? Could we find a supplier to give volume discounts? One supplier would also make sure that the colors would be the same. Might be a way to unify our business district, to show out of towners that the district stretches all the way from downtown to the Museum District.
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