The Locomotion of Lava Lampsby Eva Pasco Author of "Underlying Notes" 
Though I've yet to
possess a lava lamp, I've always been meaning to. Its unpredictable
kaleidoscopic fluidity never fails to capture and hold my
attention. The lamp's resurgence in popularity from
its limelight during the sixties heats up the
locomotion all over again.
While
British inventor Craven Walker sipped suds at a pub
Post WWII, instead of seeing pink elephants, his
eyes locked onto a weird lamp , "a contraption made
out of a cocktail shaker, old tins, and things." To say
Walker was inspired is an understatement, for he spent the next
decade and a half perfecting the Astro Lamp which received
jeers and sneers of "disgusting" and "ugly." As timing
is everything, the Psychedelic Movement and Love Generation
of the sixties caused sales to soar in Europe.
Two American
entrepreneurs purchased the rights to manufacture the lamp in
Chicago, renaming it the Lava Lite Lamp. Some
400,000 lava lamps are manufactured each year, indicating our
willingness to succumb to the hypnotic
gyrations of a globular hula dance. Transcendental
meditation, anyone?
Copies of Underlying Notes by
Eva Pasco may be purchased here:
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.jpg "The 60s - Carl - 1968 - Vietnam")
