The Magic Bus: Too Much!

TSG recently took a ride on Antenna Theater's Magic Bus. Antenna Theater is an avant-guard/performance art troupe with a history of works featuring audience involvement and group participation. They unveil new projects each year for the San Francisco International Art Festival. This year's presentation is their version of a big-city tour bus, aptly named in honor of The Who's timeless saga of "transcendental transportation".

Catching our ride at Union Square, across from Macy's, we discover that this isn't your everyday bus. We're all sitting in a line, back to back with the other passengers. There is a projection/sound system installed around and above us.

Then, as we get under way, the magic really starts. Mechanized screens roll down over the windows at various points during the tour, and we're amazed by a kaleidoscopic multi-media show.

Seen above is a portion of the show featuring clips from the 1967 "Our World" broadcast of  All You Need Is Love  As you can see in the images below, there was more than a few psychedelic images included in the show as well.

For a better rider-POV of the experience, check out our youtube video impression. (Note--there is no sound at the beginning of the clip--there is no need to adjust your set):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQIxm22YhCQ

The 90-minute tour through the the city's historic 'burbs only set us back $25. Definitely NOT too much!