#902 Nothing says “Let’s party” like a disco ball

Last night we went to see Spazmatics at South Point casino. The show was a lot of fun and every one seemed to be having a good time but the one thing that really made me smile is when they lit up their giant disco ball.

A disco ball (also known as a mirror ball or glitter ball) is a generally spherical object that reflects light directed at it in many directions. Its surface consists of hundreds or thousands of facets, nearly all of approximately the same shape and size, and each having a mirrored surface. Usually it is mounted well up in the air and suspended from a device that usually causes it to rotate steadily on a vertical axis, and illuminated by spotlights or lasers, so that stationary viewers experience beams of light flashing over them, and see what seems like a zillion spots of light spinning around the walls of the room. obviously, the more facets and the more lights shined at the disco ball, the more spots and light beams. That equals more smiles.

The disco ball was first widely used in nightclubs in the 20s although they were already in existence and used before then, appearing in a description of a ballroom dance in 1897 in Boston. In the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, these devices were a standard piece of equipment in discothèques, and by the end of the 20th century, the name “disco ball” had grown quite popular. If you are old enough to remember the disco craze then you certainly saw them at any club you went to. They are used a lot at electron dance music (EDM) concerts these days.

You can buy miniature disco balls. Brenna and I have one for the christmas tree.

Pink Floyd used a huge disco ball during the song “Comfortably Numb” on both their 1987 and 1994 world tours. The 1994 tour disco ball was one of the largest in the world at 4.9 meters in diameter. If you buy the video of each tour: “Delicate Sound of Thunder” and “Pulse” you can see it in all its glory. Madonna used a two ton glitter ball that was embellished by two million dollars worth of Swarovski crystals on her Confessions Tour in 2006. I remember when I saw U2 on their 1997-1998 PopMart Tour when they used a lemon-shaped disco ball.

The world’s largest disco ball can be found on the promenade in Blackpool, England

If you get one thing out of this post please take this idea with you: If you ever see this truck driving down the street…

…follow it. You know there is gonna be a fantastic party and plenty of smiles wherever it is heading.

What do you think about the disco ball? Do you call it that or glitter ball or mirror ball or maybe even a different name? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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