SAN FRANCISCO – Pro lighting innovator Michael “MP” Paul, who turned discarded glass objects and colored liquids into psychedelic lighting effects for the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and other acts in the Bay area in the 1960s, died Aug. 31. He was 71.
NAMM, which interviewed MP for its Oral History program in 2015, got word of MP’s passing from his longtime friend and live audio reinforcement pioneer Jim Gamble, founder of the Lake Tahoe-area console company, Gamble Sound.
As NAMM notes, MP had a longtime interest in the visual arts, and after discovering the use of colorized liquids and overhead projectors, he established his own pro lighting business, which pioneered tools and techniques for decades. MP also played a key supportive role in pro audio when he formed a friendship and partnership with Gamble in Lake Tahoe.
For a clip from NAMM’s 2015 oral history interview with MP, go to: https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/michael-paul
