Even local "weirdness magnet" Clyde Lewis isn't able to explain the strange ties that bind the film "The Wizard of Oz" with Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album. But that isn't stopping him from fanning the flames.
For months, there have been Internet rumors and published reports concerning theories that you can supposedly synchronize the record with the film's first 40 minutes - evidently the music and song lyrics match up with specific actions and scenes in the movie."As you may know, I'm really into this weirdness involving synchronicities and coincidences, so this is right up my alley," said Lewis, who hosts the weekly "Ground Zero" radio program, which deals with strange phenomena. "This kind of stuff happens to me all the time."
While Lewis doesn't claim that he actually "discovered" the eerie similarities, he says he may have planted the seeds while appearing on a Boston radio show and in a late-night "classic rock" program he once hosted for the former Z-93 radio station.
"It's weird that this has become so popular now. The theory has been out there for eight years, and my first experience with it took place in 1979," he said.
To further explore the phenomenon, he has prepared "Dark Side of the Rainbow," a 40-minute lecture/video program that shows many of the correlations, from a Munchkin dance number that seems to be choreographed to the song "Money" to the album's closing sounds - heartbeats - which begin as the Tin Woodsman comes to life in the film.
Curious Utahns can judge for themselves when he brings his "Dark Side of the Rainbow" to the Tower Theater, 876 E. 900 South, on Wednesday, July 30.
Lewis will be the first to admit that he "reached" for many "coincidences" in his program - such as misheard lyrics in "Time" pertaining to Toto - but said part of the fun is in discovering the similarities for yourself.
"Of course some of the clues are leading, but that's no different from a magician who tells you what to see before he pulls out a trick," he said.
For those who don't want to see the program or who want to try to find out things for themselves, the similarities seem more glaring when the music is started during the third roar of the MGM lion (just before the opening credits) and if viewers allow for a six-second delay between the film's black-and-white and color sequences (the song "Money" should begin as Dorothy exits her "crashed" house, if done correctly).
That last bit actually may be one of the most puzzling coincidences, since many vinyl enthusiasts estimate that an experienced music listener can switch "sides" of a vinyl album in six seconds - and "Dark Side of the Moon" was originally available on vinyl.
And for the record, both Alan Parsons, who engineered the album, and band members say that the coincidences are exactly that.
"If this happened unintentionally and is just an act of random chaos, that makes it even stranger. It's kind of cool," Lewis said.
The "Dark Side of the Rainbow" program, which is free to the public, will start at 10 p.m. And "Ground Zero" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on KBER-FM, 101.1.