Somewhere in London a talented musician was on the verge
of releasing her new album and beginning a series of live shows. She was not
thinking the least little bit about laser tag or Photon...until responding to
an email from me from completely out of the blue. Amazingly, that was
nearly seven months ago and since then it has been such a pleasure for me to
get to know singer/songwriter Loretta Heywood, known in the music industry for
her work with Bomb The Bass in the early '90s and for co-writing the song
"Winter In July" and adding her vocals to many other songs, but
perhaps best known to any fan of Photon as the actress who played the role of
Tivia on the Photon television series in 1986. For me, communicating with Loretta over
the last few months has been a bit surreal because in 1986 I was seven years
old and watching her on the television screen having intergalactic adventures with
the rest of the cast of Photon. For anyone wondering "what does this have
to do with laser tag?" let me fill in some of the gaps.
Photon was the original laser tag, invented by George
Carter III and launched commercially in Texas with the opening of the first
Photon center in March of 1984. To do the math again...I was five in 1984...I
was NOT playing first generation Photon, though I certainly wish that it could
have been an option. As the Photon laser sport game grew in popularity with
players who were primarily in their teens and early twenties at that time (give
or take) the idea must have occurred to someone to expand the marketing of Photon
to younger kids. This was accomplished by way of a Photon home laser tag set
(which showed up in toy stores in roughly the same time period as its
competitor "Lazer Tag") and a live action television show aimed at a
young audience, which apparently also aired in roughly the same era as the animated
show "Lazer Tag Academy". All of this was happening well before the wide
variety of laser tag systems, equipment and arenas started popping up and
becoming a mainstay of family entertainment. It was a good time to be a kid
first learning about laser tag in the eighties and many people have called the
Photon television series a genre predecessor to things like Power Rangers. Now,
this was almost thirty years ago. This was my earliest exposure to laser tag,
even though it would be many years before I would play the game in an arena or
take it seriously as a kind of sport.
The Photon television series only lasted for a season,
but one season was all that it took to turn it into a cult classic...well, ok,
cult classics aren't made overnight. But fast forward about 15-20 years, those
kids grew up and with the boom of the internet came a crop of fan sites,
message boards and communities of people who were now grown adults remembering memories
of the first laser tag game along with those remembering this sweet, campy
nostalgia from this show from their youth. Fast forward even beyond that to July
of last year and there was even a 30th anniversary celebration of Photon held
in Laurel, Maryland (which I have mentioned in this blog before and will likely
reminisce about in more detail in the future). Although I had played laser tag
many years before this event, it certainly was the catalyst to getting me back
into the hobby in the last year. This was also where I first met actor David
Stay who played Mandarr and Tamara Johnson who played Barbara Jarvis on the
show as well as the creator of Photon, George Carter III. All this while
playing A LOT of Photon and laser tag with people who grew up on the original
sport. What a weekend that was! Upon returning from the event I reached out to
Loretta and after several months of communicating about Photon, video projects
and sign language we had the opportunity this past weekend to put together an
interview about her experiences on the show all those years ago as well as her
musical career and life since then.
Most everyone knows that my laser tag code name of
"Tivia" originated as an homage to Loretta's character on the
show...the laser tag playing ninja princess. So when you see me playing laser
tag in any arena where I have a membership or can utilize my player name this
is my I.D. (and the nickname used among a group of my closest friends). So the
notion that this Tivia has the chance to chat with the other Tivia is just one
of those crazy things that I wish I could go back in time and share with my
seven year old self...it would blow her mind :)
Loretta was just getting ready to release her new
acoustic album "The Boy Across The Road" when we started
communicating from across different continents. I must say, it's remarkable how
one thing led to another in these conversations which resulted in my performing
one of the tracks from her new album in sign language at a show I was directing here in New York. Then subsequently that resulted in the production of this
video for the latest version of her hit song "Winter In July" re-recorded for the
new album. I am so pleased to share it here...enjoy!
Click here to watch the music video
So that is the story of how Tivia and Tivia had a chat.
Big thanks to Loretta Heywood for being such a sweet person and taking the time
for this interview in between her busy schedule as she is continuing her live
shows.
To follow what is happening with Loretta Heywood you can
visit her website at:
And please like her Facebook page at:
If you have comments or questions please visit my website
at www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com or email me at tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com.
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