Are you feeling double exposed?

Double exposure, not to be confused with “that double vision” from the 1978 release “Double Vision” by Foreigner sung by Lou Gramm (an amazing rock and roll voice that one), and definitely not to be confused with how the world may look on New Year’s morning after your attempt to drink away the memory of the dumpster fire that was 2025.

Apparently, Gramm and co-founder Mick Jones wrote the song after seeing a New York Rangers goalie get injured and experience double vision during a game.

Ah, hockey violence, the great unsung muse of great rock and roll lyrics. Now my mind’s going to be working overtime to identify subtle, yet violent lyrics wrapped in hockey metaphors and icy sports slang. I invite you to join me in this space and send me whatever you come up with, because… I know nothing about hockey – stick, puck, goal – that’s it. I didn’t even know that there were only three periods until just a few years ago.

Now, where were we? Lou Gramm, Foreigner, “double exposure” NOT “double vision”. Right… double exposure is cool (please feel free to insert your favorite hospital gown joke here), when… we’re talking “film” double exposure.

Yes, kids, there was once a time when Kodak ruled the world and people did not take photos of every beverage ever served to them. Not because our beverages were not beautiful back in dinosaur times, but because it would take at least a week and cost real money to actually see the photo of that beverage and when you did go to the drug store (or that little tiny building in the middle of the grocery store parking lot) to pick them up, you’re Mom would shake her head with that worried look she’d always get, and your Dad would ask, “What’s wrong with you boy?”, and remind you that money doesn’t grow on trees and you could have gone and gotten yourself a whole new beverage for what it cost you to develop the picture of that stupid cup of coffee that wasn’t even that good.

But, I digress.

Double exposure was a revolutionary new technique in 1907 or there abouts. You’d shoot something on your revolutionary new motion picture camera, then… you’d take the same piece of film and shoot something else on top of it.

Don’t ask me the details, cuz like hockey, I know – camera, shoot, shoot again – that’s it. Hey, I’m a “big picture guy” and all you really need for the purposes of this email is the basic concept. If you’re really curious, you’ve got the whole internet out there.

Anyway, it’s a cool “trick” and a great storytelling device.  Thomas Edison (yeah, the guy credited with inventing the light bulb, sound recording and the motion picture camera) used it very well in his 1910 version of “A Christmas Carol”. Putting a sheet over someone’s head was lame even then, so… how can I get some scary ghosts in my Christmas movie?

Double exposure, that’s how. So, Tom “borrowed” an idea from some French filmmakers (Segundo de Chomón and George Melies – see I know stuff), and… made himself some pretty darn convincing ghosts for this short film.

That, yes…. I wrote music for, and yes, I’m going to share it with you right here. Hey, it’s only five minutes long and it’s JUST thenew year, so it still counts as “holiday movie time”. https://youtu.be/-JpYzOjprgA

What’s all this got to do with art, and Vox Lumiere and rock concerts colliding with silent films?

A lot actually. Double exposure was (and still is) a pretty ballsy move. You’ve filmed a scene. You love it. It’s perfect and now… you’ve got one chance to lay something else on top of it. Get it wrong, and you have to throw the whole thing away and start over again.

The music equivalent is The Beatles Sgt. Peppers. They’d fill up three tracks and then have to bounce them together to make room to overdub new stuff. One shot. Love it or start over.

So, lots of planning, lots of rehearsal, lots of imagination, lots of testing and one big ballsy move.

That’s “art” in a nut shell.

That and art doesn’t just “appear.” Art morphs, grows and is influenced by a million different things that collide, interact and fuse together to become something… else. Edison was inspired by what he saw these French guys were doing and thought, “I can do something with that” and he made something… else.

That’s Vox Lumiere in a nut shell. We’re inspired by what other artists have created and add something new and cool to it and make something… else.

Okay, I gotta stop typing now. My cappuccino is here and I need my phone to take a picture of it. This barista is truly an artist.

That’s it. I’m not gonna get all mushy.

See ya ~ Kevin

p.s. The website offers 14 different milk options. The socials are lactose intolerant.