Paul Irish
Entertainment Reporter
Entertainment Reporter
This massive Christmas
light display certainly has style: Gangnam Style, that is.
Despite moving to a
new town, John Storms has kept an annual tradition alive and has once again
hung, draped and attached thousands of Christmas lights to trees, eaves and any
free spot he could find on and around his Texas home.
With the help of
computers, the lights strobe, pulse, fade and blink to the infectious tune “Gangnam Style” by
Korean pop star Psy.
The result is a
brilliant eye-popping light show that Storms says is already attracting “too
many” viewers. But he’s used to the attention — he has been doing a show for
the past three years, including 2011’s
version, set to a cover of the “Angry Birds” theme song.
“I love it, but, yes,
I have to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand,” Storms says.
Otherwise, traffic,
trash and raising tempers can result. That’s what happened to Kevin Judd in
Riverside, Calif., where a few neighbours complained when his 2011 Halloween light display — choreographed to LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem”
— went viral. This year, the local Homeowners’ Association issued a new set of
rules for holiday displays, effectively leaving Judd’s home in the dark.
As for Storms, his new
neighbours in Cedar Park, Texas have been receptive to his show (so far) and he
wants to keep it that way. “If it gets too crazy, we just pull the plug,
literally,” he says.
Storms recently moved
from nearby Round Rock (both towns are in the Austin area) to be closer to work
and schools. Before buying a new place, he looked at the external structure and
landscaping of each potential home to make sure it would be capable of
sustaining his massive displays.
It took him about two
weeks to complete the display and put up, not that he counts, close to 25,000
separate lights.
“I’m not sure, but I
think this all comes from my mother,” the 43-year-old said with a laugh. “She
used to go Kmart, clear off the shelves of all the lights and do our house to
the max.”
The software engineer,
married with two children, said when he flipped the switch last week he had “10
cars at a time” pulling up to catch a peek.
In 2010, there was one
week that had a lineup of vehicles stretching a half-mile with a wait of two to
three hours.
On a “very busy” night
he may get up to 200 vehicles.
He says putting the
show to the beat of “Gangnam Style” this year was a no-brainer: the tune has
become sort of an anthem.
But he’s quick to
point out neighbours aren’t enduring a continual replay of the earworm hit
(which is getting similar treatment in lights at an Australian home).
The music is broadcast
on a low-powered FM transmitter and families who want to take in the
four-minute show can sit in their vehicles — windows rolled up — and simply
drive off when it’s finished.
As well, it doesn’t
run to the wee hours and keep all of Cedar Park awake; it cuts off at 9 p.m.
and he doesn’t advertise his address.
“People just find me …
word of mouth, whatever,” he says. “If I gave out my address I’d really be in
trouble.”
Although he loves
Christmas he knows when it’s good to have a bit of Scrooge in him. He boasts
the lights are all LED and will cost him only $15 for the entire month of
December.
Amazing
Perth Christmas Lights 2012 "Gangnam Style"
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