Mark Mothersbaugh, co-founder of Devo and frequent composer for Wes Anderson, cartoons, TV shows, and lots of video games, is pictured here with the Atari Asteroids machine at E3 Expo 2011.

He’s also a Raymond Scott Archive Board Member, and owns a rare version of Scott’s Electronium (1950s) — one of the most beautiful and awesome music sequencers you’ll ever see.  If you don’t know who Raymond Scott is, look him up!  It makes sense that Mothersbaugh was found hanging out by the Asteroids machine.

Holding up his new Atari shirt, Mothersbaugh said, “Atari is the best logo ever, better than the Playboy Bunny!”

Photo is from Atari’s Facebook page.

 

[Update] – we just came across this picture of Mothersbaugh sitting at the Electronium in 1993 (read the full writeup at Synthtopia).

 

Tags: asteroids, Atari Asteroids, Devo, E3 Expo

Categories: Awesome

---

One Response

1. Jeff Winner:

   There’s another Atari connection to Raymond Scott. Here’s an excerpt from a chapter I wrote for SOUND UNBOUND, a book compiled by Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky:

   “Raymond Scott’s technology, meanwhile, had been developing a life of its own. When developers submit an invention to the patent office, existing patents can be ‘referenced’ as part of a new design. Perhaps an indication that his concepts were ahead of their time, Scott’s patents have been referenced by Xerox, General Electric, and other high-tech entities. IBM was awarded a patent in 1977 that referenced Scott’s early ’50s technology. In 1981, Sony was awarded patents referencing Scott’s ’53 magnetic tape developments. His ‘Electronic Audible Signaling Devices’ patent (for Electronium circuitry) has been referenced many times, including by the Atari corporation: filed in 1980, this patent represented the technology for producing sound effects for Atari’s popular arcade and home video game systems. The referencing of Scott’s patents continued throughout the 1980s, ’90s, and the list is still growing into the next century.”

   13.06.2011 12:47