It all started in a log cabin in the deepest woods of Massachusetts.......well,
not exactly!
.....But close! Actually it all started in a converted chicken coop in Cheshire
Massachusetts, a thriving metropolis of some 2,000 people. AngelFire(TM) Productions(TM) started out as
Cheshire Illuminating Company, a very small, but never chicken organization
owned by one person, Steve LaVigne. Steve was just a little over 9 years
old when he got the urge to fix other people's dead electronic thingies
and rent sound equipment. Steve also built lighting stuff for what were
then called record hops.
Later Steve was in high school in Adams, Mass.,and doing lighting and A/V
work for the teachers there. It was a great way to get out of tests! He
also did sound and lighting for the school plays and also did a "Music
At Noon" program by backfeeding the schools measly sound system. This
got Steve out of the sheer boredom of study halls and pep rallies. Steve
also did lightshows and record hops under the name of "The Psychotic
Reaction". Ah! Those grand 'ol hippie daze!
 After
high school Steve opened his first shop in October, 1972 at 11 Spring Street
in Adams, Massachusetts. Here the store was called Sweetwater Sound. Steve
repaired stereos, tv's, and other things that nobody else wanted to repair.
He also designed lighting systems and rented out sound systems, and ever
more record hops! Steve even got into the movie rental business, having
bought out a friend's 16mm movie collection. During one summer in Cheshire,
he ran movies outside in a local ballfield for the kids in town and at summer
camps.
Later in 1974-75 Steve then closed his Adams shop and opened one on Newell
Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, right between two bars in the Italian
part of town. He then hired Jim Pelkey, a renound local character and an
excellent TV repairman when he was sober. Steve got really good at waking
Jim up in the afternoons from under a tree in the yard to repair a TV or
two. Jim was really amazing in that he always carried his tools and parts
around in his jacket pockets. He very rarely ordered parts. This business
also expanded into a variety store,
selling candy, soda, and newspapers. Later Sweetwater Sound moved to another
location in Pittsfield to get more space and also opened a location in Cheshire
Massachusetts. The Cheshire location was a good place to get work done as
it was generally quiet there!
Steve then decided that the grass was greener in Arizona, and moved there.
After some messing around and designing a sound and light system, and playing
DJ at a place called "The Limit" in Chandler, AZ, Steve did a
short stint in Las Vegas. As a repairman and designing ever more sound and
lighting systems for some discos, he did pretty well, except Las Vegas drove
him too crazy! Just a tad plastic, you know!
In order to save his sanity, Steve moved to Prescott, Arizona, where he
has been ever since. Prescott is really an ok place to live, and Steve has
lots of really great friends here. Except for some travelling he has been
in Prescott since 1982. Steve will probably stay in Prescott for a long
while!
That's all for now!
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