www.indyjazz.org > Education Resources > Articles > The Vince Laine Handy Dandy Cordless Stand Light

OK, the title is long and somewhat humorous but I guarantee that every single word is true. Lighting conditions at gigs can be variable. Dim lighting and lighting effects can interfere with your ability to read the music. Often, there will be stand lights but occasionally there are not. I carry a regular stand light and an extension cord in my mute bag for these occasions. At times, there is no electricity available for my regular stand light. This is when I need a cordless stand light. A booklight with an incandescent bulb might seem like a good solution but the batteries only last several hours and, more importantly, the light is too dim. A booklight with an LED bulb solves the battery problem but it is expensive and the light is still too dim. A Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulb is a solid state device that generates very little heat, uses much less power than an incandescent bulb, and emits a soft, cool light that is much brighter than an incandescent bulb. The solution to this problem is the "Vince Laine Handy Dandy Cordless Stand Light that will Keep Your Chips Fresh and Get You Out of the Woods at Night." You can build your own "Vince Laine Handy Dandy Cordless Stand Light that will Keep Your Chips Fresh and Get You Out of the Woods at Night" for less than $20 dollars. You will need the following parts (I purchased all of the parts at my local Target store): Energizer LED Essentials Headlight, $14.99: You will find this in the flashlight section. This light has a headband that allows you to wear it on your head while hiking or spelunking. It has the advantage of having two very bright white LED's. It also has one red LED, which you will not use except as a prop for telling jokes. You can adjust the angle of the lights with respect to the base. The light will run for fifty hours on three AAA batteries. The batteries are included. 3M heavy duty Velcro, $2.99: This Velcro is made of plastic on both sides. It is designed to hold heavy items. Chip clip of your choice, $.99: I told you that you would be able to keep your chips fresh. Assembly is easy. Cut the headband off the light, remove the foam padding from the back of the light, attach a piece of Velcro over the area from which you removed the foam, put the batteries in the light, attach a piece of Velcro on the chip clip, and attach the light to the clip. You will probably want to rough up the surface of the lens with sandpaper to help diffuse the light. You can adjust the angle of the light by adjusting the angle that you attach the light to the chip clip and by tilting the light with respect to its base. I have modified this design a bit by placing a flexible snake between the chip clip and the light. It should be obvious how the "Vince Laine Handy Dandy Cordless Stand Light that will Keep Your Chips Fresh and Get You Out of the Woods at Night" can actually help get you out of the woods at night. I actually had one gig where I had to use it for this purpose, trudging through a dark forest, at night, to get back to my car... it was a life saver. 1.) A shopping we will go   2.) Seeing the light 3.) Velcro evaluations 4.) Chip clip considerations   5.) Parts 6.) Completed project 7.) Telling jokes "What's a matter occifer?"   8.) Keeping the chips fresh 9.) Lost in the woods