About Four-Alarm FIRESIGNal

Elayne Riggs (at the time, Elayne Wechsler-Chaput) began publishing her informative newsletter Four-Alarm FIRESIGNal (a.k.a. FAlaFal), in the "Firesign" months of April, August and December (astrologically speaking). She produced the first 19 issues from August 1984 through December 1989. Michael Packer (with Jim Middleton) put out two ad-hoc issues of the FIRESIGNal between 1990 and 1993, which they included in issues of SPARKS! magazine. Elayne then returned to the scene and published issues 20 through 30 from 1993 through September, 1996.

The archive is an invaluable chronicle of the goings-on of the Firesign Theatre, from arond the time their record deals dried up and the group went their separate ways, up to the time they reconnected, their fans came out of the woodwork and connected on the Internet, and the group was on the verge of signing with Rhino Records to produce the last three complete albums of their career (often referred to as the 'Millennium Trilogy').

FAlaFal was the logical successor to the Chromium Switch newsletter which preceded it, rich in content and much more extensive and voluminous than the previous publication. Tom and Deborah, contributors to Elayne's comedy fanzine INSIDE JOKE, also contributed to FAlaFal.