Moshe Tamssot's FACEBOOK PAGE

Moshe Tamssot makes his first post on his homage to Loren on Facebook on June 5, 2015. Moshe, a bearded man, uses a picture of Loren that no holographer would recognize, she sans eyeglasses but sporting a beehive hairdo as his avatar, in an almost Hitchcock Psycho-esque fashion! He was oblivious to the fact that Loren had passed away over a month before his first posting.

In order to avoid confusion his page was christened the Mosheum of Holography among the cognoscenti to discriminate his fantasy gallery from the true Museum of Holography in New York City, plus it's a clever play on words. Loren Billings's Fine Arts Research and Holographic Center is always referred to on this site as Gallery 1134.

And Mosheum is also apropos, as it is apparent that his whole enterprise is all about him being in charge of something. He masquerades behind the pity one might feel for Loren Billings, wanting to make a museum of her museum, a meta-museum. Holography is not the point.

On December 8th, 2015, Moshe Tamssot blocked Ed Wesly from posting on his Facebook page, which is like shooting himself in the foot, as Ed is one of the few people in the medium who know what had transpired at 1134 West Washington Boulevard.

Here are a selection of Ed's witty retorts to Moshe's posts:

September 4th, 2015:

Ed's Comments:
So now we know when Moshe first met Loren!  In 1993.  Does he mention how many times he went back there?  Weekly, monthly, annually?  It doesn't seem that Gallery 1134 was a blip on his radar until the building was sold, in the summer of 2014, see the July 25th, 2016 posting below.  Why didn't he do anything until then, even though he lives down the block?  How come he didn’t come to the rescue when he read the Chicago Reader article that he constantly links to?  When I asked him about it in a Facebook Holography Forum post (that was edited out) he said that those who know him know of his disdain for the mainstream media, so he didn’t read the article when it came out.  (It would be news to the Reader’s editors that they would be considered “mainstream media”, as they have been Chicago’s Free Weekly since 1971, and is the only paper in town who has the intestinal fortitude to criticize the current and previous mayors.)

So inquiring minds might ask, why is this guy so involved now?

Now that we know a little bit about Moshe, the next question might be who the hell is Ed Wesly?  You can check out my resume on my web site, or on LinkedIn, but in a nutshell, I was introduced to holography in the fall of 1978 at a photography teacher’s convention by Dr. Tung Jeong, visited the museum shortly after that, started taking classes there in the summer of 1979, ended up working there as the first Director of Education until I left in May of 1981, thoroughly disgusted by Bob and Loren Billings and John Hoffmann and their scams and petty jealousies.

I was banned from coming back into the building until 1988 or 9, when Nancy Gorglione interceded and beseeched Loren to let me in for the opening of her show there.  I would continue to go to openings when there were any for a few years, then there were no more that I was aware of.  In July of 2008 Hans Bjelkhagen and I visited Loren for the first time in decades, he being on her shit list for having hired me as his assistant at FermiLab and Northwestern University.

As I rode past 1134 West Washington Boulevard one day on my motorcycle on my way to work, I noticed some signs on its door, stopped and investigated, talked to the owner of the building at that time, introduced myself and explained I had worked there decades ago, he promised me a “Cook’s Tour” in the future which didn’t happen until the Spring of 2014, and then in August of that year he phoned me up to help him sort and categorize the Museum’s holdings.  And that is when I was introduced to Moshe and his situation tragi-comedy.

November 26th, 2015:

Ed's Comments:
This shirt has an interesting story.  I was the one who came up with the idea of a laser red shirt, with their classic logo in white.  Everyone bought off on it, Loren, John, Victor, Al Ornelas. 

When the salesman delivered the goods, the hypercritical Loren complained that your could see the red cloth under the white ink.  What would you expect replied the salesman?  She stiffed him for the bill.

December 1st, 2015:

Ed's Comments:
"If you'd be interested in the Mobile Pulsed Holography Studio coming to your location, or would like to help make this project happen, please let us know." If you are interested in pulsed laser holography, you might want to come to my pulsed holography studio, so please let me know! Of course, Moshe would not advertise the fact that there is a functioning pulsed studio in the Chicago area, as it's mine! Here is a paper I delivered at the 2015 International Symposium on Display Holography in St. Petersburg, Russia about the laser. Also there is a functioning pulsed laser studio in Grayslake, Illinois, run by Rick Bruck, a former student of mine at 1134.

The ruby pulsed laser for the class was located at Northwestern University, and the only hologram made during that class was of a mouse, and the laser transmission master is safe and sound. The class was taught only once, even though it was on the brochure until the end, the reason being that Loren found out that Hans Bjelkhagen, the teacher, had hired me to be his assistant at FermiLab and Northwestern.

December 7th, 2015:

Ed's Comments:
This is a rough one to digest, as I screen grabbed the post after Moshe deleted Bob Hess's postings! So if you are reading this date's post here or on his site, you see Moshe's replies, but not Bob's! So you have to read between the lines to speak. And of course, this is after I was banned from his site!

Which is always to his detriment, as I can identify half of the people in the picture! The gentleman on the left is David Wender, a veteran of Conductron, one of the first mass producers of holograms! He might be teaching the Optics class, the one and only time it was offered.

I don't know who the young lady is, but the young man with the glasses is Jerry Becker, who made it all the way to the Holo III class! His final 4" by 5" glass plate from that class was of a toy locomotive coming out of the plate, and he called it "Long Train Coming". But he was Steve (Laser)Smith's loft roommate, and that got him forever banned from entering Gallery 1134 forever after. The other young man I do not know.

"The HoloSchool at the MOH trained more than 800 students who took classes there." This number is debatable. Moshe mentions reliable sources further down in the post, but any newspaper article would quote Loren's inflated number. Luckily we have the records of the school, so we can count exactly how many students had ever been enrolled. I mention in another section that classes were not offered after 2004, and the first classes were taught in 1977, so the classes were only active for about 27 years.

"The Federal Government even provided funding, through the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA), to retrain the unemployed -- changing the trajectory of many a life, for the better." And a few for the worse, like terminally! READ THIS!

"One of the CETA trainees ('79/'80) went on to become a Nurse Case Manager -- and tended to Loren Billings in hospice, 35 years after working at the MOH!" His name was Peter Demos, and I remember he made a contact copy hologram of a dollar bill.

Of Loren Billings, he said:
"Lauren Billings was totally cool and relatively "with it" towards the end. We reconnected by sheer coincidence after 35 years. She died unexpectedly. We miss her on the floor."
He went on to say, "Lauren was so good about offering holography classes and all to the employees."
The reason she offered classes to the employees was that she got reimbursed by CETA. One of my friends got called into the CETA office, saw the records of classes he allegedly took, and saw that she was billing the government for classes he never took!

"It's also common knowledge that there was an MOH Alumni Association established, and that the students dedicated a book to Loren Billings." Yes, but it's common knowledge that Loren disowned the Alumni Association for the crime of taking a field trip to Public Enemy #1's lab, the LaserSmith! Here is where you can purchase a copy of the book.

"I think it's safe to say there were far more than two graduates that kept making holograms." OK, here are the people who I know who passed through there and continued to make holograms. Steve LaserSmith, Melissa Crenshaw, Doug Tyler, John General (who taught classes, and I believe walked off with a Spectra-Physics 125 He-Ne and other optics), Joe Farina, Jim MacShane, Rick Bruck, Mark Merrill, Ted Niemiec, Victor Heredia and myself. Where are the other 790 something? Tom Cvetkovich never took classes there, but did help clean out the casket stuff in th beginning, and was a successful holographer, setting up S & C Holography with the LaserSmith, and you know that got him banned from 1134!

"That they provided classes, including the world's first class on Pulsed Laser Holography." It was taught by Hans Bjelkhagen, and they used a pulsed laser at Northwestern University as 1134 never bought one. And it was taught only once, as Loren disowned Hans after finding out I was his personal assistant at FermiLab and Northwestern.

"That the HoloSchool worked towards gaining recognition of their courses with other local community college programs (eg Lake Forest College, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbia etc.)" None of these are community colleges, unless he means colleges in the community. But she burned her bridges with Dr. Jeong at Lake Forest College, so that went nowhere, and there wasn't too much cooperation between 1134 and SAIC and Columbia College, as I taught "The Physics of Lasers, Holograms, and Modern Optics" at the latter from 1985 to 1997, and was Director of the Holography Program at SAIC from 1986 to 1997. However, Rick Bruck, one of my students who replaced me at Columbia, did take his students to 1134 every semester on a field trip.

"and that all supports the bigger and more relevant point that Loren Billings, through the MOH school, was dedicated to spreading the practice of holography." I witnessed many conversations between John Hoffmann and Loren regarding "training the competition."

"Quibbling over a reported number that no one can disprove with any level of confidence, so many years after the fact, is a distraction to that point." When I get the time, I can definitely state the number after looking at the records in our possession.

December 22nd, 2015:

Ed's Comments:
“In the first photo, published in 1980 by Newsmonger, MOH Director of Research John Hoffman is making a hologram of Picasso's "Richard J. Daley Center Sculpture" -- originally unveiled in August of 1967." The name of the paper is "southwest area cultural arts council newsmonger", all lower case, as you can see when you open up the link that Moshe purloined the image from, which is of course on this web site. Ed Wesly took the photo of Hoffmann, again uncredited. For some silly fun check out the out takes from the session.

"We've been searching for John Hoffman as we work towards filling in the blanks in the MOH story. If you have any information about his whereabouts, please let us know. Thanks!" Good luck! Hans Bjelkhagen and Ed Wesly have been searching for him for years, but he has not come forward. There is a theory that he was an unindicted co-conspirator with the GnXperts, so he keeps himself pretty much underground..

December 26th, 2015:

Ed's Comments:
That is my laser and spatial filter! Victor Heredia built the sandbox optics and the holder for them. Unfortunately the sandboxes in the lab were destroyed by the previous owner, but when Victor and I were at 1134 in 2011 all the optics and stuff were neatly put away, ready for a new semester. Who knows when the last classes were taught, I knew someone who wanted to take classes there in 2004, and she said that Loren would contact her when there were enough students to run a class. But she never was contacted.

December 27th, 2015:

Ed's Comments:
"Five dumpsters full of Museum of Holography art and artifacts were destroyed during the rescue operation." Let me reassure the reader that junk was destroyed. I am definitely a hoarder, along with the previous owner, and what was tossed out was absolutely useless, or in the case of some paper items, like their History of Holography, there were reams and reams of them. Trust me, the collection is intact and in capable hands, namely myself and Victor Heredia, who built most everything there.

"Three by the old building owner. And two by a Private Collector that absconded with MOH art and artifacts, that our Volunteers had just saved." His volunteers had saved nothing. I, Ed Wesly, was the only one that the previous owner trusted to categorize the stuff that was recyclable or disposable, as Moshe had burned his bridges with him and was not allowed in the building. His volunteers simply took the stuff from where I had separated the wheat from the chaff once that owner left the building. If you are wondering why Moshe and his volunteers didn't take all the stuff, the current owner had barred Moshe from entering the building at that time.

"On one side, our Volunteers who are focused on rescuing, preserving, and resurrecting the MOH. On the other, a few Private Collectors who are only interested in profiting off of Loren Billings' pain and suffering, by dehumanizing her, devaluing her contributions, and rewriting her narrative to support their business objectives." The point of this timeline is to present the other side, as this side is banned from posting on Moshe's site.

What kind of a person follows a dumpster to videotape it? The same kind of person who followed the previous owner to his new business location, and who followed the moving truck full of stuff to preserve to where the collection currently resides. The stuff is safe.

December 28th, 2015:

Ed's Comments:
These were some nice Point of Purchase displays for the 1134 store.

December 29th, 2015:

Ed's Comments:
"This rainbow hologram was made at the MOH HoloLabs, and featured in a Chicago Reader article published in October '82." Guess who made this hologram when they were taking the Holo III class? Ed Wesly and Melissa Crenshaw! In the Spring of 1980. Moshe photographed this image the one and only time he was at Ed's studio, and the Reader Article he is referring to stars Ed Wesly when he worked at Gallery 1134!

December 30th, 2015:

Ed's Comments:
“When folks think about holography, Star Wars' Princess Leia often comes to mind, but she's not actually a real hologram (as we've learned, light can't stop in space and make a 90° turn towards the viewer, without actually bouncing off of something -- at least not in our galaxy)." He's finally got that through his head! He was constantly calling the Princess "the World's most Iconic hologram", and told me I'd better toe the party line if he ever got us in a room with Steven Spielberg, which of course didn't happen at Holo Rescue 1.0.

"It was commissioned by the MSI, and produced as a DCG hologram by the MOH." There was no evidence of DCG production at Gallery 1134 during my holo-excavation. Will have to look at the box they are in to see who really did.

"In a male dominated field, Loren Billings' MOH ensured that holography was accessible to all." Au contraire! She never wanted to be bothered with students renting labs. And she certainly didn't want her students to know about other holographers, especially Dr. Jeong and the Lake Forest College Holography Workshops!

"After Loren Billings operated the Museum of Holography for 32 years, a feat in itself, it's sad (disgusting actually) to hear the vitriolic, misogynistic comments directed at her, by a few men in the field that don't want to acknowledge her accomplishments, or contributions (ironically, they're also in possession of the assets she spent her life collecting)" So I'm a misogynist now. I will agree that many of my comments are vitriolic, but I don't dislike her for being a woman. I cannot write her out of the history of holography in Chicago, just as no one could write a history of Germany without mentioning Hitler.

January 2nd, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
"This was the de facto scene of the crime, as photographed in 2011." Of course I was the one who photographed this and was of course not credited. Moshe lifted it from this web site.

"In an unconscionable act, the chalkboard was erased by the Private Collectors, and left behind for our Volunteers to find. A historical artifact was destroyed (Photo #3)." A definite lie. There was some discussion amongst those of us packing the stuff up as to whether or not to take this board. (What would be the point of having a blackboard taking up wall space and not being able to use it for what it was intended for?) Shawn Uldridge's wife asked if she could have the board for a friend's school or day care, whichever it was it was going to a good cause to be put to good use, so it was given to her. I photographed the board, but no one of the loading crew erased this historical artifact. We would feel guilty. Let someone who doesn't know the history take care of it.

"This is one of many examples of MOH art and artifacts being destroyed by Private Collectors, as they attempt to rewrite Loren Billings out of history." The very existence of the 1134 Timeline proves that there is no attempt to rewrite her out of history. Rather to point out all that she accomplished, good and bad.

January 3rd, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
"This fighter jet model, photographed in 2011 by a Private Collector*, may have been the subject of the very last hologram made at the MOH -- as it was found mounted and ready to shoot in the last surviving MOH HoloLab (Photo #1)." Again, Ed Wesly shot this photograph but again, as usual, uncredited. It was definitely not the last hologram shot in the lab, it dates from 1994 or 1997 as a magazine article shows John Hoffmann holding the holographic film. (This article has not yet been scanned.) The concept mentioned in the article was that the display should look like a funky old radar screen with the planes coming out of the screen. No evidence of a final art piece fitting that description, nor a photograph of same were found in the Holo Excavation.

"In a medium that records every light beam and imperfection, expert model makers and their flawless art works, were highly valued." This hobby shop kit was built by John Hoffmann, according to Terry Kasprzak.

"Witness that very same fighter jet model, destroyed, and photographed at the bottom of a dumpster in 2015, in front of the MOH (Photo #2). Another difficult decision whether to take it or not. Who has the space for a 20 some odd year old model that has fallen apart when you have the hologram of it? It was decided Moshe could take it courtesy of the dumpster, as there was no doubt he was snooping in them. If a museum would like to have a set of all the steps along the route of producing a hologram, they would be best served in making everything brand new, using their logo, or a theme, like the Apple Series that graced the New York Museum. Or go to the hobby store and get your own F-15.

January 9th, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
The first line should read "In a note written by Loren Billings to her son, and saved by Ed Wesly", as I am the one who waded threw all the junk and organized it.

"Chicago's Museum of Holography would be shuttered, and the "HoloVultures", Private Collectors waiting on the sidelines, would soon swoop in to begin picking its bones clean." Love that new word he coined, the "HoloVultures". Moshe is more upset that he didn't get to pick the bones clean. The bones needed to be picked clean to give Gallery 1134 a decent burial and start something new and better!

Here's the most disturbing part of the post: "(note: we attribute all images of art and artifacts recovered from the MOH, to the Loren Billings / MOH Collection )" He cut and pasted this note from this web site: http://edweslystudio.com/1134TimeLine/GnxpertLoan.pdf

He has no artifiacts, except those that his minions had removed before Moshe was locked out of the building by the current owner, so he has to steal stuff from this holo-historian.

@Joe Sisto: How do you know Terry was a rat? Do you know him personally? Do you have any idea of the suffering he was put through by his step father, Bob Billings? He is certainly justified in doing whatever he feels like to the collection of holograms. And what he didn't take, consider it abandoned, and let the Private Collectors put it to good use.

January 10th, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
“"For free, for real! Start your own laser museum!" advertised a Private Collector giving away $35,700 worth of MOH lasers -- in an effort to prevent the MOH from being resurrected.”  How could not having a bunch of junk lasers prevent a Museum from being resurrected?

“A Private Collector hired by the old building owner, appraised the remaining MOH lasers at a value of $35,700 (see spreadsheet, Photo #2).”  That is of course a spreadsheet that should be attributed to Ed Wesly.  And it was made for the previous owner of the building, who was trying to justify a $60k price tag to Moshe if he wanted the Gallery 1134 assets.  I got those numbers from some eBay sales and guesstimates, but no one in their right minds would really pay that kind of money for lasers who all needed to be re-tubed.

“In a move that would dumbfound any nonprofit auditor, when the Private Collectors were absconding with MOH assets, the same individual that created the expert appraisal, gave away the MOH lasers to a for-profit-business, for FREE! (Photo #3).”  And why not?  The current owner wanted the lasers out of the building, the “Anonymous Benefactor” who bought the collection didn’t either, so I put an ad in Photonlexicon and got a quick response from someone who knows their way around lasers and could fix them or use them for parts or was willing to part them out to other laserists.
I had neglected to warn the laserists about Moshe, (who was barred from entering 1134 by the current owner) who discovered our “caper” as we were putting in the last load of stuff.  He started asking the recipient what he was doing, if he was a not for profit, and would he be bringing the lasers back after he fixed them. He photographed his license plates, and later chased him down via the plates, and started shaking him down to return the stuff after he illegally became the acting president of the newly reinstated Museum of Holography/Chicago

“Our research revealed that the Private Collector that appraised the lasers, had previously arranged a sale of a dozen MOH collectible lasers to his buddy, also a Private Collector -- in a non-arms-length transaction.”  And that is certainly true.  Bob Hess was coming in to town, and I arranged for him to visit the previous owner in April 2014 and buy lasers for his extreme laser collection.  The lasers he already had specimens of were left behind, so logsquared got them, and might just put them to good use.
.
“In talking to the business owners hauling away the lasers, they confirmed they had previously done business with both of the Private Collectors (Photo #4 - screen grab from great video documenting this caper).”  That is a picture of my butt in that photo!  Again unattributed.  The funniest part of the caper was when logsquared’s friend said “Moshe?  Rhymes with OSHA, and that can’t be good!”  Truer words were never spoken.

January 11th, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
"He would fight a court battle against Broadway Bank, trying to prove that Alexi Gianoulias was negligent for not properly investigating a third party fraud, during the $1 million dollar loan application process. All in an effort to recover his inheritance. The MOH be damned." Terry seems to have done due diligence in filing suit against Broadway Bank to bail out the building, but the chips didn't fall his way. The bit of all in an effort to recover his inheritance is conjecture on Moshe's part. And why not the MOH be damned? It was the cause of much distress for him.

January 14, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
Wonder if there were any takers?

February 29th, 2016 (Leap Day):

Ed;s Comments:
Sometimes he's on the right track.

May 10th, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
“UPDATE: Had an opportunity to connect with Larry Lieberman, noted Holographer and Artist, and wanted to share some additional info about the picture of the recently demolished "Blue HoloLab".

While we were initially led to believe that Victor Heredia built this isolation table, it turns out that Larry actually constructed it himself.”

An absolute lie by Moshe, designed to denigrate Victor.  Both Victor and I got in touch via telephone with Larry, reliving the good old times of hanging out in their Humboldt Park apartment and running the Billingses through the wringer, and of course he said no such thing. Moshe tries to get away with this lie with impunity, as any other viewer of the Mosheum page would not necessarily have access to our friend and colleague, as we all had worked together at 1134, with Larry being the first of us to leave, check out the companion to this timeline, and look around fall of 1979 to summer of 1980.  Larry did not have a fun time there.

And as added proof of the deceitful nature of Moshe’s post, we have good old Tri-X B&W negatives taken by Al Ornelas, showing Victor and Larry building the lab, but first we need to scan or print them.  Sorry.  Sooner or later.

“We had always wondered why the "Blue HoloLab" (NW corner) had a much more finished and refined appearance compared to the "Black HoloLab" (NE corner). This explains it. Larry said he even laid all the intricate blue tiles himself.”

No matter how you slice it, “Baloney!”

"Larry confirmed that this was the HoloLab in which he set up his stereoscopic hologram printer.
He stated that he spent about a year working out of this MOH HoloLab, with the objective of producing Large Format Holograms. This may help explain some of the equipment we found in the Blue HoloLab.

Larry confirmed that during the time he spent working out of the MOH, he did in fact make holograms.”

And that was where the problems set in, the Billingses wanted full ownership of all of Larry’s production, which was one of the reasons the Liebermans decided to leave around the 4th of July of 1981, if you look at the above link.

“As he explains it in the comments, "Dr Jeong introduced me to the idea of working at MOH. It was a pretty happening place with some funding through the CITA program (1978-79)".’

It’s CETA program, Comprehensive Education and Training Act, enacted by Richard Nixon.  Bob and Loren organized a massive scam of that program, billing the government for classes that the CETA workers did not take, amongst other abuses, like 2 of the CETA workers dying because of Loren’s actions or lack of them.  Another reason for Larry and Peggy to leave.

“By any definition, Larry was an "Artist in Residence" at the MOH.

These are all interesting facts that support the historical significance of Chicago's Museum of Holography.
Thank you, Larry!”

And since Moshe only met Loren once, he mis-identified her in one of the pictures that goes with this post. That's Peggy Lieberman with her hand on Larry's shoulder, not Loren Billings, who may have been the one who took the picture.

During the time we worked there, Loren had a pair of bright red pigtails not unlike Lousie Lasser in Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman! The blonde bowl cut came in 1982 or 1983. And no holographer would have ever seen her in her bee hive that Moshe uses as his avatar on the Mosheum FB page. And it cracks me up to see that image and imagining hearing her voice in my head while reading, but in reality it's a big bearded hipster who is writing it. Is it my imagination or is this not unlike Norman Bates and his relationship to his mother in Hitchcock's Psycho?

Also the date is off, the Liebermans arrived in Fall of 1979 and left by the 4th of July of 1980, although this may have been the result of a brain fart on the part of Hans Bjelkhagen.

May 27th, 2016:
Click here to open a transcription of an example of some of the type of banter that got Moshe booted off the Facebook Holography Page.

July 25th, 2016:
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Ed's Comments:
So now we know the origin of Moshe's relationship with Shawn Uldridge, current owner of the building at 1134 West Washington Boulevard. And as to when the building became a blip on Moshe's radar, when the building was sold!

Many decades ago, before digital Pepper's Ghosts aroused the ire of the holography community, there was another battle for the word, namely hologram vs. holograph. Even Loren joined in the battle on occasion. But Moshe was still confused in 2014, even though he had allegeldly been president of the not for profit (illegaly, I might add, as only previous board members or presidents could revive a dissolved NFP, and he retroactively filed the renewal, which is, as of this writing, once again involutarily dissolved.)

August 8th, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
“Two Lion Heads stand guard at the side entrance to the MOH building, on May Street.
What tales they could tell, if they could talk.”
I could tell a few of them, how Bob Billings rousted a holography student, Serge Honinow, who had just hitchhiked in from New Jersey to take classes, who was napping with his head on the concrete step.  Bob thought Serge was a bum, the typical resident of the West Loop at that time.  (1980)

“The story of how each piece of holographic art was removed from this building, where it currently resides, and with whom, fills volumes.
Interestingly, some of those currently in possession of MOH art and artifacts, report that they are cursed.”
Both Victor Heredia and myself feel that Loren would be happy knowing that we are archiving and preserving the stuff.

“Could this be justice from the grave?
Surely, there is no good karma to be gained from their actions.”
And what kind of karma are you spinning, Moshe? 

"Jonathan Ross took 39 of those pieces and put them on exhibit in Asia/Europe as part of a traveling show organized by UEG. The Shanghai Museum is on the cusp of buying those pieces."
Factually incorrect! Jonathan Ross, noted hologram collector, inventoried the pieces, for Teit Ritzau's UEG., which has been exhibiting everything from Van Goghs to holograms since the 1980's. Terry shipped them to Denmark. The holograms are on display; another museum might buy them to display them some more and have a home for them. What's wrong with that?

"The "old building owner" crushed everything into the basement, when he found the collection ransacked. He believed he was buying the building "as is", including the contents, which actually belonged to the nonprofit MOH 501(c)3. He began the process of selling everything off piecemeal, and disposing the rest, before I intervened."
Who would have known that what was left would still be belonging to a nonprofit MOH 501(c)3? Evidently the banks involved did not do due diligence on that angle, and the old building owner should be held blameless.

"This is how I found the MOH in June 2014, after the building was sold again, to new owners Shawn Uldridge and Kimberly F. Lowery, who helped me gain access:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G6PbEHZAeNQ..."
Moshe had alienated the "old owner" and was not allowed into the building. He only gained access thanks to the new owners, Shawn and Kimberly. The "old owner" was unaware that Moshe was videotaping him on the walkthrough, thereby guaranteeing Moshe being denied further access to the building.

"I launched a mission to resurrect the MOH, and we were able to stage the HoloRescue 1.0 Exhibition in December 2014.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/.../chi-moshe-tamssot..."
Of course in this context he is not going to mention the part I played in setting up the show, so check out this link to the Reader, too: "See rescued holograms from the shuttered Museum of Holography for one night only".

"After a very successful show, an Anonymous Benefactor offered to serve as financier for our mission, and we worked together to acquire the remaining contents, gaining access in June 2015 with Shawn's help."
The show was successful in that several hundred people did show up for the party. But there were no one heavy hitters like folks from the proposed Lucas Museum, just the usual bunch of slackers cashing in on the free food and booze that Moshe had extorted out of vendors.

"I assembled an army of 270 Volunteers, mainly museum professionals, to sort through the mess. This is a video of the recovery effort.

http://youtu.be/4zHAVQfVYps"
That number is dubious, maybe 270 people expressed an interest, I never saw 270 volunteers in one place except maybe for the Holo Rescue 1.0. And they didn't sort through the mess, I did! When I left for the International Symposium on Display Holography held in St. Petersburg, Russia, in June of 2015, Moshe's worker bees moved my organized piles down from the top floor to the gallery space. Then he somehow coerced a company to set up a clean sort of room with positive pressure to document and catalog the stuff.

This was when Moshe made a serious tactical error; while I was out of the country, so was Shawn Uldridge. I suspect that Shawn's charge to Moshe was to get the stuff out of his building so that he could proceed with its rehabilitation when he returned. If Moshe had moved all the stuff to the site he was claiming that Rosenburg was going to give him for free, the ending of this story would be much different.

"As the Benefactor came to realize the value and significance of everything we saved, he reneged on his benefaction, and declared himself a Private Collector.

This caused tremendous upset in the volunteer ranks, as none of us were in this to enrich a wealthy collector. We just wanted to resurrect a beloved Chicago museum.

In response, we cancelled the HoloRescue 2.0 Exhibition, four days before it was scheduled to open at the Soho House on July 28, 2015.

The Benefactor then absconded with everything we saved."
Here is a prime example of how Moshe rewrites his own history. Moshe did not cancel the second HoloRescue, but the Benefactor did. The reasons were:
#1: Moshe told the Benefactor that he couldn't bring his family to the opening at Soho House as they had placed a limit on the amount of people who could be in the club at any one time, and Moshe had to make sure his army of volunteers got in as they had actually donated their time on the project, and his family had not, so they were out of luck. The Benefactor checked with the powers that be at Soho House and found that there was no such restriction! Moshe accused the Benefactor of making an end run around him, as he was to be the only connection to Soho House. But Moshe can certainly be accused of being on a power trip!
#2: The part of the brouhaha that affected me the most was where the holograms were to be placed. We had a room to be set up with what were the gems of the collection, plus some primo holos to be lent for the evening. Moshe insisted on putting crappy holograms in this prime spot, forgetting that he had agreed to installing them in other spots the previous evening.
#3: Some of the borrowed holograms were coming from the estate of Rudie Berkhout, of whom the Benefactor is a major fan. Moshe forbade the money man from hanging any Berkhouts that had not been originally in the 1134 collection.
So Moshe shot himself in both feet, and after a serious shouting match while having dinner, it was decided to cancel the show. And the Benefactor persuaded Shawn Uldridge to lock Moshe out of the building, the second owner of 1134 to do so! We did take all the stuff out of the building and move it to safe spots.

"After a year of playing cat and mouse, our lawyers finally fenced him in, and we're negotiating next steps as part of the effort to repatriate all the MOH's art and artifacts."
A total fabrication with no basis in reality, except that he did contact lawers.

"I have no interest in owning anything. I just want to see the museum reopened. That conflicts with the interests of those that want to profit off of Loren Billings' suffering."
If he wants to see a holography museum opened, why doesn't he start buying his own holograms and lights and move into a space, and then with some credibility he can start rounding up the stuff from 1134.

I have included Moshe's "MOH Press Archive" so that the links are live, as the ones in the image are not. My pick for the best background article is not his below, but "And they say that pot makes you stupid; a long hour at the Museum of Holography", http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/and-they-say-pot-makes-you-stupid/Content?oid=917693

The Reader - 2/12/2009
Best Background Article
"Losing Her Museum"

http://goo.gl/YIK3iE

Moshe Tamssot - August 2014
First Video of MOH Rescue Visit

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G6PbEHZAeNQ...

f news magazine - 11/25/14
"Holographic Histories...Saving Chicago's Only Hologram Collection"

http://fnewsmagazine.com/2014/11/holographic-histories/

Chicago Inno 12/2/14 -
"The Sad, Wild Story of Chicago’s Museum of Holography and the Race to Save It"

http://chicagoinno.streetwise.co/.../chicago-museum-of.../

Chicago Reader - 12/2/14
"See rescued holograms from the shuttered Museum of Holography for one night only"

http://m.chicagoreader.com/.../see-rescued-holograms-from...

DNAInfo - 12/3/2014
"You Can Help Save The Chicago Museum of Holography Collection"

http://www.dnainfo.com/.../man-aims-save-holography...

Curbed Chicago 12/03/2014
"The Closed Museum of Holography Lives On In New Exhibition"
http://m.chicago.curbed.com/arc.../2014/12/03/holography.php

Chicago Tribune 12/5/2014
"A Chicago entrepreneur and the fate of a private hologram collection"

http://www.chicagotribune.com/.../chi-moshe-tamssot...

Moshe Tamssot - December 2014
Unreleased Kickstarter Video

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1766968705/214837602...

DNAinfo - 6/10/15
"Museum of Holography Collection Will Be Saved Thanks to Benefactor"

http://goo.gl/N0QOGD

Chicago Inno 6/10/2015
"An Anonymous Benefactor Saved Chicago's Museum Of Holography"

http://chicagoinno.streetwise.co/.../an-anonymous.../

Hyperallergic - June 11, 2015
"A Woman's Holography Museum Is Saved From Destruction"

http://hyperallergic.com/.../a-womans-holography-museum.../

Internet Adventure Club 7/25/15
Video Documents MOH Recovery Effort

http://youtu.be/4zHAVQfVYps

Time Out Chicago 7/13/15
"Museum of Holography set to make a comeback at SoHo House"

http://www.timeout.com/.../museum-of-holography-set-to...

Here is another link to put things into an historical perspective, from when I worked at Gallery 1134 as the first Director of Education from The Reader, Chicago's Free Weekly, "Shedding light on holography", from October 7, 1980.

"It's been a crazy ride these last two years.

For me, this was a "TikunOlam" project. A tradition of repairing a broken world.

All I wanted to do was right a wrong, and give Loren Billings' story a happier ending."
It does have a happy ending; she is resting in peace!

August 25th, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
Is there a need for one? (Click here for the print copy.)

September 30, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
It is great to see that Lon Moore is an instigator with “I'd say the response needs to come from the people involved with firsthand information.........”  Here is the status of the “Holo-Vultures” involved:  Bob Hess and Ed Wesly are prohibited from posting on Moshe’s FB page; Jon Seymour is not only prohibited from posting but can’t even see it.  Jonathan Ross is ignoring Moshe, and he has none of the holograms that he documented at the behest of Terry Kasprzak.  Teit Ritzau has the MOH-39, and he too is ignoring Moshe.  Terry Kasprzak, Loren’s son, has the rest, and he is ignoring Moshe, although he did offer Moshe the collection for $300k, which should be a cinch for a web savvy marketing and PR guy like Moshe to raise on KickStarter if he really did want to start a museum, or even start a new collection of holograms.

It is true when Moshe states “I am not free to comment on his Holography Forum.”  Check out facebook.com/groups/Holography/, starting in January of 2016 and working backwards.  He evaporated after that, plus he was removed from https://www.facebook.com/groups/holographyforum/ in May of 2016. Kind of a Mexican standoff!

October 7th, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
Once again Moshe sets his facts wrong to romanticize his cause.  It is certainly true they did not make any small plans, but they did not have a holography institution in mind when they bought the building.  It can be dated to the day that Loren saw her first hologram, at a lecture given by TJ (Dr. Tung Jeong) at the School of the Art Institute on Thursday, October 28th, 1977.  (Victor Heredia and Tom Cvetkovich were there, too, to substantiate this claim!  The former went on to build the School and Museum working for Loren, the latter went on to be one half of S & C Holography, then Chromagem. Both were involved with Gallery 1134's International Exhibition of Holography.)

Tom and Victor were helping Loren set up Gallery 1134, a funky out of the loop art gallery, which must have been part of the original not small plan, with its first art show in January of 1976.  But holography was not part of the original game plan, it becoming the focus after Loren received several negative reviews of her shows, see the companion web page to this one, my Gallery 1134 TimeLine, from 1976 onward.

October 9th, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
Creepy Clowns is correct, I should say!  There are actually 3 of those masks, and they were objects for holograms representing Loren Billings, Al Ornelas, and either John Hoffmann or Bob Billings!  What makes these Kabuki theatre masks even more creepy are the human eyes from the taxidermy shop in the slots!

Addemdum 10/13/16: The near mask is Loren, the other is Al, Hoffmann is a different one, they didn't do one of Bob, probably couldn't find a mask ugly enough.

October 12th, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
“Is the MOH Building haunted?”

I’ll say the place is haunted!  The ghosts include 2 CETA workers, Ron Scott and Joe Porter, who could still be alive today if Loren had terminated another CETA worker, who sold Angel Dust/animal tranquilizers/PCP to Ron, which caused his death, and this same dealer needled Joe Porter into committing a murder/suicide.  But Loren wouldn’t fire him as she needed his warm body to show up as part of the CETA worker quota so she could get her manager’s salary from the government. See this link.

I can just hear Ron Scott telling Al Ornelas, “Al, Al, I love you man, but you’re a lousy teacher.”  Al was teaching multi-media to the CETA workers, and they didn’t understand what he was about.

Al Ornelas was one of the founders of Gallery 1134, and was a corner in the love triangle that included Loren and Bob.  When I left there, Loren and Al were communicating only by notes left on each other’s desks.  A few months later, I found out Al had a heart attack on the first day of vacation from 1134 and his day job, and Victor and I met with his widow, who blamed Loren for all the stress she put him through.

These are all the deaths I know about; there may even be more!

And who couldn't see the witty repartee coming with Lon's comment!

October 14, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
“A HoloWeen Story.

Six years ago, in April 2010, I posted this video of a lightning storm centered above the Museum of Holography building, in Chicago. It was a strange storm in that, despite all the lightning, the thunder was mysteriously muted.”

Once again, Moshe mentions the building he lives a block away from, but does not mention that he was a regular customer.  Gallery 1134 was open sporadically at that time, and Moshe could have been championing Loren’s cause, but it seems that the only time he was in there was in the 1990’s.  Why is he so obsessed with her now?

“"Is the building haunted?", I've been asked by more than one visitor, who's felt a little uneasy during a night tour. I'd be the first to admit that I couldn't last five minutes in that building alone after dark, hence why we gave tours at night. Safety in numbers.”

I had no problems working there.  But that’s because I know who the ghosts are!  And they were cool with me!  See the October 12th posting.

“There's this one room in the basement. It's the one in the MOH Rescue Video that the former building owner refuses to enter. The scene where he pushes open the door, and scurries away, handing me his flashlight (see comments for link).”

The reason he was refusing to enter was because of the stench of mold and mildew and rat droppings.
 
“That room.

It has a tight fitting wood door. It takes quite the effort to close. And a deliberate attempt to open. It doesn't just happen.

That door.

We always made it a practice to keep that door closed as we were working in the building. The room wasn't pleasant. There was no reason to go inside. We had already emptied the contents, which included artifacts from the time the building was a casket factory.”

Excuse me, I emptied that room!  This was Al Ornelas’s room, and I got sick a few times from not wearing a respirator in there.  Here is a sample of one of the artifacts in that room, shoes for the dead!  Left over from the days that 1134 was a casket factory, these paper shoes would grace the tootsies of the embalmed in their coffins

.

“Somehow, that door, would open.

When it happened once, it was funny. Twice, a nervous kind of funny. Three times, and well, that was the end of that. We pulled it shut until we heard the door latch click in place. Pushed on it to make doubly sure. Then left for the night.

That next morning, we knew.

#HoloWeen”

BOO!

October 17, 2016:


"John Hoffman, the MOH's Research Director and "Missing Ghost", is featured in this "Chicago's Very Own" newscast video.

He mysteriously disappeared off the face of the earth sometime in 2009, after a $50,000 lawsuit was filed against him, on behalf of Loren Billings (by her estranged son).

Some believe he may have been involved in a separate fraud, or may have been working with the Russian fraudsters.”

Both appear to be true!  He and Pepito (Pete) Gunto, 1134’s accountant, cleaned out the Robert W. Billings Trust Fund and absconded with that loot.  That is the crux of the lawsuit Moshe mentions.

There is a smoking gun that ties John Hoffmann in with the “Russian fraudsters”.  After hearing the story of how the Russians could convince Loren that they had some great new technology, I figured that they had gotten into her good graces as John had left.  He would always be the one to tell me that my ideas a.) wouldn’t work, b.) he had already tried it, or c.) he had something better but he couldn’t show it or explain it as he was either going to publish a paper or get a patent on it.  So if the Russians were trying to hoodwink her, then John would be the first to pooh-pooh their scheme.

But there was a hologram that was discovered during the excavation, of 1134, a large (approx. 50 by 60 cm) flat multiplex, printed by John Perry of Holographics North, of a gentleman named Tom Miner.  The shipping label on the tube was addressed to John Hoffmann, c/o GnXperts, (the Russian fraudsters business) at 1134 West Washington Boulevard.  John undoubtedly shot the footage of Mr. Miner, and had Holographic North print the hologram from his film.

So it can now be shown that there was corroboration between John Hoffmann and the GnXperts.  Was this hologram part of a scheme to bilk Thomas H. Miner & Associates?  One of the GnXperts, Vitaly Baka, was its treasurer, (talk about the fox in the hen house!) and Igor Anatsko, another one of the fraudsters, worked his way up to CEO of same!

Or was Thomas Miner also involved in the fraud?

“If you know of his whereabouts, please let us know.”

Good luck finding him!  Hans Bjelkhagen and I have been trying to track him down for years!  When Hans was visiting the Home + Studio in the winter of 2016, he came upon a phone number (and he had to pay for it from an Internet service) of a possible Hoffmann phone number.  I called it, left a message on some woman’s answering machine, and the next day she returned the call, telling me that I had a wrong number, stating that no one by that name lived there nor did she know anyone by that name.  I thanked her for returning the call and clarifying, but after I hung up I realized that this had to have been the correct number!  How often does anybody return a wrong number?

 “If you're reading this, John, it would be great to hear your story.”

A lot of people would love to hear his story, too!  Thirty years of working for the Billings, piling up incredible amounts of grudges, and in the end taking her for all she’s worth!

"Chicago wants its Museum, back!"

There is no need for that comma. 

October 19, 2016:

Ed's Comments:

“Loren Billings was a true HoloHistorian, in line with the mission of Chicago's Museum of Holography. “
It was more like re-writing history into herstory.

“Over the course of 32 years, she collected and maintained binders full of press clippings and paper artifacts, that would have been lost to time if not for her diligence and commitment to holography.”
But was never willing to share them with students.

“She was in the process of compiling the ultimate "Timeline of Holography" -- that went well beyond documenting just the accomplishments of the MOH -- before she was defrauded out of her home, museum, and collection. “
That explains why she would sometimes not answer the door, she was too busy with her scholarly pursuits.  Forgive me for being sarcastic.  In reality, her clipping collection ends in the ‘90’s from what I’ve seen.

“Loren Billings' binders and clippings were organized neatly in chronological order, many with handwritten notes. Each clipping was inserted into a protective plastic sleeve. Her attention to detail ensured her clipping collection survived the years spent in the dank basement, before we were able to rescue them.”
Again, Moshe had nothing to do with rescuing them, and they are currently in a safe place and much of them archived here for the wider viewer’s benefit.

“Unfortunately, not only did the HoloVultures remove this "Timeline of Holography" from the MOH Building, they went on to claim Loren Billings' Timeline as their own -- without proper attribution.”
Who is to say other people don’t have similar collections?  It all comes from the same source, the press.

“They are not Ghost Writers. They are Plagiarists, trying to cash in on the suffering of Loren Billings, for their own personal gain.”
Perhaps they are trying to set the record straight.

“Loren Billings would never have given them permission to access any of her archives. These people were her enemies, banished from Chicago's Museum of Holography, for many good reasons.”
Tells us about it!  What do you know, Moshe?  You admit to meeting Loren only once, in 1993, so why weren’t you getting involved with her then?  How long would you have lasted in the company of the Billingses? I suspect that you would have eventually been banned from entering the doors of Gallery 1134.

October 19, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
“Imagine a skylight made of Holograms... :)
Lon Moore: Easy to imagine. Quite a bit harder to construct.”

Gotta love Lon for pointing that out.  And they are quite a bit harder to construct, as I have made such a thing myself, which was Moshe's inspiration for the above quote:

Here are a variety of views of the rainbow projecting transom in action:

"Museum of Holography: A sundial of rainbows is also interesting ... different rainbow every hour :)”

Guess who else has done the same, over 30 years ago! (From Exploring Personal Holography, Creative Camera and Darkroom Techniques, Nov/Dec. 1986)

October 21, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
“Can you manage the design and build out of a HoloLab?”
I sure can!

“We're looking to turn the former MOH Administrative Office in the basement, into the new state-of-the art MOH HoloLab, and need to pull together specs and costs.”
You’re going to need about $5k to do anything credible.

1) Using instant full color LitiHolo type plates and keeping things dry will deliver a quick intro to holography, instant gratitude, and enable more casual flow of food and drink between the lab and the adjoining lounge, keeping things social and fun.”
Not a bad idea, except for the fact that these Bayer Photopolymers that Liti applies to glass need a lot of energy, so you need 10’s of milliWatts to reliably do 2 1/2” squares.  The lasers in the Liti kits are junk; you need to purchase at least a used DPSS green laser, which are going for about $2k; spatial filters are about $500 used on eBay.  Then you need some sort of vibration isolation device, like the Big Beam.

“2) Needs to be able to accommodate "The Happening", the Billings' traditional weekly experimental social gathering of cross-disciplinary artists, scientists, hackers, makers and thought leaders, challenged to push the limits of art and holography. True Social Science.”
There may have been a few of these “Happenings”, but they were never weekly, maybe once in a blue moon. John Hoffmann and Loren Billings were very secretive, and were never willing to share anything, only take.

“3) Enable cross-era vintage equipment display, demonstration and experimentation -- in addition to state of the art equipment -- in and out of the HoloLab. Lasers for example, look best when they're in use, and contextual light shows throughout the basement are a creative possibility. There will be live music in the adjoining lounge.”
We know some collectors who would be happy to sell you some stuff!

“If you're interested, Direct Message me via Facebook, or email me at innovator@gmail.com”
No one has replied publicly as of this posting!

It is interesting to compare the cleaned out version of the office with one I took in 2011 when Terry Kasprzak, Loren's son, let Victor and I explore the building.

October 22, 2016:

This one threw me for a loop, as I thought he had just recently tried to see Lucas, but no, if you look carefully, he found himself there in 2014, not 2016. This was prior to the big Holo Rescue 1.0, where Moshe was supposed to bring investors and other big shots to see what was left of the collection, but all who showed up where hungry for the free food. Has he followed up with approaching Lucas or others to revive the holography museum? It's been over two years since he initiated his "mission".

"We aren't afraid to swing at the fences, throw a Hail Mary, or think way outside the box to resurrect the MOH. That's what separates us from those that plundered the MOH for their own personal gain."

Very interesting that a guy who goes to visit his family for the high holy days in Toronto isn't afraid to throw a Hail Mary!

November 17.2016:

Ed's Comments:
“We found this lathe in the MOH Workshop, during the rescue operation.”

I had my eye on it, but the previous owner of 1134 gave it to his amigos in Pilsen.  Maybe they can do some nice work with it, as pieces that I have seen that were turned on that lathe were obviously not done by a professional machinist, probably more like someone stoned to the gills.  For instance, there are some post holders where the hole for the mounting screw on the bottom was drilled crookedly, like the post had not been chucked properly, and the threaded rod is cock-eyed and does not let the rod sit at right angles to the base they are being screwed into.

“Some Holographers not only wrestle photons into place, they build many of the tools to do the job, themselves.
Fabricating custom parts for a HoloLab, is a lot easier and cheaper than contracting them out, or purchasing them, in many cases.”

What’s up with all the commas? And it’s a part of la vie Holographique that you buy and build stuff.  It’s not necessarily cheaper to build some things, like mirror mounts, if you factor in the cost of machining.  Newport Corp. et al. knock those things out on CNC tools much cheaper than any machine shop that you pay by the hour, which is why they publish drawings that could be used as blueprints for a machinist with impunity.  The drawings are there so you know exactly what you are getting, and where you could drill holes to modify the equipment for your purposes.

“Before the term "Maker" was coined and became part of popular culture, Holographers were living the word as they pushed the leading edge of their art and science.”

It was always there in popular culture, the old incarnation of the concept being DIY, Do It Yourself!

November 26. 2016:

Ed's Comments:
As of this posting, December 7th, 2016, no one has identified Rickie Henderson of the San Francisco Giants done by Ron and Bernadette Olsen.  Plus it’s hard to believe that he has not commemorated the second anniversary of Holo Rescue 1.0 on December 4th!

And it’s almost 2 weeks since Moshe posted anything else on this page!  Does this mean he has run out of steam?  Has he been distracted by something else, like the demolition of the Harpo Studios?  Has the current owner of 1134 West Washington Boulevard written the Holo-Lab and Gallery and Lounge out of the remodeling of his building?

I stand corrected! Look at how this has devolved:

Moshe's last comment proves he looks at this site! What do I know about jocks, they gave me a hard time in high school!

Here's an interesting post from a related Facebook page, albeit a little out of chronological order:

That Bob has a wicked sense of humor! It looks like Moshe has not convinced Shawn Uldridge to block Bob from posting on his site. And you have to wonder about the relationship between Shawn and Moshe as Shawn seems to like Bob's comment!

December 18, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
“The history of the West Loop continues to be stolen. The Museum of Holography sign at Washington & Racine has gone missing.”

Maybe Moshe should consider that the city took it down, instead of insinuating that someone stole it, as there is no entity under the title of Museum of Holography doing business in the State of Illinois.  Loren Billings’s incarnation was involuntarily dissolved in 2008 or so.  Moshe reinstated the NFP retroactively, and illegally, it might be added, as you need to have previously been a member of the board of Directors to reinstate said NFP.  And his NFP was involuntarily dissolved this year.

The Goodwill store peeking out of the lower left corner is where the previous owner had dropped off the hundred or so chairs that were used as 1134's theatre seats, plus most of Bob and Lui's clothes and household items.

December 21st, 2016:

Ed's Comments:
It is obvious that Moshe reads this timeline! He had to reply to the above.

"We intentionally did not renew when the initial term expired, and are planning to reinstate it again with the cooperation of surviving members of the original MOH Board of Directors, when the assets of the MOH are finally returned."
He is planning to reinstate the board when the assets are returned. Like as if that will happen. Which is the other side of the coin of when he tried to use his reinstatement to strong arm the assets from those who he claim absconded with them.

Without his NFP status, he can't go to lawyers who specialize in Not for Profits. Possibly the ones he did speak with told him what he had done in the letter above was illegal. And why would any of the old board members want to reinstate and become involved again?

More than likely, he didn't have the cash to reinstate. And no one would give it to him.

December 27th. 2016:

Ed's Comments:
"Searching for an Individual, Corporation, or Public Institution committed to keeping the collection intact, and on public display in Chicago, forevermore."
Moshe certainly did find an individual, but then he was rejected by that individual when it came time to set up Holo Rescue 2.0. See the entries circa July 26th, 2015 on the companion 1134 timeline.

December 30, 2016:

Ed'sComments:
As usual, Moshe posts link to the "Losing Her Museum" article that appeared in Chicago's Free Weekly, The Reader. Why didn't he become involved when he read it originally? His usual retort is that he doesn't read the mainstream press, which the Reader is definitely not!

He claims to have visited the 1134 in 1993 or thereabouts, why wasn't he making annual or monthly trips back then? Could his scary marketing and PR skills have kept the institution alive? Or would he have been sown the door? He admits to becoming involved in this scenario in the summer of 2014, when the building changed hands.

January 1, 2017:

Ed's Comments:
"The forces of evil were easier."
If Moshe had chosen to cooperate and not battle Jon Seymour, myself, and the rest of the holographic community he may have made life easier for himself!

January 17, 2017:

Ed's Comments:
It's a real tear-jerker to dedicate a book in such a fashion, and then in the next few months have Loren disown the Alumni Association for having taken a field trip to the devil, the dreaded LaserSmith! The Alumni Association was banished from the building, their plans to make their own lab there scuttled.

January 30th, 2017:

Ed's Comments:
Moshe is probably oblivious to the fact that either the watch moved during exposure or the Liti diode laser is mode hopping, viz. the fringes in the upper right. It wasn't running, otherwise there would be no minute hand during the 10 minute exposure he claimed he made, see his personal FB page for those details. What is also curious is that shadow of the hour hand is above the hand, implying a reference beam from below. Let's hope the ORD campers uttered "Wow!".

February 14th, 2017 (St. Valentine's Day):

Ed's Comments:
"A love story like no other." I'll say! It was always hard to figure out how Loren, who could be sweet and charming, could have ended up with such a gruff Gus, who no one could ever accuse of being sweet and charming, 12 years her junior.

"My eternal love. Lui" I guess she never found out about Bob's extramarital affairs. John Hoffmann would complain that Bob was always bragging about all the women he was having on the side. Hard to know if John or Bob were making any or that up, but if Bob did tell John that, he must not have been too bright, as that gave John something to blackmail Bob with!

February 14th, 2017 (from a related site):

Ed's Comments:
The day of reckoning hath come. Shawn Uldridge (proprietor of the B & B), Moshe Tamssot, Jon Seymour (aka the Anonymous Benefactor) and myself got together on May 1st, 2016, to hash over a plan put forth by Shawn to have Jon lease space in 1134 for a small holo gallery and lounge. The rent for a year, which was supposed to be a bargain, considering the location, discounted for a Not For Profit, was more than I paid for my house. Shawn needed some answers soon, to plan for building the space.

Things were seeming to go smoothly, until Moshe told me something to the effect that there would be no problems with him if I only minded my business. I replied that there would be no problems, as I would not get involved with anything he had anything he had to do with. Jon asked Shawn if the two of them could do business without Moshe, but Shawn replied that Jon would not be able to succeed without Moshe's flair for marketing and PR.

Seems like Moshe's scary skills did not net him a backer in time for Shawn's build out.

February 16th, 2017:

Ed's Comments:
It is interesting how Matt Letourneau holds Moshe's toes to the fire, he obviously has dealt with him in the past and sees past his malarkey. This comment is being posted about a month after it originally appeared on Facebook, and I don't see any follow up.

It's nice to talk about seeing a holographic institution reborn, but it is only talk at this point. If Moshe really had wanted to show the holography community he was capable and trustworthy, as he burned his bridges with most of them, he could have run a Kickstarter to get himself some holograms and lights and a place to put them up in, and worry about "repatriating" "his" collection when has a place to display them.

"This is Chicago's 'Holography Triangle'." Should read more like Chicago's Holography Bermuda Triangle! The antagonism of Loren and Bob Billing plus John Hoffmann toward poor old LaserSmith was of the nastiest, vilest sort. While Smith is not exactly Mr. Congeniality, he certainly did try to kiss and make up on several occasions, but was unsuccessful.

The Chicago Holographic Cooperative was formed by Smith in response to Loren barring him from taking any more classes after Holo II. The CHC crew were refugees from 1134 like myself, Victor Heredia, Larry Zgoda, Tom Cvetkovich, Jerry Becker, et al. !!34 students wouldn't let on that they came to the Co-op meetings, and that came to a head when the Alumni Association of the Fine Arts Research and Holographic Center, who dedicated their book to Loren, see above, were then banished from the 1134 labs for taking a field trip to the LaserSmith's.

Here's some food for thought: How would Moshe have fit in with all these people he seems to be idolizing if he were on the scene in 1982?

It also seems that Shawn is the second landlord to have rented space out from the Mosheum of Holography. No mention is being made about his friend who had space for him at the site of Holo Rescue 1.0 at 1140 West Madison. Moshe always said he could have free space there, but I guess none is available.

For those who tried clicking on the link in the image above, here is the DNA Info; if you want to volunteer and click on holomuseum.org, thinking that URL was a legitimate site, you will find yourself back on Moshe's Facebook page!

February 18th, 2017:

Ed's Comments:
"Chapter Two. A New Beginning."

That has a Star Wars ring to it! And of course, Princess Leia is not the world's most iconic hologram, although Moshe still presents it like it is on his makeitfor.us/hologram site.

Or is it the beginning of the end?  Matt LeTourneau totally busted Moshe on this one.

When I first saw this post, I thought, “Hmmm, someone has been taking an Illustrator class to design this logo.”  Which was a surprise to me, as Moshe had his partner in crime, Conrad Fuhrman, computer design a new logo for the Mosheum of Holography,

based on the original, done by Al Ornelas, one of the 3 original founders of Gallery 1134 (along with Bob and Loren Billings), which became Fine Arts Research and Holographic Center. 

Then more posts followed, with no explanations or comments: one with a whole building side of posters advertising a show at a Museum of Holography; another with what looked like advertising on public transportation; admission tickets; and a page on the history of the Museum.  It looked to me like the final assignment that could have been turned in for a graphics design class, not unlike those at where I had worked at Harrington College of Design, wherein a student has to design the logos, etc. for an institution.

And then Matt found the site where Moshe had appropriated, without attribution, (following in the footsteps of Loren Billings) all the above: that of Sarah Gardner.  He must have done a Google Image Search on the images, and found it.

I could have done the busting myself, as I had helped Sarah with this final project, except she had not been gracious enough to send me a link to it when it had been completed. 

Sarah had been a student of Rick Bruck, (who had been a student of mine at Gallery 1134) who teaches the only real holography class in Chicago, at Columbia College.  She attended HansFest 2016 at the Home + Studio of E. Wesly & Sons. She was a student worker in the Portfolio Development Department for Weston Morris, (who also was a student of mine, at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago), and I would visit her and Wes before I taught my final classes for Harrington College of Design after that august institution moved into rental space on the Columbia campus.  None of us were aware of her A quality work.

But once the cat was out of the bag, Moshe deleted all the artwork posts, unfortunately before I had a chance to screen shot them.  (If anybody has them, please let me know!)  She has been incommunicado to me, with the only acknowledgement coming to Wes.

She grabbed the image of the Green Lady Portrait from Jonathan Ross’s web site, but the image of the Gallery 1134 crew had come from the Mosheum Facebook page, (see May 16th post here or there) which may explain why she entered into some sort of agreement with Moshe to let him use her graphic as a quid pro quo, or possibly because he promised her a job as being their graphics designer when his Mosheum opens.

If either Matt or Sarah would like to add their 2¢ to this discussion, please contact me and I will gladly add them!

PS: If you had been thwarted when clicking on the links in the above image of the email, here they are, live:
http://edweslystudio.com/HoloArt/Artindex.html
http://www.jrholocollection.com
http://www.holoprint.com
http://web.mit.edu/museum/collections/holography.html
http://www.hansholo.com

March 7th, 2017:

Ed's Comments:
Now we know what Moshe's true mission is: to be photographed with the rich and famous and politicians! Just like with His Honor the Mayor on July 7th, 2016

and on July 14th, 2016,

he shares the story of Loren and Gallery 1134 so that he can bask in the limelight or in the sympathy, and promise to be the knight in shining armor that will right all the wrongs.

April 8th, 2017, Ed's comments: (Not in response to any FB postings, that's why there's no image.)
It has been over a month since Moshe has posted, his longest hiatus ever. Has he run out of steam? Have the "forces of evil" gotten the best of him? Does Chicago really want its museum back?

As a holographer, I would certainly like to see a new museum or at least a gallery dedicated to the art, where I can show my collection and sell my pieces and pick up groupies. But it will not succeed if it is run by egomaniacs like Moshe Tamssot or Loren Billings. There is a reason why Loren ended up living by herself, with no staff to continue the work, as she managed to alienate any- and every- one who tried to help her; John Hoffmann, her beloved "step-son", even played a role in in her demise at the hands of the Russian fraudsters.

As the dear reader of this web page can see, Moshe seems to be capable of making a big noise and not much else. If he truly wanted to start a holography museum he could have used his awesome talents to Kickstart himself some cash to invest in lights and his own holograms to set up in his friend Shawn Uldridge's location and charge admission to pay the rent, and then try to re-acquire "his" collection when he had some credibility. Instead he was fixated on coercing the collection into returning, alienating the world-wide holography community (by getting himself ejeted from not one, but two Facebook Holography Groups), along with Loren's natural-born son, who really should have final say in all of this. Plus he's cowed the Anonymous Benefactor into hibernation mode.

But this is typical of Moshe; he comes on strong but doesn't deliver. His Monks of Invention web page doesn't look like it's been updated in over a year; make it a couple of years at https://makeitfor.us/hologram. Will we be hearing from Moshe in the not too distant future? Like maybe when he adopts another lost cause, like the Oprah Studio bricks? Or making a totally gluttonous Big Mac?

April 27th, 2017:

Ed's Comments:
“I'll be posting an update soon.

Please stay tuned ”

How soon is soon?  It’s been over a week of this posting (Cinco de Mayo) since Moshe posted this, and still no update.  Maybe the update is taking so long to write because there is so much to update about. More than likely there is nothing to update since he has done nada, except maybe “hanging out” as he puts it.

At least he gets the difference between Pepper’s Ghosts and true holograms, but is a little fuzzy on the history of holography in Chicago, as it was called the “Chicago Holographic Cooperative”, not Collaborative.  The core of the CHC was formed by outcasts from Gallery 1134, banned from entering the hallowed casket factory turned into holography gallery, namely Steve Smith, Victor Heredia, and myself, as Loren took an unwarranted dislike to us.  Other CHC members were always paranoid about Loren finding out about their involvement in the Co-op, otherwise they could suffer the same fate.

The readers’ comments display the usual phenomena, a lot of interest from folks who had visited the place, usually once or twice, and had fond memories of the place.  Which is understandable, as she did have some interesting exhibits.  And none of them worked there.  But did any of them make annual trips, as that was as often as the exhibits changed?  Buy holograms?  Take classes?  And of course, Moshe confesses to have only have visited there once, in the ‘90’s, and never really supported the place when it was alive.

Partnering with another museum wouldn’t be such a bad idea, maybe the synergy would turn into a sustainable partnership, but like most of Moshe’s good intentions, his personality would eventually get in the way of any negotiations, as it did with “The Anonymous Benefactor” and his plans to set up a holography gallery.  Or he is getting bored of this “mission”, like other enterprises under the Moshe, Inc. umbrella, like his Monks of Invention, or Make It For Us, as noted above.

It’s interesting that Moshe always asks for pictures or mementoes of the visits, and rarely does he get any, because it was always Loren’s policy to never allow photography in the gallery, claiming it was the wishes of the artists.  I doubt if you would find any holographers who were averse to publicity; besides, a flat photograph doesn’t do a hologram justice.  Towards the end of her regime she became more lenient, as the new phone cameras became more ubiquitous.

May 21st, 2017:

Ed's Comments:
This was up for all of 15 minutes, so I hear before one of the moderators took it down. I received an email with similar verbiage, and ignored it.

May 14th, 2017:

Ed's Comments:
I hate to be so crude as to say "Happy f**king Mother's Day" but Moshe is practically screaming it! This tirade must have been brought about by removal of his post to the holography community 2 days earlier.

June 17th, 2017:

Ed's Comments:
It's been over a month since Moshe posted this as I write these comments, pointing out once again his pathology of always waging the good fight for holography in the name of the Mosheum of Holography. But the Regal people look like they might prevail since they seem to have some money, however that money is tainted, as "Another former County Club Hills official indicted over grant tied to Regal Theater".

Excerpted from the link, "Another former suburban top law enforcement official has been indicted in an ongoing investigation of alleged fraud over a $1.25 million state job-training grant. A federal grand jury indicted Ronald Evans Jr. today, accusing the former inspector general of Country Club Hills of working with his wife – then the south suburb’s police chief – to use grant money to pay the mortgage on a historic Chicago theater. The money was supposed to be used to help dozens of minorities or women train for jobs in the building trades." Shades of Loren Billings and her CETA grant fraud!

I have yet to see one of these "holographic projections", but I have a feeling that a couple of decades from now, people will be viewing these shows as kitsch from the 2010's. It's a flat image interacting with the real world, not like the original Pepper's Ghosts, which were two sets of real people and objects optically combined. Beautiful examples of the technique are at the Disney Haunted Mansions.

Interesting that Steve LaserSmith chimed in! He could tell Moshe plenty of dirt on how Bob and Loren treated him!

Here's the link to the other Chicago Tribune article in the post above.

July 22nd, 2017:

Ed's Comments:
“will be preserved for use a new location.”  What new location?  He talks about it, but doesn’t disclose it.

“This week also marks the 97th birthday of Florentine (Loren/Lui) Dobija Billings, born on July 21, 1919.”  Aren’t you forgetting she was married to a dude named Kasprzak?  But since Loren’s son by that marriage, Terry Kasprzak, won’t give Moshe the time of day, much less his holograms, he doesn’t dare mention that surname.

This week, of Sunday the 23rd to Saturday the 29th marks the second anniversary of the infamous HoloRescue 2.0 shootout, where Moshe blocked Jon Seymour, who paid for what was left of the collection and was the rightful owner of that jazz, from Moshe’s army of volunteers Slack.com account, forcing Jon to cancel HoloRescue 2.0 and getting Moshe to be banned from entering Gallery 1134 by its current owner, Shawn Uldridge.  See here for more details.

Who knows how many holograms really were in the Gallery 1134 collection?  Loren loved to inflate every number connected to her institution, but she did buy quite a few commercial holograms for sale, but I doubt if there ever were 2,100 different images offered in the history of holography.

The only thing I can think of that possessed Dave Battin to jump into the fray must have been the urge to pass on some good old-fashioned common sense, just start anew!  ‘Cause it’s all over now, Baby Blue, to quote Bob Dylan.

Jody really sums it all up, but doesn’t realize who he is dealing with, and he doesn’t listen to reason.  As Moshe rebuts, “I’m not interested in owning or profiting off the venture” he doesn’t mention what he really wants; and that is to be in charge.

Moshe is a little inaccurate about living across from Gallery 1134, he’s actually down the block, but he has little regard for accuracy.  As usual he mentions he’s been in the neighborhood for 24 years, and how many times was he ever in Gallery 1134?  Once!  Did he make it an annual trip?  Buy holos?  Take classes?  NO!  Now why sudden interest?

And of course when there’s a tempest brewing in a teapot, Al Razuto has to chime in.  And tosses a hot potato into the mix, asking if Moshe were suing anybody to get the ball rolling.

To sue implies hiring a lawyer; to hire a lawyer, one must have dough.  Moshe has none, or if he does, is not going to use it on a case like this that has a minimal chance of him prevailing, and he blew his bridges with a law firm that deals with NFP’s as he tried to reinstate the 501(c)3 illegally.  See link.

Wouldn’t his scary skills have avoided the catastrophe if he had been involved?

“How exactly did Loren Billings “screw” the Holography Community?”  A recent example came up on the Facebook holography page on June 22nd 2017.

I was also there when the artifact was unearthed, and evidently somebody at Gallery 1134 applied the tape to cover up the authorship of the piece.  So if this isn’t a prime example of deliberately screwing someone in the holo-community, I don’t know what is!

I told Jon Seymour about this piece, and he said he would get it back to John.  Evidently this hasn’t happened.

“Most of what you know is the vitriol being spewed from one bitter individual who was banished from the MOH, and whose own personal story is so embarrassing that he has yet to share it publicly with the Holography Community.”

If you look at the so-called vitriol, it’s nothing but facts, in fact no fabrications like Moshe is prone to do.  I was banished, but not because I was fired; in fact, I left because I couldn’t take the insanity.

I left in February of 1981, and Loren asked me back.  I did so, and the insanity only got deeper, and left in May of 1981 when I landed a teaching gig for the following fall.

What did get me banned from entering the place was a letter to the editor of the New Art Examiner, outing the so-called museological practices of 1134. Loren and crew set up a show of holograms at the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle Campus, link to poster, and the holograms were nicely hung and lit, but the title cards next to each one identified the hologram by title and place of origin, but did not include the name of the holographer!  I have slides of this show, but yet to be scanned. Another example of how Loren screwed the holo-community.

Here is the letter, as published  in The New Art Examiner.

August 8th, 2017:

So much for the story, the sound isn't working on the video!

The picture of John Hoffmann in the lab was taken by yours truly, of course never credited by Loren. Here are some out takes from that session.

Here is the model of the Picasso as seen during the January 2011 trip I made into Gallery 1134 with Loren's son, Terry Kasprzak. I didn't find it there when I excavated 1134 in 2014-15, probably Terry has it in his collection of 1134 memorabilia.

August 14th, 2017:

Ed's Comments:
"I had the honor and pleasure of welcoming Dr. Steven L. Smith (aka Lasersmith), one of the world's most accomplished Holographers, back to his old stomping grounds in Chicago's West Loop."

Quite a few members of the Holography Community would call not call welcoming Steve Smith a pleasure or an honor, (like those who worked for him in Chicago or with him at MIT, for starters), but this was Moshe’s first experience with Loren Billings’s #2 nemesis, the LaserSmith (Dr. Jeong being her most hated).

I have known the LaserSmith since my first exposure to holography in 1978 at a Society for Photographic Education convention in 1978, see “The Day That Changed my Life”.  Then he showed up to photograph the Gallery 1134 holography exhibit at Navy Pier in the summer of 1979.  Here is a gallery of shots I had taken there.

Then he popped up in my Holo II class in the Fall of 1979, and we even were sandbox partners for a few lab sessions!  But Loren Billings and John Hoffmann took a dislike to him, Bob Billings deeming him a disruptive influence, and not wanting to “train the competition”, so he was not allowed to take the Holo III class.  But he learned how to make image plane reflection and transmission holograms on his own, and did do some pretty incredible pieces!

He always had a grudge against me, claiming I cheated him out of a job working at Gallery 1134, but it just wasn’t in the cards, as he had rubbed Loren and Bob and John the wrong way right from the start.

"First, our hearts go out to Steven and his family on the recent loss of his Father. Our thoughts are with you."

So does mine, however the abuse Steve’s father heaped on him is undoubtedly the reason for LaserSmith’s difficulty in dealing with people and reality.

" On their drive west to spend time with his dad for the last time, they managed to catch a glimpse of 1000 W. Monroe in Chicago (Lasersmith's second HoloLab) -- which itself was demolished by the time they returned on their drive back East a few days later when we met. Such is the nature of life and the things we love and think will last forever. Time is of the essence. The holograms never stop fading.
Steven has been a good friend, mentor and advisor on the Mission to resurrect Chicago's Museum of Holography. No small feat given the competitive nature of the relationship between the MOH and Lasersmith (they were located within a block of each other), and a powerful testament to the need and ability of true leaders to rise above personal differences in order to focus on the future. He sets a fine example for the HoloCommunity, and has been an inspiration."

This is all very heartwarming, but we shall see how long the relationship between Smith and Moshe lasts.

" We hope to see Steven and his family back in Chicago soon, hopefully heading up a next generation HoloLab and Photonics Incubator at Chicago's MOH, and doing what he's always done best -- The Impossible."

Does this mean Smith is looking for a job and Moshe is dangling one in front of him?

" Now that would be an incredible way to close out this chapter of the Chicago MOH story."

I will have to agree with that! We shall see what happens.

You can learn more about the Holographic Histories of 114 N. Aberdeen and 1000 W. Monroe, here:
https://www.facebook.com/…/true…/permalink/1844826892431171/"
This link doesn’t work.

"As well as view holograms Dr. Smith created for the McDonalds HQ, here:
https://www.facebook.com/…/true…/permalink/1930315787215614/ "
Neither does this one.

Ray Doeksen Why competitors? Would think that a museum and a maker would be allies and collaborators not competitors.
August 14 at 1:13pm

One would like to think that, but that was not the case with Loren Billings.  Many times there were discussions betwixt Loren and John Hoffmann about “training the competition”.  They wanted all the holographic jobs for themselves.  And in the end, the LaserSmith probably did more business than they did!

August 29.2017:

Ed's Comments:
It has been over 3 months since this post as I write this one. Has Moshe finally given up?

"A tour of The Press Room Chicago, which just opened in the basement level of Chicago's Museum of Holography Building, former location of the MOH's HoloLabs, Workshop, and Administrative Offices."

If you follow the Press Room link to their Facebook page above, you will find nothing about their Gallery 1134 heritage. But if you follow this link, you will find where Moshe appropriated most of the images he poorly framed to display his vision of Gallery 1134's heritage. Should I be flattered, or angered? I'm just chuckling about how the frames crop the images!

"We'll be hosting Holography Events here in the near future to keep the HoloSpirit alive, as we work towards a new home and the return of the MOH's collection of art and artifacts."

Haven't seen nor heard of any meetings on this FB page or Moshe's personal one. Wonder what would happen if I showed up if there were?

"A tour of the Publishing House Bed and Breakfast (Floors 3 & 4 - Bob & Loren Billings' former residence in the MOH Building), can be found in this prior post:
https://www.facebook.com/holomuseum/posts/1671969499776005"

The holomuseum link doesn't appear to work, but yu can find what he is talking about when scrolling down deep, and if you go the the Publishing House B & B site you will find nothing about its Gallery 1134 heritage, nor about "The rooftop deck along with the rooftop gardening system I created and donated to the building owners, will be up and running next year -- feeding guests of the Bed & Breakfast -- and continuing a long time gardening practice started by Bob & Loren Billings." It may be up there, we shall see what sprouts when spring comes. Gotta love the way he toots his own horn, though!

And maybe I'll have visited the Wine Bar by then!

August 29.2018:
Ed's Comments:
It has been over a year since his previous post as I write this one. Once again I ask, has Moshe finally given up? Does anyone else even care?  Notice that only one person of the 14 recommenders has recommended the site this year, all the rest are over a year old.

Has anything of interest transpired since then?  A few things, the earliest one occurred on December 12th of 2017, when Bob Hess and I went to investigate the Press Room Wine Bar in the basement of 1134 West Washington Boulevard.

Moshe had waxed eloquently about this drinking emporium, even going so far as to promising to use this establishment as a meeting ground.  "We'll be hosting Holography Events here in the near future to keep the Holo Spirit alive, as we work towards a new home and the return of the MOH's collection of art and artifacts."  Never saw any announcements for Holography Events posted anywhere.

I was curious to see this new saloon in the office and workshop space where I had toiled first in the late '70's and early '80's, and more recently in 2014-14 excavating the remains of the Fine Arts Research and Holographic Center.  But I didn't want to go there alone, because if I had run into Moshe there, there could be trouble.  And it would be nice to have a friendly witness with me.

So Bob Hess, noted laser and hologram collector, was in town, and we decided to go.  And we had a good time, albeit an expensive one, drinking wine and noshing on some fine comestibles.  We checked out the pictures that Moshe had framed poorly and hung here and there, some appropriated from this site, (click here for proof), some he had found elsewhere, but none belying the previous existence of the Rudolph Casket Company, only the Free Methodist Publishing House and Gallery 1134.

Bob even mentioned to our waitress that I had worked there, but no one seemed interested.  So our visit there was uneventful, until we returned to my car, which was parked across the street from Moshe's condo complex.

When we had parked there, the unit that I thought was his was dark.  And when we had returned, it still was.  Maybe he hadn't paid his electricity bill.  Maybe he was gone!  He didn't seem to get along well with his neighbors, I remember getting some very dirty looks from them when I visited his crib.

So we decided to check the directory of the security phone system to see if he were still listed.  And he was.  Then Bob dialed Moshe's number, and all of zip code 60607 reverberated with a very loud and hearty, "Fuck you!" while I looked on in astonishment!  It had been a very uneventful evening up until then!

The next night I was minding my own business, watching TV, when I got a phone call, and the Caller ID said "Private Number", which is how Skype calls from Hans Bjelkhagen announce themselves.  But this was about 10 PM Chicago time, which would be 4 AM Wales time, so I figured Hans was in his cups and needed someone to share his troubles with.

But no!  It was Moshe!  Complaining that he knew it was Bob and I who left that message on his answering service, as there was a video camera looking at the security station.  And he was going to file a police report on us!  But none of Chicago's finest came knocking on my door.  And of course, the bitter irony of this whole escapade was the fact that my accomplice who I took along to ensure that there was no trouble, was the one who caused trouble!

In February of 2018, when Hans made his annual trip through Chicago on his way back from Photonics West, the two of us visited the Press Room, and had a good but expensive time.  (I do recommend the sautéed leeks!)  We ran into Shawn Uldridge, the current owner of the building, but he was going to have dinner, and was not available to give us a tour of the current incarnation of the building.  Maybe when Hans is back here in 2019.

Another item of interest was the fact that the "Bloated Holo-Poet", Eduardo Kac, benefacted Moshe with what was left of the School of the Art Institute's Holography Lab.  I was intimately familiar with this lab, having started working there in the spring of 1986, substituting for Ed Dietrich that semester, then taking over the reins in the fall of 1988, when Doris Vila left.  Eduardo came in as a grad student in the spring of 1989, gaining a reputation as a bad apple, manipulating people behind my back, and I will be writing up his perfidy in the Holo-Hades section of this site.  I had to leave in the fall of 1997 when he came back as a full time instructor, as it would have been a toxic workplace situation for me.

Over the winter break of 2008-2009 a pipe burst in the holo lab, and the Newport Vibration Isolation Tables filled with water.  They were not of the research grade line, but the budget type, which had particle board interiors, not aluminum honeycomb.  The particle board disintegrated. The holography lab was packed up and put into off campus storage. How does Eduardo get to just give several 10's of thousands of dollars of equipment to Moshe? There must be an interesting story here, and once I find out the truth, I will share it.

Check out this preamble to SAIC Holo Lab to see the lab in its glory days and the aftermath, plus the Instruction Manual I had written which details all the equipment and how to use it in set ups..

Here is Moshe with his Honda Element full of the equipment, the big box being a Spectra-Physics Model 125 50 mW Helium Neon laser, plus a picture of the stash in his garage, along with 1134's front door!

Ironically, this holo-stash was way better than anything that Moshe could have gotten out of the Fine Arts Research and Holographic Center!  Although it's frustrating to see this huge stash of high quality components going to Moshe, it's like the least deserving kid on the block getting the most deluxe Lionel train set, complete with all the accessories, but taking solace in the fact that he doesn't have the proverbial 4' by 8' piece of plywood to attach it all too, much less the room to set it up in. No one that I know has heard anything about the status of this stash.

When Moshe found out I was delivering a talk on his idol at the International Symposium on Display Holography at Aviero Portugal in June of 2018, he begged Hans to not let me give my talk, which I did anyway, if you would like to read it, click here, if you want to see the accompanying slide show, click here.

So what will Moshe do in the future?