shows by Stevie Wonder, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Ike and Tina Turner and Jerry Lee Lewis. Calmes would often join the headliners, performing on stage during their sets. Calmes and Wynne sold their interest in Soul City in 1968. During their tenure at Soul City, the partners used their Showco sound system, impressing the hundreds of bands who performed at the club. The Showco team also joined Atlanta-based Alex Cooley in organizing the Texas International Pop Festival in 1969. Although the festival was a success, featuring, among others, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Chicago, B.B. King, Canned Heat, Spirit and Santana, Calmes and Wynne couldn't sustain the financial burden of producing it, reportedly over $100,000 ($ today), and parted ways. Calmes would regroup and rededicate his efforts to building up Showco. Showco's initial focus was sound systems, addressing musicians' frustrations with sub-par live sound set-ups. As a gigging musician himself, Calmes understood the need for clear, efficient sound systems, and worked to provide them for a range of clients‘ live shows and tours, starting with Three Dog Night, Led Zeppelin and Steppenwolf as the company’s first three accounts, later ranging from Elvis Presley to Genesis. At its peak, Showco had ten sets of lighting and sound packages traveling with major acts. Other bands utilizing Showco's touring packages included the Carpenters, Bread, Rare Earth and the Kinks. As a technology company, Showco built its own soundboards, developing automated lights that could change colors, and entire systems controllable from one master switchboard. They were the first to use lasers in a concert, to use trusses, they invented aluminum towers and pneumatic towers, allowing shows to be set up quickly. The business grew to include product marketing as well. Calmes resigned as president of Showco in 1980. What began as Showco was later spun off into Vari*Lite, so named in 1984. Syncrolite After resigning from Showco, Calmes founded the Dallas-based Syncrolite, in 1984. The company's achievements include developing the first, fully automated DMX (digital multiplex)-controlled Xenon light system in 1989. That system, however, resulted in a 1989 lawsuit from Vari*Lite, claiming Calmes infringed upon Vari*Lite's patents for moving concert lights that could change color. Calmes countersued Vari*Lite, claiming his former business partners had misled him about the development of the Vari-Lite system when he left Showco in 1980. He felt that he had inadvertently mimicked, though also exceeded, the Vari*Lite system. After