5th Annual Paper Hats Marching Band Parade: 2008
The Boston Symphony of Spontaneity (emphasis on the "phony" part) proudly presents the 5th Annual Paper Hats Marching Band Parade!
Of course, this is only our first year- but no one else has to know that. A little before 1pm on the first truly gorgeous Saturday of the year improveratti met at the Soldiers & Sailors Memorial in Boston Common to make paper hats and receive further instructions. Like all our stunts we did not advise anyone in advance what we were going to do.
It was a bit windy so many taped the hats to their faces. Some people even created bonnets or added chin straps to their hats.
Super hot hat created using many BostonSOS.org logos:
We lined up in two shoulder-to-shoulder lines and assigned people to a type of classic marching band instrument. Some played the flute, some played the trombone, some the snares, and others the trumpet- but everyone's instrument was equally important to the musical ensemble...
...after all they all played the same number of notes- ZERO. All the instruments were imaginary! Well, everyone's except one BostonSOS member who JUST HAPPENED to have a huge pair of cymbals in his backpack as he had band practice that day. What luck!
Our marching band leaders towed a red wagon equipped with a speaker system to pipe out classical marching band tunes while we marched in time to his Scepter of Marchyness. We started our military style march at the Carty Parade Ground- an area used since 1852 for military displays and public celebrations.
Crossing the street from the Carty Parade Ground we passed one of the many tour buses around the Common- this one lightly honked it's horn to the beat of our march. Arriving at the other end of the street in the Public Garden we were met with smiles, laughs, cheers, and clapping.
We worked our way around the entire park putting smiles on the faces of hundreds of people amused by our utter silliness. Many people took our their cameras to not only take our picture but to get their pictures taken in front of us as we marched by!
A couple 20-something girls asked if they could join- we handed them some extra paper hats and they stayed with the march till the end! A lot of other park goers briefly tagged along behind us here and there for a laugh. A little girl asked her parents why she couldn't see our instruments. SUCCESS!
Back across the street into the Common we continued our successful march passing tourists visiting historic monuments and excited children at the playground. A couple visiting from Vancouver discussed coming back to Boston in the coming years for the 6th and 7th Annual marches. What they don't know is every year will be called the "5th Annual" regardless.
Shockingly, security did not bother our little bout of fun so the march continued longer than originally expected- but the reactions were constantly the same as we continued to cover new ground and meet new laughing faces. After over 20 minutes of marching we returned to the monument where we first met.
We were just about to pack it up and leave when a man doing a picture book of Boston asked us if we could march just a bit more for his book. So we did two more loops around the monument! If you see a "picture a day" book for Boston come out next year make sure to check Day 110, Saturday, April 19th. You might just see the Boston Society of Spontaneity causing mischief on what may be one of the nicest days of 2008.
A big thank you to everyone that joined us on this GORGEOUS day for the parade! You were all real troopers sticking out the extended parade route- I'm sure your arms were tired but you really made a ton of people smile and laugh. Walking around with my hidden camera I got to see a lot of great expressions. If you heard any that stick out in your mind share them here by posting a comment at the bottom of the page!
We have a ton of video footage to go through but when we get it all together we'll post it here and let you know! If you took any photos make sure to put them in our Flickr group.
Thanks again! Hope you had as good a time marching as the people in the parks had watching you!
Heh...I would have kept trying to find you all if I didn't need to head out for my other film shoot. In retrospect, it was kind of funny watching you guys march away, as I was making conversation with some very pleasant onlookers, who were wondering what the f*ck we were doing. I convinced several people that I had no idea what was going on, I was just a 'tourist' from Manitoba. "Is this what people do in the States?" I said to several people. "This is so weird."
Someone actually asked me if this was a cult, which was odd, because the anime people and their picnic was just several yards away.
There were lots of people looking curiously the whole time, some even applauding. I LOVE that some kids joined in the fun.
I just didn't know where everyone was headed, which was why I lost y'all. I've got almost 60 minutes of footage though, but won't be able to edit until at least Monday.
This was beyond awesome. And it gave me great exercise, running back and forth to capture footage. Although I think I trampled on some forbidden ground in the Public Garden.
Let's keep up the fun!
-NB
Good job everyone! This mission was a definite success. Smiles were abound. I may post more pictures if I decide to edit them and whatnot.
If you've met me at one of the events - send me a message and say hi!
Agent SLATE
my sis had her baby early, or i would have been there! Looks like a great time, I look forward to the next one! good job everyone!
CONGRATS FROM US TO YOUR SISTER!
This was an epic mission; I at first thought I was going to miss it because I was mistaken and meandered around near the Frog Pond before seeing the small splinter group of BSOS on the other side of the street. So, after some wandering with a newspaper in my hand, I finally found some people with paper hats and asked them "How do you make a paper hat?" They just gave me an extra one, which was a pleasant surprise. Being in the aforementioned small splinter group (which happened to have the sound system) left me unassigned to an instrument, so I just saluted everyone, and borrowed the cymbal dude's cymbals for a bit.
The reactions were pretty good. Old people and small children were the most positively reactive, whereas people in the 18-24 demographic were staring at us like they were thinking "What the fuck is going on?"
I would have stayed and gone for drinks with Cobalt and co., but alas I ain't of legal age yet and I had to hightail it to a Benny Golson gig (which was also amazing). I look forward to more missions!
This was definately a fun one. I showed up a few minutes late with my friend after a commute from New Hampshire, but we got up to speed right away. After helping some people with ideas on how to keep their hats on, I was assigned to be a drummer. Even right now, it hurts to lift my arms up. How do the real ones do it?
I tried to keep a serious face, but it was very difficult not to smile.
We had to run right as it ended, and after being stuck in a horrible traffic jam on the ride home, ended up being an hour late for work. All in good fun, it was completely worth it. I can't wait until this summer when I won't have to juggle homework and BSOS at the same time!
When I imagined a Paper Hat Marching Band, I had no idea how awesome it would be in reality. Thanks to BSOS, the team and all who made this musical marching dream become a fantastic reality.
GregPC
If we ever reprise this, we oughtta look to local colleges for actual baton twirlers/flag twirlers.
And yes, Ragnazar, those are typically the age demographics that tend to get the most amusement out of this kind of thing. People in their teens or 20s, ironically enough (since we, for the most part, are representatives of that age group) tend to think that we're just a group of mentally disabled people. And you know what? That encourages me even more. :-)
my friends are all jealous.
I had a couple of friends come up to me on Monday and ask "What in the hell were you doing in the commons on Saturday?"
Success!