Cacophony Society
Encyclopedia
The Cacophony Society is “a randomly gathered network
of free spirit
s united in the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society
.” It was started in 1986 by surviving members of the now defunct Suicide Club of San Francisco.
Cacophony has been described as an indirect culture jamming
outgrowth of the Dada
movement, and the Situationists. One of its central concepts is the Trip to the Zone, or Zone Trip, inspired by the 1979 Film 'Stalker' by Andrey Tarkovskiy.
According to self-designated members of the Society, “you may already be a member.” The anarchic nature of the Society means that membership is left open-ended and anyone may sponsor an event, though not every idea pitched garners attendance by members. Cacophony events often involve costumes and pranks in public places and sometimes going into places that are generally off limits to the public. Cacophonists have been known to regale Christmas shoppers with improved Christmas carols while dressed as Santa Claus
, and later invite strippers to sit on Santa's lap (SantaCon
). A documentary of the Society, titled Into the Zone - The Story of the Cacophony Society', is currently being completed by director/editor/member, Jon Alloway. The trailer and additional information can be found on http://www.intothezonemovie.com/
festival after Cacophony co-founder John Law
attended its previous incarnation as an as-yet-unnamed beach party at Baker Beach
in 1988 and publicized the 1989 event in the Cacophony Society newsletter. Cacophonist Kevin Evans conceived of Zone Trip #4 in 1990 and organized it with John Law and Michael Mikel, publicizing it in the newsletter as "A Bad Day at Black Rock". Larry Harvey
and Jerry James were subsequently invited to bring their effigy along, after they were prevented from burning it on the beach by law enforcement. Other events created by the Society are: the Atomic Cafe, the Chinese New Year
’s Treasure Hunt, the picnic on the Golden Gate Bridge
, the Brides of March
, Urban Iditarod, and the Sewer Walk. After a lull in activity in the San Francisco branch of the society in the late 1990s and the cessation of publication of that chapter’s monthly newsletter Rough Draft listing of events for the San Francisco Cacophony Society (172 issues were produced during the years 1986 to 2001), a group of subscribers to the practically defunct society’s email discussion list became active under the Cacophony Society aegis following a mock Pigeon Roast put on by a fictitious organization calling itself "Bay Area Rotisserie Friends" in San Francisco’s Union Square in 2000 proposed by Drunken Consumptive Panda. This new group of Cacophonists is occasionally referred to by its members as Cacophony 2.0 and emphasize their chaotic, ebullient spirit with the motto “If you don’t live it, it won’t come out your [bull]horn.” The Society’s newsletter was briefly revived under the name 2econd Draft.
branch of the society listed events in their monthly newsletter, "Tales from the Zone." After several years of mailing out monthly newsletters, they switched to an on-line newsletter format. The events produced by the Los Angeles branch often pushed the boundaries of pranksterism with several historic events, including "Cement Cuddlers", an event where they filled a dozen teddy bears with cement and put them on toy store shelves, complete with bar-coded labels; "Pet Cemetery Bingo;" "The Crucifixion of the Easter Bunny;" and "Klowns against Commerce," which tested the limits to which a clown could abuse businessmen in downtown Los Angeles before being assaulted or arrested.
The Los Angeles group splintered in late 2000 when longtime leader Reverend Al declared a "bold new direction" for the branch and allegedly joined an Orthodox Christian community out of guilt over the deaths of two young Cacophonists who reportedly died in a drunken post-event car accident (though one of the men eventually turned out to be completely fictitious, and the other, Peter "Mr. Outer Space" Geiberger, was discovered some months later, alive and well and quite amused at tumult resulting from his 'death'. On September 13, 2006 Geiberger actually died, which proved somewhat anticlimactic in light of the elaborate mourning of his initial "passing.") In 2005 Reverend Al resurfaced as Dr. A.P. Ridenour, leader of a safety consciousness organization, The Art of Bleeding, along with several members of the Orthodox faction of Los Angeles Cacophony.
In 2008, The Los Angeles Cacophony Society was revived by San Francisco Cacophonist Heathervescent and Rev. Borfo with Michael Mikel's Blessing. These events included Cacophony classics like the Brides of March and Santacon as well as new events: Xmas in July, The Caveman Picnic, the LA Marathon Zombie Stop and zone trips to San Pedro's Sunken City, LAX-T, Salvation Mountain and beyond.
For several years Portland Caco took responsibility for the Disgruntled Postal Workers - a group of surly, heavily armed people in postal uniforms who, when they felt like it, delivered newspapers and other forms of "mail" at the Burning Man
annual festival, until the Burning Man organizers outlawed their guns (which, reportedly, made some of them even more disgruntled). A kinder - gentler BRCPO (Black Rock City Post Office) which actually delivers and sends US postal mail from and to the Burning Man event (with their own BRCPO postmark by special arrangement from the US Postmaster), is still run by PDX Cacophony associates.
The Portland group has also heavily incorporated nudity into the majority of their events. Most recently, Helping Unite More People In Trouble (HUMPIT) consisted of many naked (or nearly naked) Portlanders marched from 1st Avenue to 23rd Avenue on Burnside Street; arousing people to take action to end the plight of troubled Portlanders.
Other favorite events include; Chinese New Year: Red or Dead Tour, Stripper Bingo, Goodwill Hunting, Brides of March, Rest Stop at the Shamrock, Mondo Croquet, the Nuclear Family Picnic, the Ice Cream Anti-Social, Kindergarten Art in the Pearl, the Great Pumpkin Shoot, Spam Poetry Readings, Mutant Toy Workshops and SantaCon. For the last several years, costumed bar crawl events, notably Plunderathon, have been run with PDX Cacophony member support in association with Drunken Rampage, Inc.
Many individual members quietly conduct their own small D.I.Y. splinter missions, culture jams, zone trips, happenings, reverse shopping and "art projects" that do not require mass group participation or attract widespread attention. After all, what is art but tra spelled backwards?
Possibly the most widely known Cacophony member is novelist Chuck Palahniuk
, who has mentioned his experiences with the Society in his writings, notably the book Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon
. He used the Cacophony Society as the basis for the fictional organization Project Mayhem in his novel Fight Club
. Palahniuk himself was pranked by a gang of Cacophonist waiters at one of his book readings in San Francisco.
The Portland Cacophony have taken calling themselves PDX Cacophony Stumptown Lodge, in the fashion of a fraternal organization, but there are no dues, no roll call, and no hierarchy. There may be a secret handshake, and YOU may already be a member.
Web page http://portland.cacophony.org/
Flash mob
activities share some ideas with Cacophony, as well as groups like Improv Everywhere
and movements like Discordianism
. The Society also has links to the Church of the SubGenius
and the annual Saint Stupid's Day Parade
held on April 1 in San Francisco, sponsored by Bishop Joey (AKA Ed Holmes) and to the Billboard Liberation Front
a group of artist/pranksters responsible for many infamous billboard alterations. Urban Explorers also have taken some inspiration from early Cacophony events such as the Sewer Walks.
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
of free spirit
Free Spirit
Free Spirit may refer to:*Free Spirit , 1995*Free Spirit , 2009*Free Spirit , an American television series*Free Spirit , a South African television series...
s united in the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society
Mainstream
Mainstream is, generally, the common current thought of the majority. However, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct....
.” It was started in 1986 by surviving members of the now defunct Suicide Club of San Francisco.
Cacophony has been described as an indirect culture jamming
Culture jamming
Culture jamming, coined in 1984, denotes a tactic used by many anti-consumerist social movements to disrupt or subvert mainstream cultural institutions, including corporate advertising. Guerrilla semiotics and night discourse are sometimes used synonymously with the term culture jamming.Culture...
outgrowth of the Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
movement, and the Situationists. One of its central concepts is the Trip to the Zone, or Zone Trip, inspired by the 1979 Film 'Stalker' by Andrey Tarkovskiy.
According to self-designated members of the Society, “you may already be a member.” The anarchic nature of the Society means that membership is left open-ended and anyone may sponsor an event, though not every idea pitched garners attendance by members. Cacophony events often involve costumes and pranks in public places and sometimes going into places that are generally off limits to the public. Cacophonists have been known to regale Christmas shoppers with improved Christmas carols while dressed as Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
, and later invite strippers to sit on Santa's lap (SantaCon
SantaCon
SantaCon is a mass gathering of people dressed in Santa Claus costumes parading publicly on streets and in bars in cities around the world. The focus is on spontaneity and creativity, while having a good time and spreading cheer and goodwill....
). A documentary of the Society, titled Into the Zone - The Story of the Cacophony Society', is currently being completed by director/editor/member, Jon Alloway. The trailer and additional information can be found on http://www.intothezonemovie.com/
San Francisco chapter
Members of the Cacophony Society's first group were also the primary organizers of the annual Burning ManBurning Man
Burning Man is a week-long annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the United States. The event starts on the Monday before the American Labor Day holiday, and ends on the holiday itself. It takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on Saturday evening...
festival after Cacophony co-founder John Law
John Law (Burning Man)
John Law is an American artist, culture-jammer, and co-founder of the Cacophony Society. He is also a co-founder of the Burning Man Festival which evolved out of the spirit of the Cacophony Society when a precursor solstice party was banned from San Francisco's Baker Beach and merged with another...
attended its previous incarnation as an as-yet-unnamed beach party at Baker Beach
Baker Beach
Baker Beach is a public beach on the peninsula of San Francisco, California, U.S.. The beach lies on the shore of the Pacific Ocean to the northwest of the city...
in 1988 and publicized the 1989 event in the Cacophony Society newsletter. Cacophonist Kevin Evans conceived of Zone Trip #4 in 1990 and organized it with John Law and Michael Mikel, publicizing it in the newsletter as "A Bad Day at Black Rock". Larry Harvey
Larry Harvey
]Larry Harvey is the main co-founder of the Burning Man festival, along with his friend Jerry James. What started in 1986 as a summer solstice evening ritual burning of their artistic creation of an effigy of a man with a group of just a dozen people at San Francisco's Baker Beach, which then...
and Jerry James were subsequently invited to bring their effigy along, after they were prevented from burning it on the beach by law enforcement. Other events created by the Society are: the Atomic Cafe, the Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...
’s Treasure Hunt, the picnic on the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
, the Brides of March
Brides of March
The Brides of March started as an annual Cacophony Society event that takes place in San Francisco around March 15th. Intended as a pun on the term Ides of March and a parody of weddings in western culture. The event, which began in 1999, is part pub crawl and part street theater, while wearing a...
, Urban Iditarod, and the Sewer Walk. After a lull in activity in the San Francisco branch of the society in the late 1990s and the cessation of publication of that chapter’s monthly newsletter Rough Draft listing of events for the San Francisco Cacophony Society (172 issues were produced during the years 1986 to 2001), a group of subscribers to the practically defunct society’s email discussion list became active under the Cacophony Society aegis following a mock Pigeon Roast put on by a fictitious organization calling itself "Bay Area Rotisserie Friends" in San Francisco’s Union Square in 2000 proposed by Drunken Consumptive Panda. This new group of Cacophonists is occasionally referred to by its members as Cacophony 2.0 and emphasize their chaotic, ebullient spirit with the motto “If you don’t live it, it won’t come out your [bull]horn.” The Society’s newsletter was briefly revived under the name 2econd Draft.
Los Angeles chapter
The Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
branch of the society listed events in their monthly newsletter, "Tales from the Zone." After several years of mailing out monthly newsletters, they switched to an on-line newsletter format. The events produced by the Los Angeles branch often pushed the boundaries of pranksterism with several historic events, including "Cement Cuddlers", an event where they filled a dozen teddy bears with cement and put them on toy store shelves, complete with bar-coded labels; "Pet Cemetery Bingo;" "The Crucifixion of the Easter Bunny;" and "Klowns against Commerce," which tested the limits to which a clown could abuse businessmen in downtown Los Angeles before being assaulted or arrested.
The Los Angeles group splintered in late 2000 when longtime leader Reverend Al declared a "bold new direction" for the branch and allegedly joined an Orthodox Christian community out of guilt over the deaths of two young Cacophonists who reportedly died in a drunken post-event car accident (though one of the men eventually turned out to be completely fictitious, and the other, Peter "Mr. Outer Space" Geiberger, was discovered some months later, alive and well and quite amused at tumult resulting from his 'death'. On September 13, 2006 Geiberger actually died, which proved somewhat anticlimactic in light of the elaborate mourning of his initial "passing.") In 2005 Reverend Al resurfaced as Dr. A.P. Ridenour, leader of a safety consciousness organization, The Art of Bleeding, along with several members of the Orthodox faction of Los Angeles Cacophony.
In 2008, The Los Angeles Cacophony Society was revived by San Francisco Cacophonist Heathervescent and Rev. Borfo with Michael Mikel's Blessing. These events included Cacophony classics like the Brides of March and Santacon as well as new events: Xmas in July, The Caveman Picnic, the LA Marathon Zombie Stop and zone trips to San Pedro's Sunken City, LAX-T, Salvation Mountain and beyond.
Portland chapter
By the mid-90s, Cacophony had spread to four major centers along the American west coast. In 1996, Portland Cacophony hosted the infamous first Naughty Santa rampage to take place outside of San Francisco. The arrival of the planeload of Santas was met by Portland's police in riot gear, as someone in the SFPD had sent word ahead. Swift, thoughtful and very friendly action by Santa Melmoth, inviting the nice police along for the fun, kept confrontations to a minimum. The weekend resulted in only one arrest - involving a gift wrapped in a Playboy centerfold given to someone without checking the recipient's ID to make sure he was over 18.For several years Portland Caco took responsibility for the Disgruntled Postal Workers - a group of surly, heavily armed people in postal uniforms who, when they felt like it, delivered newspapers and other forms of "mail" at the Burning Man
Burning Man
Burning Man is a week-long annual event held in the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada, in the United States. The event starts on the Monday before the American Labor Day holiday, and ends on the holiday itself. It takes its name from the ritual burning of a large wooden effigy on Saturday evening...
annual festival, until the Burning Man organizers outlawed their guns (which, reportedly, made some of them even more disgruntled). A kinder - gentler BRCPO (Black Rock City Post Office) which actually delivers and sends US postal mail from and to the Burning Man event (with their own BRCPO postmark by special arrangement from the US Postmaster), is still run by PDX Cacophony associates.
The Portland group has also heavily incorporated nudity into the majority of their events. Most recently, Helping Unite More People In Trouble (HUMPIT) consisted of many naked (or nearly naked) Portlanders marched from 1st Avenue to 23rd Avenue on Burnside Street; arousing people to take action to end the plight of troubled Portlanders.
Other favorite events include; Chinese New Year: Red or Dead Tour, Stripper Bingo, Goodwill Hunting, Brides of March, Rest Stop at the Shamrock, Mondo Croquet, the Nuclear Family Picnic, the Ice Cream Anti-Social, Kindergarten Art in the Pearl, the Great Pumpkin Shoot, Spam Poetry Readings, Mutant Toy Workshops and SantaCon. For the last several years, costumed bar crawl events, notably Plunderathon, have been run with PDX Cacophony member support in association with Drunken Rampage, Inc.
Many individual members quietly conduct their own small D.I.Y. splinter missions, culture jams, zone trips, happenings, reverse shopping and "art projects" that do not require mass group participation or attract widespread attention. After all, what is art but tra spelled backwards?
Possibly the most widely known Cacophony member is novelist Chuck Palahniuk
Chuck Palahniuk
Charles Michael "Chuck" Palahniuk is an American transgressional fiction novelist and freelance journalist. He is best known for the award-winning novel Fight Club, which was later made into a film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter...
, who has mentioned his experiences with the Society in his writings, notably the book Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon
Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon
Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon is a travelogue by novelist Chuck Palahniuk.The book alternates between autobiographical chapters, and lists of the author's favorite activities in his home city of Portland, Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.Palahniuk guides...
. He used the Cacophony Society as the basis for the fictional organization Project Mayhem in his novel Fight Club
Fight Club (novel)
Fight Club is a 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk. It follows the experiences of an unnamed protagonist struggling with insomnia. Inspired by his doctor's exasperated remark that insomnia is not suffering, he finds relief by impersonating a seriously ill person in several support groups...
. Palahniuk himself was pranked by a gang of Cacophonist waiters at one of his book readings in San Francisco.
The Portland Cacophony have taken calling themselves PDX Cacophony Stumptown Lodge, in the fashion of a fraternal organization, but there are no dues, no roll call, and no hierarchy. There may be a secret handshake, and YOU may already be a member.
Web page http://portland.cacophony.org/
Other chapters
Even as "official" Cacophony activity was dying down in SF and LA, Caco chapters continued to spring up in other US cities and in other countries. Cacophony chapters are now or have been active in about two dozen North American cities and in at least a half dozen other countries. The Santas have even been seen in Antarctica.Smells Like Cacophony
Many activities have been inspired by Cacophony and vice versa. Although in San Francisco the 'official' Cacophony label is presently not used often, Zombie attacks, Peewee Herman day (commemorating Paul Reubens' arrest in a pornographic theater) and other goofs are alive and well. The Santa rampages, which many believe have devolved into simple pub crawls, have been largely disassociated from Cacophony. Periodically, clowns, bunnies, zombies, whores and others have staged anti-Santa activities, to shake things up (sometimes called counter-culture jamming). Another example of counter-culture-jamming was Smiley Man, a neon prank installed secretly on the Man at Burning Man 1996, the last year that Cacophony founder John Law was Director of Operations at Burning Man, before control of the festival was taken over by a new corporation headed by one of the other founders, Larry Harvey. John Law had been responsible for the original neon on the Man, six years earlier.Flash mob
Flash mob
A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, artistic expression...
activities share some ideas with Cacophony, as well as groups like Improv Everywhere
Improv Everywhere
Improv Everywhere is a comedic performance art group based in New York City, formed in 2001 by Charlie Todd. Its slogan is "We Cause Scenes."The group carries out pranks, which they call "missions", in public places...
and movements like Discordianism
Discordianism
Discordianism is a religion based on the worship of Eris , the Greco-Roman goddess of strife. It was founded circa 1958–1959 after the publication of its holy book the Principia Discordia, written by Malaclypse the Younger and Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst after a series of shared hallucinations at a...
. The Society also has links to the Church of the SubGenius
Church of the SubGenius
The Church of the SubGenius is a "parody religion" organization that satirizes religion, conspiracy theories, unidentified flying objects, and popular culture. Originally based in Dallas, Texas, the Church of the SubGenius gained prominence in the 1980s and 1990s and maintains an active presence on...
and the annual Saint Stupid's Day Parade
Saint Stupid's Day Parade
The Saint Stupid's Day Parade is an annual parade that takes place in San Francisco on April 1st. The somewhat anarchistic parade was founded by Ed Holmes in the late 1970s. If April 1st falls on a weekday, the parade starts at the foot of Market Street and follows a well established route...
held on April 1 in San Francisco, sponsored by Bishop Joey (AKA Ed Holmes) and to the Billboard Liberation Front
Billboard Liberation Front
The Billboard Liberation Front practices culture jamming by altering billboards by changing key words to radically alter the message, often to an anti-corporate message. It started in San Francisco in 1977.-External links:* * * at Bombing science***...
a group of artist/pranksters responsible for many infamous billboard alterations. Urban Explorers also have taken some inspiration from early Cacophony events such as the Sewer Walks.