Missions – Page 7

May 5, 2009 by Oden Leave a Comment

Phoenix First Friday Freeze

First Friday Freeze May Day in Phoenix; and what better way to celebrate the beginning of the long hot summer than a group freeze in the midst of Phoenix’s First Friday festivities.

Sometime after 6:30 p.m. groups of revelers, approximately 40 in total, converged at the intersection of 5th St and E Garfield, mingled in with the crowds of patrons, artists and passerby’s, inconspicuously waiting. At about 6:50 p.m. balloons were released to the sky signaling the group members to hold that pose and hold it and hold it some more.

A few people were frozen checking their cell phones, or reading a map. I froze in the process of being fed a scoop of ice cream, which dribbled into a mess on the ground. One person froze tying his shoe, and another froze in mid marriage proposal. Definitely lots of creativity in the poses and participants!

Soon crowds gathered; some shocked, some confused, some awed, all mostly amused, to witness the event.

In the true pagan spirit of the holiday, members of the AZ Cacophony Society captivated the crowd by decorating the freeze participants with beads, starry sunglasses, makeup and even making an impromptu human May Pole with streamers.

Then, as suddenly as it began and not a moment too soon for those in pose, it was over at the sound of what could be described as an asthmatic air horn. Everyone quickly dispersed to enjoy the rest of their usual First Friday experience.

Several people have posted videos on YouTube, including alacritae, ballergrlHeather, and this one from RelGirl8:

Victorianladyaz1 was one the freezers, and left the video camera on the whole time. Watch this video to check out the curious people walking around and trying to figure out what was going on.

We have one more “official” video coming, and will post that as soon as it is ready.

There are also some nice pictures showing up in Flickr. Be sure to use the tags “improvaz” and “phxfreeze” on Flickr so we can find them.

If you were part of the First Friday Freeze or witnessed it firsthand, post your thoughts in the comments below! If you want to get involved in future pranks or flashmobs, keep checking this blog or join our Facebook page.

April 4, 2009 by Jeff Moriarty 9 Comments

Pillow Fight flashmob in Tempe

A flashmob hit the Tempe Marketplace to participate in International Pillow Fight Day! About 60 people showed up, and it was a blast.

Rumor was as many as 300 people were thinking about coming, so the original plan was to just spread out all across the mall. Things were supposed to start at 3:00, and a few minutes beforehand you could see people walking around with overly fat shopping bags and a knowing look in their eyes. Realizing there weren’t as many people coming, people began scouting around in quest of other possible pillow fighters.

Right before 3:00, people started to gather in front of Dave & Busters, sizing each other up and identifying their victims. At 3:00… everyone looked at each other, then whipped out their pillows! It was ON!

People laughed and swung their pillows while baffled shoppers hustled away to make sure they got nowhere near the goofiness. The fight went on for about a minute before mall security showed up and asked everyone to break it up. The fighting stopped, but there was still untapped pillow aggression in the air.

A few minutes later dispersed group started new fights by the mall stage and down by the Harkins’ Theaters. New people arrived who had missed the first fight and things got larger and crazier. The new fights went on for several minutes before mall security returned in force and told everyone to leave.

Check out the great pictures on Flickr! If you want to add your own, use the tag “azpillowfight” (and “improvaz” if you’re extra-special!)

It was short, but a lot of fun. Hopefully the next one won’t be on private property so it won’t get shut down so fast. It was another good flashmob, and they Valley is on track to growing a great flashmob community!

If you were at the Pillow Fight, post your thoughts in the comments below! If you want to get involved in future flashmobs, watch this blog or join our Facebook page!

March 10, 2009 by Jeff Moriarty 11 Comments

Welcome Back!

Welcome Back balloons On March 8th, 21 members of ImprovAZ gathered at Sky Harbor Airport to try and execute the Welcome Back prank that Improv Everywhere did so well. We scouted out the location a few weeks back, and the plan was to loiter near the place where limo drivers picked up clients and wait for someone with a clear name we could use.

We came equipped with balloons, banners, and signs, all partially filled out – waiting for our target’s name! When we scouted out previously, there were plenty of drivers and names to choose from. This night, however, some companies had big events planned so all the drivers were just holding corporate logos – no names! For over an hour we scouted, waited, and began to wonder if this was going to work…

Then just as we were discussing going to a backup plan to find someone, anyone, needing a welcome back, the winds of fate abruptly shifted! A driver stood by himself, a hand written sign in his hand, welcoming back “Debbie Knauss”.

The team sprang into colorful markered action, filling in Debbie’s name wherever we could and running back down to the driver. Debbie could be coming any second, and we wanted to be ready. We had a small bit of genuine improvising to do when we reached her driver and pretended to be her dear friends, because we misread her last name as “Knause” and had to hurriedly change our signs.

We made an impressive sight as we waited for 15 minutes or so for Debbie. Passengers and employees looked and smiled, and many laughingly said they wished they were Debbie. Debbie’s driver, Amet, even held one of our signs that read “WE LOVE U DEBBIE!” We made up replies to where she was coming from when we were asked, and poor Debbie ended up being everything from a returning Army vet to a long lost family member as we waited. A few industrious souls searched for Debbie’s picture online, and thanks to the power of Teh Google, we had an idea what she looked like by the time she arrived.

Everyone stopped to see who we were waiting for

When she showed, we whooped and hollered, and Debbie was absolutely stunned. She kept wanting to know if we were really there for her, and every time we assured her, it was only good for about 15 seconds before she wanted to know again. She even had her ID out to show that yes, she was Debbie Knauss, just like our signs (mostly) said.

After giving her flowers and balloons, we let her in on the joke. She was still a little perplexed, but had a good laugh and wanted to know what we had in store for her next trip to Phoenix. Even the airport employees got into it at the end, because just as we gave Debbie a big group cheer the greeting “Welcome back, Debbie!” came over the Terminal PA system!

Still a little perplexed, but enjoying the attention

We could not have asked for a better subject than Debbie, who laughed and smiled after getting over the initial shock. She thanked us all, posed for a few pictures, and then went on her way with her driver… still smiling. We hope she had a wonderful trip to Phoenix.

Huge props to the ImprovAZ agents who showed out in such force and waited patiently while we waited for a suitable subject. Lastly, thanks to the people working at Sky Harbor that night for helping us with our fun.

Be sure to check out more great pictures from the event on Flickr. If you were at the event, please leave your thoughts in the comments below. If you would like to get involved in ImprovAZ activities, you can follow us on Twitter or join us on the Urban Prankster network!

Update: Another video is online with a bit more of Debbie’s reaction.

Hi there!