MP3 Experiment

On Saturday, Kevin and I took the train into New York to participate in Improv Everywhere’s MP3 Experiment. It worked like this: a whole heap of people downloaded an MP3 into their MP3 player. Then, at a decided time and location (4:00:00pm, Roosevelt Island, NY) we all hit play at the same time.

We’d been instructed to come to the event in either a Red, Yellow, Blue, or Green t-shirt. As 4:00:00 approached huge crowds of people in colorful t-shirts started pouring out of the subway station.

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photo by Brian Fountain

We were given a general area to collect (anywhere in the blue). And at 4pm, on the dot, everyone started the track.

It was a mix of music and instructions that guided us through hilarity including the following:

– High fives for everyone
– Nap time
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photo by Katie Sokoler

– Dance Parties (ho-down, robot, and 1920’s)
– Freeze tag
– A giant war with inflatable weapons (hammers vs. bats)
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photo by Electricllya687

– An epic wolf story
– A long march towards unity
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photo by Brian Fountain

Overall, there were probably about 2000 people who came to the event. It lasted for 47 minutes and was one of the most unique events I’ve experienced.

After the event, Kevin and I met up with Jesse and Tyler. Tyler was a major player in the MP3 planning and execution. His primary role was the development of all the music played. It was all original work and if you’d like to check some of it out, head over to his MySpace page Here. For a specific song sample, check out Peters and the Wolves here.

Great job Improv Everywhere and Tyler! Also, Special thanks to Vivienne for letting me borrow her MP3 player and to Kevin for joining me on Saturday’s adventure.

3 thoughts on “MP3 Experiment

  • 5/26/2009 at 1:42 pm
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    Mike…you didn’t need to borrow anyone’s MP3 Player. Your Kindle can play MP3s. Yeah! Its that awesome!

    Reply
  • 5/26/2009 at 3:32 pm
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    Man, I’ve been reading these Improv Everywhere things for years.. one day, I will actually attend an MP3 Experiment. It will be the greatest thing.

    Reply
  • 5/27/2009 at 3:34 pm
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    At the very best Improv Everywhere’s stuff is decent performance art (like the dancing in store windows, or “freezing” in grand central), but the less imaginative ones are just an inside joke. To the casual passer-by, it’s probably just a minor curiosity, but all the participants (and on-line readers/viewers) get to be “in” on it.

    Their April Fool’s joke this year was hilarious though.

    Reply

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