Boombox Army invade Party Walk

I was part of Unsilent Night, an annual sound event which is performed during the holiday season in many different cities. This performance had been performed at Pan Pacific Park the last few years. This year Downtown Art Walk was the new venue Thursday, December 10th.



The deal is, you sign up and bring a boombox or other portable amplifier to the event. On it is played a sort of modern classical experimental piece which was either on CD, MP3, or the beloved cassette tape (remember those?). I figure there must've been 40 or so people with boomboxes who participated. There was one person on rollerblades with a groovy retro backpack boombox. Sweet!



I had organized a sound performance a month earlier for Art Walk and so had available a loud, homemade-ish, portable amplifier ready to go for some more fun. I met a few friends there also participating, Tommy, Jud & Jodi. We started on Spring street at the Arcade Building. We walked up and down Spring and Main street in between 4th and 9th roughly for around 45 minutes. The song had a lot of dynamics going from crinkling, tinkling bell sounds to loud clangings and tonal washes.



It was pretty fun. Our sound army got lots of curious stares as we rumbled into the bustle of the downtown crowd. The walk also gave me the opportunity to see all the new stores that have opened up downtown and some of the new ones about to come in. It's changing so quickly now. The stores are getting more expensive, corporate, and grandiose. Is an ominous "fratscape" a'blooming in downtown? Maybe a corner is being turned from artsy and up and coming to Mallville? Still I guess it's better than Crackton. Anyway, next year be sure to be part of this fun and interesting event.

http://unsilentnight.com