CACOPHONY SOCIETY

The 'Cacophony Society' is “a randomly gathered network of free spirits 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. According to self-designated members of the Society, “you may already be a member.” Particularly well known amongst its members is the novelist Chuck Palahniuk, who has mentioned the Society in both his writings and interviews. He used the Cacophony Society as the basis for the 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 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 dress as Santa Claus and drink all weekend (SantaCon), or dress in animal suits and go bowling. Usually the events and participation criteria are such that it is easy to identify others who are participating, but perhaps difficult to identify them later in ordinary circumstances.
The San Francisco Branch of the Cacophony Society was involved early on in the annual Burning Man festival after Michael Michael attended the event at Baker Beach in 1988 and publicized the 1989 event in the Cacophony Society newsletter. Other significant events created by the Society are: the Atomic Cafe, the Zone Trip, the Chinese New Year’s Treasure Hunt, the picnic on the Golden Gate Bridge, Pet Cemetery Bingo, The Crucifixion of the Easter Bunny, the Brides of March, Urban Iditarod, and the Sewer Tour. After a lull in activity in the late 1990s and the cease of publication of the San Francisco branch of the society’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.
Cacophony could be described as an indirect outgrowth of the Dada movement. 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).
The Los Angeles 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 and "Klowns against Commerce" which tested the limits to which a clown could abuse business men in downtown Los Angeles before being assaulted or arrested. In 1995 several LA Cacophonists became part of Circus Redickuless which toured the United States carrying forth many of the dadaistic elements and absurdies developed through their exposure to the Cacophony Society.
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 anti-climatic 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.
Flash mob activities share some ideas with cacophonist theory, as well as groups like Improv Everywhere and movements like Discordianism.

Contents

External links

External links

★ The National Cacophony Society’s official web site

★ The San Francisco Cacophony Archives (pre-1995)

★ Saint Stupid’s Day Parade-First Church of the Last Laugh

★ Santarchy—An annual Cacophony Society event

★ Brides of March official web site

★ The Winking Circle official web site

★ “Why Eat Pigeon?” gag brochure distributed at Union Square Pigeon Roast, July 7, 2000

★ New Zealand Lodge's home page

★ "Bonfire Of The Ironies" by Christopher Noxon, about the dissolution of Los Angeles Cacophony (originally printed in Arthur magazine)

★ Peter Geiberger memorial site

★ Cleveland Cacophony site

★ Social Ironist Party

★ Cacophony Politician