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NEW YORK -- The mother of all flash mobs officially came to an end on Wednesday night, in an inexplicable grand finale that amazed and confused both participants and mob organizers.
New York City's Mob Project was launched in May by a man known only as "Bill" as an experiment in participatory street performance. People received an e-mail invitation to a mob event, where they interacted with others according to a loose script, and then dissipated just as suddenly as they appeared.
On Wednesday night, mob participants gathered at predesignated bars, where they were handed slips of paper with instructions for Mob No. 8. The instructions read: "At 7:41, a performance will begin on the sidewalk.... Be an enthusiastic audience.... If the performance is disrupted before 7:46, chant "Mob" and follow the performer away...."
It sounded like a simple plan, and it was -- until the mysterious neon sign guy showed up and took over the mob.
Exactly on cue, at 7:41, several hundred people moved onto the corner of 42nd Street and 6th Avenue. A boom box started playing -- was it the performer? Much of the crowd assumed so, and excitedly whooped and whistled, bellowed and boogied.
"And so there I am, dancing to the music, when out of the corner of my eye I see a guy pulling a glowing neon sign out of his suitcase," said Matt Pirelli. "I thought, jeez, even in New York City no one normally carries an illuminated neon sign in their suitcase. He must be the promised performer."
The guy hoisted his blazing sign, which read "Café Thou Art," high with his left hand. With his right hand he flashed a peace sign at the merry but mystified mob.
Some members of the crowd, carrying out their pledge to be an enthusiastic audience, began chanting "Peace! Peace! Peace!"
Others, correctly suspecting that the sign guy was not a planned part of the evening's activities, bellowed "Mob! Mob! Mob!"
"When people started chanting 'Peace' and 'Mob' I was sure this gathering was an incredibly clever performance about pacifism versus mob mentality," said mob participant Nancy Gornell.
"Turned out it was just random chaos, which is perfectly fine with me too."
Later, at the party held to celebrate the end of the Mob Project, word leaked out that the planned "performer" had indeed been the boom box, not the sign guy.
The "disruption" hinted at in the instructions was a prerecorded message. When the musical performance was interrupted by the message, the crowd was supposed to follow Bill and the boom box to the party, pied-piper style, while chanting "Mob! Mob! Mob!"
But in the general cacophony, the message wasn't heard. No problem, most mobsters agreed. While it would have been fun to troop five blocks to the party, it was equally fun to be befuddled.
The mob still has no idea what "Café Thou Art" is or means.
"According to the invitations Bill sent out, the mob was always intended to be an inexplicable gathering of people," said participant Marvin Shapiro. "It's just so cool that the end of the mob was marked with utterly inexplicable art."
In the invitations sent out for Mob No. 8, Bill had announced that Wednesday night's mob would be the last he'd organize in New York City.
Bill, who launched the now global flash mob movement, said he opted to end the Manhattan mobs because he figured the project had reached the end of its natural life span.
"The Mob Project was all about pointless, fleeting fun, and it has almost overstayed its welcome," explained Bill. "What's best about it -- its novel way of bringing strangers together for a surprising collective action -- will live on, I hope, in future projects."
Mob events are now happening around the world.
"The response has been sort of disappointing," said Bill. "After all, they never did do a mob in Antarctica."
"Seriously, I continue to be blown away by how far and fast the mobs have spread," Bill added. "I've never agreed with those who see the mobs as a 'movement,' but it's clear that for groups of people in individual cities around the world, the mob idea has been a great basis on which to create their own social art."
A summer's worth of organizing mobs has taught Bill some things about creating an unplanned planned event, and he's happy to share his tips with other mobsters.
"Most of the things I've learned I'm sure they've already figured out for themselves. Keep the ideas short and funny. Be meticulous in your planning, and in your instructions. Keep the organizers in the background.
"Really, the idea is so simple that it's hard to mess up. What's really been cool is seeing the ways that organizers in different cities have interpreted the idea differently."
Is he sad to see it all end?
"No."
But Bill added that he has some plans for other involve-the-public projects. Keep an eye on those inboxes, New Yorkers.
