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, a secret society devoted to urban exploration and anarchic pranks. Cacophony has been described as an indirect culture jamming outgrowth of the Dada movement, and the Situationists. One of its central concepts is the ‘Trip to the Zone,’ inspired by the 1979 Film ‘Stalker’ by Andrey Tarkovskiy.
According to self-designated members of the Society, ‘you may already be a member.’ 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 off limits to the public. Cacophonists have been known to regale Christmas shoppers with improved Christmas carols while dressed as Santa Claus, and later invite strippers to sit on Santa’s lap at their annual SantaCon event.
Members of the Cacophony Society’s first group were also the primary organizers of the annual Burning Man festival after Cacophony co-founder John Law attended its previous incarnation as an as-yet-unnamed beach party at Baker Beach in 1988 and publicized the 1989 event in the Cacophony Society newsletter. Cacophonist Kevin Evans conceived of Zone Trip #4 in 1990 and organized it with John Law and Michael Mikel, publicizing it in the newsletter as ‘A Bad Day at Black Rock.’ Larry Harvey and Jerry James were subsequently invited to bring their effigy along, after they were prevented from burning it on the beach by law enforcement.
Other events created by the Society include: the Atomic Cafe (a 1982 documentary film about nuclear war), the Chinese New Year’s Treasure Hunt, the picnic on the Golden Gate Bridge, the Brides of March (a pubcrawl of thrift store wedding dress clad ‘brides’), Urban Iditarod (a race in which teams of human sled dogs pull shopping cart through a course over four miles), and the Sewer Walk. After a lull in activity in the San Francisco branch of the society in the late 1990s, a group of subscribers became active 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. 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 events produced by the Los Angeles branch often pushed the boundaries of pranksterism, such as ‘Cement Cuddlers,’ 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 businessmen in downtown Los Angeles before being assaulted or arrested.
By the mid-90s, Cacophony had spread along the American west coast. In 1996, Portland Cacophony hosted the infamous first Naughty Santa rampage to take place outside of San Francisco. The arrival of the planeload of Santas was met by Portland’s police in riot gear, as someone in the SFPD had sent word ahead. The weekend however resulted in only one arrest – for selling a ‘Playboy’ to a minor dressed in a Santa suit.
For several years Portland’s chapter took responsibility for the Disgruntled Postal Workers – a group of surly, heavily armed people in postal uniforms who, when they felt like it, delivered newspapers and other forms of ‘mail’ at the Burning Man annual festival, until the Burning Man organizers outlawed their guns (which reportedly made some of them even more disgruntled). A kinder, gentler BRCPO (Black Rock City Post Office) which actually delivers and sends US postal mail from and to the Burning Man event (with their own BRCPO postmark by special arrangement from the US Postmaster), is still run by PDX Cacophony associates.
The Portland group has also heavily incorporated nudity into the majority of their events. Most recently, ‘Helping Unite More People In Trouble’ (HUMPIT) consisted of many naked (or nearly naked) Portlanders marched from 1st Avenue to 23rd Avenue on Burnside Street; arousing people to take action to end the plight of troubled Portlanders.
Possibly the most widely known Cacophony member is novelist Chuck Palahniuk, who has mentioned his experiences with the Society in his writings, notably the book ‘Fugitives and Refugees: A Walk in Portland, Oregon.’ He used the Cacophony Society as the basis for the fictional 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.
Flash mob activities share some ideas with Cacophony, as well as groups like Improv Everywhere and movements like Discordianism. 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) and to the Billboard Liberation Front a group of artist/pranksters responsible for many infamous billboard alterations. Urban Explorers also have taken some inspiration from early Cacophony events such as the Sewer Walks.
The Daily Omnivore 