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Flash mob does bang-up job promoting concert at Macon hardware storeApr 30, 2013 (The Macon Telegraph - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Surprise is the essence of a flash mob. When groups plan a seemingly spontaneous eruption of the arts, they rely on going in unnoticed. If members of the group get cold feet and seek store approval, it can blow the whole shebang. "It's better to beg for forgiveness than to ask permission," Music teacher Laura Voss told her disappointed percussion class after they were not allowed to perform Tuesday morning at the Lowe's on Zebulon Road. "Let's go to the Ace Hardware!" Still leery of legal repercussions of a percussion ambush, the ladies practiced in the parking lot on Forsyth Road before being granted permission to play inside. "What are they doing " asked one customer, who stopped to watch the "Stomp" performance using large wooden dowels. A man, waiting in his work truck laden with PVC pipes, started filming on his cell phone. The all-female class at the Academy of the Performing Arts has been studying percussive theatre using a variety of household items like broomsticks, buckets and trash can lids. The idea was to randomly grab poles from the store, rhythmically hit them together and drum up an audience for their 7:30 p.m. performance May 7 at the academy on Brookdale Avenue near Payne City. Technically, when a group is promoting an event or marketing a product, the performance is referred to as a "smart mob." Tipping off the manager might not have been a dumb move, if the store would have prosecuted the percussionist perpetrators as trespassers. "We thought we'd use tuition money for bail money if we needed it," Voss said. Now the group thinks Ace is the place for the helpful arts aware man. ___ (c)2013 The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Ga.) Visit The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Ga.) at www.macon.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |