Facebook Domain

I don't know if you noticed, but Flash Mob Austin totally nabbed facebook.com/flashmob when they switched to custom domain names a couple weeks ago. Rock and roll!


We love all of our 779+ Facebook friends, and we highly recommend you befriend us to get the scoop on our monthly missions. For those overly ambitious individuals who want to get in on the planning and core team, we would love it if you w that you get active on our Ning site and come to our monthly planning meetings.

Thanks for an awesome 10 months, so far!

Operation Wheels on the Bus: Report!

Agent Laney reports in on Operation Wheels on the Bus which took place on Saturday morning, June 20th:

Hey everyone!!

Thanks a million to everyone who came and sang their hearts out!

During the pre-meeting we broke into groups and made a few changes to the plan. The first group waited at the bus stop on Congress and 2nd and starting singing B-I-N-G-O. Each time the bus stopped a few more people joined in on the singing and by 10th street the bus was erupting with song! A few people even joined in the weren't a part of flash mob!! (Success)

While waiting for the bus to come back so we could head back to Republic Square Park we saw a bride heading down the street so sang/hummed "here comes the bride".

Shortly after we climbed back on the 1L with another bus driver. When the people from the first stop started singing she exclaimed "There is no singing on this bus!" The singing continued and she continued to yell at us and threatened to kick us off and call the police on us!!!!

In my opinion, the mission was a huge success and TONS of fun :) Thanks again to everyone who helped in anyway!! Feel free to post stories!

Operation Wheels on the Bus

CapMetro has always wanted folks singing on their bus lines, right? Well, we're going to bring it in style this summer with our June 20th "Operation Wheels on the Bus" led by Agent Laney AKA Rachel. We will get on at a few different stops along Congress and at a specified point, will begin singing. We'll sing a few songs, then as abruptly as we began, we will cease. At the next stop a small group will get off and then the rest at the next stop. Then we re-board the next bus and do it all over again. Here is a layout, please note that this mission does cost $1.50 to ride the bus.

• 10:30am Saturday June 20th meet at Republic Square Park for pre-meeting
• We go over the plan and songs
• Songs we will be singing (it's really important to know these and be thinking of creative variations for the Wheels on the Bus especially):

1. Wheels on the Bus: Lyrics and/or Listen
2. Baa Baa Black Sheep: Lyrics and/or Listen
3. B-I-N-G-O: Lyrics and/or Listen
4. Take Me Out to the Ballgame: Lyrics and/or Listen

• We head to the bus line and board in groups at predetermined stops 2nd St - 11th St.
• For those of you who are not familiar with our awesome CapMetro system, I'll explain a bit about how it works to buy a day pass. Unless you have a month pass, this mission will cost you a small fare. Please make sure you have exact change for a day pass. It costs $1.50 and is good for exactly 24 hours from time of purchase. When you board the bus and you put your money in the feeder it will not dispense change if you do not have exact fare. It will spit out a day pass card with a magnetic strip on the back that you then must swipe each time you board a bus for the remainder of the operation.
• As always, Flash Mob Austin policy remains mums the word. This means, if anyone on the bus questions you or wants to know what is going on, you respond with a calm, and possibly confused look explaining that you just typically like to sing on the bus, or it reminds you of your childhood, or when one person starts to sing you just can't resist joining in, etc. FMA is never mentioned.
• After busing and singing we will meet back up at Republic Square Park again for our optional post-meeting discussion. Should be totally wrapped up by 1pm, or earlier. You're welcome to bring snacks and water for in-between bus rides, but be advised CapMetro has a "no food eating while riding" policy.
• You're welcome to bring an MP3 player of sorts (or just headphones!) to "use" while riding, as it will look like you're not part of a group that may board all at the same time and would generally present the idea that you were not participating in the "weirdness" since you're already "listening to something" in your earphones. Hilarious.
• Think of other ways to make this operation wacky-normal and go for it. Blending in every way but the singing is what we're going for, so this operation wouldn't be suitable for your Gorilla costume. I know, sorry.

We have been throwing this fun idea around in the hopper since last year and now the time has finally arrived for "Operation Wheels on the Bus" to have it's day! Don't miss out, this is easy to do with kids, friends and folks of all ages. Familiarize yourself with the songs we'll be singing in advance, spread the word(s) to your friends and we'll see you on the 20th!

June mission update: what can it be?

Flash Mob Austin had their monthly planning meeting and a lot of fun discussing ideas today!  We came to the conclusion that Ninjas vs. Ninjas is going to be put into action next summer instead of this month, and that there was a much more exciting mission we could create for June.  MUCH.  Agent Awesome Blossom is going to be the mission leader for this doozie that is Austin through and through.  Transportation at it's finest! We'll post all the exciting and enticing details in the coming days: save late morning JUNE 20th for a rockin' good time with FMA, ya'll.

Ninjas vs. Ninjas: reschedule planned

HIYAH! I mean, we ran into some small problems with the planned Ninjas vs. Ninjas mission on UT's campus this past weekend. Most of it was torrential rain-out related. So, without further adieu I'd like to make the following announcement on Agent C.E.'s (mission leader) behalf: Due to technical difficulties, the Ninjas vs. Ninjas mission has been has been postponed. Stay tuned for more details.

There you have it. If you thought you missed it, good news! You'll have another chance to take part in the hilarity. Just check back real soon.

May mission: Ninjas vs. Ninjas!

Imagine this scene: you're walking through UT's campus one last Saturday afternoon before the end of the semester and you spot something unusual going on in an art installation you see all the time.  What?  Is that a...?  Ninja?  It looks like, yes, he's fighting another Ninja!  Where are their weapons?  But they're fighting with such focus!  Unbelievable.   Wait...is that even a ninja soundtrack?  Awesome!  This month Flash Mob Austin will be pulling off a fantastic mission: Ninjas vs. Ninjas led by Agent C.E.!  Bring back the incredible Sidekicks in you like it was 1992 and bring your friends with you.  

• When: May 23rd, 2009 at 5pm 
  
• Where: Pre-mission meeting in front of the Tower on campus, southwest side
• Alternate Where: if we are prohibited from meeting at the tower, Littlefield Fountain will we our pre-meeting location
• What to wear: All black!
• Bring: Your most ferocious imaginary ninja weaponry
• Who: You, Chuck Norris and your cousin/co-worker/friend/fellow student/parent/random stranger/little brother, etc.
• Why: Because being a Ninja was never this cool. 

Waldo Pub Crawl Mission Report!

Agent Filkins here to report in on the mission that was the "Where's Waldo?" Pub Crawl! May 14th, 9:30pm and Agent Adams and I arrived at the Gingerman pub for the kick off. We waited. Kevin, our awesome photographer friend showed up for the first stop. We waited some more. Agent ThatGuy arrived in the most authentic Waldo outfit yet. I had a cane and gave it up to him, since that was the only piece of the puzzle missing to make him the real Waldo. Sam and soon enough Schuyler appeared in get-up and we had a drink. Then, we moseyed on out to the next pub. Taking a walk proved attention grabbing enough. With only 5 Waldo's (or 6, as one guy counted muuuuch later on in the evening) you can make quite an impact! We received varied reactions from passersby:

• "Thanks for coming here first so I don't have a bunch of drunk Waldo's on my hands." bouncer at Gingerman
  
• "Ok, I just wanna know why. Why?" very concerned girl at Gingerman
  
• "Hey look, it's a bunch of people in striped shirts!" all over town
• "Go Rockets! Woo hoo!" a girl outside of Ruth's Chris Steakhouse
• "Wait a minute, Where's Waldo? Oh, I found him!" all over town
• "I've been waiting 23 years to find you and here you are!" bouncer on Congress
• After walking by us, talking to a friend "Hey, did you see that? It was a bunch of people dressed like Waldo. Ha ha!" mostly people who ignored us
• "Is this like, Dr. Suess?" dancing on top of The Blind Pig
• "Wait, is this a Flash Mob?" a really excited guy on 6th St.
• "Aren't you that girl who made the Waldo T-Shirt Video?" Pedicabber, high five!
• "I found you, boy!" vendor by Emo's
• "I'm not going to even say anything, I'm sure you've gotten it all night." bouncer, wink

We had a great time with just the five of us and got some great shuffleboard in at Buffalo Billards, dancing at several places, getting a shout out from a DJ, people asking to take pictures with us, running into friends, getting denied free entrance at a bar with cover despite several patrons unbeknownst to us rallying for our admittance (at least we tried!), anf just general crawling fun! Thanks so much to those agents who participated, we had a BLAST. Ya'll rocked it, mini-mission success!