Choir Gone Wild

Last night, the choir that I sang with until recently planned and event at one of the local malls, the Roseville Galleria. Back in October there was a major incident at the mall... a man walked in with a backpack, held up a store and set fire to the store. The fire raged out of control, amid reports of the backpack holding explosives. Long story short, there's still a significant portion of the mall that is not open due to fire damage. SCSO had planned to show up at the food court to sing the Hallelujah Chorus and then disperse to shop, eat, whatever. The goal was to bring more people to the mall and generate some revenue, while spreading a little Christmas cheer.

Apparently, a lot of people showed up. A lot. Reports range from a few hundred to five thousand. Needless to say, the mall was packed. Probably not what anyone expected. At one point, someone claims to have heard the floor crack and rumble (they were on the second story, near the food court). This was followed by a flurry of calls to 911. The mall was evacuated and shut down so that structural engineers could evaluate the safety of the foundation and flooring.

Now, I am the first person to tell you that I am 100% committed to safety. Do I think that it was right to disperse the crowd last night? Yes. Do I think they needed police helicopters and to shut down the entire mall? No. I also don't like the use of the term "flash mob". By definition, a flash mob is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual act for a brief time, then disperse. Examples of this are when 200 people flooded the lobby of a Hyatt hotel in New York, applauded for 15 seconds and then dispersed, all without the hotel's knowledge. SCSO had planned this event out with the Galleria and had advertised it on their web site. To me, that's definitely not the same thing.

Mike and I had a discussion about this last night... If I own a bar and I invite a band to come play, I'm responsible for making sure that I don't have more people than I have capacity for. If I know the fire code says fifty people and two hundred show up, as the owner of that business, I am responsible for making sure that I maintain safety. I honestly don't see how the Galleria Mall situation is any different.

Here's the link to the Sac Bee's story.

In other news, take a look at director Don Kendrick in the pictures and video - he looks like he's in all his glory! What a cool thing, to have that many people come out to sing and listen! I love that people are so willing to share the Christmas spirit, even if it didn't turn out exactly how it was planned!

Update: now it's made it to CNN!