planetdan

Monday, November 14, 2005 :::

Disney Riot

Brookdale was the mall of my adolescence. It has since gone a little downhill, but in its heyday it was... still kinda crappy. I was in the area visiting my parents so it took the promise of a Marshall Fields 13-Hour Sale to get me to step foot inside again. As I was hunting for an eye-pleasing tie and dress-shirt combo for an upcoming formal event, I heard a ruckus in the mall atrium. Turns out Radio Disney was hosting an event at the mall for what seemed like a brazillion children, ages 5 to 15. I stood and watched the DJ as he labored through his MC duties, trying to mask his own self-pity. He attempted to give away prizes in a half-baked trivia session that went something like this:

DJ: We give away prizes everyday on Radio Disney! Who knows what you need to know to win a prize?
Child 1: The Answer!
DJ: Yes, but that's not the answer I'm looking for. We ask for something specific...
Child 2: The Question!
DJ: No... we say it all day long!
Child 3: A Guess!
DJ: A Guess? No...
Child 4: A Song!
DJ: Yes we play songs all day long, but that's not the answer I'm looking for...
Child 5: Music!

This went on for ten minutes. The DJ eventually gave up and announced that the next musical act would be some cheezy band I'd never heard of called B5. A million little girl screams erupted in unison and I thought, "I'm outta here." I'm kinda sorry that I trusted my instincts, because apparently five minutes after I left, things got interesting:

Boy Band Causes Chaos At Suburban Mall

What my hyperbolic local news referred to as a "Mall Riot" has since been downgraded in the national news to a "Girl Frenzy". Kinda like when a Hurricane is cruelly downgraded to Tropical Depression. Either way, it would have been exhilarating to witness. Oh well. Next time. There's always the video.

I think "Girl Frenzy" would make a better boy-band name than B5.

::: posted by dan at 12:22 AM :: [ link ] :: (14) comments

Comments are Closed On this Post

14 previous comments:

When I heard that story occured in Minneapolis, my first thought was, "I wonder if Dan was in that crowd."

By

Erik, at 6:14 AM

In fact, a short search on the internet shows you were-in fact-there for the riot.

Proof

By

Erik, at 6:33 AM

dan just always seems to be in the right place at the right time, taking pictures none the less. Kind of reminds me of someone else like that. His name...Peter Parker. Hmm....

By

stapler, at 8:00 AM

That's Right! I forgot you were heading there. You should have stayed, it would've been great to see you inteviewed afterwards... and the only white boy in the crowd.

I want to see the "proof" erik speaks of. I can't get the link to work.

By

Colleen, at 8:04 AM

Well, there already was a band called Boykrazy, so
Girl Frenzie would seem an appropriate follow-up.

By

brent, at 9:04 AM

heres the address directly:

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6774/662/1600/DISNEYDAN.jpg

By

Erik, at 9:08 AM

erik, that is the funniest thing I have seen.. was so funny that it made me create a user name so I can start posting here..

By

TracyD, at 9:21 AM

That was hilarious erik!

By

Colleen, at 1:31 PM

Wow, that video of the even is spectacular. My favorite part is the white lady with cornrows!!!!

By

Kristen, at 6:00 PM

That was supposed to be event, not even.

By

Kristen, at 6:02 PM

It seems as if I'm not the only one who was secretly at the riots on Saturday. Looks like the good doctor himself has been moonlighting for Radio Disney. And it looks like he let some of more aggressive B5 fansget the best of him.

http://www.planetdan.net/pics/misc/thegooddoctor.jpg

By

dan, at 10:02 PM

I almost caused a riot in a mall in Surabaya Indonesia a couple of years ago. When asked who I was by her friend from school my sister in-law jokingly said I was a member of Westlife (English/Aussie Boy Band) and she had won a contest on MTVasia to spend the day with me She had said this in Indonesian so I didn’t understand. Her friend looks at me at shakes my hand in broken English said nice to meet you about 15 mins later 25 screaming school girls come running up to me wanting photos and autographs It took a while for my sister in-law to convince them I was her brother in-law from America The mall cops were not amused

By

Anonymous, at 4:12 AM

Funny as it may seem, it actually was serious...the girls in the band before B5, Everlife, are friends of mine, and they had to lock themselves in a room until more police arrived.

So much for mall security!

By

Anonymous, at 2:35 PM

thanks for the huge belly laugh erik! Dan, you just the man!

By

Anonymous, at 9:37 AM

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