It’s early December 2012, (not now, but then)—. William Zies has been on me a few weeks about something called a ‘flash mob wedding’ he wants to have for his new bride. WTF is that?! That’s what I’m thinking. “Trev, I need you to be there, it’s gonna be epic..”, that’s what William had been saying to me on the phone.
Lotta folks throwing around that word, ‘epic’ lately. For something to be truly epic, it’s gotta be big, grand, large on every scale. Epic not only describes an event, but it takes a big man to come up with something truly epic, not necessarily a man big in stature, but big in character. That’s the stuff a man is made of.
I was just about to put it out of my mind when I got a call early in the morning on December 24th, Christmas Eve morning. It’s William, he’s on my keitai saying, “Trev, Big John Ahern and ray Proper are waiting for you at Nagoya Station, be there in 20 minutes..” I’m lying in bed chillin’, not thinking about anything too epic, not thinking about any ‘flash mob wedding’, but William says he “needs” me to be there.
20 minutes later, dressed as a ‘man in black’, I’m underneath Nagoya Station. Standing next to me is Big John, Mr. Proper, some Japanese chick, and The Man Himself, Mr. William Zies.
Dude stands a tall 5’4”. I met William almost a decade ago, when he was a falling down miserable slurring drunk walking around Motoyama Station dazed and confused in the middle of the day, accompanied by the biggest freakin’ Shepherd I’ve yet seen in Nagoya. He wasn’t doing well, to say the least. Chain smoking. Walking dead.
Fast forward a few years, or should I say flash forward, and here I am standing underground while this Big Little Man is telling me, “Glad you could make it Trev, give us a few more minutes and we’ll be saying our vows in front of the famous Golden Clock Tower right in the middle of Nagoya Station.” Wild. I’m thinking dude, you cannot be serious, this is not going to happen..
I said, ‘epic’ has to be something big right? Keep that in mind.
Few minutes after meeting William and his squad downstairs, we all start heading upstairs to meet the bride to be. She’s magnifique in her flowing dress, beaming smile, radiant, electric. She looks so good I want to kiss her, but William is my man, so I shut down the impulse. (Jokes man, jokes.)
Once we arrive, Dave Olaf’s there, Tim Lennane and Big Gary too, he’s dressed like some kind of demented Santa Claus Pope. Steve Pottinger has his camera mounted up and a crowd’s gathered around the new Bride and Groom. Big John throws on his gown and we head down the escalator and the mob is flashing..
Wild. A huge crowd has gathered at the bottom of the escalator. Olaf, Big John, Gary and Tim are standing in front of the Gold Clock, looking like a maddlove version of popes priests and pontiffs. A huge crowd of people are jammed into Nagoya Station, which, by some accounts, is the biggest train station in the world in terms of total floor space, -how many people? 300? 400? 5?
All eyes are on the couple standing in front of the clock, they’re getting married by four priests, on Christmas Eve, in high style, watched by a multitude of people, while Nagoya’s Finest are trying to shut it all down. Were it not for Albert Smith at the helm, telling the cops to fuck off, or whatever he told them, the event might have been shut down before it got started.
But it wasn’t.
It went off.
[iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/Nu6T2A5O6mc” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen]
Here’s the Youtube Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu6T2A5O6mc
With the Fab Four Priests doing a sing song rap version of the wedding vows, William and Sumie themselves were oblivious to how large the gathered crowd was, and when the command to kiss the bride was finally given, the Flash Mob had gathered and erupted into wild applause and shouts of encouragement, while cameras flashed all around. I bet there are hundreds, if not thousands, of pictures of that wedding which William and Sumie will never see. Imagine that.
They made history that day. First, and only time an event of that scale has happened at Nagoya Station, and since. Unrehearsed, unofficial, and yet still, totally epic. Magical.
Look. I’m sensitive. I’d be lying if I said a tear didn’t well up in my eyes while it all went down. And then after, when Sumie went up the escalator and tossed her bouquet down below, where it was caught right in front of me by some random cute Japanese girl, well, the moment was sealed. It was, to me, super romantic. Some might say it was super stupid, but sometimes, the best stuff is stupid.
To me, I could feel William’s victory. Coming from being a near dead broken down drunk just a few years ago, to being the man he was that day, getting married to his sweetheart in grand style, while complete strangers gathered to take pictures and share, with your friends at your side, on Christmas Eve, well, that’s winning to me. William and his stunt showed me that with persistence, a big idea, will power, determination, character galore-and a little help from your friends, anything is possible.
Flash Mob History.
True story.
I was there.
Do YOU.
tdh
