Improv Everywhere?
As of today, Improv Everywhere is changing its name due to legal action by a jazz combo from the 1980s. It seems said combo recorded and self-released three albums of improvisational jazz under the name “Improv Everywhere” in 1983.
Apparently one of the members of the long-since defunct group saw us on This American Life last week. He sent us a cease and desist letter asking that we stop using the name.
Effective today, we are changing our name to “Humor In Public Places” (HIPP for short.) While not as good as the name we’ve used for the past five years, we hope you will still enjoy our website under this new banner. As of now, we have no plans to change our URL. Rather than focusing on the negative, we’re excited to start getting HIPP!
Nice try…Its funny going around all my fav sites and seeing what kinda things they come up with for today :P
I got through the first sentence and then I realized what day it was.
I don’t want to spoil anything thing, but just remember what today is. Love ya IE.
I was about to say “are you serious?” and then say “fight ‘em” but then I saw other people’s postings that it is April 1st and then I was saying to myself, “darn it, second time today.”
Love your work…
Owned.
Dang it.
I TOTALLY fell for it.
I’m actually a huge Improv Everywhere (the improvisational jazz band, not you) fan. And I think it serves you right stealing from their thunder like that.
Add my MySpace fan page if you agree: myspace.com/improveverywherenotthecomedyprankgroupbuttheimprovjazzensemble
if it was true we think you should change it to “Improv Anywhere”
I think it was a great email; I believed it til I saw the other emails in my box.
But wouldn’t it be ironic if whoever that photo is of saw this and asked you to cease using their pic? Cause it looks real to me (if it was staged you get 5 stars for attendtion to detail!)
LOL. You had me there, clicked through from the newsletter to complain on the website about the lame name. :-D
Nice.
Try, that is.
I fell for it.
You should have created a bittorrent link for the band :)
The sad thing is, things like this happen 365 days a year.
Happy April Fool’s Day to you too IE. :P
omg i fell for im so gullable :-P
That’s pretty good news! I mean, it sucks that you’ll have to redesign your website (again) and order all new stationary, but frankly I always thought that “Improv Everywhere” was kinda lame. It’s difficult to be funny when the foundation of your work is “Improv Everywhere”. “HIPP” is great – it totally captures the essence of the work you do and I think it will just be a generally better name for you to work with. When your comedic foundation is “HIPP”, you’ll be funny. Finally.
Did anyone else get the “Hipp to be square” song stuck in their head immediately after reading this?
Whoa – check out that photo. Who knew the inimitable bassist Dave Holland was behind this? Or was it his management??
Ugh … to think I was just listening to the most excellent “What Goes Around” (ECM 1777) last night too!
Say/write what you will, but I really dug the name Improv Everywhere, man. Man! Isn’t improvisation the art of acting and reacting in the moment? Oh wait – I guess that’s exactly what this is, isn’t it. Well it is.
Hmph = fine. No more ECM purchases for me. Doin’ a 180. Back to my Windham Hill catalogue. Take _that_ ECM.
OMG, that totally sucks! I hate it when Jazz musicians become lawyers, then they’re all uppity and like, “Hey don’t step on my name, Man…even if I haven’t used it in like 30 years.” Doesn’t IE have lawyers that can fight this? It’s so unfair!
Does this also mean that you’re going to have to change the No Pants logo t-shirt? If so, let us know when the new design is out and I’ll totally order one.