The Spartans had 22 assists against Indiana Links of London Charms and 15 against Ohio State.New York at holiday time does not lack for chance enchantment, but wanderers of the East Village on Saturday are up for a spectacle they've probably not come across before: a ramshackle parade of people, armed with banged-up old boomboxes, issuing a shimmering mass of music that may thaw even the most frozen holiday hearts. That's the stated goal of the happening known as "Unsilent Night"--or one of them, at least. "For me personally, the piece is both about addressing Christmas and trying to find a cure for it," said Phil Kline, a musical composer who has organized "Unsilent Night" since 1992. "Living in New Links of London A Charm, you can often find yourself in that horrible situation of feeling depressed and anxious and lonely when there are millions of people running around at least pretending to be happy. In a way, I thought of this piece as a little bit of relief--just 45 minutes of 'ahhhhh.'" And so it has been for nearly two decades now, as "Unsilent Night" has grown from a lark started with a couple dozen friends into an event that has drawn more than 1,000 people in New York and expanded to some 30 cities worldwide. The premise is simple: On Saturday at 7 p.m., people of all kinds will gather in Washington Square Park, and everybody with the means to do so will press play on a tape or CD or MP3 of music composed by Mr. Kline for the occasion. Then the whole mass will walk--more than a little majestically--to Links of London Allsorts 1 row bracelet Square Park, where the affair comes to a gentle end 45 minutes later. The music is wordless, made up mostly of what sounds like bells and chimes swirled together into something communal. The effect of it moving down city streets is mesmerizing. "It's an overwhelming physical experience," said Luc Sante, author of the fabled book of New York lore, "Low Life," and a friend of Mr. Kline's. "Listening to it echo back and forth and ripple through the crowd--it's a collective activity, like being in a choir without singing." Carrying a boombox is not a requirement, though Mr. Kline has a collection of about 50 that he brings to pass around. The same goes for tapes, as well as CDs and MP3s (the latter can be downloaded in advance at unsilentnight.com)--but mostly tapes. "When I started doing my own compositions in public in the '80s, I had this little orchestra of boomboxes, and a friend and I were talking nostalgically about Links of London Back to School Chubby Red Pencil Charm caroling," Mr. Kline said. "The idea was to write a 45-minute piece, which is the length of one side of a cassette."
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