Oingo Boingo and Mayan Calendar

 

"Life's Been Good To Me...has it been good to you?"

 

Saturday night I am going to Romano's Concert Hall (aka - a bar with a dance floor) to see Dead Man's Party.

 

 

Dead Man's Party is a tribute band for Oingo Boingo.

I have been an Oingo Boingo fan since almost the beginning.

 

Oingo Boingo (pronounced /ˈɔɪ̯ŋgo ˈbɔɪ̯ŋgo/) was an American rock band. They are best known for their influence on other musicians, their soundtrack contributions, and their high energy Halloween concerts. The band was founded in 1972 as The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, a performance art group (Okay, I was only 12 then and didn't know anything, well, maybe some stuff, but don't tell my parents). From 1976 it was led by songwriter/vocalist Danny Elfman, who has since achieved success as a composer for film and television.(I could drive by 1976 and my '69 Volkwagon Beetle knew the direct route to Hollywood to the Troubadour and other bar/music clubs."Let's Have a Party, there's a full moon in the sky."  But I didn't even need to go to Hollywood to get great music. In Riverside we had Squeezes - though they never had Oingo Boingo, but I did see the Circle Jerks there. Oingo Boingo played at Raincross Square. Sorry, don't remember the year, but I do know I was wearing skin-tight jeans, white Ked tennis shoes and a man's pink dress shirt. Hardly anyone was there and I had LOTS of room to dance around).
The group's format changed twice. In 1979, it reshaped from a semi-theatrical music and comedy troupe into a ska-influenced New Wave octet and shortened their name to Oingo Boingo.^[5] Towards the end of the 1980s, the band began shifting to a more guitar-oriented alternative rock sound, and away from the use of horns and synthesizers. The band retired after a sold out farewell concert on Halloween 1995. (Well, between 1979 and 1995 I went to numerous Oingo Boingo concerts. A lot of them were before I got married in 1986. Several after I got married.
    One stands out in my mind. I went with my sister in 1992, shortly after I have birth to my son Dion. I left my kids - Danielle, then 2, and Dion - with my mom. It was raining and my sister got us a Limo for the ride. Thank God. I was breastfeeding and I had to pump several times on the way there and on the way home. Don't worry, I threw it all out because I was DRINKING. Our seats were WAY in the back, but we ended up pretty close to the front. We just kept moving from row to row and dancing. Don't ask me how we avoided the ticket checkers, or maybe I had the "NEW MOM ON THE LOOSE HAVING FUN SO DON'T STOP ME." I might have had breast milk soaking my shirt and not have known it and security was afraid to stop me. Whatever, I had a fabulous time with my sister that night. We rocked it.

    I went to the very last Oingo Boingo concert. My sister was there also. So were our husbands - mine still, her's then. It was fun...and sad. I know I danced up and down the aisle and on some chairs...there were no tables.

   Since 1995, I have played Oingo Boingo on cassettes, then CDs, then my mp3 player, and now my ipod.
   
  My sister and I did see the tribute band Dead Man's Party once at Romano's several years ago. It wasn't a Nightmare Before Christmas show, just a regular show. I had so much fun dancing!!!!
 
    There is something about Oingo Boingo that turns me into a Solid Gold Dancer.



    While substitute teaching, I have asked students, "Who do you want to be today?" and I have made my friend/client Jeanne promise me that at my funeral - which is going to be a long in the future - she will sing "It's a Dead Man's Party." On second thought, after I finish Ironman Texas 2014, I may make her sing "It's a Dead Ironman's Party."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3fSJcR-WzY
(so if you ever go to my funeral, you can expect Jeanne to sing this...)
   
   And by now you are probably wondering what the heck this all has to do with Train-n-Tri and Triathlon......

   Can I dance to Oingo Boingo now the same way I did back in 1976? Heck yeah!!!  I was 16 then and now I am 52 and I can still move.....pretty much with the same moves...and the same attitude.
    Only now I have way better cardio because I am not smoking - yep, I smoked when I was 16 - and I have way better endurance. I did train and complete a half iron distance a couple of months back. So a couple hours of dancing is no problem.

   And I have the Oingo Boingo songs playing in my head a lot while I am swimming in open water ..."There is Nothing to Fear but Fear itself.....temperatures starting to drop..." and then I remember, "Nothing Bad Ever Happens to Me."....



I am well trained for this event.

Just clear a table for me.



Don't worry - "Nothing Bad Ever Happens to Me" and just in case I have hired my son to be our designated driver.

 

"There is Something inside my Head" and I'll use it.

 

I will be logging 2 hours of "Sweat" for my workout for Saturday.

 

FYI - This song can also apply to women my age who are perimenopausal.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v9HxSQcHHE

 

(and this is from an old Oingo Boingo concert....can you see me dancing in the front?)

 

And for my country-western friends, I do have country version of SWEAT...don't know where I got it (maybe from a party where I played second fiddle to an electric guitar?)

 

When Danny Elfman (wrote this song to say goodbye to everyone, I am sure he was thinking about his life and how he needed to turn to triathlon....but he didn't know about triathlon..more's the pity because if he had, he could still be singing and tri-ing.

 

"Oh, I know something
About the ways of loving
And I tell you, baby,
That something's wrong
Look to the sky above and the mud below
(I think he really wanted to do a Muddy Buddy)

Something drives me crazy, got to got to get away
Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye
Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye!

Without a doubt, I'm telling you I'm burnt out
My tank is running on empty for far too long
Woah! I need fuel 'cause I'm getting so low
Something drives me crazy, got to, got to get away
Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye
Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye!"

If that's not a yell-out for triathlon, I don't know what is.....because if you are feeling burnt out and crazy, well, triathlon can quickly ground you.


One of my favorite "mantras" of Elfman's is "What You See is What you Get"...so let's all think positive -
 

 

 "So close your eyes and what you get
Is what you see and what you get is what you see.

Open up your eyes and look around
Then close them tight and kiss the ground
You better be thankful you're alive
And how much longer can you survive."


Just so you know, the entire time I was writing this blog I was listening to Oingo Boingo and dancing.........

Because I am NOT "On the Outside Looking In."

P.S. Don't care what the Mayan calendar says...I know "No One Lives Forever," but I am thinking if Friday Dec. 21 is up in the air, we should just, "Take the Whole Day Off," and
LIVE IT!!!

P.S.S. It's my son's girlfriend's 21st birthday and we are having a drink together, so screw the Mayans...I am a USA Citizen and the USA calendar does not say anything about the end of the world.

So there.


My plan Dec. 23...recoup and swim (still have miles to log for the USAT Club Challenge).