Dance Like No One Is Watching

The Office comes back to television tonight, and I'm so excited I am doing a little dance in my office. Seriously, I am.

If only you could see it. On second thought, it is probably for the best that you can't. (The lady staying in the Marriott Michigan Avenue, on the 24th floor facing south, doesn't think my dance is very funny. I think she's scared.)



I feel pretty certain you'd be looking at me with a Jim face, and I think it is too early in the morning for that.

Hokey Pokey for the Masses

I'm convinced that the crowd mentality at a concert serves two explicit, yet simple, purposes:

One, to make you feel like you're part of something bigger than yourself. You can sing out loud, dance like a fool, scream your head off, and still utterly blend in.

Two, to make even the worst dancer feel like they have a fighting chance.

At the Bon Jovi concert last night, watching the show from an upper level box, we had a bird's eye view of the crowd. While Jon sang (quite well, thank you very much), he gave instructions to the crowd about what to do with their hands:

Raise them up! Wave them side to side! Pump your fists now! Two hands spastically waving, a la Jazz Hands! Double fist pump! One, Two, Three!

It was hilarious to see this from above. We decided that it was simply an adult form of the hokey pokey. Basically, a guide for white people with no rhythm.

It worked. The crowds moved en masse to the bass drum beats, and the adoring fans were one.

Only the waving mullets were off beat.

Don't Discount the Irish Jig

Say what you will about my musical tastes, but I love U2.

I think they have an amazing (albeit historically similar) sound to their songs, and they can really rock out a live show.

And, now they are available in 3-D at your local IMAX Theater. (Bigger-than-Life Bono! Large Larry! Enormous Edge!)

I must admit that I will be going to see this, and will likely have to bite my tongue not to sing along out loud (now wouldn't THAT be fun for the rest of the theater-goers?)

Reading the article on cnn.com about this today, my favorite line was Bono's response to what it has been like to play for such amazing crowds all over the world. He commented that it was incredible to play in Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and other Latin cities. He states, "Irish people are essentially Latin people who don't know how to dance."

As an Irish woman, who has partied for St. Patrick's Day many a time here in Chicago, I'll have to agree.

But then, on St. Patty's Day, isn't everyone Irish?

All Together Now

I know that this post is about 6 months too late, making me a total loser and completely out of it.

I don't care.

I was at a bar this weekend and the Soulja Boy song came on, you know the one...the one that has the terrible lyrics and the annoyingly catchy tune?

Well, it has been my observation that this song immediately makes the whitest guy think he can dance. Doing that choregraphed electric slide line dancing thing that was so big in the early to mid-nineties. Like at weddings.

I know the rapper has some dance associated with this song, and I have even seen my beloved Georgia Bulldog football team doing it on the field mid-game when the song played over the stadium speakers, but at least those boys can move.

These guys Saturday night could not.

I had horrible flashbacks of middle school dances. Cafeterias draped with streamers. Carnation corsages that were kept in the fridge. Kissing a date with a mouth full of braces. Fuschia taffeta dresses with butt bows.

I think I need therapy.