Good Thing by Fine Young Cannibals

We're heading back to Silver Lake, a summer in, let's assume 1989.  Aside from the Saturday Night Live spoofs, our performances also included lip syncing and both scripted and impromptu skits.  For example, Catherine and I did a "Mary the Midget" skit a couple years running.  For those of you unfamiliar with this, a picture should help  There is one person under the blanket who is Mary's arms and another in front as the head and feet.

Hilarity ensues because the person standing behind the curtain can't see what their hands are doing when they attempt to curl Mary's hair (no idea who brought hair curlers on a camping trip!!!) or put on lipstick or brush her teeth or otherwise.  Another skit I remember vividly was performed in the early 80's by the cool, older kids (Julene, Matt, my Aunt Annie, and some friends).  It was really basic, but I remember laughing so much and being so impressed by them.  They lined up in a row and each one said:  If they weren't my friends, I'd be a .... (surfer, indian, farmer, pirate, director).  Matt stole the show whenever he would "milk" Betsy the cow.  I am not doing it justice, but it was hysterically funny.

In the late 80's, I was very envious of the girls at my school who were in Jazz Dance classes.  Deborah Morgan was THE studio, but I did not take dance classes.  They performed once at a school talent show and I was beyond impressed.  Cool song, cool moves, cool all around.  I decided to choreograph my own little number for Saturday Night Live to my current favorite song Good Thing, and recruited Lauren Y and my sister Catherine to perform with me.  We practiced all week to my "choreography" and the result was..... less than stellar.  First of all, the song went on way too long.  I incorporated what was basically the Hand Jive into it, not sure why I thought that would be such a hit, which we performed during the chorus, every time.  I was way more into this whole thing than Catherine or Lauren and none of the three of us were great dancers to begin with (no offense girls!).  Luckily the only people in the audience were parents and the M kids, not the entire school.  I learned then and there that choreography was not for me.