FIF Podcast: OG Midnight w. Popn Marco

Got it. What's up, everybody? It's Poppy Marco here once again with another Boogaloo Traditions podcast, brought to you by Funkenfocus and Urban Artistry. And today, we have a legend here. We have him, the organizer of OG Popper's Picnic, Mr. Midnight, AKA The Mannequin, AKA Eddie. What's up, man? How are you doing? How you doing, sir? How you doing?

I'm all right. Thank you for having me on your, on your podcast, on your show. Thank you. I thank you a lot. Me and Pumpkin Focus, thank you a lot for giving us a little bit of time and telling us your history. So let's get started. You ready?

Um, whenever you are. Give me the questions, I'll try to answer.

Let's go. So let's talk a little bit about your upbringing artistically, as a person. And I want to ask you, when did you start dancing? Like, how was your cultural background in your family? Did you have any artists in your family or among your closest friends?

It was my mom. It was my mom. She got me, yes, the, the art because I drawn stuff. My mom was also drawn, and she was into the music when I'm little, you know, it was just me and her. So she got me hooked up on listening to music, the record player, playing all the records. And then my grandmother had, um, records, 38s and 45s, um, Jazz, big band. And then TV in the '70s, we were watching Soul Train, American Bandstand, Dick Cavett, um, all the variety shows, Flip Wilson. So by me watching that, watching Sesame Street, and then watching the cartoons. So I'm drawing first, but then when I'm watching TV, I have to watch what she's watching. She's watching Soul Train, she's watching American Bandstand. So here I am, attached to music. And then by her playing records, um, I, I came from the disco era. That's my era. So they had to funk, but then a lot of the funk was going on here, the disco was going on here. It was the same time. So it was a collaboration of that kind of music that I was listening to. My mom taught me how to two-step, just regular dancing, you know, you go to a house, um, house parties, family get-togethers, and you know, you want to perform for your grandmother, your great-grandmother. She's like, "Come on, baby, do something. Do that two-step." And dance, you know, some dancing with my mom. Two-step. And I was weird. I couldn't, I couldn't dance. I was always offbeat at first. So my mom had to show me. She taught me. So I'm watching locking because of the Soul Train. I'm watching the party dances. This is like, because I wanted '65. So '68, '69, I guess three, four, five, six. I have no chance. I'm watching TV, um, and then I'm drawing. And then my mom did a painting. So I saw her doing a painting. So, and I get comic books, collect comic books. So now I'm drawing during my elementary school, but then during lunchtime, we're flipping, and then we're robotic, we're dancing, we're doing party dancing. And I got into robotics like seriously into robot like '76. And I was watching cartoons, Gigantor, um, um, Battle of the Planets, um, the Godzilla camera, um, cartoons, um, Sinbad, all them, all them cartoons, um, Land of the Lost. Um, it's so many. Felix the Cat, Bugs Bunny. Bugs Bunny was alive and watching. I Love Lucy. That was a lot of inspiration with the mind. Yeah, yeah. So when that cartoon, I kind of already knew what the Egyptian was, but for him to do it like, "Oh shoot." Because, you know, we're all little kids. The ones that you guys call OGs and veterans were little kids, you know. And LA was a big place. I was born in Detroit and I came out to Los Angeles with my mom when I was three. So, yeah. Um, the first thing I saw on TV was mechanical device. I was watching Gong Show. Um, that's when I first saw it in my face in person was Karate Gene and Santa Claus. Santa Claus was a gang member, blood. Karate Gene, give me blood. Butt boom, boom, they're popping. I'm in sixth grade. And then his younger brother was Sir Nose. So all of us will all go to the same school. So when I pick them up in the morning, because we all stayed in the same neighborhood, go to school. And then we come back in the afternoon. Boom. I mean, I'm watching what I'm seeing in the evening. And 7:30, 8 o'clock, after doing my homework, I'm watching TV. A little bit. Dance Fever. Remember disco? The despairing. So you see the couples, the guy and the girl, their desks going, their the dancing and their locking, but they're mixing a locking with, um, disco two-step strut. It's a lot, bro. It's a lot. So I'm gonna stop there.

You know, yes, a lot. Awesome. That's awesome. Like, that's already a lot just for the first question. And you told us a little bit about when you started into robusting and this kind of mechanical dances.

Well, I was trying to imitate. I was trying to imitate, um, Gigantor. And then I was trying to imitate writing. You know, how they do the, the enemy cartoons now, anime. The ones that I saw when I was little was right in that was on channel 52, but it was in Japanese. It wasn't in English. So it had a, the motorcycle, the car, the five motorcycles, and they got together and they were formed the robot. Cool. And then Battle of the Planets, when they had the giant robot, Jim, Johnny Sokko and the Flying Robot. So he'll come, the missiles will come out of his fingers, and then she'll fly. So I'm trying to imitate that. I'm trying to imitate Gigantor because I'm watching all these, because I was in a fantasy. So I'm watching all this. And then by me, by us watching Marvel comic books, we're trying to draw. But wants to try to imitate the Hulk, the Thing, Iron Man, you know, like way back, you know, the Spider-Man. That's for me personally. So it was a lot going on, you know. And then the music, I have my own little radio, my dad gave me, was a Sanyo radio. And and I'm looking, listening to the radio stations. So I'm listening to hard rock, disco, um, um, [ __ ] like real ghetto funk, um, um, pop. Um, it was a lot. It was a lot as a kid, you know, it was a lot.

I have a question about people talking a lot about your inspirations from the pop culture. And that's it. We always see the OG talking about cartoons and some bad. But I want to know as well, who were your real-life inspirations? Like your big bros or your mentors?

That was, that was Karate Gene. That when I was in sixth grade. So remember, it was, they had like six, seven brothers. I had cousins. So my cousin, the same age was me and height was, um, Sir Nose. That was Keith. His older brother was Karate Gene. So I'm living on Normandy and 20th. That's in South Central LA. I go down the street, pick them up. It was like six of us because we all went to the same elementary school. So I picked them up so we can all walk to school together. But then when I come back, I'm the last one to go home. So I'll stop over at their house to get something to eat before I could keep going on home. But now his older brother, Karate Gene, he's in the mirror off of flashlight. I'm like, "Oh, now I'm seeing locking." You know, from Soul Train, the party dancing, the two-step, this, but now in my face, the basic tidal wave, and just the boom, the robot, boom, boom, boom. I'm like, "Oh, okay." So I, and then my, his younger brother wouldn't go to school together. So we're practicing. And me, instead of me paying attention to schoolwork, I'm thinking of the, we're exchanging comic books underneath the table, where the teacher's not looking. But then when lunchtime comes, we're doing flips. And then we're on the side, and the bungalows dancing, Emma walk, um, just basic, basic party dance, you know, because I was a fat kid, a little fat kid, unattractive, you know, the girls is talking about me. But my drawing looked, you know. But my cousins was cool. They was the hood Dukes. So that gave me a pass to not get beat up or not get attacked. Um, and that's when the early era of [ __ ] and Blood came in, came into effect. That was like the early times. No, I'm not even a teenager. This is like fifth, sixth grade. So those are like first generation Bloods running in Rolling Twenties. Um, but that's when I first saw in my face. But then on TV again, mechanical device. Then later on, Soul Train, I see Electric Boogaloos. I'm like, "Oh." Because Soul Train, that was the show. Before you did anything on Saturday, you watched Soul Train. Everybody watched Soul Train. So then when you go to school the next Monday and Tuesday, that's all you talk about. And you see them dances on Soul Train. You see that girl, you see that couple, you know, that was all the talk. And I'm like, "Okay, they're tight. That was different." You know, it wasn't like what they were doing. It was like it was different. And I loved it because it's Soul Train. If you're on Soul Train, you're that, you're that level. But then here, but then I'm also over here. And I saw the Golf Show, the mechanical device, the guys with the white, with the white faces, with the white wigs, from Miss Oakland. And that's set in. But in person, it was Karate Gene, Sir Nose. Um, and then it's three milkmen. It was three milkmen. This is before I even went to high school, junior high. That's three. Because I went to predominant Hispanic junior high school, but it was three milkmen. Roosevelt Wilson, um, Fred McMillan, and Jerry Cooper. That was the one that when I was in front of the house trying to show off a girl, he walked up and he was stormy waves, basic waves. I'm like, "Oh, he was teaching me this." Come back next week with some more stuff. What caught my attention because I was vibrating. I got the idea for vibrating. You know, when you plug something in a wall and you shock yourself? Because I'm trying to imitate, you know, like we're all about to do. So I would vibrate like crazy. I didn't know what I was doing. But he thought it was good. So Saturday mornings, he would bring people to my house to battle right in front of my house. This is eighth and ninth grade. I didn't really know the popping. But he kind of took me on his wing a little bit, you know. And that was before 10th grade. So sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade, ninth grade, I was trying to get it, trying to learn it. So before that, was those five people.

Cool, cool. And you're talking a little bit about the first generation of Crips and Bloods and about about the game culture. We're talking a little bit before. That's the whole. That's a whole different. That's a whole different look. Go ahead.

Yeah, ask them.

I was in the dancing in LA. Like, how was being a Los Angeles dancer and learning this dance in LA? How was it?

Um, you had to. For me, everybody was doing it. Everybody, every other block. Sick. Okay. With LA, you had LA, then you had Compton, then you had Watts, then you had South Central LA, you had West LA, you had East LA, you had the North side of LA, you had all these areas. Everybody was popping. Everybody's popping. Girls were popping. Was no show with their boyfriends. And you have the poppers. And then you have the elite poppers, the ones that were older than me. But by me vibrating, and I'm trying to get it, you know, I'm trying to learn everything. My, um, older cousin, he came out the Navy. So when he would come out the Navy, my mom would let me go places with him. So that's when he took me to the parks. MacArthur Park. That's when I saw the music in the park, the very first time. This was '75, '76. And they're dancing in the park. Um, and and it's so much, Marco. It's so much, you know. Um, you have to, you have to be ready because soon as you go to school, it's always another dancer was trying to call you out. Oh, and Marco, that's the thing. Break on them. We didn't call popping pop on them. You say break on them. That meant popping. That wasn't break dancing. Go break them. Go bust on them. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And everybody was different. Nobody was the same. If you bit somebody else's move and you found out about it, that's a, that's a negative reputation. You didn't want. Everybody was dancing different. Body, I mean, think everybody had a different body type, height, weight, um, age, experience. So everybody was trying to be different. You had people that was doing waves. You had people trying to imitate zombies. You have people that was, um, in Egyptian, but different. And then there was a guy, um, Tuttenstein. It was like Frankenstein. You know, Frankenstein has a long forehead. So it was a dude with a long forehead, but he was able to use those touch with his head shape of his head. Boom, boom, boom. And then there's Rubber Band Man, Anthony Bailey. He was real short, but he had big feet. So he's gonna, he's leaning, he's doing all these leans and stuff. So when you think of people like, well, me, when I see dancers today, for example, Green Tent. When I saying Green Tent, I've seen all of that. Frantic. Yeah. I've seen all these dudes do all this stuff. And girls and ladies, you know. But you just have to be ready. If you, you can either be a spectator and watch, enjoy it. Or if you want to dance, be ready because you might get turned out and get embarrassed. So that means you have to go home and practice. Not 30, 40 minutes, two, three, four, five, six hours. So I come home from school, do a little bit of homework because my mom is like, "Do your homework." But then I have my radio in my room. So after the homework, I'm turning on the radio and I'm in the mirror just trying it, just trying to, you know, get it right, you know, never be perfect. I was just trying to get it right. Crackles practice, practice. I'm laying at home in the bed, I practice. I get up 2:30 in the morning, turn on the radio, not too loud because my mama wake up, turn them right up and go to sleep. No, I'm gonna trying to get my my way, you know, get it right. And try to get my basic Tut, boom, boom, boom, boom, trying to get it right. And then boom, just trying to and get my camera walk, um, trying to get it right, trying to practice. Nice because the competition was out there, you know. But then my cousin would take me to these places because my, by me being younger, he want the bet money on me against older dudes than dancing because I didn't know what I was doing. So I was young, fresh, raw, didn't, didn't care, you know. So he would take me to these places. But the places where the elite dancers was going, they were older. So they were able to go to these places, the workshop. Um, but that's when I got into high school and I couldn't, you know, my mom would let me get out like that, you know. So, but Jerry, Jerry Cooper, um, Karate Gene, Santa Claus, um, and Captain Cosmo. Cold, cold.

I gotta touch it a little bit on the naming thing. Like it wasn't called popping. We would say breaking. And Ray Cam. Not breaking. And we know that through history, we had a lot of names for this art form, this dance. We had names. We are usually local-based. Like names for the, the places.

Right, right. Knowing you're from LA, how was it called the dance? How you referred to it?

It was pop-locking. And see, that's the thing. A lot of people don't understand. It's like, like, no such thing. No, if and then you ask them, "Were you in LA?" They say, "No." Bingo. There you go. A lot of gang members, pop-lock. Gosh, was locking. It's a difference. Locking, okay? When you're in LA, boom, boom, boom, you're popping. If me and you was to go to, say, Taste of Soul, and start popping, a lot of the older, older than older people and like, "Oh, look at the pop-lockers. Look at the pop-lockers." That's what they're going to say. Some people was going to say Boogaloo. A few people might say popping. But now they're going to say pop-locking. That's what they're gonna say. If we go to New York, they'll call it Electric Boogie. You know, it is, it's the term. You go to Oakland or whatever, they say Boogaloo. Bearing, they say Boogaloo. And Poppy. But you come to LA, whether East LA, Compton, Watts, Long Beach, um, Orange County, um, Santa Ana, um, the Valley, San Fernando, um, um, that's what you're gonna hear. San Diego, um, San Mateo. That's what you're gonna hear. "Oh, that's the pop-lockers. They're doing that pop-locking." That's what you're gonna hear.

Cool. It's the same thing. Popping, then it's the same thing. It's just different terms from where you're at. And you consider, consider yourself a pop-locker?

I just try to be an entertainer, you know. That's a, you know, I'm popping when I do my classes and workshops. You know, I'm teaching them robotics first, fundamentals, popping, because you have to do, you have to have your basic robotics if you want to be good with popping. Then when they want to get into waves or something, then I'll show them the animal format, the lizard, the crocodile, the Anaconda snake, um, the Cobra, um, you know, and then they get into the individual, you know, styles. You know, I don't Boogaloo. I don't do EB Boogaloo, Electric Boogaloo. And I don't do, um, Oakland Boogaloo. I don't know what it looks like. I can tell you what it looks like, but as far as me doing it, no. I stay in my lane, you know. So, yeah, I guess you can say, um, a pop-locker, a popper, but I'm just a, um, a performance artist, a dancer.

Nice. And you think it's important that we say, like, there is something called pop-locking? It is a thing, and it is historical.

All they gotta do is come to LA, go by the watchtowers, start dancing, and see what the people tell you. Go to the Compton station and start dancing, and see what the people say. Go to, um, the Slauson Swap Meet. That's mandatory. You come to LA, it's ghetto, but that's, that's, you know, you go there. That's what they're going to say. That's what they're gonna say. "Look at them, look at the pop-lockers." You know, they don't dance themselves, but they know because they grew up in LA.

Cool. And now the people that lived in LA, now they go to these other cities. They go these other cities. They go to Atlanta, they go to New York, they go to Chicago, they go to Detroit, they go to Dallas. And the way that they was brought up, they take that mentality to those cities. When the music comes on, they're dancing the way that they were dancing in LA. So when the people, the the regulars are like, "Oh, what is that?" "Oh, that's pop-locking in LA, man." But now they're where they're moving to wherever that community was dancing at, they'll incorporate that into theirs and bring it. And then that's how it blends.

Yes. Cool, cool. And now let's talk a little bit about the mannequin and the performance. When did you start doing the street performances? And how did the mannequin came to life?

Um, um, okay. When I did the, when I started doing the, the poppers picnic, because that was hard doing the first one, trying to get everybody together. Usually after an event, what does everybody want to go? They want to go to the club, they want to go to the party. I said, "No, take it back to the roots, the streets." So Griffith Park, that's what I was doing a picnic. Let's go back to Hollywood, Hollywood and Highland, because that's where was the spot. Was 30 years later. Now let's take it back to 2017 and basically take it over. So bam, that's when we did the first time, um, the first one. And we was out to like two in the morning, three in the morning, music was loud, females, tourists, oh, it was nuts. So then that let me start doing three shows and start bringing that back. Um, because I would see Anthony Morefield, Gold Mine, and Automatic. They were already doing three shows in certain places. The pier, animation was already doing three shows, Venice Beach. Um, and then people was going to Westwood doing shows. So for me, after we did the, the first poppers picnic on the street, said, "Hmm, I'm gonna kick this going." Because there was nobody doing popping acts on Hollywood Boulevard, the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Magicians, you have to break dancers, and everybody was crowding in. But I always see this one guy, Anthony Morefield, the Golden Robot. And me and him was cool. And he was there, you know, statue with the whistle and there was stuff. But then he was like, "All the people to crouching in, all the accident crouching in on it." So I said, "Well, effort, it's a problem like that. So after the picnic, we're gonna come to you and we're gonna take over that whole area since they're encroaching on your errand." So when we did that, the first night, uh, the people of tourists loved it. I said, "Okay, I gotta keep this going." So I wanted to start doing three shows. So I'm thinking, "Wait, wait, wait. I don't want to do it by myself." So that's when I brought out Take A Lot. So now me and Take A Lot, we started doing three shows. But now you have the characters all on the boulevard, right? You had, um, The Wolverine, Spider-Man, The Hulk, you had the Pirates of Penzance, uh, the Clowns, the Batmans, the all the characters, right? And I'm like, "Wait a minute. What if there was a character that was popping?" Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Now you've seen the silver, you know, you're going to Bay Area, Montana Midgets, Pop-Tart, Mr. Groove, Harry Berry, um, um, Larry McDonald, both of them, rest in peace. They was out in the Fisherman's Wharf in the Bay Area. Come down here, Gold Mine, Automatic, Anthony, but they're in character. But their statue kind of popping and stuff. I want to do something that nobody's never done before. So now you're in the stores, right? You know, the mannequins when you see them displaying the different clothes and items. What if that mannequin became human, became a lot, it started popping with no face? Nobody's never done that. Marco, you can go look. Jabbawockeez was never around. There was nobody around doing that. I'm like, "That's crazy." Because there was a storm right there. And I'm like, "Oh, and he wasn't a robot, but a mannequin." It would be robotic like, because it's heavy. So you know, with mannequins, you got the joints, so they'll move a certain way. But what if it became alive and had a human heart with a potluck mind? So now you see this guy, Iron Man, walking down Hollywood Boulevard. I could tell there was a black dude because the way it was walking. I'm like, "That's a dude. That's a black dude. I gotta talk to him." So I pulled him over and talked to him. And he made that suit. That's my partner when we're doing our street shows. If you notice, he had the Iron Man suit, he had the Bumblebee suit. He made that. So now he's in the bronze figure. So when we're doing our A-game street shows, that's my partner, my with my, um, oh shoot, my non-profit assistant. So, um, he made that. So I asked him, "Could he make me a headpiece?" Not a morph suit. It wasn't. I don't want to say too much. But as a headpiece, so it covers the front, back, so you can't see nothing, but they can't see me. I can see them. So we met up, met at Ralph's. Got to talking. He made the face. So now I got the face. I gotta put together. I want the hat. But now I want it at a high quality. So now I'm thinking, mechanical device. They was on the Gone Show. And they had the, they put the hood on the stage in Hollywood. Then I'm thinking about the lockers. They had their bow ties, their jackets, they're doing their stuff. But the outfits, it was high. And then I see Electric Boogaloos. They're in their suits, big apple hats, and they're on station TV. Boom. And then I think of the Broadway musicals. You know, the Broadway, The Chorus Line, when the people, they had the bow ties, the tails with the canes, with the shorts. Hmm. What if a mannequin was dressed like that, popping? Never seen it. So after I got the face, I went to the magic store, the costume store, and got the white hat. And then I got the white bow tie. And that wasn't enough. So instead of improvising, so later on, Gizmo, he gave me the idea for the king. I had a regular cane. The one that you hold on. Yeah, this, this is my king. This is the, the cane that I had, right? So I wanted to have that effect because every dancer has to have a toy. If you're going to perform, every dancer. So this is like my partner. So I can't, now I can't do nothing unless I have this. If I don't have this, I'm going to perform, Marco. It's not going to be right. It's not going to be right. Um, so I had to get the hat. And I'm gonna tell you something. I'm gonna show because quality is important. And that's why I'll be on these dancers. They go on these videos and then seen by hundreds of thousands and millions of people. But then they're dressed ordinary. Don't, no, no. The popping, the culture is a high standard. So you have to have a high standard. So now when I got the pack, this is my hat, right? This is the, now I don't know how long you've known me, but I started doing my shows in 2007. Street shows. This is the same hat from seven. No, no. This is all these many shows. This is the same hat. This is the same. In 2007, all the shows that did, 2007, all the birthday parties, all the festivals, 2007 to 2023. How many years is that? It's a lot of years. This is the exact same hat. It's still here. So I'm not going to tell you how I keep it like that. But, um, that, that's what I wanted to do. One, to have the quality high. So now with the bow tie, I want to get a hood perspective to reach out to everybody. Whether you're, um, a graduate or a gang member, whether you're a black, white, Asian, Hispanic, it don't matter. Indian, um, I wanted to relate. So I made the bandana. You know, everybody has the gang colors and they had the, the bandana. Want the flag, the white flag means peace, right? So I had the white bandana. So I made the white bandana into a bow tie. So now when you go into the, the restaurants and you see the waiters and they're serving you food, so you and your girl, your wife, you guys are going to dinner, and you see the waiter, he has the scarf over his shoulder to help serve the food. That's where the shoulder comes in. So no, I'm basically serving you the funk at a high level. But it's still a mannequin. So it's robotic. So now the cord comes into play because robots and anything mechanical needs power, right? That's when I have the cord. I'm not going to tell you how, but I have it connected to me. So the people can see that's not a real person. They can't see my face, especially at night. They see the white hat, the bow tie, they see the, like the picture, they see the, the bow tie, they see the bandana, shoes. And this is the king. Everything else is like a black outer space, blends into crowd. It's creepy, crazy, but it's entertaining. So I started doing that. And every time I try to add something, "Oh, this would work. That won't work. Let me get rid of that. This will work." And it builds up to where it's at right now, with the tuxedo, with the tails.

Great. And from all this knowledge you got as a street performer, how do you think the battle guys and the event guys could benefit from this knowledge of being a street performer?

The event people, um, you, okay, you want to, people that do a lot of people that do events. For me, I try to reach out to everybody. I don't just reach out to people within our community. I try to reach out to everybody. And a lot of organizers, they don't do that. They'll stay comfortable within their friends, within their colleagues, and maybe tell them to tell their friends. But why don't they go into the places where you wouldn't expect to see entertainment, where they don't, they don't have access to internet or they don't have access to our forums, but they see the stuff on TV. You see the commercials. Everybody wants to get the popping, but they don't want to give the pop in the credit. But it's highly entertaining. Me and you can go to a soccer stadium, 100,000 people pack, biggest game of the year. It's just me and you, right? They put the music on and it means you go to the side somewhere where everybody can see and let's just start popping. What do you think's gonna happen? It's gonna be nuts. They don't want, they're not gonna want to see the the soccer stars and the football players. They like, "Oh, look at the dancers." Because the popping is universal. It's constant different analogies. It's constant perspectives. You can use it's unliminous. So you can entertain for hours if you got that mindset. So it's just presenting, presenting a positive art to the people so the people can entertain. That's what we're here for. Entertaining people to get the at-risk youth something positive to look forward to, get them out of games. People that's having problems and having a hard day. Say you're having a hard day at work, you're coming home, you come across me. That idea is out your mind and you're smiling, you're happy. One of the hardest things you can do is make a strange person smile, let alone like, I don't have signs like a lot of street performers. They have signs. Tips work for tips. I don't. That's no, no. If your presentation is high quality, it is going to be automatic. It's going to be automatic because they can appreciate you making them forget whatever they was going through to smile and laugh and just have a moment of joy. Especially for the kids, you know, like the, um, Flat Top Donness, um, I've done this five times. Snap snaps in Vegas. But he's done this a couple of times. Gold Mine, Dennis, a couple of times. Golden Robot, Anthony, Dennis, a couple of times. Take A Lot, Dennis, a couple of times. Family will have a person in a wheelchair, disabled person in wheelchair. So they're trying to make a positive moment, you know, for the person. They come across us. "Oh, no, now the person in the wheelchair, they moving, they dancing, they smiling." A person artistic. They like, "Oh, [ __ ] the person is like, they're happy." You know, that makes parents cry because we can do things that doctors can't do. That's creative. Smile instantly. And that's what those real popping street shows can do.

Cool. That's great. Like that. That was beautiful. And now I want to talk about the OG Popper's Picnic and how you came up with this vision. Like, what motivated you to start doing the picnic? And also, what are the obstacles? Like, what are the hardships you find?

Oh, the hardships is trying to get everybody to, um, to make time for it. Make at least one time because it's a few people. I won't say names. They've never come. And I've asked them over, over, over each year. "Hey, I'm doing a picnic. Can you come?" I even say, "Can you please come?" I can, heads up notice. Still nothing. In the meantime, you know, I was coming home from work. My birthday was getting ready to come up. And I wanted to do something different. Um, I was like, I never had a party in lunchtime. So I'm at a bus stop on Western and Adams, coming along from work. And I want to do something different. So I was thinking, "Hmm, maybe I like something in the park." Because LA, it was a lot of park jams. But community for the city, like certain festivals, not dancing, but just certain things for the city. I would perform at those city festivals. But I want to do something that's similar like that, like a, a party for myself and a park. I'm like, "Wait a minute. Let me get some poppers." You know. And then I got to thinking, "Oh, what about those all poppers? A Popper's Picnic. Lockers had lockers. Legends. B-boys had B-boy Summit." Nobody was doing that. No dance culture was doing picnics. Marco, you can go look. I've been trying to look. The skaters, they have the annual skate event. The low riders have had an annual or multi-annual gatherings. The sports, you have the ESPY Awards for football. In the States, you got the Super Bowl. Basketball, you got the NBA Playoffs, the Finals. Um, with the rappers, the West Coast, um, the West Coast can, I'm not sure what it was called, but it was the rappers all get together. But it was nothing for the poppers. Nothing. But yet, everybody's getting from the poppers. They're getting it, taking and taking it, taking it. I'm like, "Oh, a Popper's Picnic." Oh, and I'm at the bus stop like, "Oh, that'd be crazy." Then I was thinking, "Where? Griffith Park." It's a neutral part. I couldn't do it in the community part, my neighborhood, Lauren Miller. But then I did do me, Matt Ronald, and Skip Townsend. We did, um, oh, [ __ ] um, I have to cut the name of just that fast. Um, um, Peace Fest. Cobblock Peace Fest. He collaborated. But I wanted to do something for the poppers. Well, all of us can get a get together just for one day. Like the Grammys, all the music people, they get together for one day at the Grammys. All the actors, they get together one day for the Emmys and the Oscar Awards. What about the poppers? Marco, the breakers, they had B-boy Summit. What about the, and then the B-boy Summit, the poppers. I love much love and age. I've been working with Asia. Me and her going to do some more things. But her focus was the the b-boys. That's okay, understandable. Poppers on the side. There's a couple of other events. Poppers on the side, in the back, on the side. I'm like, "Oh, no, that's just not cool." And then when I saw the couple of events that were going on that didn't have all the poppers, it didn't have all the poppers. I walked in. And that's when I saw One Arm Bandit, rest in peace. That was the first familiar face I saw. That's when I started. That's when I came out of retirement to get back into popping. And that was because of my mom. But where are the poppers at? He like, "I don't know." So I was thinking about that too. So before I can do that, I had to get the blessings of five people before I can actually pull this off. So back then, we had, um, Myspace. There was no Facebook, there was no Instagram, there was barely YouTube. YouTube was barely coming out. Um, I, I reached out to Pop N Pete, One Arm Bandit, um, I tried to get a home, a Chuck, Powerful Mechanical Device. I didn't. So I got a hold of Fazoo, Media Circus, got all the Iceman. And I try to get a Bop N Drain. Bop N Drain didn't have no, um, he didn't have no Myspace, not that I knew of at the time. I had his phone number. I called him last. But I want to get their blessing and see what they thought. They thought it's cool. I'm gonna run it. And I'm still gonna run it. But I want their blessings because they all had a voice within the community, the popping community. Pete loved it. He's like, "That's a brilliant idea." Boom. Bandit was like, "Bro, that's awesome." And Hitmaster Fish was right there next to me when we was in the arcade when I was trying to do the emails. He was at the email shop. He was standing right there. He was like, "Midnight, oh, that's gonna be crazy." I'm like, "I know, I know." And then I, um, last person I reached out was Dre. He was all for it. He was like, "He wanted to do something like that." If you got to ask him, he was trying to do something before. But, um, but I want your blessing. Instrument, I'm gonna do this. And he was like, "Okay." And so, and so I had their blessings. So I had to think of what park. So I couldn't do it in no hood part because LA was notorious, you know, gang culture, the knuckleheads. You had to be ready. So I figured Griffith Park. It's neutral. Everybody can come. And it's right in the middle of nowhere. The city, everything is here. But you have to come up the hill and the mountain with the lions, the snakes, the bears, in the middle of nowhere. Picture that. And I can bring the funk to the middle of the mountain. Oh, [ __ ]. So after I'd done that, and I didn't know about permitting, nothing like that. Again, I'm not an organizer. I was just trying to gather everybody together on a positive note because usually when people get together, it's always for a funeral or something negative. But how come we all can't get together as dancers and enjoy each other on a positive note, on a good day? Dancers from the East Coast, dancers from down South, all the OGs from Cali, you know what I'm saying? And all on the one spot with the new generation dancers because the OGs was here, new generation dancers here. My goal is trying to put them all, bam, the same spot. We all do the same [ __ ]. It's just, I just have more experience than you because I've been around longer. But that doesn't mean I'm better than another person. It's just me, dance, we do a difference. How come we can't get together, cook up some food, just like you do with your families, have a potluck, put your foods together, everybody's eating, music, dancing, that collide in their maintenance, greeting some people haven't seen each other in like 30 years. So I had to introduce. So after I did the first one, nobody knew what to expect. So because I draw, remember, I do the drawing. So I drew the flyer. So I was like, "Papa's Picnic. What the [ __ ] is this? Who was Midnight? This than the other." The LA cats know me. I wasn't worried about everybody else. I had the respect from the LA cats because they knew me because I used to dance in the parades. That was another, um, dancing in parades, promoting the popping. That was like a little baptized because I went to the, the Army, the reserve, Fort Knox, Kentucky, in Kentucky. I'm on the bus and I see on the wall, "Kill all [ __ ]," um, of all, oh, it was racial to the Phillips. I'm like, "[ __ ]." But I'm on the army base, so I knew I was safe. My sergeant, and I'm in a military popping, boom, bob. Blessing. This was '84. '8, no, '83, '84. I'm busting. I thought it was named court martial. And that was Private Pruitt. He took me to his dorm. He pulled out Al Green records, Isley Brothers records. I'm like, "Oh, he's from Arkansas." He knew about the Poppin and Kelly. He called it too. He's like, "So that's something pop-locking Cali, huh?" I'm like, "Yes, sir." "Well, you can't." Sergeant or something like, "Yes, Sergeant." So he knew because he knew I was from LA. But going back to the, the picnic, that was my goal to try to get everybody together, Marco, just for one day. It didn't hurt. It didn't cost nobody nothing. So after I found a day, my birthday, it was a Saturday. So that's when I started reaching out. Everybody's Myspace. Hey, I sent them to fly, made the flyer, boom, start passing out. Of course, I'm getting hate. "What is this Thomas picnics?" "All you had to do was come." I already knew. Oh, yeah. There was something nobody expected when they got there. "Oh, shoot. Here comes all these dancers out of retirement. All these OGs nobody's never heard of before, never seen." But now they see it in person. They hear the names. But now they see it. They see the Robot Prince. They see the Tick-a-Lot. They see, oh, shoot, um, um, Wait, wait. They see the Andreas. They see the Lady AKs. They see them live. They see Miss Silver Streak Robot. Um, they see the Twins Attack. They see the Heckle and Jekyll. They said it like, "Oh, [ __ ]. Everybody's together." Um, Sugar Pop came. He had a ball, you know, because there was a lot of politics going on in back then. Nah, [ __ ] me going. And I, I reached out to Sugar Pop. I saw him kid booking a couple other dudes in Hollywood. They was in their Zoom suits getting ready to do a show. So click, plot. He saw me. They go, "Sugar Pop, right there." "Oh, [ __ ]." I walk up to him. I've never met this dude, but I know his reputation. As I asked him, "Bro, how you doing? My name is Midnight. I'm doing a Popper's Picnic in Griffith Park. I would love for you to come if you can, you know." And he was like, "Okay, I'm gonna try to come." I'm like, "Okay, please. I'm just trying to get everybody together. That's all." He was like, "Uh, he came." Go look at the pictures. I'm, what are we having fun? They, everybody's laughing, they're talking. Ain't no politics nowhere. Everybody's just normal. We're having fun. So I did the first one. And then I did the second one. It was a repeat, you know, because y'all was follow up. More people came. And like, because they heard the person that chatter, the pictures of the first one. It went nuts. My [ __ ]. Oh, [ __ ]. Pop is pregnant now. Nobody knew about Griffith Park. Now the second one goes. And that's when Slim Boogie and and Kunzai, they was meeting for the finals. Then they was together as a couple, but they was meeting in the finals. Um, I didn't have much money for prize money. I didn't know nothing about events. People they put up three, four, five hundred dollars. I just had a hundred dollars, you know. Tough Master made the box, a car speaker box, put the CD player on top of the box, put in the CDs, and just play the music. I had a couple of guys cook barbecue. Just bring your barbecues. If you had your family, bring your kids and have some fun. So after the third one, that's when I was kind of like low on my job. I got laid off. So I wasn't going to do nothing. But my partner was like, "No, Midnight, you got to keep doing this." Because it was a very low turn. And I did it the very last minute. I'm like, "[ __ ]." So I did it. Marco, I wasn't satisfied. I'm like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait. It's LA. You got all these dude people and poppers and only like 200 people came. None." So that's when I made up my mind. Okay, I'm gonna put my, I'm gonna put everything out there on the line. I called everybody out. The Bay Area cats, I need you. I called them on the phone, "Bro, I need you to come down. I'm doing a picnic this day. I need you to come down." And I have Brad made the, um, the footage like a video, but it was like a movie from the third room. So people can see. I'm using the tile floor. I'm nailing the tile floor to the grass. They see me burning my hand with the barbecue pit. They seeing on us. And then something grass. So now I did the after the third one. Now the fourth one, Marco, everybody gone. And they're like, "Whoa. The Bay came deep. Um, look, all the Groovitrons came." Um, and then there it was. And then I had entertainment. I had my partner, remember I was telling you with the Iron Man suit? I had him come to the picnic. Griffith Park. So, you know, at the parks, there's other picnics going on, right? But now picture, Marco, the Iron Man came down to him to the Popper's Picnic. Oh, my.

Goodness, the kids saw that. The people saw that. Oh [ __ ] look, it's Iron Man! Oh, they come running. It was nuts. Oh my God, it was total nuts.

But what did they come to? That came to the poppers' picnic. So now all these other families, they're seeing the popping. They're seeing the Iron Man. Boom! Poppin's still alive. They're doing it like this. Wow, they still getting down. Yes, yes, they still here. So that's when I did the fourth one. And that's when it built up, built up, built up.

So now here come the people. Come from Ghana, they come from Iceland, Korea, Japan, um, China, Russia, um, Algiers, Brazil. Um, they're coming. And then the pressure when you do the next one. As soon as I get there with the fourth one, the fifth one, midnight. When you doing the next one, we coming. Ah, now this is going to be number 16.

Even with COVID, I couldn't do it with COVID. But I did like an undercover one after the year after the COVID restrictions kind of left. And I moved it to Carson Dolphin Park because Griffith was getting political. And people, they saw it. They're like, "Wait a minute, we're going to charge this dude?" Because I was just doing it. I didn't, I wasn't into permits and stuff. I don't feel you should have to pay to get everybody together on a positive note. I'm sorry.

And then vendors, I didn't want the vendors there because they shouldn't have to come to make money when I'm trying to do something positive for the people. So I'm struggling doing all this and have advantages come set up shop, make all this money, and then bounce. But he's not there for the reason and the cause. He's just gonna make the money. So to eliminate any mess, I just said no vendors at all. And it's been working nice. And sorry it took so long. But no, no problem. No problem. We're here to learn. And this was a history election for us.

But now I want to talk about your talk a little bit about the other communities that are coming together for the picnic. Like, a lot of countries are now coming together to the picnic. And I want to know what do you want to see? What, what's your hope that the OG and all the people from all these communities start doing in their local work? Like, do you, do you hope, do you have any hope that your, your event serves as inspiration for these other communities and for these people to do something similar? Like, how do you see this? You see yourself as an inspirational?

I haven't, I haven't. I taught myself. I was going to do one in L.A. and then do one in the Bay Area. That was my original plan when I let every now for the first one. So I'm gonna do one because it's Cali. I wasn't thinking of Memphis. I wasn't thinking of Japan. I wasn't thinking of Taiwan, um, UK, um, Korea. I wasn't thinking about these places. Ghana, they got something going on in Ghana in another African city, whether they're popping in the park. I'm like, "Oh [ __ ]! Oh, that's cool."

But now it's bringing the community, their communities together. No matter what style you do, whatever, just dance session, have fun. You put a whole bunch of poppers together, naturally, you're gonna have battles and competition. That's what it was. So I don't have to like, "Hey Marco, we're gonna have a 3-on-3 battle. Registration is $10. Sign up." Just that. No, no, no, no, no, no. You go to the picnics, it's gonna go down. Somebody's gonna call somebody out. And if you looked on the videos, there's been quite a bit.

But now it's entertainment for the people, you know? It's fun. Everybody's dancing. Um, it brings the DJs want to resurrect them. The older veterans, a lot of people talk about, "Washed up, no good." But now they're getting healthy, they're inspired. Damn, they're not doing [ __ ]. I gotta get ready. Let me go ahead. And they start losing weight and getting their cholesterol because time is short. You don't remember when you're gonna go.

So now Wave was gone. Animation's gone. Tangerine's gone. One Armed Bandit just recently passed. Troy from St. Louis just passed. But now you don't see nobody doing any events in their honor. There was one for Waveformatic at home. Then one for Skating Rapping, um, at Homeland. One for Animation at Homeland. But lately, a moment of silence for, and then they did something for for Don Campbell. Up, it wasn't at Homeland. There was somebody when when Iceman had Homeland time, somebody passed, it would be something in their honor. Now nothing. They don't even get a moment of silence. And I've noticed that not coming. Like, burns me up. Like, at Bennett's funeral, I'm sorry, I got to put this out there. It wasn't no new generation dance that came. But yet, he came to everybody's event, supported. Just any other, only two people came. Um, um, I don't want to say that they know who they are. Only two new generation dancers came. And they'll always have my respect, you know, because they came to, um, Bannister. But it was only the veterans. The Jews, no new school dancers, no L.A. new school dancers came. And it was tripping everybody out. Like, "Whoa." It's like they don't care. That's what the message I'm getting. I don't want to say that, but a lot of people are thinking like they don't even care. Not because that's right and wrong, let them defend it. But you know what I'm saying? That, that was the, the whole point.

So just to get everybody together, to create memories, bonds, bring families together, you know, it was people they weren't speaking five, six, seven, eight, nine, twenty years. Picnic, boom, back together. They're shaking hands, they're taking pictures, you know, um, people that never met now they're couples. Some got married. Three people got marriage proposals. Go look at the videos. And that's because of the picnics. And then two people, they wanted to do it at the picnic. They didn't want to propose somewhere. They wanted to propose at the picnic. I'm like, "Oh, okay."

And then people realize how open and how friendly everybody can be. I don't speak your language. You know, speak mine. But we both dance. So we hear the music, we can relate. We can relate some kind of way. Marcos, I don't understand why it's so hard. But now I do get the hate. But I gotta, obviously, I must be doing something good. Then that's all I'm trying to do. Just throwing everybody together. I'm gonna keep doing it until everybody's together. That one time. Because then when they are together, now that they passed on, they passed over. But they did experience the picnic. Granny, she never been to L.A. in years. She came to the picnic. Agatha brought her. Oh, she said, "Man, this is so beautiful." She loved it. She, when she would have came earlier, you know, same with Deuce. Then Deuce spent some of his rent money to feed us. We fed picnic five. We fed over 300 people. I try to feed people. But 300 people. So you don't have to come up with money. I'm not charging nobody nothing. These picnics, this money is on my end. I'm the one that doesn't have a big house or nice car or not married. That's because I'm spending my time and energy for the community, for the picnics.

Nice. That, that's beautiful. Like, that's a beautiful message to bring people together. And everybody else does it. Everybody else does it. How come the poppers? But then when people want entertainment, who do they reach out to? The poppers. Nice. Yeah, I got you. And, and now I, I want to go back with the local idea, the L.A. thing, and the L.A. community thing. And let's kill one thing in your view, especially as an OG and a person that's been around and have more experience than the new people. What's the difference between the L.A. dancing, the L.A. all scene, and the rest of the world? Like, what would you say is L.A.'s special flavor, like unique flavor?

In L.A., it's more opportunity. It's, um, uh, the, the stars, the eye candy come to L.A. Um, the opportunity for advancement in charista because these people that came out here, that came to that country, came to visit, and they haven't left. Remember I was telling you earlier? And they haven't been. Marco, they're still here. They're established in L.A. because of the, the opportunities, the career opportunities that, um, approach them, you know? And then when they get a certain status, then people from other countries reach out to them, "Hey, come out here and teach. Come up." You know, they go overseas and they fly them out overseas. Well, I mean, which is cool, you know? But L.A. is like an eye candy for, I guess, opportunity, you know? Nice. If that makes any sense. You know, you can be seen more because you never know who's watching. L.A. is like Vegas. But Vegas is like Sin City. Out here, it's like, not say the stars, but they have the Oscars. They have the Oscars out here. The Grammys, when they have it out here, everybody comes. They come to L.A. You know, that, that's trippy. That's great. That's great.

And talking about like the L.A. thing and the street performance thing, what do you think that makes a great artist? Like, what is the difference for you between a good dancer, a person who has like good technique and knows how to do the moves very well, and a great artist? Like, this person that is a star in some way? What's the difference for you as far as doing three shows as artists in general?

Just be you. Don't try to copy nobody. You can. I can see something from you and be like, "Oh, that's tight." I won't do it, but I might have an idea to flip it in a whole different way. But the original area is like, "Okay." And then someone asked me, "Well, where did I get that from? Who made that up?" I didn't make it up. But I saw this guy, Marco, he did this, that, the other, and that gave me an inspiration. Because a lot of the, the veterans don't get credit for their moves. They don't. As far as performance artists, street shows, trying to be original, but make your quality high. Don't be raggedy and just average, you know? Like, if you're on in that outfit right there, and you want to come do a show with me on Hollywood, I'll tell you, "No, that's not the one." You just look normal. You're like a nicely dressed dude, you know? But nicely dressed people in here. When you're doing three shows, you're a performance artist. You're supposed to be here. That level, that high quality. They see your shoes. If you got white shoes, pearl-like shine. If you're in a suit, everything is like, boom. It's even where the kids can be like, "That's tight." Because kids have no reason to lie. So if you look like garbage or ragged or something, their reactions are going to let you know. Hold on one second. I'm here. Okay. Okay. So, so we're here. Um, yeah, but just that, that quality, that high quality, you know, just try to entertain the people, you know?

Cool. I have a last question for you. Sure. Ask whatever. All right. It would be, as an OG, and we can say you are like a village leader with a popper's technique. What are the hints? What would you like to say to the newer generation, especially in newer artists that are struggling and are not sure on how to, how to bring their career and their, their thing together?

What would you say to these people? Just another dude. I'm not no, oh yeah. But I didn't create nothing. I didn't, or not just, um, just try. Just don't be afraid to try things. Try an idea. And like a tri-cert move, try to move. See the reaction of that move. If it doesn't work, oh, your conscience is clear. If it does work, hmm, I got action. I got ideas. Like me, when I was doing putting my performance act together, and certain shoes, and let me try these shoes. Directions too. Uh, so, so put on the bandana shoes. Oh, I like your shoes. Oh, those are tight. Okay, bam. And then the music. Um, for like, for me, um, because mannequins, they don't talk. So my music is my voice. I use body language. But I have to make sure I do it to where kids can like it. You want to be family-friendly, you know? You don't want to have that hood perspective, pretty much. Because you, you're trying to entertain the people. People means everybody, you know? Just try certain. Just, um, be respectful. Um, respect the ones that was before you. Because if you didn't have the, if you know how the people here, you wouldn't be here. That makes sense. Same like me. It was people before me, you know? Like I said, Karate Gene, Santa Claus, they was before me. So I got to make sure if they're looking down on me, when they see me, they're like, "Okay, Midnight, you're on point." That was no excuse because I'm trying to keep that high level. If that makes sense. Just try. Just try certain ideas. Don't be afraid to try nothing, you know? Don't copy nobody and mimic them because you don't want to have that title, you know?

Cool, cool. And where we can find you online? Like, if you want to hire you for a workshop or a showcase or just one of them? I guess call me here or reach out to me. My Facebook is Ed Pruitt Midnight. My, what I don't really be on Instagram like that, but my Instagram is Midnight Pruitt. Um, or the Instagram poppers picnic. Or you can just email me. Email me at pruittmid T gmail.com. P-R-U-I-T-T-M-I-D, um, at gmail.com. I'm right here in L.A. Not hard to find. I work five days a week in the weekdays. And after work, I'm steady thinking of ways I can bring entertainment and create events, you know? Food drives. Um, I'm trying to do an art show, art chalk walk show. Um, trying to do different things, you know, for the people, you know? And still get that hit on it, you know? But I'm always thinking of moves. Like you doing what you're doing right now, I'm always thinking. I'm laying down, I might be washing dishes, and I might think of, you know, because the idea of the, the robot is not a dancer trying to dance robot. It's, it's you being a robot trying to imitate a human, you know? Nice, nice. If you're being a waiver, you're a form of bonus form. You're moving, but you have no bones. You're like water. You're like a, a living, um, a living form of water, or a living snake, or a living lizard, or, you know, bird, you know? If you're trying to do animation, it's like a cartoon coming to life. If you're doing touch, you're trying to be an Egyptian hieroglyphic dancer. Just make sure all your touches are square and straight, you know? If you're a puppet, just think of yourself being a puppet. And when it hears music, what does it do? It dances. It actually gonna dance like a puppet. If you are, um, a character or creature, think of a creature coming alive. Think of a zombie. You've been a zombie, and then you hear music. What is zombie gonna do? Dance. I was looking at this, um, show when I was little, Mad Monster Party. That was like first generation animation. You go look, you look it up, and it shows all the monsters, but they was in claymation. See, that wasn't earlier on in my child year, too. I'm looking at Gumby and Pokey, um, Davey and Goliath. That was animation. That was claymation in the first generation when we was kids. So I'm trying to imitate those formats too, you know? It's a lot, marker. We can go on and on and on. Detail. It's so much. I hope we have other opportunities to do this exchange. And we're gonna listen whenever you want to. Cool, cool. I would definitely hate your work for this. And we will put all your contacts on the every post we do for this interview. That's cool. I would like to thank you a lot. I was really eager to learn more about your history and appreciate you. Yeah, this is our third time. We was trying to connect. He was trying two different times. It was hard, you know, things get busy, you know? But I'm here, you know? Yeah, easy to talk to you, you know? It's the point. You just got to have everybody's respect. Um, and I, I do. I'm so grateful to God that I have a lot of the veterans' respect. So if I'm calling them, "Hey man, look, I need you here. I'm doing this than the other." Only thing they asked me is, "Midnight, what you need? What time?" And what I'm gonna try to be there, you know? Nice, nice. I try to. Oh, no, no. The, the new generation when they have events, I love to be a part in and spread out their information so other people that they don't know, they would know. And then they would come. But you got to communicate. A lot of people, you know, got open communication. I, I talked on trying to have a universal calendar everybody can see. I was talking about universal, like a fun, a fun, um, monetary fund. So older dancer, he's having an issue, or younger dancers having problems with their kids and need some money. A fund, put out some money, you know? Just for the poppers. Um, a calendar, probably. It's a lot of things I don't want to put on there because somebody with some money would do it. Like when I did the, the poppers ball, that became to a, um, views are like 90 million in views. But this is from people in different cities that didn't think it existed. And when eggs, when they saw it, they saw us in suits. Merkel, the first thing they want to know, "Where is tickets for the next one?" And they thought it was a tour. "Can you come out to here? Can you come out to here?" Oh my goodness. [ __ ] was crazy, you know? But a lot of people, they like to say the older guys, the older people, still, it's inspiration to see a 60-something-year-old dude still get down, a 60-year-old lady still split, still flat, and still can bust it out, you know? That's a, that's a God blessing, you know? Right. That was, that was beautiful. And again, thank you for being here with us. I'm gonna wrap it up. We're out of here. I was gonna ask you about your history. Tell me a little bit about you. But maybe another time we'll have it. We'll have an opportunity for this. And thank you to everybody that has got their time to watch us. See y'all next time. Thank you. I'm out of here too. Bye.