{"id":5152,"date":"2020-03-04T11:45:32","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T19:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/?p=5152"},"modified":"2020-03-04T13:11:29","modified_gmt":"2020-03-04T21:11:29","slug":"happy-birthday-oscar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/happy-birthday-oscar\/","title":{"rendered":"HAPPY BIRTHDAY OSCAR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I arrive at my gigs with a list of this month\u2019s famous birthday people and events. I will wrap each one around a song. It\u2019s March and one of the notables<\/em> is Oscar Ferdinand Mayer<\/a>. He was born March 29, 1859. The guy liked meat. I bet he ate a lot of it. And he lived to be 95 years old. Hooray for hot dogs!<\/p>\n

We are sitting in a circle at my music therapy session, the memory care folks and me. I mention the name \u201cOscar Mayer\u201d and watch their eyes glint in happy recognition. My eyes are glinting too. I tell them about the lunches my mother made for me when I was a kid. She poured slices of bologna and Velveeta cheese onto a pane of aluminum foil, rolled it like a mini-duffle bag and sent me off to school. No avocado toast, no carrots or celery. Not an apple or orange slice in sight.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m lucky I\u2019m still alive.<\/p>\n

That said, when I\u2019m feeling all gunky about the state of the world, do you think I reach for tofu? Or lettuce? Or even chocolate? Are you kidding? I run to Sprouts, stand in the meat deli line and ask for half a pound of bologna. And then this happens: The deli lady appears with lovely folded slices on a pane of plastic, lays the whole thing on the scale and usually the weight is a little over. \u201cOh that\u2019s okay!\u201d I chirp. Food therapy is close at hand.<\/p>\n

So the memory care folks and I launch into the iconic Oscar Mayer jingle.<\/p>\n

Oh I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Wiener. That is what I\u2019d truly like to be\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m here to tell you that a well-written commercial jingle is like Velcro in our brains. The gusto-factor has kicked in and everyone is singing and swaying along after the first line.<\/p>\n

We continue\u2026<\/p>\n

Cause if I were an Oscar Meyer Wiener\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

She is sitting next me. I\u2019ll call her \u201cSparky.\u201d She is a human spark plug, a walking-talking firecracker. But she couples her joie de vivre<\/em> with a rare and indefatigable equanimity, even in the face of the challenges that are a constant her life. The woman is laser-sharp, feisty and ever protective of those around her. Including me. \u201cCali, did you sign your invoice. We want you to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a voice that slices through the ragtag chorus in the room, she sings the final line of the jingle.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone would take a bite of me.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Let me introduce you to \u201cBig Bad Bob…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s so F–ked Up,\u201d he bellows. Some of the ladies in the room roll their eyes. They are familiar with his colorful language. I silently admire his verb substitutions. But Sparky is undeterred and sings her line again.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone would take a bite of me.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

I love it when stuff like this happens\u2026 A sudden burst of spontaneity and irreverence. Maybe this is what I love most about my work–when I am willing to let go of my own agenda, just a little, and trust this moment to lead us somewhere unexpected. And let me tell you, the rewards are bountiful. Surprising. Joyful. Scary. Deeply moving. Letting go can crack open our hearts.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The actual last line of the Oscar Mayer jingle is everyone would be in love with me.<\/strong><\/em> I sing it to Sparky and this is how I read the expression on her sweet face.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on Cali, that sucks.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSparky,\u201d I exclaim, \u201cI like your version better and it makes a whole lot more sense.\u201d So we sing it again. Even Big Bad Bob joins in.<\/p>\n

Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener. That is what I\u2019d truly like to be.<\/em>
\nCause if I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener. Everyone would take a bite of me.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yes we may love<\/em> bologna or cucumber and watercress sandwiches. But when we take a bite<\/em>, well that\u2019s a whole different picnic.<\/p>\n

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE<\/a> to read about songwriter Richard Trentlage and the story behind his famous Oscar Mayer jingle. Guess what, he played a banjo-ukulele!<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I arrive at my gigs with a list of this month\u2019s famous birthday people and events. I will wrap each one around a song. It\u2019s March and one of the notables is Oscar Ferdinand Mayer. He was born March 29, 1859. The guy liked meat. I bet he ate a lot of it. And he lived to be 95 years old. Hooray for hot dogs! We are sitting in a circle at my music therapy session, the memory care folks … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[201,132,202,203],"class_list":["post-5152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogentry","tag-commercial-theme-songs","tag-music-therapy","tag-oscar-mayer","tag-sing-along-jingles"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":2,"label":"blog entry"}],"post_tag":[{"value":201,"label":"commercial theme songs"},{"value":132,"label":"music therapy"},{"value":202,"label":"Oscar Mayer"},{"value":203,"label":"sing along jingles"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Screen-Shot-2020-03-03-at-10.07.32-PM.png",701,536,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Cali Rose","author_link":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/author\/crbauthor\/"},"comment_info":12,"category_info":[{"term_id":2,"name":"blog entry","slug":"blogentry","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":138,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":2,"category_count":138,"category_description":"","cat_name":"blog entry","category_nicename":"blogentry","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":201,"name":"commercial theme songs","slug":"commercial-theme-songs","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":201,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":132,"name":"music therapy","slug":"music-therapy","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":132,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":202,"name":"Oscar Mayer","slug":"oscar-mayer","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":202,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":203,"name":"sing along jingles","slug":"sing-along-jingles","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":203,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5152"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5163,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5152\/revisions\/5163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calirose.com\/wackyworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}