Word: boingo
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DIED. ESTHER WONG, 88, no-nonsense proprietor of Madame Wong's, a renowned L.A. music venue in the late '70s that showcased rock, punk and New Wave bands, including Oingo Boingo and the Knack; in Santa Monica, Calif. She auditioned groups by listening to demo tapes in her car; she threw the tapes of acts she didn't favor out the window. A stern disciplinarian, Wong once halted a live set by the Ramones until band members cleaned up graffiti they had scrawled on a bathroom wall...
...Best Western Gateway is one of two public "hot spots" listed for Santa Monica in the directory of Boingo Wireless, which offers Wi-Fi access in locations scattered across the country. I have already talked to a preternaturally cheerful customer-service rep and signed up for Boingo, which has a wireless transmitter in the hotel lobby. So I'm ready for action...
...insert my credit card-size Wi-Fi receiver into the PC-card slot of my laptop. The "sniffer" software then checks the air for wireless signals, and a message pops up: "The Boingo Wireless signal is available. Would you like to connect?" A click on the trackpad and I'm online. As my home page loads, I'm tempted to pass my hands over my computer like a magician's assistant: Look, no wires! I access a website that lets me benchmark my download speed; it clocks in at 2,920 kbps, comparable to my home cable-modem connection...
...those songs which go out on a limb that actually come close to recapturing or even surpassing the spirit of the originals. The English League's mildly hip-hop influenced version of Oingo Boingo's "Weird Science" is an appropriately goofy take on a goofy song, complete with a melodramatic repetition of "she's alive!," while F.O.N.'s Californianska take on The Cars' "You Might Think" is appropriately trippy. But these are few and far between. Instead, we get mediocre takes on "Pretty in Pink," "I Melt With You" and "If You Leave...
Scritti Politti 1 Kajagoogoo 1 Bananarama 0 Oingo Boingo 5 Milli Vanilli 3 Blues Magoos 1 AVERAGE...