Playlist: Vital signs of life abound

Who knew you'd need running shoes at an exhibit of the dead?

By Sean Daly, Times Pop Music Critic
Published January 11, 2008

The bodies - yep, those bodies - are back.

Still offering a visceral glimpse of our mortal coil. Still posed as if a game of soccer just broke out in the coroner's office. Black lungs, halved hearts, cautionary corpse tales and aortic derring-do. All intended to "change the way people see themselves."

Well, maybe.

Now at Sarasota's G.WIZ science museum for a limited time, "Bodies Revealed" is from the same folks who brought us the "Bodies" exhibit that buzzed into Tampa in 2005. Real live dead people? Surely you remember that brouhaha.

After months of headlines and controversy, I finally took my family - including my then-2-year-old daughter - to MOSI to see the marvels of polymer preservation and the potential death grip of too many McGriddles.

Upon witnessing the first flayed specimen - the throngs were so solemn, so respectful, nary a snicker was snorted - I fully expected to have a life-altering experience. Without revealing my arsenal of sins, let's just say I could have used the wake-up call. And it was all there, too, a revolutionary study in the beauty and breaking points of God's gift.

But two seconds in, my wee daughter, her very-much-alive legs pumping, made a beeline for a leg bone, and all bets were off.

"GET HER! SHE'S HEADED FOR THE SOCCER GUY!" Room after room, the chase was on: "THE LUNGS! THE LUNGS!"

It was all fairly frustrating at the time, mainly because I paid approximately $377 for everyone to get in to the exhibit and maybe - maybe - I was able to enjoy a shin and three-quarters of a shriveled liver.

Instead, I played fetch among the dead, chasing my kid, her squirmy, giggly form lurching this way and that. That's what I remember from the "Bodies" exhibit. Not the miracles of modern science. Not the devastating effects of a pack of Marlboro Reds. Just how fast my daughter could go, go, go.

A clueless parent? Maybe. But hey, when it comes to life lessons, I'll take what I can get.

Anyway, if you head down to Sarasota to revisit those "Bodies," feel free to use the following musical playlist as your alternate museum audio guide. Just try not to sing too loud.

1. Underneath It All, No Doubt

2. Your Body Is a Wonderland, John Mayer

3. The Happy Organ, Dave "Baby" Cortez

4. Bad to the Bone, George Thorogood

5. I've Got You Under My Skin, Frank Sinatra

6. Inside Out, Phil Collins

7. I'm Looking Through You, the Beatles

8. Piece of My Heart, Janis Joplin

9. All of Me, Louis Armstrong

10. Be Good to Yourself, Journey

Playlist is an occasional series of musical mixes from Sean Daly's Pop Life blog. To contribute your ownsongs - Ain't Got Nobody? Dance Naked? - go toblogs.tampabay.com/popmusic.

Bodies Revealed

The exhibit will be at G.WIZ, the Hands-On Science Museum in Sarasota, through at least Feb. 18. Hours: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. $22, $20 seniors, $17 for children and students. 1001 Boulevard of the Arts at Blivas Science and Technology Center, Sarasota. Toll-free 1-877-627-3271; www.bodiesrevealed.com.

.if you go

[Last modified January 9, 2008, 18:51:07]