In retrospect, as the 80s rolled in, so did the inevitable circumstances of life and many directional changes. Dan took a job as a messenger for Shea and Gould, Joe became a federal employee working for the post office, Mark moved to Rochester after working as an airport security person and a graphic artist at Shopwell, Lloyd continued at Griffin Bacal, and Donald began working as a graphic artist at Brooklyn Union Gas. A very, very busy time - and that's to say nothing of the even busier individual family lives. Amazingly enough - it was during these years from the mid 80s on - that the Out Of Bodies were formed.

Donald and Lloyd workin' the "wheezer" in '86.

Gradually, but surely - Dan, Joe, Donald, and occasionally Lloyd - began to meet more often to record music around this time. Their first attempt at a "music video" was shot by Donald in '86 - featuring Dan on his own walking alongside a cemetery - lip syncing a song he wrote called "Death", but it wasn't until a short while later in that year when Lloyd shot a more "official" one featuring all four of them. The song chosen for that video was "I Wonder", a much more upbeat selection, and it featured mostly Dan, Joe and Donald being chased around the park by a ventriloquist dummy. Lloyd chose wisely to remain behind the camera for most of the video.

By the 90s, Mark, once an out-of-town Out Of Bodies fan, returned to New York and became an Out Of Bodies member, joining Donald as an employee at Brooklyn Union. In '91 Dan, Joe, Donald and Mark had an impromptu live jam session in the company's video/photography studio, which was dubbed "The Traveling Dinkleberries" by Mark. Parts of it were photographed and audio-taped by a hand full of fellow co-workers. As fun as they were, however, for one reason or the other, Out Of Bodies sessions became fewer and far in between in later years. Although Donald possesses a disarrayed smattering of cassette tapes of sessions to follow - the last "documented" recording is dated June 1995.

The Out Of Bodies, minus Lloyd and Mark, in 1995

Having all this said and done, however, there is one piece of Out Of Bodies history that will always remain a mystery... It's never been made clear exactly "why" the group were ever called the Out Of Bodies. Nearest explaination is a fuzzy one. Dan believed in aliens, big foot, and other aspects of the paranormal. He also believes he may have had an "out of body" experience one morning while an alien was trying to communicate with him. The others don't know for sure if he was serious about telling them this - and after they stared at him for a few moments he refused to elaborate further. All they got out of Dan at first was what the alien sounded like, because Dan did his best to mimic the voice he heard. He said "now don't laugh, because this is gonna sound strange.... but he sounded a little bit like Bert from Sesame Street... only more like this..." and then he did the voice - Frank Oz caught in a vice-grip... "Eyaaaaaaahhhh Dannieeeeeeeeeeee, can you heeeeeeear meeeeeeee?" Donald explained, "After we teased Dan about this mercilessly he never mentioned it again. But on occasion, without warning... I'd slip it into conversation and go "Eyaaaaaaahhhh Dannieeeeeeeeeee, can you heeeeeeear meeeeeeee?" Of course Dan would just ignore it. No wonder he doesn't see us anymore.