Danny Boy O'Connor Discusses The Big Dam Party, The Outsiders Movie Screening

They'll be having a screening of The Outsiders movie, filmed right here in Oklahoma. The screening will include a meet and greet, as well as a performance.

Danny Boy O'Connor, the Executive Director of The Outsiders Museum, joined News On 6 Saturday morning and will also be performing his band's famous song, "Jump Around," at this event.

O'Connor: It is a big weekend. It's so much so that I'm not even up to date on all the things that are going on. I was learning a lot just here in the lead-up to this, but I do know that there are a lot of performances tonight. A friend of ours, Jolene Brown, is performing, which I can't wait to see her. And Hanson, I guess, did they perform opening night or this weekend? I think, OK, yeah, see, there you go. There's like a kayak thing, a surf thing, a drawbridge—the whole thing. I can't wait to go see it. I'm excited for the city.

Reagan: Specifically for you. How cool is it to have this special screening with Ponyboy himself, C. Thomas Howell?

O'Connor: It's going to be great. It's a new location, bigger venue, same time-honored classic, and to have Tommy out here talking about the filming of it and what it means to him. And, yeah, it's an incredible thing to have here. And, you know, shout out to Renee McKinney and May Gould and everybody over there at the Tulsa Film and Music Office and at the Chamber for making this happen. I live at the May Hotel, and I look out the window, I can see this giant duck out there. And if you don't know, they got the world's largest inflatable duck—61 feet. Wow. Something like that. It looks massive from the hotel. So I can't wait to see it. But, yeah, it's just always good to be included in this stuff. And I'm always happy that S.E. Hinton's work is still as vibrant and recognizable as it's always been. Between the book, the movie, and now the musical, this thing just keeps on living on and growing bigger and better than ever.

Reagan: I was going to ask you that—how much has this popularity grown just since the musical?

O'Connor: Yeah, the musical has definitely raised awareness and put us on a whole other level. We saw a very big uptick in people coming to the museum, interested in that.

Reagan: So now the event tonight is called—it's called The Same Sunset. What's the story behind that?

O'Connor: It's the shortened version. In the book, The Outsiders, it says, "Although our worlds were completely different, it was amazing to me that we saw the same sunset." I'm butchering it because I'm paraphrasing, but "We saw the same sunset" is the concept of no matter what side of town you're on, you can look up, see this beautiful thing that God created, and go, "Wow, that's beautiful." And it brings you one step closer. So it's a tagline that's often used when we do events, and they decided to call it The Same Sunset, and so that's what it is.

Reagan: And you'll be performing as well?

O'Connor: I will. We're going to get me out there. We're going to do "Jump Around." I got a few special guests. Somebody told me on the radio that the whole band, House of Pain, will be here. That is not true, unfortunately. But what is true is that I got a former bandmate named Big Left coming out, and people know him from La Coka Nostra, and I have a local favorite here—my man Johnny—coming out to do the hype man part of it. So it's going to be fun. I'm looking forward to it.

Reagan: What do you hope people get out of this event?

O'Connor: That they get to see an Oklahoma classic, The Outsiders, in a new location, with the Q&A by C. Thomas Howell. I'll be there. It's an amazing legacy to be a very small part of. For me, it's an honor. And, you know, shout out to Tulsa in general, man. I love everything about being here, and it just seems like one thing after another. There's a cool new opening, or ribbon cutting, or an event, or a run, and it never stops. It's an exciting time to be alive in Tulsa.