We're happy about not being involved personally, thank you, but the escalating feud between local heroes Oingo Boingo and some of the press is pretty interesting stuff. A few weeks ago, the L.A. Times' Terry Atkinson wrote a simply scathing review of the band's new A & M album, "Only a Lad," saying that they should have called it "Only a Sellout" instead. Atkinson, an admitted one-time fan, used phrases like "vapid lyrics," "crassest sort of new wave" and "smugly clever tone" to condemn the record.

Just days later, Oingo Boingo played a few sets at the Country Club. When it came to a song called "The Impostor," band vocalist, writer and leader Danny Elfman dedicated the tune to Atkinson, labeling him "The Worm." Nasty, boys, very nasty.

Elfman doesn't seem to mind this sort of activity; in fact, he revels in it. He talks of the "war" with critics, adding that "I like warfare of any kind, at anytime. We're the band they love to hate — we're on our own, and we prefer it."

Elfman can afford to be defensive, because Oingo Boingo is indisputably one of the most popular acts around here. Their audience, which he describes as "almost exclusively kids," doesn't care that the group's music is "not respectable" as new wave, he says. "Anywhere we play, we've been able to win over who we play to, even if our name makes people think we're going to be a bunch of clowns." That proved to be true even when Oingo Boingo left the comfort of a local following for a trip to New York — where they shared a bill with Jim Carroll, an unlikely pairing if ever there was one. Confident? You know it. Says Elfman, "I never try to do anything; I am doing it." Not hip? "That's right, and we're proud of it." Stay tuned for the next skirmish.