Archive for the ‘NKOTB’ Category

Coming Home

*tears*

Here We Go Again – Video style…

Oh Joe. Oh sweet, glorious JoeyMac.  I am in love with your new song. And further more, I am in love with your new video. Suits, old school straw hats & shirtless.  Let’s just say I needed a moment to myself. I don’t know what Barrett does with herself having that in her face all the time.

If You Want It, I Got It

Okay, so when the New Kids ended their tour this past summer in Texas (and I was there — oh yes I traveled 3000 miles to see them off in style) I didn’t know if I’d ever have a chance to see them perform again. Were they going on hiatus? I know they were taking a year off. I went through the motions of mourning my super fun 18 months of NKOTB overload, and moved on. Oh I still read their tweets, visit one NK website but I stepped back for the most part.

And then Donnie Wahlberg decided to record some songs, and release one of them right here in Toronto on Chum FM. It blew up, Blockheads requested it from all over the world and Donnie decided that he would have his release party here in Toronto. I pondered for about .002 seconds before it was decided that I’d be attending the party. Just a little more DDub, like a hit of horomone-heroin.

My friend indianadelae bought two tickets for the party, and Momontherun & Turtletwins23 were quick to follow. Donnie decided to have a limited amount of “Facetime” tickets available, which basically allowed for early admission and guaranteed meeting with Donnie. Yes, Jen & I were able to procure a pair. EEP!

So basically it was the coldest day so far this fall yesterday and we had to wait outside on the cold concrete. When they finally let us in we lingered around awaiting information. We heard someone say to line up near a side room, where the meet’n'greet was supposedly happening. We joined the line with two girls we met last night. They were hilarious and we had a blast waiting for our turn. They wanted us to go in as groups of 4 or 5 which was kind of shitty because there is only one Donnie and wouldn’t we all want to be next to him? Anyways, we get in there and he was about 10 feet away. There were 6 people in front of our group, and he was meeting with each person, one at a time. They had a photographer there taking pictures. When it was my turn I walked up saying “Donnnnniiiiie” and I gave him a big hug. And his hugs linger, he makes you feel like he wants to hug you. And in no way like you’re the 150th person he’s caressed in the last hour. I love that about him. I told him all about my daughter and how she was a self proclaimed Donnie girl. How she wanted to come with me, but that obviously she was too young. He signed an old NKOTB trading card for her and then we hugged again for the picture. My camera was acting up, so the only picture that would take is one of the worst pictures of me ever. I look like I’m scolding him and we’re about a foot apart. Fingers Crossed that the pic they took worked better. I started to walk away and he pulled me back and *GAH FREAKS FAINTS* says “I love you, you know” so I say “I love you too” and walk away in a daze. I should’ve latched myself to his leg and refused to budge. We got outside back into the concert hall and people were starting to gather round the stage. Since we were waiting for 3 more people that didn’t have early entry, we secure a spot, about 3 people deep right in the centre. I’m not going to bother talking about the group of C-words that were around us because 95% of the crowd there last night were fine.

So the show starts…. there were a few people that sang first.  I’ll put it out there and say that I’m a bad New Kid fan because I don’t blindly follow other people that they like, work with just because.  So I don’t really know anything about them. I was tuning out at that point, thinking about the fact that I was about 2 vodka/7’s from groping Donnie in the VIP room an hour earlier.

Donnie comes out. He started with Rise and Grind.  The crowd was stoked, everyone was singing along and Donnie was magnetic.  I can’t believe how close we were, how low the stage was and how much I missed seeing that man live.  He loves to talk, so he did a lot of talking and thanking and he even cried at one point.  I’d like to say he’s a great actor, but I really do feel that he’s genuine in his adoration for the fans.  He sang I GOT IT  twice, the second time leaving it up to us to really scream out the lyrics.  I didn’t realize how much I’d listened to the song until I realized I was singing every. single. word. of the song.  Once that was done, he spoke some more and said he’d have a surprise for us, and Single kicked in. He sung it, and at that point I figured the rumours of Joey Mac being in Toronto were true, so I was scoping out the stage area… sure enough, about 30 seconds into the song out popped Mr. McIntyre.  he was decked out in a beautiful grey suit and I swear I peeled 20 years off my age/maturity and started crying….I’m not proud of it, but I definitely had a fan girl moment at that point. I was having heart palpitations and was trying to see how far I could get onto the stage before I was tackled by the security team.

I took a bunch of pictures of Joe, and him and Donnie had a great time with each other.  Fuck, it was like when Joe showed up in the crowd right in front of me during the Molson Amphitheatre show last June when I wasn’t expecting it.  I’m actually getting jittery right now thinking about it *LOSER ALERT*  If I remember correctly (the order of events is a bit sketch) they left the stage for a little while.  Donnie came out and danced around singing to other peoples songs.  He then called Joe back out and they played Dirty Dancing AND Full Service.  They were even doing some of the New Kid moves and laughing at each other.  The rest of us ladies in the audience were combusting as they grabbed their packages and did the thrusting we all know them for.

They also played Joe’s new song, but he didn’t perform it.  In fact, he darted off the stage, even though Donnie told him to stay.  I think he wanted to make sure everyone liked it.  Which we did.

The place was so packed that there was no way there would be any mingling going on after the performance was done.  Over an hour after we left Joe left, and took some pictures with fans outside.  Same with Donnie.  I don’t think any of us would have lasted any more time at that point.  It’s hard to stand in one spot for that length of time, in heels & heat.  Or maybe we’re just getting old.

At any rate, the night rocked. Joey Mac made my friggen life by showing up unannounced. I think I’ll ride high on that for quite a while.   What’s next guys????

Here are a few more pictures, including the infamous picture of me & Donnie.  I’m sharing it before I hold a burning party to destroy it.

Here We Go Again: Joey Mac

Last night Donnie Wahlberg DJ’d an hour on CHUMfm here in Toronto. He played some his new song, New Kids songs, a little by other artists and did a lot of talking. The last song he played was Joe’s new song.

Here We Go Again

It is so good and totally something I would listen to even if it wasn’t by a New Kid. I hope he gets the same support DDub has received for I Got It and that we hear it all over the place.

I was never a huge fan of Joe’s previous solo stuff (there were some songs I adored) because it was kind of adult contemporary and that’s not really my thing. This new song, however is modern and funky and an easy listen. Loved it first time, no need to grow into it.

Hopefully the video will be as kick-ass as he promises and that he can ride on this until the New Kids decide to grace us with their presence again — all five of them.

NKOTB – The Family Outing

I will never understand how I did it, but I actually talked my husband into taking me to see NKOTB back in June.  I wasn’t originally going to this show because of my road trip to see them later in the summer.  But as the day drew nearer, so did my emotasticness over not having tickets.  Last minute he bought 4 lawn seats for me.  Plans changed and in the end, he and my daughter came with me.

When we got there, they had a deal that for $10 a ticket you could upgrade to seats, so we immediately did that.  It was worth it, I prefer not sitting on the grass.

The concert was fantastic (like there was any doubt).  Steve was a trooper for even coming with us, and I’m sure the beer helped make his night more bearable.  Kaitlyn sang and danced along holding onto my shoulders as she stood/kneeled on my chair.  It put her head at my level so she could see the hotness on the stage.

I hadn’t spoiled myself prior to seeing this summer concert, so when there was a bit of a lag in the action on stage I didn’t bat an eyelash.  The first notes of Single started up and I realized that the guys were spread out in the crowd, singing.  I spied Donnie over to my left and was a little beside myself.  I’m trying to get Steve’s attention about it when he says “Joe is right there” and I realized that Joe was indeed 6 rows directly in front of me.

I swear, I football threw Kaitlyn to Steve and got up on my chair.  Not my proudest moment as a mother, but it was Joey McIntyre and I check my common sense at the door when it comes to him.  I tried to take some pictures, but with all the flashes nothing really turned out.  Twas a shame too, because I just out of grope range.

That night, as we were driving home, I realized how awesome I have it.  I’ve got great kids who I can share pieces of my life with, as well as a husband who will get out of his comfort zone to make me happy.

Steps 1-5 Forever!

I’ll say it loud, and say it proud.  I fucking love New Kids on the Block.  It’s been that way since the summer of 1989 when my best friend received a copy of Hangin’ Tough from the Columbia House cassette tape mail order thing.  I’d heard the odd song on the radio, but I was more caught up in the likes of Rick Astley & River Pheonix at the time.

It all changed that one afternoon.  I still remember sitting on the couch in her living room declaring my love.  That summer my room slowly transformed, poster by poster, into a shrine of the five bad brothers from beantown land.  We went and saw them in concert together, bought t-shirts and I swear it was the most fantastic day ever, up to that point in my life.

I continued on this path of NKOTB-itis for the next 3 years.  I went to 3 more concerts, bought many more tee shirts, and covered every bare piece of bedroom wall with pictures of them.  I had the bedsheets for shitsakes.  (see picture right).   I based my real life boyfriend requirements on how he compared to Joey-Joe.  Needless to say, much of my time between early ‘91 and late ‘92 was spent single.

I eventually got a boyfriend (who was no match for Mr. McIntyre) and moved on from the boys.  The posters came down, the tapes went into storage and I started listening to different kinds of music.

That was until one fateful morning in January 2008.  I was bored, surfing the internet and googled their name.  I had remembered that there was a fansite for the guys and thought I would check it out, to see what they’d been up to the past few years beyond movie roles, reality shows and 3rd place finishes in dance competitions.    NKOTBfans.com was rumbling about a possible reunion.  I immediately got teary eyed and freaked out.  I sent mr.sidekickgirl into the depths of my basement to bring out the boxes of memorablilia I thought I’d never look at again.  I curled up in my pink New Kids comforter and watched all the old videos.  It was wonderful, I felt young again!

The rumours eventually gave way to confirmation that the boys were indeed, back in town.  There was a flurry of Today Show appearances, website launches and songs about summertime being released.  It was suddenly fun to be a blockhead again.  I reconnected with friends from my past, made new friends & found out some of the girls that had been a part of my life post-NKOTB were also secretly fans.

When the guys decided to go out on a reunion tour there was no question that I would be attending.  I sold my soul to the devil and got my place of employment to let me enjoy the use of their corporate box for the event (little did I know how that would turn out).  When the first concert in Toronto sold out immediately, they announced a second concert, two days prior.  They had something called a 5* package that included meeting and getting a picture with the guys.  WHAT? You mean that I could get premium seats as well as meet the objects of my affections for close to two decades?  My 8th anniversary present from my husband was one of those tickets.  They announced a third concert shortly after, and I also got tickets to that show, it was the first of their tour and I wanted to be one of the first to see how 20 years treated them.

I went to all three concerts.  I shared my first NKOTB show in 20 years with the husband, and it was fantastic.  The following night I met them which was probably in my top 10 moments of all time.  After getting a little bit of time with each guy (and some kisses, hugs, etc) I situated myself between Donnie and Joe for the picture.  It was my one chance, and dammit I was touching the both of them for as long as possible.  We sat 5th row that night, and I took a gazillion pictures.

Jon Knight ended up finding his way into my corporate box on the night of my third concert.  My best friend was with me, and as a long time Jonathan supporter was utterly speechless.  He was so nice to, first of all stop by, but to also take the time to have an actual conversation with me and take a picture.

At any rate, this is way more srs bsns than I intended to get when I started this blog post.  But I’m looking forward to seeing them in concert again this summer.  I doubt I’ll ever get the chance to meet them again, but that’s okay.  I never thought I’d have the opportunity in the first place.  I can’t thank them enough for their dedication to their fans.

Boybands for Life!