You Got The Right Stuff Baby!

The New Kids are coming!!! The New Kids are coming!!

Earlier this year when I saw that the New Kids on the Block (NKOTB, ya’ll!) had reformed and were touring I just started LMAO!

A couple years ago there was some reality show on MTV that followed and interviewed the members of defunct bands trying to encourage them to reform; NKOTB was one of them. As I recall, Jordan Knight and Jonathan Knight each said they would do it, only if the other brother did it, Donnie Wahlberg said no because he was focusing on his movie career (I thought he was awesome in Band of Brothers and in The 6th Sense, BTW), Danny I-forget-his-last-name avoided them outright and then had his security team escort the crew off his gated property and Joe McIntyre gave them the time of day until he realized what they wanted, then turned kind of nasty and said he didn’t want to do a one night stand as it were... However, given the propensity for defunct bands to reunite when there is even a modicum of interest in them, or when they are out of royalty money, I was not surprised to hear the news of the new tour.

When I heard NKOTB was doing a show in Calgary, I had fun recalling the last time they were in town. Picture it: Spring, 1991. I was 15 years old, in grade 9 and had big bangs, and I was recovering from my even bigger crush on Donnie Wahlberg, because by then the New Kids were sort of dwindling in popularity. They had released “Step by Step” the previous year and it wasn’t as great and inspiring an album as Hangin’ Tough” IMHO ;)

Now my older brother Peter has always had this amazing ability to engineer celebrity encounters, and was always up to do something sort of fun, so he found out where they were staying and also that there was a press conference at the hotel the day before the concert. He took the afternoon off work and came to pick me up from school at lunchtime. Can I tell you how jealous the other girls were? Not only was my “hot brother” (their words, not mine!) picking me up and getting me out of gym class, but I was going to meet the New Kids! It was awesome!!

We drove down to the Westin Hotel, and found that we weren’t the only ones who wanted to try and intercept the group. The area around the hotel was crawling with girls from 8 years old to 30 years old, all in varying degrees of hoochie clothing. (We had a little fun with them too: Peter bore a passing resemblance to Danny whatever-his-name-is and walked around with his head ducked away to make them think it really was Danny wandering around. Some people pointed and whispered, but no one approached. We were amused...). The entrances were being monitored by hotel security and no one was allowed in without proving why they needed to be there. Peter was not discouraged. We went across the street and up one floor to the Plus 15 and entered the hotel from there: for some reason, no one thought to post a guard at that level. From there we casually made our way downstairs to wait for the press conference in the main ball room to end.

There were still lots of girls in the hotel that must have slipped in somehow so it was pretty hectic. Then the doors opened and the boys came out! Jonathan and Jordan kind of ducked their heads and quickly bolted to the safety of their rooms, and I don’t remember what happened to Joey, but Danny what’s-his-name and Donnie were more than happy to hang out with the throngs of girls and sign autographs. I was really shy at the thought of approaching them and of course, being 15 and having a massive crush on Donnie, I didn’t want to go anywhere near him, lest he realize the depth of my unrequited love :) But Peter, being taller than the little girls milling around and louder, got their attention by yelling “Yo, Donnie, my sister wants your autograph!” Donnie looked up and smiled and my brother pushed me forward. We chatted briefly, I don’t even remember what was said, but he gave me that sly s**t-eating grin and signed my piece of paper, so did Danny whose-its, and then signing, talking and flirting they made their way across the lobby to the elevators. I was totally awed. I don’t remember leaving the hotel but I do remember gloating the next day at school with my autographs, which I laminated… I also think I didn’t wash my hand for a day or two because they had touched it… And going to the concert? Great! Totally enjoyed it, but after meeting them, it was sort of anti-climatic. Ah 15. I sure would like to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there!

Voula

November 17, 2008

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Do you have any New Kids on the Block stories to share? We want to reminisce with you!