Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Blast From the Past

So for the past little while my friend Koreena has been doing some "Memory Lane" posts. They are so cute and it's been really fun to read them and learn some things about her that I didn't know. And now I think I'm going to jump on the memory lane bandwagon and share something that not very many people know about me. If you promise not to laugh! At least not to my face ;)



Growing up I was a total fan of these guys......



That's right. The New Kids on the Block. Yeah, I know. I'm not even kidding. Go ahead and laugh.....but I guarantee that at least some of you were fans too.

I was pretty young still when they were popular. I think their big rise to stardom was somewhere in the very late '80's/early '90's. In fact my mom was nice enough to take me to my first ever concert (I saw on another blog they said the New Kids "took my concertginity" and it's the same for me) way back, EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO in 1990. WAY back then I wasn't embarrassed to be seen with my mom(I'm not embarrassed to be seen with her anymore either...just to make that clear) and the fact that she took me to the concert made her the coolest mom EV-ER....even with the older girls at church. I would have been in the third grade. There were much older girls at the concert, but didn't mean I loved them any less. It's pretty safe to say that Joey McIntyre was my first crush. I had it all figured out.....there was a 9 1/2 year difference between the two of us. I knew back then that he'd never be interested in such a little girl but by the time he was 30 I would 21 and that was perfectly acceptable, hee!

I was totally obsessed. I had all their tapes. I had a couple posters and a sticker book (remember it was a million years ago and I wasn't old enough to know about Tiger Beat magazine yet). I had to buy new stickers every time we went to the store so I could collect them all. I think I even had a pillow case and wrote some fan letters. I got a t-shirt at the concert and the boys made fun of me at school. They were SO jealous...you know they were!

Eventually the group broke up. There were no new albums. I grew up and focused my attention on other cute boys. I didn't even look back. In fact, had you asked me last week if I liked the New Kids on the Block I would have answered "Ummm, I DID....like forever ago". Sadly, my friends, it turns out that my NKOTB loving days are not yet over.

I heard a few months ago that they were reuniting and going out on tour. I had moments where I thought it would be REALLY fun to go. But being the "responsible" adult that I am now I just couldn't see spending the money on tickets when there are so many other things we need and want. So I just pushed the idea aside. Then on Friday I got an e-mail from the March of Dimes saying that the concert was on Saturday and they had a code for up to 6 free tickets (see could things come from supporting the fight againts prematurity). No WAY! I couldn't believe it. I gave BJ my best ever puppy dog face (yes, all that time spent practicing in the mirror paid off!) and he agreed to watch the kids so I could go. The problem was finding someone to go WITH. Hmmmm.

My little sister gave in even though she didn't have the slightest clue who I was talking about. She was only three when they broke up after all.....BUT she gets the boy band thing. There was that stint when she was in the third grade with NSync and of course now with the Jonas Brothers. Yes, Ashley, I understand that the Jonas Brothers are NOT a boy band
(but they kinda are). Or it could be that she was grounded and this is the one thing our mom would actually let her do.

Anyway, when we got there I thought maybe I had made a terrible mistake. I wasn't too into the opening act and was feeling a little bored and a little tired already. But then they came out and the place EXPLODED! Ashley even said at parts it rivaled a JB concert haha! I could not believe all the now Mom's that were instantly sucked into a time warp and transformed back to their 8-14 year old selves. Many of them were there with their daughters who are fans now because thier moms have passed that NKOTB love along to them (it works, BELIEVE me, or else I wouldn't have been caught dead at that Donny Osmond concert with MY mom) It took me right back to that concert, 18 years ago, and before I new it I was yelling and singing along. Ashley couldn't sing along (she didn't know any of the words) but she was a good sport and yelled with the best of them. And she's had
The Right Stuff stuck in her head ever since.

It was funny to me to see so many grown women, many of which are now married, screaming for these boys (actually 40 year olds) that they loved from their childhood. It was little weird but so fun at the same time. The events center was oozing with nostalgia. I even saw my best childhood friend and a former babysitter there. PLUS boys are like a fine wine (or so I'm told I've never had wine so I wouldn't know) they only get better with age.

Oh and at the risk of sounding like an old fuddy duddy....with all the booty shaking and crotch grabbing that went on I'm surprised my mom took me to that concert all those years ago (but she deosn't remember that happening then.....neither do I really......but I do remember it from Saturday). Yikes! How times change, right?

5 comments:

ANDREA said...

there WAS lots of crotch grabbing huh. i am getting old- i was like..um now is that REALLY necessary donnie?!

but it was a blast. we could have all sat together if we would have known!! darn

Elliot's Magah said...

The Osmonds were the ORIGINAL boy band... I'm just sayin'...

angela said...

What girl didn't like NKOTB and better yet, blue eyed Joey! My younger sister was a much bigger fan. She's the one who had the posters, etc. That is so funny (and cool) that you went to their concert...again.

Koreena said...

I wasn't a fan of NKOTB growing up because my sister was, and we couldn't like anything the same. :) But I definitely can relate to those childhood boy band crushes! Glad yo had fun at the concert.

Aprilyn said...

I was in high school when they were popular. My locker partner had a huge crush on one or all of them.

I totally love the Osmonds. I wanted our family to be like them. We sorta were.