Tuesday, May 20, 2008

New York with New Kids On The Block

I will never understand why people choose to put down the New Kids. They show so much love & dedication to their fans that it's surreal! What kind of celebrity goes out at 3 AM to visit their fans who are waiting to see their show? What kind of celebrity allows their fans to get into shows that they didn't have tickets for? What kind of celebrity is willing to take off the bracelets, give away their water bottles, or kiss their fans on the cheek/hands/etc. just because their fans asked?

I can explain it all, but you will never know. Every day, as I read the stories people tell, I fall in love with these boys more and more. Not only because they practically raised me to become the person that I am today but because the smiles, the joy, the laughter they bring us fans has been a feeling that has long been lost among all of us for the past 15 years. Who can turn a 31 year old into a 13 year old? Name ONE person who can do that. Well I can name 5 and you know who that is.

Because of NKOTB, I ♥ NY. My trip was spectacular. I arrived at the airport Wednesday morning quite early because my ride had to go to work. While waiting for the plane to board us around 9 am, I get a text message that there are already people there in NY waiting in line. My initial plan was to go Thursday night around 5 PM. Well, this certainly changed my mind and now, I began to panic. There was no way in hell I was going to fly 3000 miles across the country to not be able to see NKOTB by being way in the back. I couldn't risk it. So, I had to change the itinerary. No more sightseeing, dining in a New York restaurant or sleeping in the hotel. We were going to head straight to the line right after we dropped off our stuff at the hotel.

My friend guided me by text messages to find the line. Apparently, Rockefeller Ctr. consists of 9 blocks. I was about to give up until I asked a pedicab driver if she could tell me where people line up for The Today Show. She pointed in one direction and off I went. I got another text that told me to look for red chairs and after running around for about 30 min, I finally found them!!! Mah peoples! Mah diehards! There were about 10 people in line. So, the plan was to take a shower at the hotel, grab the big plastic sheets I had and layer up to sleep in the streets of New York.

When we got there, there were about 17 people there I think. The rest of the night, no one else came so we all began to fall asleep. I met some wonderful people there and everyone was so nice and had great stories to tell me. At one point, two girls in the front came back to the line in a cab and they were screeching!! Obviously something had happened. I came to find out that they ran into Donnie Wahlberg at some hotel or something and they snapped a picture! Jon was there as well somehow. So they knew we were out here. Donnie told one of the girls to make sure she didn't catch a cold out there and stuff. What a carebear! Aww...

I curled up into a ball and tried to sleep. A homeless woman got into the line behind us and just stayed there for awhile. Then she left but she did not take her belongings. I almost fell asleep until I heard someone yelling at us from the front saying, "You guys are crazy, yo!!" I think they were rattling the barrier and woke us all up. Some tried to ignore them but as I looked up, I thought the guy looked a lot like Jonathan Knight. I blinked a few times and realized that it IS Jonathan Knight! Holy friggin mutha, WTF is he doin out here with us??!! That was my thoughts exactly.

He came and told us we were crazy to be out here on Wednesday when the show was on Friday but we didn't care. I'm sure he just came to make sure we were okay and to visit us. After all, he knew we were here. I grabbed my bag and took out my camera and started taking pictures. I eventually got a picture with him and he was so kind. He noticed my shirt and said "What's this? Oh, Face tha Music tuah. I wasn't theh fa that." I said, "It's okay. You're here now." And that's how I got my picture. I was so happy that I was cheesin in my picture. Can you tell how giddy I felt? I was so giddy that I had my Hangin Tough CD right in between me and Jon and I didn't even think to ask him for an autograph!!! I'm such an idiot. Hopefully, this will not be the last time I ever meet him. When I came back to my spot, the homeless lady had left with her stuff. I guess Jon scared her off. Thanks dude.


Thursday came & went. The line got long, the day got colder, the nights became unbearable. People were fighting over linejumpers. Numerous passerbys stared at us in disbelief. At least 100 people asked us "What is this line for?" I got tired of answering and started ignoring them. Someone walking by told us that we were their heroes. I've never beentold that before. I ate chinese food on Thursday. Just one meal. No water. I didn't want to end up having to go to the bathroom at an inconvenient time. Only went when the Rockefeller Ctr. was open. So, I had to dehydrate myself. Thank god I wasn't on my time of the month...well actually, I was. But a month before, I went and got a pap smear to get birth control pills so that I could stop my period from coming while I was in line. How horrible that would have been if I had to do this with my woman problems in tow. :P

By early Friday morning, I heard the line was going around the block. The end of the line was already cut off and they had people on a standby line somewhere else. I'm not going to go into the drama that occurred during the whole 32 hours I was there because I want to remember this as a positive experience all th way through. They began setting up the stage around 2 AM I believe. It was amazing to see the stage with the words New Kids On The Block all over it. I was never going to sleep. I hadn't slept since Tuesday night by now. I never thought I would be able to stay awake for 48 hours straight again. The last time I did that, it was when I was 13. My cousin and a friend of mine were trying to do a dance routine to "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" from the Step by Step album. I never knew that the New Kids could still get my adrenaline going like that. All this time, I just thought it was because I was 13. But now I know, it's because of the New Kids. They cause a certain energy to flow through me like insomnia on hyphy juice.

Around 5 AM, they started handing out wristbands. We were the first group with the red wristbands. We also got t-shirts from Z100 radio station. They said we had to promise to wear them. I wore mine over my NKOTB Still Kickin Ass t-shirt. Oh, I just remembered, we also got stickers! I can't seem to find them right now but I'll look again.

5:45 AM-ish, someone spotted Donnie & Jon on the stage. I tried to look but I couldn't see. Eventually, I saw him through the bank's windows and felt a surge of energy shoot through my body. I was in full alertness by now. Around 6 AM, they started letting us in. I thought we were going to be on the sides because I heard that there is a large VIP section that gets put in the front of the stage. When we got in, turns out it was the VIP section that got put to the side and the earlybirds were the ones in the front of the stage!! The stage had a catwalk and our section was right next to it!! We got to see them do their rehearsal onstage. I started filming but after they did a lot of rehearsing, I realized that my battery was running out! I was so upset. But I figured that it was all gonna be on the Today Show anyway so I wasn't worried.

There was no rain during the rehearsal but when it came for showtime, it started RAINING!!! I couldn't believe mother nature was such a bitch! It didn't rain wednesday, thursday, not even saturday!! It just had to rain on the DAY OF THE CONCERT!! Well, at least rain brings good luck I guess. I was just really impressed that they didn't disappoint the fans and cancel the concert. They went out there and performed for us like it was a bright sunny day. So ironic when they sang Summertime. I love that song. So catchy! Unfortunately, the tech guys from the show had some difficulties at first so when they did their medley, it sounded pretty crappy. But did any of the fans really care? Not me. I was just glad to be there.

The highlights during the concert were that I got to shake all of their hands when they were at the catwalk. I received a free NKOTB button that had their new photo from their website on it. I met Jonathan Knight so 3 down, 2 to go. I relived my simple teenage years. I met some really great fans, Katie & Heather, one of which had an NKOTB tattoo and the other had a great Donnie denim jacket. I caught one of the towels that Donnie threw into the audience. I got to visit New York for the first time.

This trip cost me about $800 total and it was worth every penny. I could not have asked for a better first NKOTB concert experience...except maybe that darn autograph I didn't get. Even when Jon asked if there were any more things people wanted signed, I didn't say anything. I guess I was starstruck.

Anyway, that's my fan story and every word was the truth. No lies. I went to the gym today in my new NKOTB shirt from Z100. A girl saw me and said, "You went to New York?" I said, "Yes, I did." And she said, "You're so lucky!!" I wanted to hug her. I can't wait to tell my next NKOTB experience. Hopefully, my next one will be twice as nice.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Counter Snobs

Took a meaningless trip to a store yesterday whose name I shall not mention due to liability reasons. It's a beauty product store in case you're curious. I went there to because I was in a desperate search(okay maybe more spending spree than desperate) for a serum to put on my hair since I recently got highlights & needed to take care of them. Hey, I gotta go to NY in less than two weeks! I need to blend in somehow and not wear scrunchies(Ref. to Sex & The City) and stick out like a sore thumb.

Anyway, as painful as it was for me to walk into this store, I went. Let me back up. Let me just say that I have paid this store a visit before and it isn't exactly the type of store you'd want to walk into unless you want to be judged by your out of style fashion sense, your untrendy hairdo, or your non-name brand shoes. The associates there have on hair styles where there is no hair out of place, perfectly placed false eyelashes, model-type makeup, and Naomi Campbell attitude. What ever happened to "friendly customer service?" I was in a dilemma whether to go there or not. However, being the rebel that I am and always rootin' the underdog, I styled my hair like the ever beautiful Jennifer Aniston and put on a raggedy t-shirt, ski pants, & my $20 tennis shoes and strolled right in.

Yah, I got the disapproving glances here and there but you know what? I relished in the fact that I would never want to trade places with any of these booji snobs for my business casual lifestyle. I'm just that down. Anyway, I made my purchase after 30 minutes of premature judgements from the employees and walked out. What a boring event. I did, however, enjoy staring in the the cashier's 1985 bright powder blue eyeshadow though. It was straight out of a Billy Idol video.