Meeting Jordan Knight of the New Kids On The Block (NKOTB) – How Do You React When You Meet Someone Who’s Inspired You?
Hello. My name is Kathleen and I’m a New Kids On The Block (NKOTB) FANatic. I’m 31, married and a Mom to four children; He’s 40-something, married and has two children. He knows nothing about me, except, perhaps, that I’m one of the thousands of fans screaming like a twelve year old girl at the NKOTB concerts.
As a Polish, Catholic twelve year old girl, with little exposure to TV, music and any sort of entertainment, I fell in love with the New Kids while in school.
All my friends were talking about them. They all wore ginormous 6inch pins on their jean jackets and backpacks. They traded NKOTB cards in the bathroom. And even though I wasn’t allowed to be exposed to the social world at home, my human feelings of “LIKE” set in when I saw their pictures. I’m pretty sure Jordan
Knight was my first crush. The man I was sure I was going to marry.
My first crush - Jordan Knight
I borrowed tapes from a friend and listened to “I’ll Be Loving You Forever” over and over and over, until I swear the tape sounded like my kids toys when they need new batteries. I truly believed that Jordan Knight was singing that song just for me. All I wanted for Christmas or my Birthday was a new NKOTB pin. I had all of them. The group ones, the individual ones. In fact, I think they’re still in my attic, because my mom told me they may be worth a lot of money one day. Being a Mom now, I think she was being sarcastic and said that instead of saying, “These extra-large pieces of round cardboard cost WAY TOO MUCH MONEY and better be worth more than gold one day!”
I remember my grandma taking me and my siblings to the grocery store to get milk and then give each of us a quarter to buy whatever we wanted out of the wide choice of toy vending stands. I always picked to spend my quarter on the small one inch NKOTB pins that I started collecting on my jean jacket. I’d like to say that I collected so many, you could’ve mistaken me for an armored man, but that is not the fact. My parents never let us have most things we wanted. We had a large family and money had to be spend on things that were necessary, not wanted.
Shortly after I got into the NKOTB, my family packed us up and moved us from Chicago to Florida. It was the middle of my 6th grade year. It was a hard adjustment. My parents were busy with their daily life and me and my siblings were all left to take care of each other. So I did. I put in the one NKOTB tape I had, played it for my brothers and sisters, and we played freeze dance.
Slowly, the buttons got replaced with another trend. The music got replaced with new, hip music. No one listened to the NKOTB anymore. In fact, you were a nerd if you liked them. I didn’t want to be a nerd, so I let peer pressure get the best of me. I vividly remember the day I packed up all my NKOTB memorabilia (which isn’t much else then the buttons and a magazine perhaps) and thinking, I can’t ever get rid of this stuff. What if it’s worth money some day?
Fast forward fifteen years. Junior High, High School and College were under my belt. I was married. I had three children. My life was going just as I planned and I really couldn’t ask for me. One day, while at work, I heard an ad for concert tickets for the NKOTB reunion tour. The ad brought a plethora of memories and feelings back in my mind.
I suddenly felt torn between the current me and the old me.
I had never been to a concert. I have honestly never loved any other entertainer enough to spend that much money on them. I heard about the concert and dwelled on it for a few minutes. I even considered going, but felt that I would be nerd if I went. NKOTB was soooo 1980′s.
I brought up the concert to my husband a few days later and he had no idea who the New Kids were, but was encouraging me to go if I wanted to. He sensed the excitement I was feeling. I told him that I don’t have anyone to go with, nor will I announce to all my Facebook friends that I’m a Blockhead. I didn’t want to be thought of as a nerd. He told me that if I didn’t find someone to go with me, he would go. Considering we had 3 young children and no alone time, I think that ANY event together was better then no event together. I told him I would consider going ONLY if I found CHEAP tickets.
I put the concert in the back of my mind for weeks. As the concert approached closer, the ads on the radio were more frequent. The local station was even giving away Front row tickets to lucky callers. I was too ashamed to call to even try to win. I didn’t want to be considered a nerd.
About a week before the concert, I looked on eBay to see what tickets were selling for. There was a seller selling two floor tickets and the starting bid was $50 for both. I vowed that I would not spend more then $100 for two tickets. I placed a bit for $60 and went on with my life. About 2 days before the concert, the current price was still $50-some dollars. I had a glimmer of hope that maybe others felt like nerds and wouldn’t want to go. Their loss would be my *secret* gain. One day before the concert, just a few hours before the auction ended, I was outbid. I was devastated. I bid $99.99 and left the rest in God’s hands. I’m a firm believer of what’s meant to be, will be.
I didn’t check the auction again.
That evening, while checking my emails, I came across a WINNING BID email from eBay. I could hardly believe my eyes. As I clicked on the email, my heart rate increased. My smile rose. My palms grew a bit sweaty.
I was the winner.
I won both floor tickets for $90. It was meant to be.
Our first concert ever... NKOTB. That's love.
And so, my first concert was when I was 28 years old, and it was to go see the NKOTB reunion tour… with my husband. I tell you. You know a man loves you when he goes with you to a boy band concert.
I was THISCLOSE to them.
As the opening act opened up, I looked around and saw that the entire arena was filled with people!
I couldn’t believe it. All these “nerds” came back to relive their childhood crushes as well. The moment that the guys came up in a huge cloud of smoke, was the moment that changed my life, the same way it did way back in the day when I felt my first “LIKE” for a boy. I was transformed. I was no longer a wife. No longer a mother. No longer a grown up. I was a twelve year old girl screaming at the top of my lungs for a boy band that inspired me more then they’ll ever know.
It was a bit surreal, seeing my childhood idols on stage less then 20 feet away from me, while my husband’s hand was in my back pocket. The concert was amazing. My husband really enjoyed himself and liked their music.
My childhood boyband, reunited
Two boyband FANatics
I went to another one of their concerts when they extended their reunion tour, but this time I went with my sister, who was a die hard Backstreet Boys fan. We had 7th row seats and had an amazing time together.
After that concert, I started being what I would call a “loyal fan”. I bought their CD’s and DVD’s. I knew when their cruises were. I followed them on Twitter. I let them into my life and my families life. My kids know all the words to all their songs. I don’t know if they really like their music or if they just like seeing me happy when I listen to their music, but either way, it’s nice to be able to intermingle my old “loves” with my new loves.
In a couple days, I will be meeting my childhood crushes. From what I read it will be the quickest two minute meet and greet ever, but I don’t think I really care. I will be able to take a photo with the band that inspired me for all these years. My favorite was always Jordan and that’s who I hope to meet and get a hug from. I contemplated what to bring or say when I’m in the same breathing space as them, but decided I may be too star struck to follow through any plans, so I’m not going to stress about it. I’m going to go with the flow. I may bring a picture of my kids to take out for the photo opp and ask Jordan to hold it, so that my current loves are in the photo with my old loves, but we’ll see how that plays out.
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