This could be one of the most exciting and unexpected "not new" joys.
Rumor was spreading like wildflower at the Rock N Roll Pasadena expo that Joey McIntyre had been spotted... with a bag - indicating he was running our race.
Soon after it was confirmed and women all over Pasadena felt tinges of childhood love surging through their bodies. I'm surprised I didn't sprint to the bathroom and hairspray my bangs into the waterfall I so desperately tried to master to win his love as a kid...
I'll admit... He was that poster above my bed.
It was those faces I stared at during sleepovers on the other girls' sleeping bags.
I'm pretty sure I even convinced myself that my parents were holding out on letting me go to their concert... because they had hired them to play at my birthday party.
I was certainly not taking this obsession "step by step"... because those boys, Joey in particular had "the right stuff" in my book.
Thankfully I was hit with a reality check birthday after birthday... and I learned to move on.
Soon after, I wanted Devon Sawa to "keep me" after his Ghost Casper turned into a boy.
I didn't even know how to play soccer and yet Jonathan Brandis and his Ladybug team sucked me right in.
Don't get me started with JTT...
I could go on... but the point is.... he was my first.
He set the bar for which all other boys were to be judged.
The crew made a come back as NKOTB but I was all grown up by then. Reality is even harsher and so sometimes you give up before you've even tried.
Sunday morning 4:45am. I receive word that Joey McIntyre is indeed registered to run. The conversation immediately turns to song as the crew sings step by step. I of course download it on my iPhone and am VERY tempted to play it when we see him. But when the time comes and they alert me that he's in corral 3... it's like the little girl who danced and screamed with the other little girls at slumber parties took over. Frantically I tried to shush that crazy crush girl and sound smart over the microphone... I'm not entirely sure what I said, but I know I made a fool of myself and offered him some advice that probably made me look even more dumb... "Hey Joey... just take it step by step"
Are you kidding me... that's the best I could come up with?
Either way... here's a taste of what our childhood dreams produced 20 some years later...
See... sometimes the "old" does the same trick as the "new" ha!
Annie! A large portion of my post about the Pasadena Rock N Roll half revolved around Joey McIntyre. As soon as I heard you announce that he was running, I was beside myself.
ReplyDeleteI was super late to the New Kids on the Block party. I didn't really get into them until well after their big hits had come and gone (but as you said they came back around as NKOTB and I was SO happy to see them at Radio City Music Hall!)
Get him to come back for Rock N Roll LA! I'll be faster by then and maybe I can try to catch him. ;)
p.s. You were an awesome race announcer! Great job!