I'll Be Loving Him Forever

NKOTB MixTape Tour

May 2019

Honda Center -- Anaheim, CA 

Hollywood Bowl -- Hollywood, CA

Remember when I told y'all that the New Kids on the Block were basically my first band obsession?  Like, "about to reach stalker status but in a nice way" obsession?  Every now and then I forget about how nutso I was back in their heyday, and then when they say they're coming to down, the memory creeps back into my heart and my mind.  It does not help that I haven't seen Rockapella since February of this year, nor did it help that drum corps craziness was still a month away at the time NKOTB returned to town.

This is another story about my never ending love for those 5 boys from Dorchester.

Tickets went on sale for NKOTB and KP agreed to go with me to the show at the Honda Ponda on Friday, May 24, 2019.  I was very distracted at work as I tried to get the best seats possible without breaking our bank accounts.  After I was successful, I told my co-worker, Sonya, about it.  She thought that it would be fun, and I asked if she wanted to go to the show with me at the Hollywood Bowl on Sunday, May 26, 2019.  She said she'd love to, and we bought tickets.  So in one day, I had spent money on 4 tickets, and somehow I was still able to buy food for the rest of the month.

A couple of months went by.  Sonya kept referring to NKOTB as the Backstreet Boys, and I threatened to take her ticket away (she confuses them all of the time).  I'm glad I didn't take her ticket from her because it turned out that KP could not go to the concert due to family stuff.  Sonya decided that she'd rather go to the Friday show at the Pond because of the threat of rain on Sunday, and we could go together after work.  I put up my extra Sunday ticket on sale through the Ticketmaster app.

05/24/19

Sonya drove us through horrible traffic to the Honda Ponda, my nickname for the place.  Thank goodness for Waze, because we got around 2 or 3 accidents, and still arrived before the doors opened.  The lucky VIP folks were called over the PA to go meet the boys, and I was like, "Oh, well.  I spend that kind of money on traveling to see Pella, so I totally get it."  We got in line when they opened the doors, and had plenty of time to figure out what to eat.  I wasn't crazy about the souvenirs, which saved me lots of money.  I ended up with a cosmetic bag that looks like a mix tape for $10.00.

Our seats were in the section to the left of the performers, kind of close to the VIP section in our tier. It was a pretty good view, and we signed up for the special app for the show.  Sonya's phone worked just fine, but mine needed patience before it finally worked.  The app would give out a notification during the show, and indicate what we should do, like "turn on your light" for ballads.  I like that they know people aren't going to put away their cell phones, so they might as well have fun with us.  You could also take pictures and tweet them so that they would show on the board or somewhere on social media.  The stage had a huge mix tape on it.

The warmup act was a DJ duo called Illtown Sluggaz.  They had a teddy bear wielding a baseball bat.  While this was going on, there was a commotion in the section below us, as a bunch of people walked in through the VIP entrance, and there was Donnie's mom!  She brought her friend along; the one that's always saying how much she loves men.  She's hilarious.

We were at a vantage point that allowed us to kinda see that stuff was going on underneath the stage, which was cool.  So when they had the curtain up, I tried to get a look at the guys getting on the riser, but I didn't.  It didn't matter, because there they were, all dressed in white and looking as handsome as ever.

The riser is the window of the mix tape

The stage was really cool, as they projected names of the songs they performed as if they were written on the tape, and the lighting from underneath the stage was fun because it changed so often with each song.  

Some Right Stuff action for ya:

Flames!

Thank you, Stage Management,
for making it too hot for Jordan to wear
his outer shirt!

Then everyone on the floor went nuts as the guys got off of the stage and sang in the aisles.

Donnie

They made their way to the "B" stage at the other end of the stadium, and sang some more over there, which looked like a CD.

Danny breakdancing as the other guys rest

That left the "A" stage open for the next act.  This mix tape thing was a great concept, and executed very well.  Just like a mix tape, you don't save all of your favorites for last; instead, you jumble them around.  So the guys got to rest while the next act took the stage, and we went crazy with every entrance.

The next act was Tiffany, whom sounded fantastic!

Tiffany!

See? It's her name, like on the album!

Next up on the "B" stage was Debbie Gibson, and she danced away as the turntable lifted her up.

Shake Your Love

Then NKOTB returned to sing to us, their Valentine Girls.  The app had a cute thing with hearts, but I couldn't save it right in order to show y'all.

The loving continued with Joey singing the song he's sung for 30 years, "Please Don't Go Girl".  We never will, Joe.

Then it was time for Salt N Pepa!!!  They were great, and I loved all of the sexiness with the dancers.

Then our guys came back to the "B" stage, and it went up even higher.

Afterward, the guys somehow needed to get to the "A" stage, and went into the aisles of the audience again, and ohmygosh, Jordan went into the seating area!

He's the one in the middle,
wearing the sunglasses.

At this point, I got on the Ticketmaster app, and immediately took back the ticket I had put on sale.  Thank goodness nobody had bought it, because I had just remembered that the Bowl seats were on the aisle, and there was no way I was going to let anyone get in my way if Jordan or any of the guys decided to walk up to our section.

Then he took off his jacket again.  I am loving these costume changes.  :)

Not to be outdone, Donnie took of his shirt, too.

Naughty By Nature took their turn on the stage after all of the naughtiness of Donnie gyrating during "Cover Girl".

You down with O.P.P.?

Debbie Gibson came back with her piano this time, and sang a few tunes.  My favorite was when she sang "Lost In Your Eyes", and Joe joined her in a duet.  It was awesomeness!

Salt N Pepa came back, too, and I was so excited to hear my favorite SnP song that this is the only picture I took.

I refrained from rapping aloud all of the
lyrics that I knew, except for "with a Denzel face."

They played a video of how NKOTB performed for Tiffany and she agreed to let them open for her in her mall tours.  It ended with a very sweet Thank You.  I almost cried.

Tiffany on the B Stage

Pardon me, my man is back on stage.  I need to drool for a moment.

I'll Be Loving You Forever

Ahhh!  Step By Step!  Every time I hear this song, I think of me and my friend trying to figure out all of the solo voices as we played it over and over again when it was first released, because their voices had changed a bit since the album preceding it.

I love the transition from NKOTB's "Step By Step" to SnP's "Push It".

Then the boys came back with some Beantown crap to piss me off as usual, but it wasn't so bad to see them wearing Bruins gear.  Now, if they had beat the Kings for that title, I might have been testy.

They're tired now.

Then all of the other performers joined them on the stage to celebrate, and more confetti rained down.

It took a long time for us to get out of the parking lot, and I bought a bootleg shirt because I liked it more than the ones inside.  I also liked the price more.  Sorry, guys.

Sonya brought me home, and the next day, I told my bestie about not giving up my other ticket for the Bowl.  She agreed that I shouldn't let anyone else sit there.

05/26/19

Sunday came, and the forecast was rain.  Lots of rain.  But not for the entire night, but I was determined to be there no matter what, just to show my dedication to the guys.  I took the shuttle from outside Griffith Park because there wasn't any shuttle from my normal place.

It was showering a little bit while I was wandering around outside the Bowl area, and looking over at the VIP Meet and Greet.  I couldn't see the guys, but I saw the excited fans and had a little tinge of jealousy, but not crazy jealous like I would have been 30 years ago.  I chalked it up to age.  

While we were waiting in the line for the gates to open, a downpour came.  I wasn't really in a good position to pull out my poncho, so I put my hood on over my hat.  I don't know why people wear those jackets with the furry lining around the hood when it rains, because they just looked like drowned animals.  The downpour started to dissipate when I finally got through the gate, but I went to the restroom and put on my poncho anyway before going to my seat.

Poncho status: ON

There were people in my seats.  I told them so.  They moved to the ones behind me and explained that they had gotten seats for $20 way up high in another section, which they had bought from some guy who won a radio contest and didn't want them.  They kindly took my picture for me.

I wore this for maybe 2 songs.

But when people came to those seats and they kept getting kicked out, they asked if I thought the two of them could just share my extra seat.  I said no, and they frowned at me.  Look, ladies.  You told me that you paid $20 each and want to sit in seats that cost me almost 10 times that much?!?!  I don't freaking think so.  I also didn't think they were really real NKOTB fans from their conversation to each other, so I didn't think they deserved to be there. A guy was seated in the seat next to my empty one, and he said that when he bought his ticket, he hoped that we would be right by the B stage, but it was about 2 sections to the left.  I pointed out to him that they could still choose to go to the area in front of us because they could just climb up there.  We are hopeful fans, yes, we are.

The Teddy Bear is the DJ

The B stage at the Bowl was much smaller, and not shaped like a CD, and did not go up and down, nor did the A stage go up and down, so I was glad that I attended both venues.

B Stage in the middle of the picture

I can see the pictures head on now!

Since this stage is smaller than they're used to, they walked onto the divider between the pit and the box seats and performed some songs there.

Then it was Block Party time!

I had seen the security guards stop people from coming down the steps next to me, so I knew they would be nearby soon.

Very blurry picture of Donnie
at the top of the steps.

It doesn't matter that it's been 30 years.  I was still giddy like I was back then.  Look at how much closer they were to me than the previous show!  I used my phone camera's zoom for these pics.

Danny, Jordan, and Donnie

Donnie and Jon

Then Tiffany was on the A stage.  Hi, Tiffany!

Also, Salt n Pepa.

Then I saw that the guys were being led back to the B Stage through the corridor on the left.  The people seated to the right of the guy I had been talking to hurried over to the section to my left so that they could get better pictures, thus making me have crappy ones.  This is the moment that my phone decided to betray me by uploading pictures to the cloud instead of letting me take pictures.

"Tonight"

This is also the time that Donnie came over to the area right where I told the guy that they would go!!!  I screamed at my phone for its non-help, and Donnie moved away.  But who should come up behind him but Jordan!  Seriously, folks, he wasn't even 10 feet away from me, but my camera wouldn't take the damn pictures for what seemed like forever.

Then he stepped onto the back of the benches and was standing on the bench in my row!!! He was right where those other people had left to get pictures at the B stage. The guy graciously told me to "Get over there!" So I did.  

There was Jordan, right next to me, taking selfies with other people, and I couldn't get an angle so that we could share a picture together.  Right. Freaking. Next. To. Me!!!!!

These pictures were not with zoom.  

This is the closest I got to Jordan Knight

Then, THEN!!! He needed to get back over to the makeshift stage where he was before, and he used my shoulder to lean on so that he could get there.  

That's right, folks.  Jordan Knight, my favorite New Kid, touched me voluntarily.

I can die happy now.

I helped him (of COURSE I helped him!) get back to his place, and I went back to mine because he was singing again and taking selfies with people who ran over to the area in front of me.

Then I texted a bunch of my friends to tell them that Jordan Knight had just touched me and that I might die now.  They were very happy for fangirl Sherry.  I even told the guy next to me, and he said, "I know!  I saw that!!"  

I tried not to completely lose my mind as I watched the rest of the show.  I really like when Joe gives a shout-out to his bandmates during "Please Don't Go Girl", after he's told us that he's been singing this song for 30 years.

When they sang their new song, "Boys in the Band", they showed that someone who helped with that video was in the audience: NSYNC's Lance Bass!!!

The tour with NKOTB and NSYNC needs to happen.
Get on it, Justin.

Naughty By Nature

I love this too much.

Thanks, Tiff!

He'll Be Loving Me Forever

I bought that Dodgers By Nature shirt

I had a smile on my face all the way home, and for days thereafter.  I'm even contemplating going VIP next time.  Yeah, I've lost my mind.

But that's OK.  Because Jordan touched me.  30 years after first wanting to just catch his eye, he touched my shoulder!  I'll never be the same again.

Next time, VIP?  We'll see.

Adventures in Austin 2018

Trip to Austin, TX

September 28-30, 2018

Once upon a time, my friend Wendy won a trip to Austin via Southwest Airlines, and she invited me to join her in her party of 6.  Linda was also able to go, and it just ended up being the 4 of us because of, well, life and stuff.  This trip was back in September of last year, so my blog post may not be as detailed as I'd like it to be, but I need to post it for posterity.

The flight to Austin started in Oakland, so we flew from Ontario to Oakland early in the morning.  Our ONT flight was at 6:50 a.m., but I had TSA precheck.  But then I got randomly searched for my electronics and handed over my phone to be swabbed.  Then I spilled syrup on myself while waiting to board.  What a morning.  The gate at Oakland had some kind of fun box thing for us to stare at, called a Heart Cart.  We realized later that the stuff we were looking at was actually from Southwest and their co-sponsor, Deep Eddy Vodka, and that we would get some of it in our swag bags.

Contest Winner and our guide

I love the photo bomb

SWAG

Our plane was made up mostly of contest winners, so they called us up by group.  I felt sorry for the other passengers, whom probably didn't want to deal with a bunch of excited contest winners. I don't know how we got in at almost last, but we were happy when our names were finally called.  Most of the other passengers sat with each other, but since we were only 4, we split up into pairs.  Once we took off, Linda and I promptly made the middle seat between us the snack seat, or as Wendy calls it, "The Bistro."  I, of course, ordered a vodka and cranberry cocktail made with Deep Eddy vodka.

Austin, here we come!

The Bistro

So cute, so tasty

Once we arrived in Austin, we boarded a bus to take us to the Fairmont hotel in Austin.  Swanky, right?!  The lobby was beautiful. The room was beautiful.  I wanted to live there...except no free wifi.  So I decided to blog about it later...and here I am almost a year from when we left, trying to remember stuff through pictures and my memory.

View of hotel pools from our room

View of river from our room

After taking a look at our beautiful room, Linda and I met up with Weff and had our free cocktails downstairs in the lounge with the other contest winners.  Thank you, Deep Eddy!  They told us that we could go to the distillery, but we opted out of that tour.

Bar Snacks
They were too spicy for me, though.

I could not stop staring at this tree in the bar area

Old Fashioned Goodness

Toasting to our contest sponsors

We needed to eat non-bar snacks, and found that there was a barbecue place across the street from the hotel.  We got our food and walked over to State Bridge, because it was my goal to see the bats flying around at dusk.  We were going to stand near the riverbank, but decided to sit on the sidewalk of the bridge instead.  While we sat there and ate our food, we encountered the Bat Man, whom had a hat with a toy bat on it, and walked around giving out stickers.  If they had been free, I might have taken one, but they weren't, so whatever.  

View from bridge

Waiting for Bats

The view was very pretty as we watched the sunset and eagerly awaited the colony of bats for which the area is known.  We waited a long time.  Boats of tourists waited below.  They seemed to be pointing at some bats hanging underneath the bridge.  Maybe JeffEvs saw one.  But no colony flying around making a cloud of bats.  I was sad.  But you can't force nature to do stuff, so we left, me with my mess of BBQ and sad face, which could only be cheered by...you guessed it...food.  

We had checked out one of the restaurants before leaving for dinner, and saw that they had a dessert bar, but when we got there, the bar area wasn't actually the place where customers sit.  We sat at a table instead, and ordered yumminess, and I felt a little better.

My bananas foster crepe

Linda's Rocky Road ice cream

The next morning, we decided to go to Snooze AM Eatery for breakfast.  It was pouring rain, and we stood outside under umbrellas while we waited.  The place is very cute and the design reminded me of jacks.  The food was also very good, and I'm happy to say that they have since branched out to California, in Orange County and San Diego.  

They leave the milk on the table
when you order coffee.
I'm just saying.

Jack!

We then waited in the rain again for our next Lyft ride, this time to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library.  This is the 5th Presidential Library that I've walked through (I only went to the gift shop at GHW Bush's), and I really enjoy looking at their contributions to our nation.  We pretty much had to walk very quickly from a sheltered area to the library, and we were drenched when we arrived.  I took off my wet belongings after we paid our entrance fee, and heard a lot of sloshing as everyone walked through the exhibits.  The special exhibit was a Sports History exhibit, and we looked through that before going to the actual LBJ portion.  

LBJ PL

42

There's actually a phone in here!

MJ's Shoes

Fellow UCI Alum: Diver Greg Louganis

The LBJ exhibit is really neat, and I saw a paperweight on Ladybird Johnson's desk that read "Can Do" in English on one side, and in Chinese (Mandarin?) on the other.  I liked it so much that I bought a replica of it in the gift shop, along with a couple of other things, like a plush bat.

LBJ Presidential Archives

LBJ's Oval Office

Ladybird Johnson's Office

All The Way with LBJ!

It's the tree, but in real life!

The rain had stopped by the time we were done going through the library, and we went back to the hotel to put our stuff away and take a little break before walking to the Capitol.  Perhaps we should have taken another car because we didn't realize how many hills there would be on the way.  We made it, though, just in time to spend about an hour inside before they closed for the day.  The Capitol grounds are nice and lush, and the rotunda design is gorgeous.  

We can see it!

Capitol

Using the drinking fountain 

Interior top of rotunda

On the State Senate Floor
Or the House.  I can't remember.

We thought there was some kind of street festival across the way, but wanted to sit down and enjoy dinner.  My friend's daughter lives in the area, and I asked her for recommendations.  One of them was Bufalino Pizza, which sounded yummy, so we took a Lyft there.  The driver was entertaining, and asked us to entertain him, too, so he gave a karaoke microphone to Linda so she could serenade us as we rode over to the restaurant.  I now can't remember what she sang, though.

Sing it!  Whatever song it is.

At Bufalino, we ordered a couple of different pizzas, but did not order another patron to knock over our bottle of water with her bigass purse.  The water spilled all over the table, knocked over a glass, and got Linda and me nice and wet.  Because I hadn't gotten wet enough earlier in the day, I guess.  They apologized profusely, and we ended up with complimentary dessert, which was quite tasty, as was the pizza before it got wet.  I was not annoyed with the restaurant staff, but was really annoyed at the patron, whom didn't offer to pay for our food, nor did she sound genuinely apologetic.  I'm judge-y that way.

Avocado Salad

Dessert Trio

Our bill came inside this book

"Pumpkin Spice Brisket is Back
JK
Drink Tequila"

By this time, we were close enough to our hotel to walk back.  I gave our extra pizza to a homeless guy on the corner, since we had no refrigerator or time to eat it.  We wanted to get some dessert (I didn't want to risk wasting more time waiting for bats again), and found a Voodoo Doughnuts shop within walking distance.  These Austin folks know how to party!  The streets had a bunch of bars that seemed full of people.  Their shop is pretty big (I've only been to the one at Universal CityWalk in LA), and somehow we refrained from ordering one of each doughnut offered.  We decided to have one for dessert, and eat the other one in the morning.

TEXAS

Maple Bacon Doughnut
& Logo Voodoo Doll Doughnut

Which we did, outside near the hotel pool, while enjoying our last few hours at the Fairmont before checking out, boarding our bus, and going back to the airport.   

Silver Horses in the Lobby

Bye, Fairmont!

I love our flag

We were happy to see that our plane was the one with the California flag on it!  SWA had thought of everything!   

When we got back to Ontario, we said our goodbyes and thank yous to Weff before getting dinner at Chevy's and going home.  Mmmm...tortillas.

Thank you, Wendy, for sharing your prize with us!  Thank you to Southwest for having a contest and for all of the fun I had.  Thank you, Deep Eddy, for the complimentary drinks and your sponsorship.  Thank you, Fairmont Austin, for your hospitality as we stayed at your gorgeous hotel.

I hope I get to return to Austin someday, and I hope I get to see bats flying around whenever that happens.