I can’t stop, this half-smile, half-laugh I’ve got going. It’s too much, this news I’ve just discovered. I first got word at the gym two days ago when I glanced up from my book to the TV mounted over my elliptical machine. There was something familiar in the images flashing across the screen, a black-and-white blur of stonewashed jean jackets and old factory buildings.

Before I could put my finger on where I’d seen that video clip, these words flashed on the screen:

NKOTB

MAY 16

TODAY SHOW

“Holy shit,” I said to the guy next to me. “They’re getting back together.”

The video clip had been a montage of their video “The Right Stuff,” a video I had memorized and watched repeatedly as a 12-year-old fanatic. Fast forward to today, a decade and a half removed from my infatuation and 48 hours after I learned that the boys from Boston were reuniting. I performed a simple Google search for NKOTB and discovered the great good news…that they really have reunited. For a tour and everything.

I clicked on the videos available through their slick, shiny, 21st century site and got tears in my eyes as I watched them rehearse new moves, sing new songs. I bought their new single on iTunes. I checked for tour dates. And, though I’m still reeling from the fact that I’m old enough to have liked a group that is reuniting after a 15-year hiatus, I am otherwise completely beside myself with delight.

Only problem is, I don’t know why.

What is it that these New Kids (er, old guys) have stirred in me that makes me smile, laugh, even cry? Could it be that they provided so much of the soundtrack and backdrop to my adolescent life moments?

Like the October night my parents and I slept outside a TicketMaster (back when you had to go to TicketMaster) to get floor seats to the New Kids’ concert. Or the night I sneaked around hotel staircases and used a bobby pin to unlock the door to the penthouse floor where the guys were staying – and actually saw Donnie! Or the day after their concert when my mom nearly chased Jordan from the hotel onto the tour bus to tell him that her daughter loved him. Or the time my dad came back from a business trip to Boston with grass from Jordan’s yard, a picture of Joey-Joe’s mailman and an autographed picture with Danny Woods’ brother and sister. (Yes, I still have the grass.)

Lest you think I was a bit crazy, obsessed even, allow me to set you perfectly straight: I was. I have a trunk brimming with New Kids buttons, trading cards, magazines, posters, books, cassettes, videos, and one sleeping bag. I have a head full of memories. I have a heart chock-full with something I can’t quite put my finger on. It’s not obsession anymore. It’s not even a crush (although Jordan is still pretty cute). It’s just something that makes me smile. And that’s enough for me.

Tags: 90s, boy bands, celebrities, entertainment, New Kids on the Block, NKOTB, Today Show  |  Posted under life stuff  |    5 Comments