Saturday, April 16, 2011

N - New Kids on the Block

I’ve never really been a hard core fanatic of anything.  I’ve never bid on ebay for an autograph or a lock of hair.  I’ve never written a fan letter. 

That said, there were certain times when I could be described as borderline fanatic:

The New Kids on the Block Years  Year

Sure, I was only nine.  –but old enough to have a crush on Joey of NKTB.  I had several t-shirts, books, stickers, posters from BOP and Tiger Beat magazines lining my bedroom.  The first concert I ever attended was NKTB.  My friend Shana’s father took us- with our matching knee length t-shirts, short Debbie Gibson haircuts, and mismatched neon socks- to revel in the wonders of Donny ripping off his shirt and shaking out his hockey hair to ‘Step by Step’.

After that, it was difficult to imagine meeting the objects of my adoration for one simple reason.

They were either dead or on the road to extinction.

The Beatles.  I discovered my father’s record collection and fell in love with John Lennon’s broken voice.  Despite all the lovey dovey songs, my favorite Beatles hit is without a doubt ‘I am the walrus’ (goo goo g’joob) 

Shakespeare.  I worshiped Shakespeare- had the entire play of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ hung and framed on my bedroom wall, bought all the renditions of his plays on dvd and memorized my favorite scenes.  The movie version of ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is still one of my favorites.

Sublime.  I think Sublime was the only group I a: owned every album of and b: knew all the words to every song and said album.  I listened to these cd’s relentlessly during my teen years, especially in the summer time.

Have you ever been a fanatic?  What music, books, or movies are/were you a die-hard fan of?

23 comments:

Old Kitty said...

I'm a Trekker. I go to convetions. I queue up for hours to get a glimpse of Trekker actors. :-)

I also have a Lt Uhura outfit.

Ahem.

take care
x

Anonymous said...

I was a real Friends fan. I had a blog about them in Hungarian from about 2 years or so after it was off the screen. Then, I don't know, I've found something better to write about :) Strangely enough, never wrote any fanfic. They were just too good, I couldn't have gotten even close!
- andrea, an A to Z participant

Gina Ciocca said...

Oh my God- Debbie Gibson was my first concert and I went sporting her face on my t-shirt.

I was also a hard core NKOTB fan. I had the sleeping bag, the ginormous buttons, and the little ones, too. Every time I see Donnie Wahlberg while my husband's watching blue bloods all I can think is Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh-Oh... the Right Stuff

Nicole L Rivera said...

I was a huge NSYNC fan. It was the first concert (of my choosing) that I ever went to. I don't count the concert in Dolly Land with my dad. I screamed myself hoarse that night and my best friend slapped me a few times for making her deaf in her left ear--for the night. It was a blast! I swear Lance through a glow stick at me, but the little kid next to us beat me to it.

Great post :)

Joy Tamsin David said...

I'm a little older than you, by the time NKOTB was popular, I was in high school and they weren't so cool to me.

But when I was 10, my boy band of choice was New Edition, featuring a young and sober Bobby Brown.

I finally got to see them in concert almost two decades later when their reunion tour came to my city.

I still knew all the words to "Mr. Telephone Man."

Sandra Ulbrich Almazan said...

Another die-hard Beatles fan here!

Ella said...

Thanks for visiting me; your background is similar to mine ;-D

I loved David Cassidy and went to one of his concerts...my Mom was pregnant n' took me. Movies...tough for me; there aren't many movies I don't find something that fascinates me. They way they were filmed, something...maybe not so much today.
I had a Kansas phase. Books-I love so many, I did read all of the "Twilight" books I bought my daughter. I was into this mystery series when young, had to have them all, not Nancy Drew. Funny, how we get lured in...Thanks for reminding me.

Gina Ciocca said...

BTW, if your T post has anything to do with Teen Witch or Troop Beverly Hills, I might start thinking we're the same person.

Cynthia Lee said...

I've been a fan of Joss Whedon stuff (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, X-men comics) since 1996.

Apparently, I'm never going to stop.

My friends are fans too. We even dressed up as the characters from Firefly one Halloween and went out on the town. Needless to say, we looked incredibly dorky but it was fun.

Dafeenah said...

I don't think I ever liked anyone long time to consider myself a "fanatic".

Dafeenah

Laura S. said...

I became obsessed with the Titanic after the James Cameron movie came out. I got nonfiction and fiction books about it and even started my own novel about it! It's still a fascination for me, but not at all to the extent it was, lol.

Author Joshua Hoyt said...

I went to a Metallica concert once and I love Lord of The Rings but not really ever a fanatic :)

Unknown said...

My last name is Lane and we named our daughter Penny. So I'm with you on The Beatles, haha. And, well, NSYNC. I'm not ashamed. Also, I've never outgrown my Lord of the Rings fanatic stage, still can't get enough!

klahanie said...

Ah Katie,
How you doin? Ah yes 'New Kids On The Blog'. I blame them for starting the 'boy band' phenomena..'Take That' :)
And I'm a fanatic of your site, Katie.
Nice to see the alphabet challenge' is coming along nicely. 'O', I wonder what letter might be possibly next?
Have a nice weekend.
In kindness, Gary :)

Kendal said...

This took me back. My sister and I shared a room and during our NKOTB years she had Donnie on her wall, and I had Joey on mine.

I think our parents were thrilled when we finally grew up and became Beatles fans. I'm a "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" girl myself. :)

Huntress said...

Easy question: Twilight, all-consuming and life changing.

Come to my site to receive your Versatile Blogger Award.

Lydia Kang said...

I was a huge U2 and Tears for Fears fan waaaaaay back when.

Ricky Bush said...

Gritty ol' Chicago Blues, especially Muddy Waters.

Ricky Bush said...

Gritty ol' Chicago Blues, especially Muddy Waters.

Steven E. Belanger said...

I'm also a Shakespeare fanatic. Though Romeo and Juliet was never one of my favorites, Hamlet certainly is, and Macbeth, the Sonnets and King Lear are high up there. So much so that I do have each of those plays and all of the sonnets on a ONE PAGE BOOKS page, framed on my walls. That's right, Hamlet, Macbeth, Lear and the Sonnets are all framed on my living room walls. Now that's fanaticism!

As if that wasn't enough, I'm also a fanatic about baseball and baseball cards (I even have a baseball blog, and I visit Fenway 10-15 times a year), books, mysteries, and...well, isn't that enough? Oh, and I have 3 copies of Catcher in the Rye--one, a hardcover, sits on my shelf and is never touched, not even by me, because I like how it looks sitting there!

Julie said...

Omg, I'm so jealous! I've always wanted to see the 'original' NKOTB and never got to go.
I was the same way...I even have Christmas pictures of my sister and me wearing NKOTB sweaters. I had posters, pins, tapes....I recorded their videos...it was an obsession!
Love it. :)

RosieC said...

Your NKOTB experience sounds strickingly like mine. First concert, driving there by a friend's mother. Lined walls with pictures from teen mags. And obsessed with Joey. In my more mature years, I've become much more obsessed with Audrey Hepburn, who also falls into pit of impossible encounters. *sigh*

Rosie
East for Green Eyes

Jennifer said...

I was a HUGE New Kids on the block fanatic. I went to their concert and Donny flew out over the crowd and I touched his hand it was the highlight of my life.....just kidding but it was pretty awesome when I was 17.

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