a note from earlier this year explaining pretty accurately how we feel about NKOTB being in DC today

I jumped from my morning shower at the shrill of a high-pitched whistle. Thinking that the fire alarm had gone off, I immediately wrapped myself in a towel and rushed to see what I had left burning on the stove. The kitchen was clean. It was only then that I noticed that the deafening scream was being broadcast from the Today Show plaza through my television.

The New Kids on The Block had reunited.

“I don’t think they can hear you,” Danny (the ugly one, who still got to date Halle Berry) told his host over the screaming pitch of the crowd. That scream, now emitting from hefty, 32-year-old suburban moms, had been a signature of NKOTB mania back when the group thrilled pre-teen girls nearly twenty years ago.

I know. First hand.

I heard that same scream as a 12-year-old. “Yo Donnie, there is a bird up in here!” The crowd at the Florida Sundome went ape-shit. “Yo, how did a bird get up in here? That is whack!” continued Danny pointing to a pigeon flying above the crowd.

It was my first concert. As a birthday present, my cousin Amy took me to the show. Ambulances lined the perimeter of the stadium as paramedics stood ready in the aisles to catch-and-carry each girl who fainted from excitement. Now, there are many scientific theories on what shapes a person’s sexual orientation. Looking back, I’m pretty sure that experience is what turned me gay.

I spent years trying to purge the impact of the concert. That show scared me straight into a hardcore, straightedge punk. Yet, despite mohawks and moshpits, I still have “Hangin’ Tough” in heavy rotation on my iPod.

NKOTB is back. And in DC today. And I’m a bit excited. Hopefully they don’t play too many of these

More info: www.NKOTB.com (website currently crashed due to traffic)

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