My friends, Shala and Brenda met me at Hollywood and Highland Center for a quick slice of pizza, then off to the Renaissance Hotel we went! Groups of girls filled the lobby; a majority with wristbands (those on the list), and a handful without. Information was tight, but WE hung tight (or should I say "hung tough"? ;-)) to find out what we could, and even to try our luck in finding out if we could get on the bus if there was room. No go on that one! "This is a *private* party" we were told...as if we didn't know. Shala ran into someone that she knew, though (the beginning of a regular occurrence for the evening), and this girl - Alicia - got a head start out in following one of the buses, and kept us up to date with texts as to where the bus was going. As back up, Shala and I spied on the last incoming bus and took note of the bus number (52). I won't even mention that Shala tried to push some binoculars on me to get the license plate number! I refused it, though. ;-)When we finally hit the road, Alicia texted letting us know that the venue was on the corner of Sunset and Wilcox. Ooh, that much closer in our mission! ...of course, we ended up going the wrong way on Sunset. It was all good, and we weren't worried about it. Alicia texted us with the exact venue of S.I.R. (Studio Instrument Rentals), and I KNEW Andrew and his brother Chris would know how to direct us. Alicia also added that we better hurry. She and her friend were in the doors! Texting both Chris and Andrew, Chris wrote first and confirmed that yes, S.I.R. was on Sunset and Wilcox. And so, we found it! Hooray! We hurried our little selves down the street, and we could hear the music through the closed side doors ...What should happen but we get to the front door, and it's locked!!! A guy came to the door, about to open it for us, when, ever so abruptly, he turned around and walked away. Boooo!!!
Plan B - we headed to the door where we could hear them best. The door right next to the stage! The door that had a PEE-stained smell surrounding it, but we kept our ears peeled to the door...and even slid a note under reading "Hey guys, You have 3 fans standing outside this door - locked out!!! Please let us in to join the party! WE LOVE YOU!!! Charlene, Shala, and Brenda" Oh yeah. As you can imagine, nothing came from that. ha!
Brenda tried a couple of times to talk to the guy at the front door. Asking if he would let us in, and that we have friends in there without wristbands who were able to get in. He said "sorry, if you were here 5 to 10 minutes ago, you would've gotten in; but my boss already said 'no,' and if I let you in, she would get really pissed." Dang! Well, we went to listen by the door for another few minutes, and I gotta say, that their new music sounds awesome!!! "Full Service," which they sing with New Edition ROCKS!!! And a song they do with Lady Gaga of The Pussycat Dolls is HOT!!! And yes, we were dancing and cheering from outside the door, on the sidewalk. We headed back to the front door when the concert sounded over, and we heard the guys saying that they were gonna go out into the audience.
The front door guy kind of just gave us a look, then ignored us. Shala scoped around the building to see if there might be another door the guys might exit. Brenda and I joined her a minute later and approached two S.I.R. guards. We told them our pitiful story and asked if one of them, if he were us, where would he stay to wait for the New Kids. He thought about it a moment and said "Why don't you go through the gate and see how far you can get?" We looked back at the gate, puzzled, and said "But...the gate is closed..." His thumb reached for a button, and he said "Doesn't look closed to me..." We looked back and the gate was opening! We silently said "thank you!" and walked right in...looking like we belong. ;-)
When we got inside, a guy at the desk asked if he could help us. Brenda told him that we were let in. The guy asked "for???" Brenda whispered "New Kids on the Block." The guy had us follow him, and he led us right up front...to the front door guy. "These girls are here for New Kids on the Block," he said. The front door guy replied "Have at it! It's not in MY hands!" We walked right into the party! We immediately saw the guys about 20 ft. in front of us, doing an interview for E! Not much later, were we shooed away because we didn't have purple wristbands (they had dibs on meeting the guys first). Okay...whatev...chill, woman! We weren't in line...simply admiring.
We mingled, and Shala ran into a million people she knew or who knew her. We met some nice folks and some um - questionable ones. And Brenda recognized someone, who she couldn't place. Shala took the liberty of going up to the guy and asking who he was, despite our protests ("no! no! noooo!!! ...oh my gosh..." ~ and hiding our faces NOW!). It was Manny from Manny-on-the-Streets from KIIS FM. He had MC-ed the show that night, and Brenda had seen at some sort of event at some point, which was why she recognized him!
As more fans left, and we got closer and closer to the guys, plans were made as to how we would handle photos on each of our cameras. It turned out that there were a couple of women from Interscope Records taking pics for the fans, and holding on to their purses. We each got our time with the guys, and I let Shala and Brenda go first. They have great stories! Jon remembered meeting Shala at Mel's Diner a couple of months ago after their House of Blues show. Joe thought it was "very special" to meet Shala, and Donnie "needed the love" from Shala. haha...he grabbed her arm, as she was turning around to take the picture, and he wouldn't let go.
My story...whew! I went in and was gonna start with a Donnie hug...however, both Danny AND
Donnie were coming at me with open arms at the same time!!! Oh, who to hug first?!? I couldn't decide, so I hugged them both at the same time. haha! And I said/squealed "I am SO HAPPY to meet you guys!!!" As I turned towards Jordan and said "Hi Jordan!," Danny said "Look at that smile!!!" ;-D heehee! So glad to know that Invisalign did a world of good for me! Then I went to Jon and said "Hi Jon!!!," gave him a hug, and oh my goodness, he gives good hugs!!! And finally, I turned to Joe ~ and one of the guys, probably Donnie said "Don't forget about Joe!" And I said "Oh, of course not!!! Hi Joe! :-)" And then it was picture time!!! eeee! I was shaking! I got my arm around Joe, and as he was wrapping his arm around me, he was saying SOMETHING, but I have no idea what he said. I know I giggled...and the comment wasn't towards me; I have NO IDEA what he said! After the picture was taken, I don't even remember what I did or if I said "thanks" or "bye"...I know I went for my camera, my purse, and was looking for Shala and Brenda. But did I say anything to the guys? I have no clue!
Post show...we decided to visit the security guard who opened the gate for us to thank him. Unfortunately, he wasn't there, but a few fans were. We saw Joe come out and get into his Lexus SUV, but he didn't exit at that gate, he drove in the opposite direction. Next, Jon and Jordan came out. The three of us went around the building, as we realized that none of them would be exiting there. Jon and Jordan pulled out and took a right onto the street. We kept walking (in their direction). I didn't know if we were going to wave or not, but by the time Brenda looked at me, and I looked at her, I was also looking right at Jordan...and Jordan was looking at me. So, we had no choice but to wave to the Knight brothers! Eeee!
And before I could get too in the moment, I recognized two people coming out of one of the buildings ahead of us. It was Allan Hunt (my director from "Oliver!" last summer) and his girlfriend ~ her name escapes me, but she was in the show with us. Of course, I stopped to talk them. hehe, the "cool" factor was that Jonathon and Jordan were still waiting for the light to turn green, so if they were looking at us (and of course, they had to be ;-)), they saw that I "know people." hehe...I have a life outside of stalking them! So, while I was talking to Allan, his girlfriend, and a friend of theirs, I couldn't help but be distracted. I was still in shock from the entire day, just seeing Jordan and Jon, and wondering where Brenda and Shala were going! They started to walk off, and I wondered if they were going to talk to Jordan and Jon! They stopped, though, and I later found out that they saw Danny drive out, and they were going to go to his car. They didn't want to leave me behind.
The closer for our night was blaring New Kids "No More Games" Remix as we drove to Mel's Diner. We relived our experience, and at the end of dinner, Brenda drove Shala and me back to Hollywood and Highland and dropped us off. Before Shala and I left, though, we HAD to stop for Coldstone ice cream! I drove Shala back home to Irvine, and thus ended our night!
However, the story does not stop there...oh no. This afternoon, while I uploaded my New Kids pics on MySpace and Facebook, I sent comments to Joe and Danny, thanking them for last night and how great it was to meet them. I thanked Danny for his comment on my smile, that I just couldn't stop grinning, and I don't even remember if I said "bye" or "thanks" when it was all over ~ haha. About 30 min. to an hour later, I checked my email...I had two new myspace messages from Shannon, and a new message from Danny Wood. ?!? WHAT?!? I checked the message, and Danny said "It was nice to meet you, too. Sorry it was so fast. I live in Studio City, too." Quick, short, simple. Okay...but WHAT?!? DANNY WOOD wrote me?!? Could this get anymore surreal?!?
