Thursday, March 15, 2012

My 12 Year Old Self is DYING

Let's be clear. My 35 year old self is dying right now, but my 12 year self just died of an actual coronary.

My Craigslist friend Carolyn, who has since been upgraded to 'NKOTB friend from the East Bay,' and I snagged tickets to see Jordan's solo show in SF at Yoshi's. He released a solo album, and he's been touring to support it. My favorite song is Let's Go Higher.

We snagged extra special tickets tickets that included a fly blue wristband for unprecedented access to Jordan before, during, and after the show.

Naturally, my 'NKOTB friend from Sacramento' also came down for the show with her Blockhead friends. Here we are waiting in line, flashing or vintage flair. Don't worry, we didn't wear them. I hid mine in my purse for good luck. It's not like we're crazy.

Our first stop was the sound check. We got to stand around the stage while Jordan ran through his song list, worked on the sound, got a feel for the stage, etc.



After that, Jordan went and got ready, and it was time for the show. We ordered up some sushi and drinks. Our seats were directly in front of the stage, so we got to sit and enjoy our food while watching his sing. I love his voice. It's the best one in the group.


There are worse views in the world. I'll take ours any day of the week.

Our cute friend Jen stopped by to say hello. As you may recall, we parted ways in LA, planning on never seeing one another again. But then fate decided to step in, and we ran into one another in an obscure restaurant in Woodside. Now we're Blockheads for life.

After the show, the VIP guests headed upstairs to the lounge area where I was promptly accosted by a drunkard looking for her friends and her purse. But it's cool, because Jordan then came around with roses, gave one to each girl, and said hi to all of us.

Can we make him the next Bachelor?? I would totally accept a rose from him.


I was obviously there for the right reasons, as was Carolyn.


Next up was the one on one Meet and Greet, and photos. Speaking of The Bachelor, I have a new appreciation for one liners. They're the worst to come up with, and they can make or break you. I decided against a line, and opted instead to shimmy up to JK and go in for a full on hug and snuggle. He seemed to like this because he wrapped me up, and rocked me back and forth with a huge smile. Swoon.

You can actually feel the love in this photo.

I also got a lingering hand hold from him, where I delivered a less than memorable line we're going to gloss over, because things are about to get a whole lot better.

After the photos, we hopped up on some seats at the bar, and waited for the other girls to finish their photos. All of the sudden, Jordan comes walking by, looking for a place to park it. We casually suggested that he come and sit by us, and we would make room for him at the bar.

Unbelievably, he took us up on our offer, and hopped up next to us at the bar. I thought Carolyn was going to pass out, but she totally played it cool like it was no biggie.

Somebody took this picture of us, and it's awesome for two reasons. One, it shows how close we were to Jordan. And, two, the look of adoration on my face is hilarious.

He gave a way some signed posters, and did some trivia.

Once the official trivia portion was done, he hopped back up and fielded questions from the audience. This is where my night got exponentially better.

Someone had him ask what the first single was off The Block, and everyone yelled out 'Summertime'. Now, people. I probably have no original blog readers left from 2008, so let me share a glimpse of my excitement from BITD. Here is my first NKOTB post on this blog. You know what I did every day for months? I clicked on NKOTB.com, hoping for an announcement about a tour, a concert, an official reunion--anything. But no. It was just the 5 of them on the site, and guess what was playing on repeat? Not Summertime.

Switch back to the show.

I casually say "Click Click Click."
Jordan stops what he's doing, looks in my general direction, and says "who said that?"
"It was me! Click Click Click was the song on the website before it even launched."
And Jordan says "hell yeah, it was!" and leans over to give me a high five with the cutest and biggest smile ever. Did I mention the high five came with a lingering hand hold...again? Swoon.

And then we all went home. But not before getting in our car and screaming like 2 12 year old girls for a straight minute. Or five.

Not surprisingly, this has only thrown more fuel on an unquenchable fire. A fire, I fear, that can only be cured by cruising in 2013. Until then, Jordan. Until then.

7 comments:

Greg said...

Kaari--Although I am not what is apparently apparently known in the biz as a "Blockhead," but I admire your dogged pursuit of all things NKOTB--including Jordan.

I loved how you channeled your inner Chris Harrison by reassuring us that you were there "for the right reasons." I got a chuckle out of that.

Seriously though, it sounds like you had a great night! Your recap was so thorough, I almost felt like I was there without actually having to be! =o)

And it's refreshing to hear about performers that remember to be genuinely nice to their fans.

softhef said...

my twelve year old self is brimming with jealousy and possibly screaming, "Jordan is MINE" while pulling your hair and scratching at your eyes.

:)

Carolyn said...

So magical! :-) Glad I was able to share it w/you! It's nice to be upgraded from "Craigslist" friend (sounds creepy) to "NKOTB friend." :-) Oh...and I'm not sure how casual I was about getting him to the bar! Maybe you didn't see me grab his shoulder! LOL! Don't know what got into me!

Carolyn said...

So magical! :-) Glad I was able to share it w/you! It's nice to be upgraded from "Craigslist" friend (sounds creepy) to "NKOTB friend." :-) Oh...and I'm not sure how casual I was about getting him to the bar! Maybe you didn't see me grab his shoulder! LOL! Don't know what got into me!

Ashley said...

He seems nice! I actually have next to no desire to meet famous people, because I don't think I'd have anything to say to them. What did you talk about? Did you ask him what he kept in those zippered pockets on the shoulders of that first dark shirt?

brooke said...

Magical. Jordan is the new Donny.

Em said...

I was seriously reading this getting very girlishly excited for you, with teenage-esque thoughts of a starstruck nature running through my head until I stopped and reminded myself that you are a happily married woman with a child.

Was that a run-on sentence? Don't care.