This morning I was catching up on shows on my DVR and decided to re-watch the Today Show reunion from back in May. Ciara continues to ask to listen to "Don't go girl" and "Loving you Forever" every single time we are in the car, so I had her come and watch it with me. It was fun.
Anyway, as I was watching for the 4th time (at her request) I started thinking back to the very first time that I saw the boys from Beantown...way back in 1988 (oh my gosh, has it really been 20 years?! That just freaks me out every time I think about it). I've always been sad that I didn't know to record the tv show that I saw them on ahead of time, because even though I recorded just about every other performance that ever existed, I was never able to relive that first one. The one and only "Love at first sight" performance...lost forever. I could weep just thinking about it.
You know how there are snapshot moments in life? The ones where you remember everything like it was yesterday- where you were, what you were doing, etc? I don't have too many of those personally. Let's see, there's 9/11 of course, the Challenger explosion, The day Princess Diana died...and the day that I first saw New Kids on Don't Just Sit There. I remember that I was sitting in our living room with my little sister watching DJST on Nickelodeon as we often did. I remember seeing these boys in their baseball jerseys and making my sister shut up so that I could hear them. I distinctly remember thinking that Joe (I know he goes by Joey, but in my mind, he's always been Joe) was just too cute for words, and also wondering how old he was because I thought that I might be too old for him. I remember trying to find out just who this group was because I wanted MORE! Unfortunately, these were the days before you could find anything you wanted in 2 seconds just by typing a few words into a google search. Nobody in my tiny little town in Maine had ever heard of these guys before, so I was forced to just sit back and hope for another chance encounter. Of course in just a few short months everyone in the world knew who they were and I was overjoyed to have as many encounters with them as I wanted. But still, that very first glimpse was history. Something that would have to live on forever only in my memory (and the archives of Nickelodeon)...until today!
For as I was dancing with my daughter, I suddenly thought of the glorious marvel of technology that is YouTube! "Wait!" I said to myself..."You can find anything on YouTube! I bet I can find it in no time". And guess what? I WAS RIGHT!
Here, for your viewing pleasure...NKOTB on Don't Just Sit There circa 1988 (I think, it may have been '89)
The best part of finding this is laughing about how terrible they were! I still think that Joe looks adorable though.
