YaYa and LuLu's 1st Ever Concert, pt 3

When the group moved to the B stage we had a great view, and just like in Chicago the crowd went nuts for Dirty Dancing. YaYa's face lit up during this time too, and it was the first time I think she really got into the full swing of the concert.





Well, it wasn't *that* close, but that's certainly far closer to the mark than this one. We'd be on the far right of this photo, straight across from Jordan, assuming we're somewhere in the shot.















'Round about Click


I realized that I was in the clear. LuLu was fast asleep, YaYa was content, and we were in the home stretch. The money wasn't a waste, there'd be no meltdown, no early exit, and no hard feelings. Hot dog!









For Summertime YaYa was singing full blast and bopping around in her seat (remember, I did try waking LuLu at this point).





When it came time for the final encore, Hanging Tough/We Will Rock You, I told YaYa enough was enough. On your feet, throw your hands in the air, and wave 'em like you just don't care.

Oh, she was hesitant at first, and glanced around to see if she'd be the 'only one'. But once she saw thousands of arms in the air, she joined right along. Personally, unlike Chicago, it felt eerily familar and comfortable to do it. Yikes.

















When the house lights came on I threw Lu over my shoulders and went up to Lisa's seats. On the way out of the arena I saw Nikki again, and saw the woman I'd later buy some pictures from. I was also seen by but didn't see an employee of mine who was a few rows beind me. 'You were kind of recognizable. There's not many guys your size with a goatee at that concert.'

[not many, but some: in one segment Donnie thanked all the guys who'd come out with their wives or girlfriends, and the smart single guys who'd just realized the opportunites to be had there. During this the camera stayed on a big, bearded young guy with multiple piercings]

[I also saw a woman featured in a ho-hum Milwaukee Journal column about devoted fans. Please. Lisa's done far more things for her fandom than that woman. Where was her write-up, huh?]

I'm telling you, it was like being at a high school reunion, but without all the baggage and anxiety.

On the way to the parking garage Lisa and her friends decided to wait by the NKOTB bus to meet the guys, and somehow YaYa wormed her way into the mix. It was 11 pm on a school day, but the next day was her birthday and I'd already conceded her absence in my head. So I left YaYa with Lisa and took LuLu, still over my shoulder, on a two block walk to the car.

[The ladies had promised me a ride to my van, but had reneged in their quest for NKOTB. So Lu and I had exited the door on the far side of the arena from our parking spot]



Sometime later they would in fact meet Danny Wood, who took the time to stop and take a photograph with YaYa in honor of her birthday.

'She's adorable,' he told Lisa.



[note: Right as this important event took place Jolene's camera battery gave out, and all we have left is the camera phone picture. Don't think I'll forget Jo. Or forgive.]






That's the back of YaYa's head in the above pic.





Meanwhile Lu and I returned home, NKOTB on the radio, and went to bed. Lisa and YaYa never did return home, choosing instead to crash at a local hotel once their quest ended well after after midnight.

Obviously I'm overjoyed that my two oldest kids have now seen their first concert and that it was New Kids on the Block. Aside from that, however, how was the show?

The crowd was lame compared to Chicago, but in return I think the guys tried extra hard to make the show memorable. Jon seemed to be having a *lot* of fun, and Joe's voice was spot-on impressive yet again.

I prefered Chicago, not only because it was my first time seeing them but because the Milwaukee show was hampered, initially, by worrying about the kids and later by having to remain seated so as not to block YaYa's view. I'd have much prefered to have been on my feet and moving. And either way it would have been great to have had Lisa beside me.

Still, a great show and I'm so glad I decided to buck up and make it happen.

YaYa and LuLu's 1st Ever Concert - pt 2

We took our seats as Natasha Bedingfield was finishing her act. YaYa is a fan of one of her songs, the one she was singing at that moment as it turns out, and so she was immediately in awe.

Actually we all were. I was still shocked about the seats, and the girls were blown away by the size of the venue, the crowd, the noise level, and the flurry of activity. Their tension was palpatable for a moment there.

When the opening act ended I passed around earplugs - feeling mighty like a mighty Good Daddy to have thought of bringing them - and tried to raise Lisa on her cell. No dice. So I called her friend's husband two hours to the north of Milwaukee and asked him for his wife's cell number. Within minutes the kids and I were waving hello to Lisa and friends, all of whom had snuck down into the 200's themselves.

They were still in the last row however, whereas we, if you recall, were in the first. Ahem.



I'm going to interrupt the story for a moment to mention that all the photos you'll see were taken at that very show; the good, the great, the mediocre, and the awful. They come from my cell phone, Jolene's camera, Nikki K, and from the sister of one of my employees.

That sibling charged me - charged me! - five dollars for a CD of mediocre to poor concert photos. As she knew my intentions, and knew I make no profit from the blog, I objected. I paid the money, but as I didstated it was BS that violated Blockhead karma. The brother looked like he wanted to swing at me, but whatever. It was bogus.

There was ten or fifteen minutes between the end of the opening act and NKOTB, and I can't remember anything of that time, but I'm reasonably sure it was filled with terror at the thought that the girls would meltdown mid-concert.

But that was temporarilly forgotten as the introduction started playing. Cue the screaming, which fascinated my girls. And then, the sounds of 'Single' and the concert began, with the guys rising from the stage.











Confession time: it was downright embarrasing how big of a smile, and how much honest enjoyment and excitement I felt at that moment. There is nothing like the zeal of a convert . . .

The girls both sang along to Single and Right Stuff, but YaYa was still a little intimidated. Lu was up and dancing to my right, but YaYa not only stayed seated but asked me to sit down because I was blocking her view.

I obliged her, but you can't enjoy a concert properly sitting on your butt, at least I can't. That was a bit of a buzzkill for me.

'Round about the fourth song LuLu asked me when they'd play Summertime. I told her it was near the end of the conert and she growled her dissapointment. She then announced she was going to rest and proceeded to zonk out in her seat. She slept THROUGH THE REST OF THE CONCERT.

That means she slept through all the noise, the screaming, the booming music, the literally shaking floor beneath us when the entire section was jumping, even the slightly drunk woman to her right who stumbled and fell into her. I couldn't even rouse her for Summertime. She might as well have been comatose.





A few songs later YaYa began bawling. She'd dropped one of her earplugs onto the arena floor below us. No big deal - I had others - but it was way past her bedtime and she's a girl who really needs her sleep. The usher on the floor strolled over and offered to replace the earplugs herself (that's how close we were), and a woman to our left asked what was the matter. All told the incident was a non-event and took up five minutes of the night. But I tell it here to record it as the ONLY 'bad' moment the kids provided that night.











Throughout the concert YaYa continued to sing along with any and all songs from the new album, but blanked out on many of the classic stuff. The silence was noticeable.

"Didn't your Mom ever teach you the words to this?" I asked during Cover Girl.

She shook her head.

"Well I'm sorry honey. That's just bad parenting on our part. " I said.













I object to this next shot, but Lisa wants it preserved for posterity.





To be continued . . .

YaYa and LuLu's 1st Ever Concert: NKOTB in Milwaukee - part 1

As the New Kids October 22nd Milwaukee concert neared, I knew my time at my job was coming to a close. Layoff talks were in the works, business was down, and more and more of the owner's family were 'visiting'. But the clearest sign that my blood was in the water was my utter inability to secure primo concert tickets from my business contacts.

It was writing on the wall, I tell ya.

But life goes on. Lisa and her friends had tickets - not great ones, but tickets - and that was good enough. We'd had some discussions about taking our oldest girls to the the second Chicago show a few days later, but given the uncertain future we'd decided to skip it.

I'd play Mr. Mom for a night with all the kids, Lisa would go and see the Milwaukee show, and all would be well.

But think back to that post about climbing a tree. As the hour of the concert approached I realized I had that same anxiety in my gut. I diagnosed this as a clash between the sensible path outlined in the paragraph above, and a budding idea in my head. I examined my subconscious actions during the day; I'd taken out a large cash withdrawl from the ATM, I'd all but forced the Lump and Smiley on their grandparents, and I'd found myself scanning Craigslist for NKOTB tickets, just 'cuz'.

Apparently, my gut had decided to take the girl's to the Milwaukee show, but my mind had yet to sign on.

So in honor of the tree climbing, I said F it and with half an hour until the (official) start of the concert I told the girls to get dressed - we were going to see their first ever concert.



We drove downtown and miracle of miracles, found on-street parking only a block away from the venue.



I told the girls to hold my hand and waded into a group of scalpers. No one had three consecutive seats and I moved on. One guy started following us, kind of a creepy guy actually, saying he could grab a third ticket to add to his own. Lo and behold he lived up to his word. But they were the paper version, the kind you print out at home from Ticketmaster online. All well and good - they're the only kind I use - but buying it secondhand I had no guarantee these weren't useless copies.

So pushing my luck I told him he'd have to accompany us to the turnstile before I'd fork over any money. He all but thought that was crazy, but did it anyway. Once the usher confirmed they were legit we stepped outside and completed the deal.

Three tickets for $70. Not bad.

So we got in and the girls had to use the bathroom. Absorbing several 'awwww, what a great Dad' comments from hot women, I let the girls wait in the inevitable queue for the ladies room. I was already all pins and needles at this point. a) it was already past their bedtime; would the girls be good? b) would they be scared off by the noise and screaming? c) would they be alarmed by the sudden rush of male paramedics entering their ladies room to attend to a woman who'd fainted inside?

While they were inside and I was thinking all this, Nikki K, cousin of some of my employees and heroine/photo provider from the Chicago concert, recognized me and stopped to chat. I wasn't the most social I've ever been - see the above paragraph of worries - but it was nice seeing her. She'd won backstage passes (grrr) and told me to look for her and her friends onscreen.

[props to her again, as many of the photo's you'll see in these shots were liberated from her online postings]



Meanwhile, in a seperate part of the universe Lisa and her three childhood friends had enjoyed several local bars, all of whom were playing NKOTB exclusively.






The blonde doing her Donnie 'face time' best in the above shots is Jolene, who also gets props for donating a lot of the pics on these posts.

They were supposed to be sitting in the 400's, the upper level of the Bradley Center. On the other hand the girls and I were led to a section in the 200's, and the usher led us down, and down, and down . . to the first row of the second section, front and center to the stage and only three or four feet from the arena floor - with a very good, clear shot of the B stage.

I couldn't believe it. Three of those seats for $70? Booyah baby!

My camera phone shots suck and distort distance at that range, but this should give you some idea of the location.





To be continued . . .

The Christmas Collars

You might remember that in the wake of the loss of my parent's home I took in two of their cats and three of their grandchildren. All that remains for the moment is Maddie, a tabby of indeterminate gender.





He was a ghost for the first three months, seen only in fleeting glimpses if you got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. As of late he's become much more open about his presence, and has adopted LuLu and been adopted by her in turn. The goal is still to find a suitable home for him, although I've grown attached to him too.

Anyway, at Thanksgiving my sister K, the former owner of the cat, starts mentioning how bad the cat's allergies had become (something I had never noticed, as it manifests as a belly rash/swelling and as I said, it's been a very shy cat). In response she took the cat in for an allergy shot (!) and the otherwise healthy cat was returned to its temporary dwelling here.

I've never heard of such a thing, but whatever. The cat seems perfectly content and mobile, so . . ok doc.

Here comes the bad part: my sister returns the cat with an atrocious Christmas colored jester collar around its neck. Worse yet, she purchased the same collars for my own cats.





The cats slunk around, heads hanging in shame. Never fear, I ended their misery as soon as these pics were taken.

One last thing about Maddie. He has the oddest meow. Lisa hilariously and accurately pegged it by saying it sounds like the cat is saying 'Flava Flave!' in the style of the current reality TV star.

Smiley's Thanskgiving Homework

Smiley had a homework project due November 21st that was lost, found, lost, found, and lost again, until finally completed and turned in December 3rd. Better late than never right?

Lisa took hot glue and with Smiley's help sprinkled cocoa krispies (!) on the turkey cutout, then later glued on a flower to finish the deal.

Howsabout them mismatched pj's huh?