Women in their 30s Love NKOTB More than Ever
It was hard to imagine the crowd at the New Kids on the Block concert at Radio City Music Hall on Friday night getting any more emotional than they already were as the five former boy banders (now man banders?) crooned “Please Don’t Go Girl.” But they did. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as the guys brought out a $110,000 check made out to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
Band member Danny Wood lost his mother, Betty, to breast cancer in September 1999. Since then, the band has sold special NKOTB tank tops and donated portions of ticket sales to breast cancer charities in Betty’s honor.
“Through all of this, I wish my mother were here to see it, but I know in my heart that she sees it every night,” Danny told the crowd of wildly emotional women (and three men).
Danny’s declaration ended up in a group hug that felt so genuine that I want to rename these now-approaching-middle-aged crooners, The Brotherhood of the Traveling Pants.
While talking to Joey McIntyre before the show, he told me brotherhood is actually pretty accurate.
“We are more like brothers than buddies. We’re not each others only best friends. We have lives outside the group and we’re not brothers, but we are somewhere in between,” Joey said. “We have this unique and cool relationship and you know I think it is a kick that we all still want to do this together. These guys wanting to do it, just makes me want to do it more.”
If their fans have anything to say about it, the guys will be doing it for a lot longer than they ever anticipated when they shot to fame as the sexiest 18-year-olds in America (yeah Bieber you weren’t the first).
Joey told me they will happily keep performing after they collect their AARP cards.
“If our fans want to see us and someone asks us then of course we will be doing it.”
Gabby Reese: Gulf Spill More Than Out of Control
Pro volleyball player and tres awesome blogger Gabby Reese is giving it to the Obama administration after a trip she took with her husband, pro surfer Laird Hamilton, to check out the Gulf oil disaster.
“I just returned from Louisiana; New Orleans and Grand Isle to be specific. I don’t think there are any words to describe how out of control the oil spill really is. If you think there are trained professionals in Hazmat suits walking around ‘cleaning up’ think again,” Gabby wrote on her blog (check it out for pics and videos!). “After seeing what little I saw I am beginning to think that any photo with President Obama and the clean up crews was just a simple PR stunt. Why don’t we all encourage President Obama to become a bad mama jamma and get radical. Hell, why not show us what it’s like to lead with some balls, and not the same old rhetoric…
One parting image I have in my mind is a mother and baby dolphin swimming in the oil filled water, and you just knew that they were not going to survive. They would either die from the toxic water or lack of food.”
Last week we applauded Gabby’s continuing coverage of the crisis. We just hope that more citizen journalists like her will keep sending us their dispatches from the ground.
Designer Kenneth Cole Is A Big Bad Mama Jamma
Kenneth Cole is lending a hand in the Gulf clean up by launching an online custom T-shirt store. Environmentally-minded fashion fans can customize a shirt in the exclusive Facebook store and 100 percent of net profits will be donated to AWEARNESS, The Kenneth Cole Foundation, which is committed to supporting the Gulf efforts.
Mens and womens T-shirts retail for $35 and are available in 14 colors, 12 slogans and various graphic variations including “We Can All Clean Up Well” and “I Clean Up Well.”
We love it when our little online shopping problem benefits someone other than the Anti-Gossip.
Read more Anti-Gossip.
Photo 1 by PR Photos; Photo 2 courtesy Laird Life; Photo 3 courtesy Kenneth Cole.