Doree Shafrir wrote a blog for thedailybeast.com yesterday and apparently she's been misinformed.
So let's enlighten her, shall we? New Kids on the Block is a group of five guys. Donnie Wahlberg, Jordan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Jon Knight, and Danny Wood. Their last album actually dropped in September of 2008, not 1994, and it was entitled The Block. It wasn't a reunion effort - it was a reunion. They are very much together and very much here to stay.
Shafrir starts her post by calling NKOTB "a band that hardly exists anymore" Meanwhile the guys have sold out all of their concerts in 2009 and their pre sale for their upcoming shows at the Radio City Music Hall sold out in mere moments. Personally, I don't consider myself a blockhead, but I went to my first NKOTB concert and two Donnie Wahlberg parties in the last year. Attending these events were so fun and their show was one of the best I'd ever seen.
But the point that Shafrir is trying to make is that going to concerts is one thing. Sitting on your computer for hours and hours tweeting the guys and waiting for exclusive NKOTB news puts you in a different category than just a fan. Shafrir refers to these fans as groupies and says that a groupie's ultimate goal is to have sex with the band. While that might be the old school definition of a "groupie" - I don't think it applies here and I don't think it's fair to think that way. Yes, these fans flirt and talk provocatively and what not - but there aren't many of them that only follow because they think they have a shot at sex with one of the 5.
OK Shafrir, I'll give you this, some fans are obsessed. NKOTB fans call them "crazies." There are many "crazies" out there ... but to categorize all NKOTB fans on twitter as such is a little presumptuous. Most of them are just having fun. These women (and some men) have made life long friendships with other fans. They have traveled all over the country with said friends and had FUN.
Who cares if they sit in front of their computers and wait for tweets? Who cares if they save up every last penny to get on that cruise? It's more of a movement than a anything else. Why is that world odd? Because you say so? I don't sit and tweet the guys ... ever ... but I don't think there's anything "odd" about these fans wanting to talk to their idols.
Becky says "We are an group of people who have found a new way to keep in touch with each other, and NKOTB. What makes that a bad thing?"
Susie says "My LIFE revolves around my kids, my husband. My ME time revolves around they guys. Don't get it TWISTED."
Donnie Wahlberg says "SERIOUSLY- ARE WE GONNA WASTE MORE THAN THIS PASSING MOMENT ON NONSENSE? SOME FOLKS DON'T GET TWITTER OR NK ARMY? GREAT. OLD NEWS. MOVE ON."
And newsflash: they aren't groupies, they are the million sisters to five brothers, known as New Kids on the Block.
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