Vince Neil, Our New Hero

And the winner of Monkey Man's favorite new song goes to...
"Kickstart My Heart" by Motley Crue!

I swear I'm a good Mom. But the kid will not get off this Metal Band CD obsession. This song really gets him going, too, like put the top down on the car and gun it down some highway. Kind of like how I was driving on our way to Monkey Man's field trip the other day (minus the speeding, but definitely belting it out like my spandex pants were squeezing me a little too tightly). We listened to this song about 12 times, and while rocking out with Monkey Man, I passed my exit.

Do we push Monkey Man to listen to this music? No. If you read my blog, you know I love Rick Springfield, Contemporary Christian music, Chicago, and 90s dance but he wants none of that. Every time he gets in the "good" car (i.e. the one with the CD player) he behaves as if he's ordering from a drive-thru, only this drive-thru allows its customers to enjoy a bevy of hard rock cuisine. "I'd like to start with Number 2 (Kickstart My Heart). Add a side of Number 17 (Seventeen) and Number 14 (Livin' On a Prayer) to make it a Super Meal." And then he always goes back to the old standbys, the band that started his rocker obsession - Def Leppard. "And for dessert I'll have the Number 1 (Animal) and Number 10 (Let's Get Rocked)!"

I feel like I need to redeem myself in some way, prove to my readers that I am not some lunatic mom who lets her kid listen to all kinds of garbage. Here's my proof: when Vince croons, "I'd say we've kicked some ass," and the other lyrical gem, "I'd say we're still kicking ass," I lower the volume all the way down. Oh, that, and I have NEVER let him listen to Barney songs. That childish nonsense can seriously screw up a kid's brain.

On the 4th Day of Rick Springfield...

My obsession gave to me:
Actually it took something away. 1 hour and 33 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

My wonderful husband ordered the Hard to Hold DVD and gave it to me as a surprise a few weeks ago. I think I saw the movie when it came out (1984), but can't be quite sure so I was excited to watch it. I had very low expectations for it, knowing it wasn't a cinematic masterpiece. But, hey, what the hell, I thought, Rick is in it and so is his naked butt so how bad can it be?

In honor of my 12 Days of Rick Springfield, I thought this would be the perfect time to watch it and give a review. And it was a Thursday night without The Office so I had some spare time.

For all the die-hard fans out there, I sincerely apologize about this review. I am by no means a movie critic so I will now give you my layman's review - This movie was bad.

Rick's acting was decent, but honestly I couldn't pay much attention because of his mullet. He could almost pull it off because he is Rick Springfield. But still, it was a mullet. And his love interest? She looked old enough to be his mother. It was unbelievable to have those two together. Rick, sorry "Jamie Roberts", would not have fallen for this matronly woman.

Thank God Love Somebody is one of the songs in the movie because that just happens to be one of my favorites, but I had to wait through 1 hour and 30 minutes of excrutiating dialogue and bad kissing scenes before I got to the song.

I think Rick did the best he could for what he had to work with, but he didn't have much to work with, unfortunately. It was enjoyable to see that smile and those eyes for 1 hour and 33 minutes, but after that, I was ready for another episode of House Hunters.

The Big Announcement

When: September 23, 2008
Where: Izod Center, Meadowlands
Why: Jordan, Joey, Jonathan, Donnie, and Danny are back! You will find me at the Meadowlands, channeling my former 14 year-old NKOTB fan-self that looked a little something like this - giant pin of Jon attached to my big t-shirt tied up on one side with a clip (of course, this shirt had a huge picture of Jon's face emblazoned across my torso), stretch pants and Wigwam socks - lest we not forget the hair teased and sprayed ala Aqua Net. Could I have been any hotter? The outfit will be different, but the screaming won't change a bit! People, I have no shame.

Hangin’ Tough Until the Fall

The teenage girl living inside of my not-so-teenage-girl looking body (read: I’ve had a kid, things shifted, I cannot eat French Fries like they are the 6^th food group) is now adding another “oh my God” moment. If I knew how to text message, I’d let all my friends know this: OMG NKOTB IZ BACK! But I don’t know how to text message and I rarely even charge my phone, so this post serves as my announcement:

New Kids on the Block are touring in the fall!

Jordan, Jon, Joey, Danny, and Donnie are working on a new album and are back together! And guess what, I’m legal now!

The news got leaked in People Magazine and then the 5 appeared on the Today Show on Friday with the official announcement. I will admit that I have not been a consistent fan. This is nothing like Rick Springfield. I was a New Kids groupie when I was 14 but once the New Kids on the Block turned into NKOTB and tried to persuade us that they were actually talented, my friends and I were so over them. Major backlash from Pam, Juliann, Sharon, Jenny, and Dana – my best friends from kindergarten all the way up. We went from planning our weddings to our respective favorites: Pam (that’s me) loved Jon, Juliann loved Jordan, Sharon loved Danny, Jenny loved Joe, and Dana loved Donnie to “New Kids who? Ugh. Ewww.” I don’t know how it worked out that each of the 5 of us liked our own New Kid, but it worked out well for us and no one had to IM the other or text the other – oh, wait, it was 1988 and we had these things called house phones – call the other and threaten to not talk to that person if she didn’t back off her man.

I don’t know how many New Kids concerts we went to but some of them included going to Six Flags (for those not in the know, in 1988 it was simply called “Great Adventure”) and standing in the rain (some of our parents included) for 14 hours, backstage passes at Brendan Byrne Arena (now Continental Airlines Arena) where we were supposed to meet all of them but only Donnie came out, and front-row seats at Nassau Coliseum. Our parents were very good to us and drove us around to these concerts and endured the ear-piercing screams of thousands of pubescent girls.

The New Kids on the Block will be appearing again on the Today Show on May 16 to perform a few songs. It’s hard for me to keep that inner 14 year-old at bay, and I think I may need to camp out to see this for myself. The fall is just too far away and I’m already close to needing therapy for regression and delusional thoughts after that Rick Springfield concert last week, might as well add this to the bill, too. After this past week, I won’t be surprised if I get a few pimples and start slamming doors and refusing to talk to anyone. Adolescence – I’m back!

My Birthday Gift – Rick Springfield!

This post will have nothing to do with Monkey Man except for my hopes that Rick Springfield will be my new baby daddy. But I can’t even really wish that because after last night, my husband really proved to be the best one ever.

My husband’s birthday gift to me was the Rick Springfield concert last night. It was my 4^th one in the past 10 years (with 3 of them in the last 2 years!). My first concert EVER was Rick Springfield when I was 8 years-old – thanks to mom and dad. So I have some history with this guy. I’ve had a huge crush on him for 26 years. He is 58, hot, and I’d still make out with him.

Last night I went to the concert armed with my Working Class Dog album, the album on which Jessie’s Girl appears. I’ve had this album since I was 7. I dug it out of the attic in anticipation of an autograph. Because I’ve been to a few of Rick’s concerts recently, I knew that he comes out into the audience during Human Touch and basically lets women maul him. At the last concert, I ran over to the other side of the theater because that’s where Rick was headed, jumped on some empty seats, threw out my arms and got a hug from him! But we didn’t have a camera with us or the album to sign. Just the memory in my head. So this time was going to be different!

Camera – check. Album – check. Marker – check. Loyal husband ready to take pictures and watch his wife behave like a giddy 16 year-old girl – check. The concert was awesome – he is a very talented musician and great performer. He’s not just some has-been 80s pop star. He is actually talented. But I’m not a music critic and that’s not the point of this post, so enough of that.

Out came the wireless guitar and headset. You know what that means? He’s coming out into the audience. I jumped up on my seat with my album and marker in hand and sang, danced, and yelled while Rick sang Human Touch. He made his way down the center of the rows – we were about 15 rows back, smack in the middle, so this was a good sign. He veered off a little to the left, my dreams started to crash a bit, then wait! He went back to the middle. I was jumping up and down on the seat waving the album like a fool and then yes, ladies and gentlemen, I held out my marker and album to him and he took the marker, signed my album and my husband pushed me up on top of the back of the seat to stand next to Rick. And get a hug from Rick. And a KISS from Rick. Do you know how good it feels to have Rick Springfield’s sweat on you? I do, and sorry if the next time I see you I stink, because I’m not showering until I come down from this high.

Do You Take Sugar? One Lump or Two?

Read the title again - If you DON’T know the song that this line is from, I’m sorry. If you DO know, I’m also sorry.

I was the 6^th Grade Name That Tune Champion. I have the useless ability to match pretty much any lyric to its 80s pop song. I’m only good at pop songs, though. Don’t give me anything that’s considered alternative or cutting edge. I was raised on Top 40 and continue, to this day, to listen to whatever is on WPLJ or if I’m feeling particularly cool and hip, Z100 (I’m in Jersey and these are NYC stations).

Here’s why I’m sorry if you DON'T know the aforementioned line – it comes from possibly the greatest 80s rock song of all time. If it isn’t in your brain somewhere, you have surely missed out on some spandex pants-clad good times. If you DO know the line’s origin, I am sorry too, because then you, like me, have possibly the un-coolest taste in music.

I am now exposing my 2 1/2 year-old to my unhip tunage choices. I received an iPod with speakers for Christmas (in addition to being totally on top of the music scene, I’m obviously very down with the latest in technology – didn’t these things come out like 5 years ago? Don’t they now have a chip that you insert in your BRAIN that plays any song as soon as you think of it??). Almost everyday, Monkey Man and I have a dance party to the Mommy Thinks She’s Still in Middle School soundtrack.

It goes a little something like this:

1. Warm up to “Heartbreaker” by Pat Benatar. (She is possibly the greatest, next to Rick Springfield, of course.)
2. Bust a move to “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice. (DJ at my wedding: “Are you sure you really want me to play this?” My answer: “If you want to get paid.”)
3. Keep the heart rate pumping with “The Right Stuff” by New Kids on the Block. (One day there will be a post on my NKOTB days. I’m not ashamed.)
4. Go out with a bang to the song from which the title of this post was taken: “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” Thank you, Def Leppard, for providing such an age-appropriate song for my small rocker to shake his groove thing.

I so look forward to the day when Monkey Man blurts out another classic line from this song to the grandparents - “I’m hot, sticky sweet, from my head to my feet.” This is why I had a child.