Nobody. You're all losers. Including me, so I guess we're all losers...because there's strength in numbers.
If you didn't see, I decided to let Facebook comments decide what this post would be about, which was totally idiotic because of the people I choose to associate with (love ya, friends). As such, I have a nice little reservoir of things that I could pick from.
What's weird is that the one that compelled me the most was Coe (that's @number1coe on twitter, b/c I'm going cross-platform here) saying "u cant write." I'm a sucker for a challenge, or at least a really introspective writing sesh, but I do enough of that boring crap the rest of the time, so this one'll be different.
To address the other suggestions; Ryan suggesting I write about my niece was a good thought, I love her to a crazy extent, but it'd just be mushy and uninteresting (to some...I'll probably do it soon though). Hamsterdance.com played an integral part in my formative years, and they sell merch at the site now, but it won't stand alone. I don't know/remember enough about Pete & Pete, but I do know that little Pete was way too young for tats. Gebler's thought of "cock machine pistol gun" does conjure up some magical images, but that'd take more thought than I feel like putting in right now. I could roll with Ben's Kill Clown idea (or remake a great movie) but I know little about sock monkeys. And Dock...well, a few of those will come up. But on a day where my undershirt was an *Nsync tee...
Have I mentioned that I was in a Boy Band?
I capitalized the Bs there because Boy Banding is proper, and proper nouns get capitalized.
Picture if you will a super-group of heart-throbbery.
A cavalcade of hunk.
A bumper crop of sex appeal.
Plain and simple, a mountain of manliness.
A mountain that just so happened to be in touch with their softer side.
It was late fall 2004, November, some might say. The location was the hallway outside the ISS room at West Geauga High School - between the weight room and the music-area.
The incomparable Nick Waetjen and I were doing as we are wont to do; charming the pants off of anyone who came within eye or earshot of us, whilst finishing up a workout. Particularly effective was a tactic we'd employed many times over...singing. Whether it was a timeless classic like Billy Joel's "For the Longest Time," an on-the-spot original, or a more rugged classic like Akinyele's "Put It In Your Mouth," we always managed to provide a lovely musical experience for our audience.
Fast forward two minutes.
None other than James DiFranco appears before us, waiting for basketball practice to begin. James is a talented pianist, a quality that Nick and I lacked. We sensed something as we spoke with young James. We felt that, with he as the third member, and with the addition of a fourth - who I'm getting to momentarily - we were on the verge of a musical breakthrough. Two handsome and mediocre singers with no musical ability (Nick dabbled in guitar, I should mention, and I'm dynamite on the spoons) can't carry a musical group on their own...but add in a piano and some street...and you've got something.
We propositioned James and he promptly accepted. Between my burly farm-boy looks, Nick's black wife-beater and being tall, and Jim's undeniably cute everything, we were on the verge of something big.
Fast forward another two minutes...during which time we harmonized while James played an imaginary piano. (I slowly fast-forwarded through that part so you could see what was going on)
Enter Michael John O'Brien. AKA Mickey. AKA our wildcard, x-factor, and flat-out street soldier.
This interaction was everything we needed to see. He asked what we were doing, we explained that we had just formed a boy band and may need one more member. Being overwhelmingly intelligent, he wanted in.
We three eyed each other to gauge interest and decided he needed to prove his worth, or at least sell us on what he could do that we didn't already have covered.
Mick turned it up a notch. In all the days of Lil Jon and his "What?!" no one could have prepared for the primal release that came from Mickey's throat. It was beautiful. In addition to his ability to hold the rap-vibe down for us, we realized that Mickey would surely be able to chop our songs together and work the turn-tables when we needed that role filled. Mickey was in.
But wait...don't we need a name? I sat briefly and thought about what we had: We had four gentlemen whose last names were Nye, DiFranco, Waetjen, and O'Brien. Easy. "DOWN4EVA."
Boom. It began.
The next seven months were a blur. Everything a high school boy band-er could dream of became a reality; Mickey helped put together a world tour and expertly scheduled it around both WG varsity basketball games and St. Anselm's CYO games. In the spring, our touring schedule allowed me the freedom to pitch twice a week for our baseball team as well. It was wonderfully executed in every facet.
We never played in front of an empty seat; sold out every night. We had magazine covers, t-shirts, lunch-boxes, phone numbers from girls, panties, panties with phone numbers on them (since they knew we'd call so we knew where to send them back. We hate losing undies as much as anyone), and even an offer to be knighted...which we turned down onaccounta being too busy streaking through the halls of Buckingham Palace. (this, of course, was after our sold out show at Wembley Stadium, during which attempted to recreate some of Queen's legendary performances in that same location)
DOWN, as we were called for short, finished up the record-breaking tour in late April so Nick and I could get back and prepare for prom and things of that nature. The younger two continued on with their high school tomfoolery and we each dabbled in solo projects which still continue. Our emotional reunion (of sorts) occurred in May at the Senior Show - a fund-raiser for the After Prom - which was hosted by none other than myself and Nicolaus Scott Waetjen.
After our extensive touring, an intimate venue like West Geauga's Middle School Auditorium was a nice change of pace for us, and we enjoyed it a great deal. In the second act of the event we had to take a little time to become one with our audience as the setup behind us was changed...during that time we opened up a Q&A session to keep it personal.
A hand shot up from the left wing. We asked what the question was, from a face we could not yet see.
"Who's your favorite Boy Band of all time?" came the sound of a familiar voice...'twas Mickey.
Nick and I looked quickly into each other's eyes and fought back the emotion of the bond we had formed with our band-mates, nodded approvingly, and answered "No brainer...it's DOWN4EVA." We raised our right hands, pointed four fingers toward the floor, symbolizing both the "down" and "4" parts and looked out into the crowd and saw the two other members doing the same thing.
It was a thing of beauty. I'm getting a little choked up about it.
That was the last time the four of us were officially together...spring of 2005. Over that summer we would periodically all meet up at a graduation party and perform impromptu concerts for our fiercely loyal fans, but we never entertained the notion of heading back out on the road. We just wanted to give them a little treat and then go about our lives as normally as possible.
Since then, the industry has been kind to us all and we all still harbor great feelings for each other, but our lives have diverged. As the four of us currently live in three different states, it's just silly to think that there's going to be a reunion tour coming.
At least...not yet...
If you didn't see, I decided to let Facebook comments decide what this post would be about, which was totally idiotic because of the people I choose to associate with (love ya, friends). As such, I have a nice little reservoir of things that I could pick from.
What's weird is that the one that compelled me the most was Coe (that's @number1coe on twitter, b/c I'm going cross-platform here) saying "u cant write." I'm a sucker for a challenge, or at least a really introspective writing sesh, but I do enough of that boring crap the rest of the time, so this one'll be different.
To address the other suggestions; Ryan suggesting I write about my niece was a good thought, I love her to a crazy extent, but it'd just be mushy and uninteresting (to some...I'll probably do it soon though). Hamsterdance.com played an integral part in my formative years, and they sell merch at the site now, but it won't stand alone. I don't know/remember enough about Pete & Pete, but I do know that little Pete was way too young for tats. Gebler's thought of "cock machine pistol gun" does conjure up some magical images, but that'd take more thought than I feel like putting in right now. I could roll with Ben's Kill Clown idea (or remake a great movie) but I know little about sock monkeys. And Dock...well, a few of those will come up. But on a day where my undershirt was an *Nsync tee...
Have I mentioned that I was in a Boy Band?
I capitalized the Bs there because Boy Banding is proper, and proper nouns get capitalized.
Picture if you will a super-group of heart-throbbery.
A cavalcade of hunk.
A bumper crop of sex appeal.
Plain and simple, a mountain of manliness.
A mountain that just so happened to be in touch with their softer side.
It was late fall 2004, November, some might say. The location was the hallway outside the ISS room at West Geauga High School - between the weight room and the music-area.
The incomparable Nick Waetjen and I were doing as we are wont to do; charming the pants off of anyone who came within eye or earshot of us, whilst finishing up a workout. Particularly effective was a tactic we'd employed many times over...singing. Whether it was a timeless classic like Billy Joel's "For the Longest Time," an on-the-spot original, or a more rugged classic like Akinyele's "Put It In Your Mouth," we always managed to provide a lovely musical experience for our audience.
Fast forward two minutes.
None other than James DiFranco appears before us, waiting for basketball practice to begin. James is a talented pianist, a quality that Nick and I lacked. We sensed something as we spoke with young James. We felt that, with he as the third member, and with the addition of a fourth - who I'm getting to momentarily - we were on the verge of a musical breakthrough. Two handsome and mediocre singers with no musical ability (Nick dabbled in guitar, I should mention, and I'm dynamite on the spoons) can't carry a musical group on their own...but add in a piano and some street...and you've got something.
We propositioned James and he promptly accepted. Between my burly farm-boy looks, Nick's black wife-beater and being tall, and Jim's undeniably cute everything, we were on the verge of something big.
Fast forward another two minutes...during which time we harmonized while James played an imaginary piano. (I slowly fast-forwarded through that part so you could see what was going on)
Enter Michael John O'Brien. AKA Mickey. AKA our wildcard, x-factor, and flat-out street soldier.
This interaction was everything we needed to see. He asked what we were doing, we explained that we had just formed a boy band and may need one more member. Being overwhelmingly intelligent, he wanted in.
We three eyed each other to gauge interest and decided he needed to prove his worth, or at least sell us on what he could do that we didn't already have covered.
Mick turned it up a notch. In all the days of Lil Jon and his "What?!" no one could have prepared for the primal release that came from Mickey's throat. It was beautiful. In addition to his ability to hold the rap-vibe down for us, we realized that Mickey would surely be able to chop our songs together and work the turn-tables when we needed that role filled. Mickey was in.
But wait...don't we need a name? I sat briefly and thought about what we had: We had four gentlemen whose last names were Nye, DiFranco, Waetjen, and O'Brien. Easy. "DOWN4EVA."
Boom. It began.
The next seven months were a blur. Everything a high school boy band-er could dream of became a reality; Mickey helped put together a world tour and expertly scheduled it around both WG varsity basketball games and St. Anselm's CYO games. In the spring, our touring schedule allowed me the freedom to pitch twice a week for our baseball team as well. It was wonderfully executed in every facet.
We never played in front of an empty seat; sold out every night. We had magazine covers, t-shirts, lunch-boxes, phone numbers from girls, panties, panties with phone numbers on them (since they knew we'd call so we knew where to send them back. We hate losing undies as much as anyone), and even an offer to be knighted...which we turned down onaccounta being too busy streaking through the halls of Buckingham Palace. (this, of course, was after our sold out show at Wembley Stadium, during which attempted to recreate some of Queen's legendary performances in that same location)
DOWN, as we were called for short, finished up the record-breaking tour in late April so Nick and I could get back and prepare for prom and things of that nature. The younger two continued on with their high school tomfoolery and we each dabbled in solo projects which still continue. Our emotional reunion (of sorts) occurred in May at the Senior Show - a fund-raiser for the After Prom - which was hosted by none other than myself and Nicolaus Scott Waetjen.
After our extensive touring, an intimate venue like West Geauga's Middle School Auditorium was a nice change of pace for us, and we enjoyed it a great deal. In the second act of the event we had to take a little time to become one with our audience as the setup behind us was changed...during that time we opened up a Q&A session to keep it personal.
A hand shot up from the left wing. We asked what the question was, from a face we could not yet see.
"Who's your favorite Boy Band of all time?" came the sound of a familiar voice...'twas Mickey.
Nick and I looked quickly into each other's eyes and fought back the emotion of the bond we had formed with our band-mates, nodded approvingly, and answered "No brainer...it's DOWN4EVA." We raised our right hands, pointed four fingers toward the floor, symbolizing both the "down" and "4" parts and looked out into the crowd and saw the two other members doing the same thing.
It was a thing of beauty. I'm getting a little choked up about it.
That was the last time the four of us were officially together...spring of 2005. Over that summer we would periodically all meet up at a graduation party and perform impromptu concerts for our fiercely loyal fans, but we never entertained the notion of heading back out on the road. We just wanted to give them a little treat and then go about our lives as normally as possible.
Since then, the industry has been kind to us all and we all still harbor great feelings for each other, but our lives have diverged. As the four of us currently live in three different states, it's just silly to think that there's going to be a reunion tour coming.
At least...not yet...
Comments
Post a Comment