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| Southie | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| "My Dream Come True" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ----February 19, 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| When I first learned that I might have the opportunity to meet someone who I've dreamt of meeting for the past 10 years or so, I felt a pang of anxiety go through my body. Could it be true? Was I really going to meet Donnie Wahlberg of New Kids On The Block? This is the man who's made all of my dreams at night so pleasant and wonderful and I never ever felt that it could ever happen in a million years! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| But when I saw the announcement on KKO about the premiere of Southie, I didn't think I would actually go. I didn't want to act like an obsessive fan or anything...but oh god, I just had to meet this man! One day out of the blue, I received an e-mail from a girl I've been e-mailing for some time, like a year and a half. I was quite surprised because I haven't heard from her in awhile. Michelle, my e-mail bud, told me that she was coming out to San Diego, a week before the premiere, and wondered if I was going to go see the movie. I told her that I really wanted to go, so she told me that she was going to change her plans and come out a week later--so we could see our man! At first I was really apprehensive, you know, but fortunately I did decide to go for it. When would I ever get this chance again?! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| I playfully asked my friends if they would be interested in coming, not really expecting anyone to say yes, since I thought that they thought I was a little loony for still liking a pop star-turned actor, but to my utter shock and astonishment, my friend Annette said she would love to come along. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| So early Thursday morning, the 19th, Michelle, Annette and I climbed into my little Nissan Sentra and set out to find Donnie Wahlberg! If you've never been to Los Angeles, you're definitely missing out on an experience you'll most likely never forget. Terrible drivers mixed in with terrible roads and the drizzle that was coming out of the skies makes driving almost unbearable but fortunately we had easy directions to the hotel we were going to be staying at, which we were told was only 20 minutes away from Sony Pictures Studio, where the premiere was going to be. Well needless to say, we finally found our hotel after about an hour of searching. Let me tell you, this place looked like it was going to fall over any second. God forbid if there was an earthquake! But we were feeling positive because we actually found it! We were quite proud of ourselves. After that we drove around Beverly Hills a little bit and then decided we should go and try to find the studio lot. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This took almost an hour because the streets of LA are always crowded no matter what time of day it is. After finally finding it, we had two and a half hours before the premiere was going to start and frankly we were really exhausted from the long drive, so we decided to drive back to the crappy-about-to-fall-over hotel. When we got there, we tried to find parking but we soon learned that their parking lot was tiny, and looked like an earthquake had recently hit it. So we turned around and drove back towards the studio again hoping we would run into a cheaper and nicer hotel. We soon learned that there are no motel or hotels on Venice Blvd., which is one of the main streets we were on, so we pulled over and ripped a page out of the yellow pages and searched for one nearby. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| On Sepulveda Blvd., a street we would later become so familiar with, we found an econolodge. It was flamingo pink and mint green...yikes! I believe we were truly lucky to discover that there was no vacancy, so we went across the street to Paradise Motel. The name made it sound so fabulous...wrong! Let me tell you, thin, nasty carpeting, nasty painted walls and I'm not even gonna tell you about the shower stall and bathroom. But fortunately we finally found (after a LONG time searching) a Holiday Inn Express. Pure luxury! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| We arrived at Sony around 4:30, where we immediately met up with two girls, who were also there to meet Donnie and of course see the movie. After some confusion with the very cute security guard at the gate, we walked our way towards Backstage Theater in the now pouring rain. There were about six or seven people already there and we just kind of introduced ourselves and told each other what we hoped would happen. By about 5:15 or so, a lot more fans had showed up and we were getting soaked. I was so cold. All I could think about was seeing Donnie, I knew I would get warmed up quickly. I remember standing around for a long time. But then... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| It was around six o'clock when we got the chance to meet Jimmy Cummings, who plays Joey Ward, Donnie's arch enemy in the movie. He was really sweet, assuring us that Donnie was on his way, but that he was stuck on the 405 in traffic---typical LA! He stuck around for a half hour or so, posing with us for pictures, giving out autographs and I believe a couple of girls got kisses! I did have the chance to meet, and ladies as you can see in the pictures, he is quite handsome and has a Boston accent too! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| From there on, things get kind of fuzzy for me because Donnie soon arrived and we were screaming like crazy when we saw him and his entourage. He had two huge umbrellas over him and he looked like a million bucks wearing a pair of black pants, shoes, a tight black shirt and the infamous black jacket that he wears all of the time! Of course we crowded around him and tried to get pictures and autographs but the rain was really coming down now and Donnie wanted to get inside, so he was hurried up the steps and into the theater. Soon after that, Shauna from KKO, started to call out the drawing numbrs so we all crowded around her and attentively waited for our numbers to be called. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| I forgot what number she was at, but I looked above her and there was Donnie standing with Jimmy and some other guy and just kind of observing us. Of course we screamed and forgot all about Shauna. He started asking some questions to us and then told a couple of girls to come on up. They were so lucky! Unfortunately, I didn't get a pair of tickets to get inside to see the movie, and either did Michelle, which meant we would have to go to the second showing. The winners were quickly running up the steps and Michelle kind of grabbed me, so I grabbed Annette and we ran up after them. Others soon followed. Someone's arm went down right in front of me, letting Michelle in, but not me and Annette. I was so bummed but they reassured us that we would get into the second screening. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| As we were walking down the steps, I heard someone say, "let four more in!" I turned to Annette and then up to the door where a man was waiting to close the door. Needless to say, I ran up the steps, Annette on my heels and we made it in. HOORAY!!!!!! Since I was walking in so quickly because someone was rushing us to sit down, I didn't get a chance to see where Donnie was sitting, if he was even there. And we had no clue where Michelle was! Annette and I climbed over a couple of people and quickly found seats as Jimmy started to talk. I don't remember a word he said, because all I can remember is hearing a very familiar laugh when he said something funny. I turned around quickly and there he was...about six or seven rows behind me and Annette--all the way in the back!! (Actually it's a very small screening room, only about 10-12 rows all together!) Donnie had this smile on his face and I quickly could feel the warmth hit my cold and wet body. I turned back towards the movie screen and for the next hour and a half, I stared at disbelievement, shock and most of all, a sense of giddiness! Ask Annette, I had a smile on my face the ENTIRE time! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| *******SIDE NOTE******* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The movie is terrific! I hope everyone gets a chance to see it! I don't want to tell you much because I want you to see it, but Donnie is soooooooooo great as is Jimmy...oh, it's undescribable! They are God! Bobbo (or Robert), one of Donnie's older brothers, has a role in the movie and he's great. Jimmy plays a jerk but he does it so well. It was really weird knowing that Donnie was sitting so close, watching the same movie I was, breathing the same air as I was. It's the most incredible feeling! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| *******END OF SIDE NOTE******* | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Once the movie was over, we all sort of stood up and gave the movie a standing ovation. And then of course we all turned to Donnie and kind of just stared at him. Some fans did go up to him and got pictures and autographs but all I could so was shake because a) I was freezing still and b) Donnie, my idol since I was 12, was standing a couple of feet away from me. We all kind of stood around as "VIP looking" people milled in and out of the theater, including Anne Meara (Ben Stiller's mom), who plays Donnie's mom in the movie and Rose McGowan (Marilyn Manson's fiancee and the actress from Scream). We were told that Donnie was going to talk to us, so we waited and waited and waited some more. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| For the exciting conclusion of our adventure in LA CLICK HERE |
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