STEP BY STEP:  LOOKING FOR JORDAN

(PART ONE OF MY ENCOUNTER WITH FORMER NEW KID ON THE BLOCK JORDAN KNIGHT)

"You know Sam, this is the weirdest night I think I've ever seen here," Pete said to me.  Pete and I stood near the bar at the Trasheteria where Pete works as a bouncer. 

"Why would you say that Pete?" I asked.

"Well," Pete said in his calmest voice, "there must be only about ten guys in this whole building, nearly two hundred girls and a New Kid on the Block singing on the stage."

It was true.  It was rather surreal.  The Trasheteria, or simply "the Trash" as local residents know it, has been the scene of many concerts in the years it has been open.  However, hosting boy band pioneer Jordan Knight wasn't what one would expect in Peterborough on a cold Tuesday night.  Yet there he was. Jordan Knight. He was a little older and a little rustier, but none the less there he was, belting out old New Kids on the Block songs,  as well as original material, while nearly two hundred girls between the ages of twenty-five and thirty screamed and sang and swooned as if they were all fourteen years old again. While most of them probably would never have admitted that at one time they were in love with one of the New Kids on the Block, this night  there was no shame as they sang along to every song without missing a word or a beat.  One thing united them all that evening.  At one time each and every one of them listened to the New Kids on the Block, arguably one of the most famous teen idol bands of all time.

So why was an old time rock fan like me there?  Being a boy when the New Kids on the Block were at the height of their popularity it was my duty to hate them.  Sure, I was aware of who they were, could name all five and even identify their pictures but I never owned a New Kids album or even knew any of their songs with the exception of their big hits such as "Step By Step", "Hanging Tough", and "The Right Stuff".  Was I there to witness the spectacle?  Partially.  Was I there because I'll throw out my values in the presence of a visiting celebrity?  That's debatable. In my mind though, the reason I was there was for a story.  It was not only a story that I was following for a long time or a story that I was determined to get.  It was almost a story that didn't even happen.

It was in December that I heard the news with much doubt and disbelief that Jordan Knight was going to be playing at the Red Dog Tavern.  Now the Red Dog has a certain amount of history in Peterborough.  Musicians such as the Barenaked Ladies, Stompin' Tom Connors, Gordon Lightfoot, Sarah McLachlan, Bruce Cockburn and hundreds of other Canadian musicians have played the Red Dog's stage in the century that it has been open.  However, despite its legendary status, the Red Dog Tavern is a dirty dive of a bar full of hard drinkers.  It's a great place to watch an up and coming band but it's not the kind of place that you'd expect an act like Jordan Knight.  Yet passing the Red Dog Tavern, sure enough, a poster advertising Jordan Knight was in the window.  It was not a joke.  So Jordan Knight and I were going to be in the city.  The gears starting turning.

Now it would be easy to disregard Jordan Knight as a performer.  Sure, he's not as groundbreaking as David Bowie, as intense as Lou Reed or as legendary as a Beatle.  Pop music isn't the type of music that one would think of as being cutting edge.  However, in the journey of our pop culture collective subconscious, the pop bands of yesteryear and teen idols of the past play an important role.  They are not only important in the development of girls as they define and discover what their sexual ideals are but they say a lot abut the culture, trends and fashions of the era they represent.  Furthermore, the teen idols thrust into the madness of mania and idolization are thrown into a unique experience and become a cultural phenomena.  They live an experience and an existence we can never understand.  They gain success at an early age and walk into a world where they can't even go out in public or live a normal teenage life.  Then, once its stripped away from them they are left trying to prove themselves to a world that keeps asking: "Hey... didn't you used to be...?"  Bottom line, the former teen idol has a story to tell, and I was determined to get Jordan Knight to tell me that story.

First step was to call Candace, who seems to know everybody in this city, to connect me with the promoter of the show.  Candace gave me his e-mail, and he in return, gave me the phone number of a woman I would only know as Tracy, who is a member of "Team JK".  I reached Tracy two weeks prior to Jordan's appearance in Ontario on her cell phone in Orlando, Florida and boldly introduced myself, told her of "Confessions of a Pop Culture Addict" and told her that I wanted to interview Jordan Knight and promote his new album and upcoming Canadian tour.  I was excited when Tracy agreed to set up a phone interview between me and Jordan and told me that he would call me at 6 pm the next evening.  From there on it was a waiting game.

The next morning I woke up early and I counted down the hours until 6 pm.  I set up my speaker phone, got my recorder ready and waited for the phone to ring.  However the wait would last long after 6 pm.  When 8 pm rolled around I had a feeling that Jordan was not calling.  I got on the phone and dialed Tracy's number.  She answered and I told her who I was.  She explained that they were in Vancouver and they were not getting reception on their cell phones and would call me the next day to reschedule the interview.  However the next day the phone did not ring.  A few additional phone calls and an e-mail went unanswered and I began to get the feeling that this was not happening.  It was all too good to be true.

However, a few days later I got an e-mail from a co-worker telling me that the Jordan Knight concert had been cancelled at the Red Dog and all tickets were being refunded.  After a bit of investigation I found out that because of shady dealings the promoter who had connected me with Tracy had been fired and that the Red Dog had pulled out of the deal.  However, knowing an opportunity when they saw one, another promoter that worked with the Trasheteria rebooked the show with only three days to show time.  With little publicity, no advance ticket sales and little time to prepare, the Trash was being put to the challenge of being a successful setting for arguably the largest celebrity it had ever hosted.  I wondered to myself if this show was going to even happen.

The night of the show came and Candace and I ventured out to the Trash with much curiosity.  Would it be a train wreck?  Would anybody even show up?  Could Jordan Knight still pull this whole thing off?  I must be truthful, I was not overly optimistic.  However we were surprised to find a rather large line of women queued outside of the Trash.  Candace and I joined the line, which Candace pointed out, made me the only guy in line.  One girl asked me who made me come to the show.  I announced that I was there for a story.  I was armed with an envelope of note paper, my original questions for Jordan and a glossy 8X10 of Jordan in his New Kids days under my arm as well as a pen, a sharpie and my business card in my pocket.  I was determined to either find Tracy and reschedule this interview or approach Jordan myself if I could get near him.  This story was going to be mine.

After over an hour of waiting, seeing and talking to old friends and watching a hip hop act from Toronto, a line of bouncers led Jordan Knight to the stage.  Jordan Knight was here!  This was not a joke!  This was not a hoax!  Jordan Knight was here!  Suddenly it was 1987 all over again.  The girls went wild, the music started and Jordan began to sing "My Favorite Girl".  The girls didn't even miss a note as they all burst into song along with him. 

Now Jordan Knight's show isn't the greatest show I've seen in the past twelve months.  He was hindered by a faulty sound system as well, and as he made mention of time and time again while on stage, an ancient microphone with a cord which inhibited his dancing and movement.  At times, Jordan wasn't able to hit all the high notes he once could.  The majority of the numbers, with the exception of the slow ballads which Jordan played on the keyboards, were sung karaoke style with a backup tape.  At times it was hard to tell which voices were the tape and which was Jordan's and, as Candace pointed out to me later, much of the time Jordan was singing Joey McIntyre's parts.  However, despite all these problems and faults with the show none of it mattered.  You know those magical concerts where the performer and the the audience seem to unite as one in a single groove?  Jordan and his audience managed to do it.  The girls loved Jordan and he loved them.  It was impossible not to get caught up in the excitement of the concert and the enthusiasm that the crowd showed.  For the women in the crowd it was a nostalgic journey to their fourteen year old selves.   Even an old cynical critic like me couldn't help getting into it as Jordan finished his show with a medley of "The Right Stuff" and "Hanging Tough".  It wasn't the biggest concert of the year, but dammit, I can't say that I didn't have a ton of fun.  Jordan Knight sure knows how to create excitement and the man put on a fun show.  It wasn't a train wreck at all.  Jordan Knight wasn't the has-been that is looking for that one last bit of glory as his critics may say.  Jordan Knight created a concert that made memories, and gave the girls in the audience one last chance at being teenagers again.

After Jordan was escorted out of the performing area a member of Team JK announced that Jordan would be having a "meet and greet" and that people should sign up with Tracy to get in on it.  Tracy?  There was that magical name I needed to hear.  Not being in the main crowd I was first at Tracy's table.  Tracy was a beautiful blonde woman with a tan.  I asked her if I could sign up.  She said that it would be fifty dollars.  Gah!  Fifty dollars the day before rent was due!  I told her I'd get back to her.  Defeated I slunk back to the performing area to get out of the mob of girls that were gaining on me.

After saying goodbye to some old friends, I stood with Candace watching Tracy sign up the girls for the "meet and greet".  I told her that I was going to go and tell Tracy who I was but I wanted her to back me up.  I had to admit that I was scared. This story was so close that I could taste it.  Jordan Knight was upstairs, his people knew who I was and I was determined to get this interview.  However fifty dollars just wasn't going to happen that night.  With Candace encouraging me and having my back, I waited until Tracy dealt with the last girl and was packing up her stuff.  I walked up to Tracy again.

"Excuse me," I said with the most charismatic and no nonsense voice I could muster up, "Are you Tracy who is traveling with Jordan Knight?"

"Yes," she said, obviously in a hurry.

I handed her my card "I'm Sam Tweedle. Confessions of a Pop Culture Addict.  We spoke a number of times on the phone."

"Oh Sam.  Yes.  Okay.  C'mon," she said in a matter of fact way.

"Huh?" I said, half surprised.

"Don't worry about all of this.  Just come on,"  she said.  It was obvious that if we didn't do this now it wasn't going to happen.  I was flabbergasted.  I didn't expect to actually talk to Jordan or that it would be this easy. 

"Look.  This is my associate and web-designer Candace Shaw," I said introducing Candace, "I'd like her to  come with me."  I figured I owed Candace that much for all her support with this journey.

"Sure.  Let's go,"  Tracy said.  We followed Tracy through the crowd to the stairway that led upstairs to where Jordan and his people were and the meet and greet was to happen.  At the bottom of the stairs a mob of girls waited while two bouncers guarded a white rope that blocked off the stairway.

"Close the rope after these two," Tracy said to bouncer as he opened the rope.  Candace and I followed Tracy up the stairs.  Below we could see the mob of girls watch us as we climbed the steps, only to hear their voices grow quieter and quieter.  I was on my way to interviewing Jordan Knight.  I was about to get the story that I wanted so bad.  This interview was going to happen.  I had found Jordan.

All content copyright Sam Tweedle 2006.

Live images of Jordan Knight at the Trasheteria by Candace Shaw, copyright 2006.

All other images that appear on this page are used under the Fair Use provisions of United States copyright law, and are presented in this non-commercial venue strictly for pubic benefit (educational).