The guilt of leaving your family while away on business for a week can make a Dad do some crazy things. Today's crazy thing was taking the nine-year-old and his friend to an in-store mini-concert by the hot new band, the Jonas Brothers.
The Brothers Jonas are a harmless boy band out of Jersey who seem to have more talent than most of the artists on Radio Disney. Think Hanson with (harmless) attitude. Teenie-bopper fare that the boys can get into too.
It was on Radio Disney that my boy found out that the brothers would be playing at the King of Prussia mall today. In what was obviously a sleep-deprived-weakened moment, I said I'd take him. When his friend came over our house he ended up coming along too. Forty minutes and a bridge toll later, we were there.
We got to the store about twenty minutes early and it was already packed - 99.94% of it with girls. Screaming girls. Screeching girls. I've all seen the old reels of girls screaming and swooning over the Beatles, but I had no idea this sort of thing still happened. And the Jonas Brothers aren't exactly the Beatles. Or even the Monkees.
Their album only came out last week and somehow they already have girls in love with them (and not just any girls, either - girls with the highest pitched voices I've ever heard - feedback-like voices). I can't figure out how these girls have even had time to figure out who the cutest brother is (consensus seemed to be Joseph with Nick a close second, or maybe that was Kevin they were most crazy about, I was having trouble keeping track with my eardrums bleeding and all).
You could tell that the nine-year-old was expecting a better boy/girl ratio - he looked embarrassed at first - but once the band came out, he got into it. He even wanted to wait around for the meet-and-greet but there were at least 300 girls ahead of him, and they seemed to still have some screaming to do. A post-concert trip to Friendly's eased the disappointment of going home sans-autograph.
Next up is some quality time with the four-year-old. I'm almost afraid to ask what he's going to want me to do. Is there a boy band for the preschool set? I wouldn't be surprised at all if there was.
You have to pay your dues... be glad it wasn't at a huge venue like it was when I took my then 9 year old to see New Kids on the Block after sleeping out for the tickets with a large number of continually singing girls.
Posted by: Janie | 2006.08.25 at 12:51 PM