Sometimes I just don't even know where to begin! How can I explain something that had so many different emotions? I of course am talking about the Fatone Foundation fundraiser that was held on August 2, 2007.

Let me begin by saying I foolishly thought that by showing up 3 freaking hours early I would be able to find a table to sit at! Silly, silly me! There were 2 different types of tickets for sale for this event: the $250.00 VIP All access, open bar ticket; or the $20.00, 2 free drinks, I'm toooo poor/or NOT going to pay $250.00 ticket! The latter of the two being the category I fell into for the evening. Looking back I should have paid the $250.00! 1- it was for a good cause; 2- I would have had a place to sit; 3- All access to the guys; 4- Who doesn't love open bar???? 5- Having open access would have allowed me to FINALLY explain the meaning of commemorate & commiserate to Jordan, so I can FINALLY stop complaining about how he hurt my feelings and owes me an apology! :-); 6- My feet would not have gotten stepped on so many times! I know what you're thinking "Next year pay the $250.00!:" Don't worry I will!

So we wait outside in the wonderful Florida heat for 2 hours and 45 minutes, watching person after person go in early for the 5-8pm VIP dinner.... it came with the $250.00 ticket....7- Eating and drinking and chillin with the guys???? Um yeah I think that's PRICELESS! Finally 8pm rolls around and they open up the gate to let us in. I, having gotten there at 5pm am the first person in line. My friend Erin and I pay our $20.00 bucks and walk in. HOLY COW! You have NEVER seen sooooo many people in your life! It took like 15 minutes to walk to the bathroom, which had a line 10 miles long. On my way out of the bathroom who does Erin point out in line? Debbie Gibson...guess stars have to Pee too!

Off to hunt for the guys. Who knows...we can't find them anywhere. Joey Fatone is up on stage singing and entertaining...he is such a funny, nice guy! We make our way to the bar to get a drink...then I think Joe Mac goes up on stage to sing. The crowd is huge, getting close to the stage impossible! Ugh....someone steps on my foot. I need to go outside for some air and to smoke...no smoking inside the bar for the event. Outside, chillin with Erin when who should go walking right by us into the Karaoke tent??? Jordan and Jonathan! OMG! I point after they pass and say "OMG! There they are!" Jonathan stops right in front of me, I think he was waiting for someone, I ask if I can take a picture with him, he holds up his hand as if to say in 5 minutes, I say ok...kind of bummed. At this point the crowd of girls has followed them out...good lord! The guys are over in a corner with some of Jordan's people/friends. I see Jonathan is taking pictures with people....um hasn't been 5 minutes, but whatever. I try to make my way over. Impossible. I turn around to go back outside and who is walking right by me? Joe Mac! OMG! So I freak out and say OMG can I take a pic with you? He is very sweet and says sure! Silly me though I had my camera on zoom! Hence the picture of us that is too close up! I think this is around the time when Jordan, Joe & Joey Fatone get up on the stage and start singing The Right Stuff....the crowd is going wild! Everyone LOVES it. It's so amazing seeing Joe & Jordan "performing" together! Joey Fatone is "filling in" as Donnie! ha! Jonathan was just hangin' out.

It's at this point that my order of events starts to become unclear. I'm not sure if after they did The Right Stuff that Joe Mac was trying to auction off a Jello shot or if that happened later. Whatever the case may be...he auctioned off a jello shot for like $300.00 bucks! But then told the bartender to bring him 2 more and ended up selling all 3 shots for $100.00 each = $300.00.  3 lucky girls...got those darn things! One girl "fed" hers to Joey Fatone....totally classic. She had him lay down on the ground and she stood over him and gave it to him...all the while he's going "Kelly my wife, honey this is alllll for charity!" Love it! After that they all made their way back inside..... I was smoking AGAIN and having another Beer. Erin decides it's time for her to go, it's getting late. I say goodbye to Erin, but decide to stay there for a while.

I go back inside, the guys are hangin' in the VIP area. Jordan comes down and walks right in front of us, he heads for the restroom. I thought of asking if he needed help, but decided against it!! hehe! After he is done, he heads back towards the VIP area, along the way the girl across from me stops him and asks for a picture, he tells her No and goes back into the VIP area and is just chillin' by himself. Guess someone wasn't in a good mood AGAIN. Whatever! I know it's not just me, so many people have told me that he has been rude to them as well. I don't know what to say you guys. Sometimes he's great, but sometimes he's moody. Based on his mood, I didn't approach him all night.

I go outside to smoke, yet again....this is what I do when I am bored or frustrated. I am standing there chillin' when this guy and his girlfriend, who are also smoking call me over. I go over and they ask what it is I'm holding I show them...it's one of my NKOTB magazines from like 1994, when Face the Music came out. They are cracking up, they can't believe I still have it. They ask if I've gotten to talk to any of them tonight...I explain the situation-too many people, they're up in VIP, blah, blah, blah. He explains that he is the Promoter for the party (whether he was or not, I don't know) and he can get my magazine signed for me if I want, I say that would be awesome! A waitress comes over to get him a drink and he says look at this and has me show her the magazine...they still think it's funny/crazy that I have it. The waitress says "Oh that one (pointing at Jonathan in a pic on the cover) is over there" We look and sure as shit there is Jonathan in the tent chillin....NO girls around him! The guys says come with me. We walk over and he says Hey and shows Jonathan the magazine, I start talking to a girl named Gabbie (she is friends with/ used to work with Elizabeth, who is/was Jordan's publisist when TransCon was still in business) thanks for listening by the way Gabbie, I'm sure I wasn't making any sense. Jonathan was sitting on the table flipping through the magazine looking at pics of them. The Promoter guy is telling him how huge a fan I am, and asks him to sign it for me...he of course says yes....do I have a sharpie? I have NO sharpie! What kind of fan am I that I don't bring a sharpie?? Someone finally finds a pen and he signs the inside of one of the pages and agrees to take a picture with me. I don't know what I said, I don't know what I did, I just smiled that BIG smile you see in the picture. I see now his hand was on my shoulder....don't even remember that! By now Jordan and Joey Fatone have come out and so have the girls! Jonathan is being mobbed. I try to get my friend, Allison to make her way over to him, she keeps saying there are too many people....she won't do it! I try to make her, but she just won't! I think she was freaking out to much and couldn't make herself do it. Sadly, she didn't get to talk to him. I think this is when the Karaoke contest happened. There were 5 singers. One guy and four girls. ALL of the girls sung amazing! There was one girl who sang Journey and during her singing Joe Mac lays down in between her legs and is like worshipping her singing ability! Damn it man! It was awesome! The guys and Debbie were really into watching these poeple sing...they were all so good you couldn't NOT get into it. After the Karaoke contest they all went back inside. Eventually Joe Mac makes his way onto the stage with Joey Fatone and they make Jordan come up and play the piano and Joe Mac & Joey Fatone perform a really "unique" verison of "Please don't go girl". It was unique in the sense that it made NO SENSE. They were laughing and joking while trying to sing, they started playing other notes that don't go with that song in the middle of it...which Joe jokingly referred to as a medley, it was just awesome. After that Jordan busts out a few beats of the beginning of NSync's Bye, bye, bye. To which Joe says everyone quiet down and tells Jordan to do it again, since he didn't think Joey Fatone had heard it. When the crowd hears it they go nuts. Somehow Debbie Gibson ends up playing it on the piano with the band and Jordan, Joe & Joey all perform it! OMG! SOOOOO awesome! 2 New Kids & an NSync'er doin' an NSync song. Fabulous!

By this time it was around 12:15 or so. I had to work the next day so I had to call it a night. My head was pounding, my feet were hurting, I was tired and felt I had accomplished my mission. Which was to meet Jonathan again. Meeting Joe Mac again (the 1st time was in 1999) was the added bonus.

I hope I haven't left anything out. I wanted to give you guy's who weren't able to come as much detail as possible. All in all it was a fun night. I look foward to the stories I will be able to share after my "VIP" experience next year!

xoxo,

Katherine