the right stuff

Had lunch with my good friend JoDa on Friday, and he told me the following story which I am filing under 'fuck, my friends are cool'. Enjoy.

Growing up, JoDa's younger sister was a New Kids on the Block fan. And not just any fan, the kind of obsessed pre-teen/teen fan whose room is wallpapered with posters, who owns several concert t-shirts (and wears them), and who pesters mom and dad to 'play my tape' every time they're in the car - with her long-suffering brother groaning and sighing beside her in the backseat.

Fast-forward 13 or so years to last Wednesday evening - JoDa works at a small museum downtown. They have several openings nearly back-to-back, so it's been a couple of busy weeks around the office. After the last opening, JoDa and his boss take some of their big sponsors out for dinner to a nearby downtown hotel, to say thank-you etc. The dinner is great, everyone's happy. After the sponsors leave, JoDa goes to visit the bathroom before getting into his car. On his way out, a guy passes him and walks up to and sits at the bar. JoDa thinks "Oh my god, that's totally a New Kid. My sister would die if she got his autograph.", and heads up to the bar to 'take one for the team'.

JoDa (slightly tipsy from successful sponsor schmooze): Hey, you're famous! (with pointing finger)
NK: No, no, I'm just a guy. Just having a drink here. I'm not famous.
JoDa: No, you're totally famous. You're (scrambles for name)...Mark Wahlberg!
NK/DW: Uh, yeah....thanks a lot. I'm Donny Wahlberg.
JoDa (panicking because he's obviously losing this guy's interest): Man, I bet you hear this all the time, but....
DW: What, your sister's my biggest fan?
JoDa: Seriously, she totally is!
DW: Yeah, thanks very much. See you later.
JoDa: No, really. She is. And I can prove it.
DW (intrigued because JoDa is being so persistent): Oh yeah?
JoDa: Yeah. Now, you and I are about the same age, right? What do you think the chances are that a guy our age is a NKOTB fan? Probably not great, right?
DW: OK, I can buy that.
JoDa: Alright then, if my sister WASN'T your greatest fan, how would I be able to do this:

And my good friend JoDa, proceeds to RAP, right in the bar, the middle part of 'Games', which Donny performed on the original recording. For the curious, the rap goes something like this:

Games, oh, ee, oh, oh, oh, games, games, games, games, games.

[RAP:] Yeah, people keep on fronting on the Beantown posse, but it's time to step up to the stand, 'cause we ain't going out like that. Back, huh, stronger than ever, did you think we'd sever? Never, we're too clever to be taken down clown by your ignorant state of mind, I ain't blind but every time I look I find you dissin' a mission that strictly be righteous, we gotta fight this so now I think I might just take a stand, man, like never before, and I'm sure that we'll endure so now it's time to even the score I hear you knocking me but you ain't shocking me 'cause jealousy is telling me that you're just jocking me so keep on talking skee, with pride I'm walking see, because on anybody's block is where I'm gonna be rockin' gee. Don't play those games, oh, ee, oh, oh, oh, stop playing those games.

DW: Holy shit man, that's hilarious! I don't even remember it that well!! C'mere and sit down.

So JoDa sits down with the New Kid (who buys him a beer), and they proceed to shoot the shit. Apparently DW was in town filming 'Saw 2', and that day they had just finished filming some sort of scene where several of his fingers get cut off. After their drink, JoDa says, "Alright man, you have to give me something for my sister.", and DW signs something on a cocktail napkin. As JoDa is leaving, napkin in his pocket, DW is all "Dude, you're a cool guy, you totally have to come back. I'm here almost every night." JoDa is all "Yeah, sure, sounds great. Thanks for the autograph." and leaves.

I hope MY brother is taking notes, because this is the best big-brother story EVER.