On March 6, Corinne, Llama, Stef and myself ventured into New York City to show our undying love and devotion to les freres Hanson. We left Boston at 6:00 AM on Monday and set foot on our native turf once again at 7:00 AM the next morning. We went to TRL. We stood in the street. We had a fun time.

• WHO NEEDS CRACK WHEN THERE'S ZAC
• IKE IS A FOX (accompanied by a rather smart artistic rendering of a fox, care of Stefanie)
• A wordless sign featuring a large picture of Taylor backed by a blue sky and white puffy clouds, 3D wings and halo added by Stef.
• CALL ZAC: 1-800-DANG
• LLAMA ::heart::'s HANSON
• 'TO DO' LIST 1.) Isaac 2.) Taylor 3.) Zac

• TOO UGLY FOR THE STUDIO
• ISAAC I'M PREGNANT
• ONCE YOU GO ZAC, YOU NEVER GO BACK

• 10:45 AM. We arrive at Times Square to find a small, yet enthusiastic bunch of Hanson fans outside of the MTV studios. Several moments later, a white, silk-shantung-clad elbow appears in the window. My first thought? In a shirt like that, it must be Taylor. The being turns around, and sure enough, it is second eldest Hanson, looking extraordinarily beautiful for 11:00 in the morning and waving at the assembled mass below. A moment later, he is joined at the window by young Zachary, who contemplates us for a moment, runs up to the window, presses his hands against the glass and promptly runs away. The crowd goes wild.
• Noontime, or roundabouts. Two girls slide in front of us and start to write I LOVE HANSON on the public phone booth just outside of the studio. Amanda pulls out the very first can of Shut the Heck Up and proceeds to tell them off in a sentence that starts with, "You know, that's public property you're defacing and it doesn't make you or Hanson look good…" Score one for LLama and the first teenie smackdown of the day.
• 1:00 PM. The crowd grows larger and a young MTV intern comes down to gawk at us. He scribbles I LOVE HANSON on his chest and proceeds to parade himself in front of the assembled mass in various states of undress. The girls think this is fabulous and Stef asks to take a picture with him. He agrees. He becomes the unofficial crowd leader, telling us to chant things like "I LOVE HANSON MORE THAN MY MOM!" The not so surprising reality: Some girls actually do it. Why? He's dressed in the Gap striped sweater and looks like an Abercrombie model. We reluctantly agree that he's pretty cute, but balk at his attempts to get play with the assemblage of slightly too-young Hanson fans.
• 2:00 PM. Dave Holms comes to the window and sees Stefanie's Taylor the Angel sign. He thinks this is amusing and even pulls Ananda Lewis over to see it. She also gives us a smirk of approval. Then he sees Corinne's To Do List sign and gives us an "Oh, that's just so wrong" look.
• Some time between 2:00 and 3:00. Zac comes back to the window, hair hanging in his face like a wildman. The crowd jostles and pushes. He goes away.
• 3:30 PM. TRL happens. We fight our way on camera once or twice. We see Hanson for a small fractions of time throughout the show.
• 4:00 PM. @MTV happens. Hanson plays This Time Around and we are treated to a full 4 minutes of Taylor's gyrating left shoulder. Just to watch the boy move for that long a period of time was rather fascinating. The shoulder put me in a kind of trance, not unlike a pocket watch, swinging back and fourth, back and fourth while someone gently whispered, "Taylor is making you very very sleepy…
• The show ends. We fight out way out, walk around, do things and go home. The end.

• It was freezing. Freezing freezing freezing when the sun went in. We're talking Put on your scarf and fleecy mittens freezing.
• Hanson fan parents seem to like us more than Hanson fans do. This one Dad held signs for us, offered us coffee and generally sympathized with our squished/frozen/irritated condition.
• When going places with Llama, play up her Hanson Internet Celebrity status. Walk up to people, point to her and randomly say "Do you know who this is?"
• For a big Hanson event like TRL, there weren't overwhelming numbers of people there. It broke my heart. Remember the days when Hanson could pack Times Square? This time [around], there were only a handful of folks across the street.
• Props to the girls with the WE'RE BANANNAS FOR HANSON sign. It was cute. We like that.
• There were actually girls there who didn't know about the haircuts. I don't even know how to respond to that.

• You unimportant, badly constructed sign that says I LOVE TAYLOR. He won't see it. It's blocking my view. No one cares.
• Your smarmy Hanson-hating boyfriend whose only job for the day is to boost you up on his shoulders when, poor thing, you can't see.
• Your compunction to shout inappropriate things like "TAYLOR HAS A NICE BUM." Save it for your private conversations and your webpages, girls.
• Your sharpie to deface things with, ie: your face, your arms, the phone booth outside of TRL.
• Your whimsical Zac braids. He's over it. You should be too.
• The desire to pass the time by singing Hanson songs at the top of your lungs. Particularly the old ones. As much as we love and have reverence for Weird and Where's the Love and Mmmbop, you singing them out of key for no particular reason does not make you cool, nor does it endear you to the band in any way.
• Balloons. I understand the need to be seen by Carson/Dave/Hanson/whoever, but they break, they deflate and the whip me in the face when it gets windy.
• Your bad bitter attitude. It will not help you to shout nasty, degrading things about the people who got into the studio. They can't hear you. They're too busy yucking it up with Hanson. And laughing at you.

• Scott, the bass player: Yeah, it's Scott. He's a cool boy. From what we've seen of him.
• Taylor's elbow: mostly self-explanitory
• Taylor's arm: Funniest part of this picture? Stef used the panoramic setting on her camera to get it.
• Taylor's back: mm hmm
• Most of Tay: waving
• Stef, Taylor the Angel and a man with I Love Hanson written on his chest: Too bad the dorkface who took the picture cut off his face. He was pretty. And he smelled good.
• The throng: The groveling masses
• Stef and Corinne looking mad exhausted, folks: In the deli having dinner afterwards. We were working on 2 hours of sleep. Can you tell? I can.
• Corinne and Amanda in the crowd: Notice the Jockey ad behind Corinne's head, the only proof that this was actually taken in Times Square.
• Us and some signs: Yeah, we're dorks. Shut up. Ignore the devil horns on Corinne. And the modearately posessed look on Stef's face.