2013 was a great year. And the cool thing that I say that every year, which means my life just keeps getting better and better. I am very fortunate. I have been some amazing concerts and games, meeting some great people along the way.

Musically it really was a great year. It was all about New Kids on the Block with Lisa Marie Presley on the side and a sprinkling of Boyz II Men, Ryan Bingham, Justin Timberlake, Jay Z, Living Colour and Chris Cornell – meeting five of them along the way. Yeah it really was a great year!

I went to six NKOTB concerts this year and was lucky enough to meet them – twice! In March, I flew up to Boston for a night to attend NKOTB’s Record Release Concert at the Orpheum. I met Jon as he was walking out of the theatre – actually I held the door for him before I realized who he was. Then after the concert, saw Jon again at the bar where everyone was hanging out. In May, I went to the first three shows of the NKOTB Package Tour at Mogehan Sun Casino. It was here that I met Jordan for the very first time (as well as the rest of NKOTB). It was brief, but memorable. I also attended all three after parties (before they were $150.) I had a drink with Wanye from Boyz II Men (who opened for NKOTB) and almost danced with Shawn and Donnie. In June, I saw NKOTB in DC where again I met Jordan (and Danny, Donnie and Jon) and again attended the after party. I also went to the Meet and Greet with Boyz II Men, where it was a sit down Q n A session and then a photo. It was great fun. My last NKOTB show was an shortened set at the MixTape Festival in Hershey in June, but it was still great fun. I made a lot of great new friends on the NKOTB Package Tour.

I was lucky enough to meet Lisa Marie Presley again this year and attend two of her concerts in Virginia and Pennsylvania. Lisa’s performances were even better than last year’s and she was as nice as ever. I also met Ryan Bingham after his set opening for Bob Dylan at Merriweather in Columbia. Ryan’s performance was great as usual, and he is so sweet and gracious. And I met Living Colour after their concert at Rams Head in Annapolis. They are a great bunch of guys, and so talented. I went to the summer concert spectacular of the season, the Legends of Summer Tour with Justin Timberlake and Jay Z. It was really great. We were about 15 rows back on the floor (center) at M & T Bank Stadium. Just as big as that show was, Chris Cornell‘s show was that small. Small in that it was him and his guitar singing on stage in the Lincoln Theater in DC for almost three hours. What an amazing voice he has! In the summer, I attended Baltimore’s Music Festival for the second consecutive year, but this year it was called The Shindig and was at Caroll Park in PigTown. It was a great day of local food and music, including Joan Jett. I made my annual trip to Memphis to attend the Beale Street Music Festival – and to visit Graceland. This year the weather was terrible. Besides being rainy, it was also cold. But the music was still great. My favorite of the festival was Al Kapone.

It was a good year for sports, but not the greatest. Not for baseball or football anyway, but it was great for basketball. I went to three NBA games in 2013. In March, I saw the Memphis Grizzlies take on the Washington Wizards in DC. Although they lost, it was still great fun because we were in the front row just to the side of the Grizzlies bench and by the tunnel where they ran in and out of. Then in May, I saw the Grizzlies again in Memphis – my annual trip for the Beale Street Music Festival. I saw the Grizzlies take on the Clippers in game 6 of the playoffs. In October, the NBA finally returned to Baltimore, at least for one game anyway, and I was there. The Washington Wizards hosted the New York Knicks. We were on the floor center, first row behind VIP. It was a great time.

Besides music and sports, blogging also played a signification role in my life this year. In August, I changed my blog and committed to blogging everyday. Then I changed my blog again in September and also started writing for some sports websites trying to get my name and writing out there. In further effort to get my writing out there and network a bit, I took a blogging seminar put on by HoCoBlogs and entered the Mobbies, the Baltimore Sun‘s annual blog awards. I didn’t win, but I learned a lot and met some great people. And just recently I started posting again on my U2 blog ‘On the Road with U2‘ as well as made new Twitter, Facebook and Google+ pages to accompany it. All this in preparation for the upcoming U2 tour next year and for the publication of my book, which I am currently finishing.

2014 also looks to be a great year. I am seeing Lisa Marie Presley in concert again in June, going to Memphis again in May, going to the Grizzlies game in DC again in March and hopefully my Denver Broncos will actually win the Super Bowl this year! My biggest goal for this year is to publish my U2 memoir On the Road with U2: my musical journey in time for the upcoming U2 tour. Then of course I have my annual goals of exercising more and eating better. And I vow not to buy another book until I have read the 100 plus books I already have. Actually I need not to spend any money, so I can save up for the U2 tour.

Follow me on Twitter @DeenasDays and @OnTheRoadWithU2 as I travel through the world of music and sports.