I used to be approaching the George Washington Bridge when my buddy Lynn fired a textual content into the Shaun Squad group chat: “GET READY, PARTY PEOPLE!”

My coronary heart sank because the message piped by way of the automotive audio system in a robotic feminine voice.

I dictated again: “OMG, Lynn, you higher not be about to textual content one thing that’s going make me remorse that I didn’t get my brows waxed for tonight.”

“I’m,” she replied.

A flood of adrenaline despatched my pulse racing.

An hour later, I’d be nose to nose with my authentic schoolgirl crush, Shaun Cassidy. Unruly eyebrows and all.

Within the late ’70s, due to the one-two punch of his starring function in ABC’s teen detective collection “The Hardy Boys” and a run of hit singles, he was often on the duvet of Tiger Beat and different teen magazines. His look — feathered hair, satin baseball jackets and skintight pants — launched a tsunami of adolescent hormones.

Lengthy earlier than “nepo child” was a factor, he rose to fame because the firstborn son of the musical star turned “Partridge Household” matriarch Shirley Jones and the Broadway legend Jack Cassidy. His half brother, David Cassidy, had preceded him in teen dream stature.

Shaun’s hottest single was his cowl of the Crystals’ “Da Do Ron Ron,” however my favourite was “That’s Rock ’n’ Roll,” a strong bop written by Eric Carmen. Centered on a narrator who’s 16 and sick of faculty, the lyrics preach the gospel of rock rise up, and even in my grade faculty years, the music caught.

Every of his albums got here with a poster — the report label knew its market — and my buddy Kristin and I pretended to kiss him till we dissolved into giggles.

As I marched into teendom, I moved from curler skates to fight boots, and my crushes took a extra androgynous flip. MTV launched a slew of British unhappy boys with teased hair and make-up, essentially the most well-known on American shores being Depeche Mode and the Remedy. Their subtly subversive masculinity so besotted me that my real-life male contemporaries have been a letdown. A memoir of my romantic coming-of-age may very well be titled “I Was Instructed There Would Be Eyeliner.”

Then I noticed Catherine Deneuve because the nightclubbing vampiress Miriam Blaylock in “The Starvation.” Kissing Shaun’s poster gave option to kissing a shy Goth lady underneath the poster for the movie on her bed room wall. However you always remember your first, and Shaun, together with his faunlike visage, was the right gateway crush.

I fell for him the second time due to the rats.

Two years in the past, one in all his tweets appeared in my timeline. It confirmed a display screen seize of a textual content from his spouse asking him to speak together with her about their “rat downside.” Shaun gave it a caption: “She is such a romantic.”

Former teen idol turned Spouse Man? Certain, I’d observe that. 4 of my associates additionally began following him on Twitter, and the Shaun Squad was born.

So when the New York engagement of his “Magic of a Midnight Sky” solo present was introduced, one Squad member, Pleasure, purchased tickets the minute they went on sale, and Lynn contacted his tour supervisor, vowing to rearrange a meet-and-greet.

Not going, I believed. However the lady in me held quick to the fantasy.

Because the membership crammed on the evening of the present, our hopes for a gathering started to fade. Monica had a recent keratin remedy, her hair a shiny curtain. Marjorie had discovered some previous iron-on switch paper and whipped up her personal Shaun tank high. She even made us Swiftie-style “Shaun Squad” friendship bracelets. We have been sighing dejectedly into our $18 cocktails when the tour supervisor appeared.

“OK, let’s go,” she mentioned. “However we’ve obtained to be fast.”

We moved previous the viewers of girls clutching classic Shaun memorabilia. I seen that one in all them had introduced her “Hardy Boys” lunch field.

Up an elevator and down a slim corridor to the dressing room. And there he was — tall, his hair a mixture of blond and grey, the shiny disco-era outfit traded for a black button-down and denims.

Shaun Freakin’ Cassidy, OK?

I’m sufficient of an extrovert that I’ll go right into a comfort retailer to purchase chips and, 5 minutes later, find yourself saying, “What’s your Instagram?” to the clerk. However not now.

Not now in any respect.

I let my fellow Shaun Squad members go first, watching them angle in for pictures and autographs whereas he chatted with them, the basso profundo of his talking voice a satisfying rumble.

Then there was nothing to do however transfer ahead. I used to be like: “Why is he opening his arms? What is occurring? Are we hugging? We’re hugging!”

It wasn’t a loopy hug — a fast companionable embrace, adopted by that 1-2-3 closure pat — nevertheless it produced sufficient dopamine to make me unable to really feel my face for the remainder of the evening.

The present, even and not using a fan’s forgiving grading curve, was wonderful, a mixture of music and story. Given the heedlessness of Nineteen Seventies superstar tradition, it’s a marvel that Shaun was capable of survive the reverse panopticon of youth stardom.

Tactful however candid, he talked about feminine followers tearing out chunks of his hair and his dad joking about placing his childhood bed room up for hire when it appeared his son’s fame may eclipse his personal. He additionally included a touching tribute to David, who died of liver failure at age 67 in 2017.

Shaun made it clear that he wasn’t coasting on the fumes of his former glory, having segued from teen idol to tv author and producer. But he appeared comfy sufficient together with his cultural footprint that, in his facet hustle as a vintner, his wine is branded My First Crush.

Writing a couple of fangirl crush could make you’re feeling like a goober, as a result of it elicits contempt that’s explicitly gendered. Feminine fandom — particularly High 40 fandom — carries a processed-cheese sheen. However a man occurring for an hour a couple of Bruce Springsteen chord development or a Wilco set listing? That’s depth, man. (And queer fandom? Massive heteroblivious shrug.)

However fandom cuts throughout all demographics, and everybody’s deserves respect. Certainly one of my favourite viral movies of latest years exhibits a subway automotive stuffed with New Yorkers singing the Backstreet Boys’ “I Need It That Means” in unselfconscious pleasure. We shouldn’t be pressured to be so mature in our tastes that we miss all of the enjoyable.

Within the Fugazi music “Unhealthy Mouth,” the punk stalwart Ian MacKaye sang: “You possibly can’t be what you have been. So that you higher begin being simply what you might be.” As a youthful lady, I adopted these traces as a cri de coeur, taken by the arduous stance towards nostalgia and sentimentality. However I’ve since reconsidered.

I drove dwelling from the present listening to “That’s Rock ’n’ Roll” on repeat, realizing that numerous my associates have been seeing the Remedy that very same evening, my Gen X gloomster cohort having their very own flashback second. And I salute them.

Nostalgia could be a blinkering agent, nevertheless it may also be a benevolent time lord, permitting who you have been and who you might be to hitch palms. By means of the alchemical magic of fandom, you’ll be able to occupy each phases of your life directly — smart grownup and keening fangirl. Regular solar and hormonal supernova, all of it only a music’s play away.

That’s the crush spirit. That’s nostalgia. That’s rock ’n’ roll.

Lily Burana is the writer of “Grace for Amateurs: Area Notes on a Journey Again to Religion” and three different books.