Denise McLean Tells All

(AJ's mom & BSB Publicist)

Our last tour was quite a special one for the Backstreet Boys because it was the first tie audiences in many cities got to see them. It was also the first time the band performed in Spain and Portgual. That was pretty exciting considering the dressing rooms were located right over the pens where the bulls were kept! We even got to see running around.

The tour began in Dublin on St.Patrick's day...Howie and a few of us snuck out of the hotel by the way of a small vain (in order) to enjoy a bit of the day's festivities. We managed to get to where the parade was starting and saw most of the floats before fans zeroed in on Howie and security said he had to leave. We had a bit of fun anyways and a few fans were pleasantly surprised to get a quick picture and autograph of thei idol Howie D.

The tour moved on to the U.K. and we had four great, sold out shows there...While in London, of course AJ wanted to go shopping. Since we were in the same hotel for three nights and actually had a day off, this sounded like a good idea. So AJ security and I set out our little money spending spree.

AJ wanted to hit SoHo first, so we hoped into a cab and off we wnet. We walked the streets pretty much unnoticed for a while until the mother of a fan spotted AJ in a store. She actually ran after him and asked him to wait so she could take a picture with him with her daughter. He did, and while he was waiting about six other fans recongnized him-They were kind enough to leave after a few photos and autographs, so we continued on our way.

What we did not realize at the time is that we were getting closer and closer to Piccadilly and fans were out in force to welcome stars to the permier of the man in the iron mask..we quickly left the area and moved on to some really small streets for shopping.

This was exactly what Aj had been looking for. We found some really cool shops with second hand clothing and army surplus stuff which he loves. We walked into one small shop that actually had two stores next to each other:one with more dressy styles and one really weird. Of course AJ rushed past the dressy styles and into the wird one."Mom, You have to see these!!!" with apprehensive curiosity, I ran into the shop and there he was, in all glory, standing in the middle of the store holding the strangest pair of pants I had ever seen! They were the color of regular army faigues-the strange part was they WERE COVERED IN GREEN FUR!!!!!!!!!!!

Now AJ is known for his unique styles in eyewear and clothing but this had to be the MAX, even for him. And of course since spring was approaching these lovely pants were on sale! Oh, joy! Fortunately, I brought my camera with me as shopping with AJ is usally such a picture perfect opportunity. I broke out the camera as the clerk was writing up the sle and AJ posed with his new pants. I think they are pretty cool. The onlyb drawback he says, is that they can be very hot to wear-but they are machine washable!

If you ever see him in them, I hope you like them as mich as he does!