|
News I got these from the Atlanta-Journal Constitution's website: Backstreet singer's gratitude: $10,000 By BYRON DUBOW Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell has made a "larger than life" donation to Cherokee County deputies. Littrell gave the Sheriff's Department $10,000 to buy new bulletproof vests. "Out of the blue we received a check from Brian Littrell, who lives in Cherokee County," said Sheriff Roger Garrison, who showed off the new vests Wednesday. "The $10,000 enabled us to buy 30 vests." The new vests will allow the Sheriff's Department to replace outdated ones. Littrell, 26, gave the Sheriff's Department the check to say thank you for helping him retrieve his missing Chihuahuas, Tyke and Litty, last July. The two cream-colored Chihuahuas were taken from Littrell's home and subsequently recovered by local sheriff's deputies. Littrell, who is on tour with the band in Nobelsville, Ind., could not speak with the media Wednesday because it was a performance day, a publicist said. Tracy Hext, speaking on behalf of Brian's wife, Leighanne, said, "When the dogs were stolen last year, the Sheriff's Department was just so helpful that they wanted to make a donation out of gratitude." Hext said it was a good way for the couple to give back to their community. Deputy Donald Evans, who recovered one of the dogs, was excited about getting the new vests. "It was great that he was able to do that for us," Evans said. "We would have helped anyone in that situation."BACKSTREET BOYS IN CONCERT With their latest CD, "Black and Blue," selling 8 million copies, it seems an overstatement to describe the Backstreet Boys as on the ropes. But the Orlando boy band has been pummeled since their glory days of, oh, a year ago, and even some of their fans were beating up on them Monday during their not-sold-out show at Philips Arena. Fans in the front row at Philips Arena include Judy Rask (right) of Norcross and Stephanie Dils with her mom Mary (left) from Duluth. It was Stephanie's birthday. "I thought the ['N Sync] 'No Strings' tour was better than the 'Black and Blue' tour," said Casey Blankenship, 21, praising the Boys' archrivals, whose "No Strings" CD gave "Black and Blue" a pounding in the charts. Nonetheless, Casey and friend Jesi Martin, 20, drove an hour from Rockmart to see the show and to compete in a radio station contest to see if they could get backstage with the boys. No dice. Their poster came in second. But they did win two extra tickets and promptly called two more friends, who immediately started driving with hopes of getting to Atlanta before the opening acts Krystal and Shaggy were done playing. Forty is right around the corner for Domenic Esposito, 35, who said "I never miss a show." He was joking, however. The Marietta resident and his wife, Katherine, brought their daughters, Maria, 9, and Allison, 6. Dad noted the empty seats in the hall and said, "I don't think these boys are going to have many years left. Unless they change their name to Men. Then I don't know how well that will work. Backstreet Men? Are parents going to let their little girls go see Backstreet Men? What are they doing in those Backstreets?" Chad Peyton and three friends who saw the Boys back in January when they played the Georgia Dome noted the reduced size of the crowd, but said the music is still good. "We'd go to see them them if they were in the Tabernacle," said Peyton, 30, a bartender at Blake's. "They just play good songs." "Plus they're cute," said friend Jimmy Apple, 32. Fellow bartender Tim Wright said, "They could still have a career and have another CD or two and still keep going, but I think they've hit their peak." "You shut your mouth," joked Peyton. The roar of 15-year-old lungs inside the arena certainly didn't give the impression that enthusiasm for these bubble-rappers has dimmed. And at the top of that roar were the voices of Laura Murray and her friend Erin Densmore, both 15, who had the amped-up attitude that one expects from young girls going to see a boy band. You could tell this by asking a simple question, such as "Do you like the Backstreet Boys?" Their answer comes back as a unison scream "Oh my God!" They don't need ear protection, said Laura, because "we're the loudest ones out here." Parents Lynne and Sean Murray decided to wait this show out, and, after dropping off the girls, were driving off for a nice quiet supper, but Lynne offered the thought, "We're glad that at 15 they're interested in this, and not in real boys." Tide ebbing for aging Backstreet Boys? By Shane Harrison Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer They're hardly boys anymore, and despite millions in sales of their latest album, the Backstreet Boys just don't seem to matter like they used to. What happened to the deafening buzz? Is the boy-band moment over? Or is it just the Backstreet Boys? Let's take a look at the facts. ä The boys themselves are getting a little long in the tooth. Eldest Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson will turn 30 this year. Even more pointedly, as Star94 radio Music Director JR Ammons points out, "It has a lot to do with the fact that a couple of them are married. To some of those fans, marriage means you're old." Richardson and his cousin Brian Littrell both tied the knot last year, with Littrell marrying Mariettan Leighanne Wallace at Atlanta's Peachtree Christian Church in September. The Backstreet Boys' chief rival, 'N Sync, came along and stole the spotlight with "No Strings Attached." That album, the quintet's second, holds the record for first-week sales at 2.4 million. 'N Sync's follow-up coming next month, "Celebrity," will be the next shot fired in the battle of the boy bands and the most telling gauge of the genre's strength. "Black and Blue," the Boys' latest album, has dropped into the bottom half of the Billboard 200 album chart after six months but shows signs of rebounding: It will be No. 73 in the June 16 Billboard. The Recording Industry Association of America has certified the album at an impressive 8 million copies. But the Boys' "Millennium," released in 1999, sold about 11 million in the same amount of time, eventually topping 13 million. The singles from "Black and Blue" haven't exactly set the charts on fire. "They haven't done really well," Ammons says. "We played ["The Call Up"] at night and couldn't get any positive feedback on it." The latest single, "More Than That," seems to be doing a little better, just breaking into the Top 40 after four weeks on the chart. The boy-band genre has been diluted by such gold-digging latecomers as O-Town, the band manufactured before our eyes on ABC's "Making the Band." The pre-fab girl bands are having a better time of it, with Eden's Crush from television's "Popstars" hitting the Top 10 with "Get Over Yourself." In January, the Backstreet Boys played to tens of thousands at the Georgia Dome; tonight, the 21,000-seat Philips Arena still has plenty of tickets left. A crowd of about 12,000 is expected. Even in the Boys' hometown, where the current leg of the group's seemingly endless world tour got under way Friday night, there are signs of waning interest. The Orlando Sentinel's report on the new science-fiction-flavored show offered some evidence. "The fact that there were pockets of empty seats illustrates that the Backstreet Boys -- now well into adulthood, by the way -- aren't quite the cultural force they once were," the Sentinel wrote. But, despite the apparent downturn in interest, it's too soon to count the Backstreet Boys out. "I think it would be unfair to say that people don't have an interest in the Backstreet Boys anymore," says Ammons. "They've just been here so much. It's like one year a team wins the Super Bowl and the next year they only make it to the playoffs." |