Boyband Rants:
September and October 2001 Archive
9th September 2001 - Labor Day Weekend
Hey, y'all. I went up to San Francisco over Labor Day weekend, attending a little shindig known as YaoiCon with some friends. It was the friendliest, best-mannered convention I've ever been to, not the least bit smutty, and I can't wait until next year's. I was able to get Higuri You to sign three of her works for me. (Wai~! I spoke to a GoH in Japanese!) One I gave to a friend as a belated birthday present. His reaction was amusing. It's always so cute when Kyri starts channeling an excited Japanese schoolgirl. ^^
I received an e-mail copy of BSB's new single, "Drowning". I want to know who wrote it. It's beautiful, leaving *N Sync's "Gone" in the dust as far as I'm concerned. The latter is a very pretty song, showing off *N Sync's vocals exquisitely, but... it lacks heart. Depth. Something. It leaves me cool rather than squealing. In some ways, "Drowning" hearkens to some of BSB's older vocal styles, though it interestingly also has echoes of O-Town... who BSB profess to despise. Maybe it's just me, hearing that. I suck at listening and watching, excelling only at the written word. Each to their own art? In any case, I fall deeper, "drowning in your love." I adore the song. Now to see what the video's like. ^^
While in the Bay Area I had my birthday. My parents are taking me out later this week to celebrate, despite my protests to them to give them an opt out. I'm not sure why I'm protesting. Streak of independence? I don't really feel the need for people to give me gifts this year. Not that, if anyone granted me the chance to talk to Nick C. I'd turn it down. But no one I know knows Nick-ay, so it's moot. I think my birthday present to myself (from my subconscious) was that dream of Lance Bass where he got his left eyebrow pierced. It was an interesting look... not a ring, just a small silver bar with a tiny bulb at either end. Kinda pretty, eye-catching, odd. Not sure what I'm trying to tell myself there. And Nick got his ears pierced! Wow. Whoa. Kind of the Timberlake look there, but it looks good, I think. Ahh, cycling back to the no good at aesthetics thing. I wonder why, though. Why now? What caused this change in personal appearance?
Maybe A.J.'s rubbing off on him. :) I still find it odd to think that A.J. is younger than my younger sister. He seems so much more mature than she does. Of course, that may just be an oneesan's opinion. Keep on with the sobriety, A.J.! (Yeah, like any of them will ever read this page. Still.)
My fishtank seems finally stable and full. Kaos (orange ryukin), Curly (red cap oranda), Lansten (calico ryukin), Ghost (albino ryukin), Bone (orange and black common), Train (lionhead), D (black Moor), Spazz (black bubble-eye), and Danny (Chinese algae eater). I need to get a new filter tomorrow morning, though. It just reached its limit today. My garden is starting to provide harvest, and I have discovered that Caribbean peppers are significantly hotter than habeneros. I have also recalled why my family likes salsa. It ensures that we get our daily intake of water. HOT!
Oh, as a note, Vanessa Ayukawa's changed her site to here.
11th September 2001 - Waking to Anarchy
My mother woke me with her customary get-my-ass-out-of-bed morning call today. The only difference was, she told me I should turn on the television.
It's one of those days in history where no one does anything but sit and watch TV. Watch the news. CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC. Listen to the radio. Try to wrap their minds around the enormity of the action, the horror, the damage. One of those days that "will live in infamy."
No one I know, thank God, was hurt. One of my friends who works in NYC saw the first plane strike the World Trade Center. Fortunately both Natalie and Shanti are okay, if shaken. It seems unreal, y'know? Something that would be imagined for a movie, maybe, but not something that could ever happen in real life. A special effect, not reality. And people are talking war. And newspapers are running special editions with the headlines "Extra! America Attacked!". And people are drowning in hurt, in anger, in helplessness. Cities are being shut down. Lives are being halted.
They're estimating maybe 10,000 casualties. That's a whole city. Tomorrow, after people have slept and processed the shock, will come the anger. America is a hornet's nest. I can't say that the perpetrators are evil, because evil simplifies life too much. I don't believe in it. Somebody, however, obviously believed in some cause enough to do this. That frightens me more than the concept of evil. Evil would be a force of nature. Fanaticism is a force of man. I understand man, and humanity, far less now than I did last night.
I've kept busy today, running miscellaneous little errands of no great significance or import. I want chocolate and my friends. Failing that, I want a hard drink. Failing that, I want to curl up into a ball on my bed and suck my thumb for a while. But I have kept busy. Because if I didn't, I would freeze and never move again; I would die.
It sounds pathetic, but actually what got me over helplessness and despair was boybands. Small, on a day like this. But yesterday I received Nick's shaped single from long ago in Germany and I hadn't listened to it, and putting it on helped. Listening to his interview when he was so much younger, trying to read along in German and mostly failing, it took my mind away from here/now and into a space of there/then. So, thanks Nickolas.
I haven't donated blood. The radio is saying there's a wait time of 2-4 hours at local blood banks, so I'll go in tomorrow instead when there's maybe a little less stress, a little less emotional chaos.
Why did this have to happen? What causation demanded that these actions be wrought? Who made that choice?
24th October 2001 - Concert Vibrations
First off, my apologies for not updating in well over a month. I have been having computer problems, to put it mildly. But, for now, onwards....
Insert evil, joyful little giggles here. On Saturday the 13th Jane and I were at BSB's concert up in Devore, CA. Well, at the Blockbuster Pavilion in Glen Helen Regional Parkway. Y'know, where they have the RenFaire? We weren't supposed to park in the lot until 4:30pm (the gates opened at 5:30pm) so we went to a nearby shopping center for a while, browsed through Wal-Mart, bought some poster material and a marker, and then we had lunch at Hungry Howie's Pizza, just on the basis of the name. We made our signs: "Thank you for the music"/"Good show" (we had to get a Matt reference in there somewhere), "Nick write a novel"/"You have potential", "Sweet D stay smilin'"/"Brian you inspire us", and "Kevin wear more skirts"/"AJ stay well." I don't know what we were thinking, making up signs, I've never done that before, but it was fun and killed an hour or two. Then we went back to the Pavilion when the parking was open.
The really nice part of the day? We had FRONT ROW seats! First time either of us had ever been in the front row for anything, and it was for BSB! (Here, let me go make some people jealous now....) I'd say how we got them, but then I'd have to kill you.
We waited in line to get in, were told we couldn't take our posters in, so I went back to the car and left them there. The security was doing full-body patdowns and cameras weren't allowed in. So we tried to sneak them in. Jane managed--she hid hers in the crotch of her pants. I failed, so I went back to the car (check my dad's digicam? you've gotta be kidding. that camera's worth my hide!) and duplicated her feat. I still can't believe we both did that. Quote of the day was when Jane asked me in complete seriousness "So tell me, do I look like I have a camera in my crotch?"
Since there were no cameras allowed in, there was naturally no booth selling film or batteries. I was slightly surprised that there were only two tiny radio station (99.1 and 102.7) booths there. But then, Glen Helen is out in the boonies. Middle of nowhere. So when soundcheck was over, we went to our seats, which were RIGHT in front of the stage. I mean, like ten feet separating us from the performers! The setup was a bit different from last time; the "airplane wings" of the stage were truncated to fit into the recessed stage, and it was an open-air venue so they couldn't do the suspended bridge and hence had no secondary stage. There was a metal barrier in front of us with a two to three foot support on either side (kind of like an inverted "T") and we were told we weren't supposed to stand on it. It was being used as a walkway and to keep us safe from the pyro. We also had a camera Nazi standing right near us. Grr. But still... front row! Ten feet from the stage! Watashi-tachi wa shiawase na no~!
When the show started (6:30pm) one of the djs from 99.1 came on the stage, saying he'd just been talking to AJ. 'Course, no one in the audience really believed him, so then AJ came on stage as if to prove his claim. ^^; Alex was looking good; a little thin, a little tired, very platinum blond, which he somehow managed to carry off. I think maybe it's not that it looks good on him, but rather that he makes you think it looks good on him? Not sure. Anyhow, they checked the crowd for supergirls (insert wave of screams here) and then Aije decided that "The two of us can be supergirls too." ^^;; Enter Krystal!
Krystal started off with "My Religion" then segued into "Love is a Beautiful Thing." That was followed by "Angel on My Shoulder," "Supergirl," and finally the Jackson Five's "I'll Be There." I wish I had a copy of her singing that last song! I admit to not liking some of her CD (maybe I just need to give it another try) but she does have the most amazing voice. She actually reminds me a tiny bit of Pat Benetar. After that she said she'd be doing a signing/photo session and since I'm not horribly fond of Sisqo, I dragged Jane over to that. Or tried to. About fifty billion other people had the same idea. So we stood over to one side and I tried to get a good picture of Krystal. And, just as I had a clear shot and a good closeup, the camera died. ARGH! Dead batteries. Unhappy me. And they wouldn't let me out to my car. Though the people at the first aid station did give me some aspirin, which was nice. Would've spent the whole night with a headache elsewise. Did I mention we were RIGHT in front of speakers?
So we ended up going back and catching most of Sisqo's performance. It was (to me) surprisingly not bad. Sorry, but the man just turned me cold with the "Thong Song." But live it wasn't too bad. Still, I'd rather Shaggy hadn't left the tour/been replaced/whatever. But seriously... we were so close the pyro felt like a sunburn! I had spots on my eyes for a minute. I did catch some of the white/silver/blue confetti blast, though. ^^
A couple of ladies from Pop-Tarts came onstage and randomly chose five seats to receive prizes, then, a few minutes later... enter the Backstreet Boys!
They started off the same as last tour, with destroying the planet (care to place money that was Kevin's idea?) and then the militaristic choreography leading into "Everyone" and "Larger Than Life." At least they've given themselves a choice to open their shows with... *N Sync is trapped into eternally ending their shows with "Bye Bye Bye." Jane and I were just about at the edge of the stage... is it stage right or stage left? I can never remember. We were in front of Kevin, anyway. Kevin had cornrows! He looks good in them. Jane was practically swooning. And though the camera Nazi was still right near us, she managed to use up all her film (twenty-five exposures) during the course of the concert. We're awaiting the development.
For the first two songs they wore the black/blue/silver outfits from the first leg. For "Not For Me," however, they changed into form-fitting black outfits with red tabards and black sunglasses, slightly reminiscent of "V." Alex, intriguingly enough, was the only one sans shades. Isn't that backwards? At one point during the song they pulled the right sleeves off of their outfits. Kevin being right in front of us as they were going this... um, nice definition. Meow. Repeat "Lucky Kristin" thought. His Kristin, not me. I can see where he earned the nickname "Mister Body Beautiful" from. Then they went into a set of costume changes, each one talking in turn while the others were backstage. Brian talked first, then AJ (101 days sober! Go Alex!) , Nick (who complained that his lift from beneath the stage came up too fast), Howie, and Kevin. The announcement was made that it was the birthday of their keyboardist, and that they only had five US dates left before going to Japan. Yes, I shouted "Take me with you!" They were all in white when they finished their costume changes, rather pretty semi-glittery eveningwear suits. Brian had a long scarf as part of his costume, which I thought was a nice touch. They then sang "What Makes You Different (Makes You Beautiful)" and I had my moment of the evening. AJ, y'see, was actually looking into the crowd, making eye contact. Bless him for it. When he was looking at me, I put my hands to my heart and bowed to him. He had this little surprised/delighted look on his face and laughed just a little. That felt good, to make AJ laugh. After all and everything, it felt good to see him happy. It was the closest I could get to telling him several things--"thank you," "I care," "you have my support," etcetera. Nearly a week later, I'm still sparkling over it.
Next they went into "Yes I Will," doing a cane dance with these glittery walking canes topped with clear crystal spheres. As they disappeared below the stage, there was a musical little "doo dee doo" which sounded suspiciously like Brian. Heehee. Then came "More Than That" with the same setup as the first leg--Swan Lake-ish dancers in the mists with the five 'Boys singing from the scaffolding at the back of the stage. Howard was doing all these little salsa dance moves and Nickolas, as always, was overemoting (thank you, Matt, for identifying exactly what to call what he does). I think I might understand why Nick does it, though. It's something about the moment and the music and everything inside your head and having to act it out to get it out of your system. It's not about getting attention, it's about doing what you need to. The 'Boys came down onto the stage again for "I Want It That Way" wherein D continued his salsa moves and AJ was running in circles in front of us. Then came "The One" and behind them on the screen they showed bits of the filming for the video. They reprised "I Want It That Way" and vanished beneath the stage again. Their "2050" video played and while it was mildly amusing, I frankly could've done without it. But ah well--have to placate the audience during costume changes.
They re-emerged in blue suits with ruffled lighter blue shirts, generally looking like rejects from "Footloose." But the theme of the moment seemed to be "oldies but goodies" as they launched into "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)." The end of that song... oh, my knees got weak. They hit an utterly orgasmic harmony, thus entirely disproving Jane's earlier theory about *N Sync sounding better live. Next, in an old-fashioned (think '50s, think barbershop... quintet...) grouping they presented "All of Me." At the end of the song, Nick came over to AJ, focusing on him with a vidcam and Howie started berating AJ for stealing the show, saying they now had video proof of it they'd show him backstage. And that evening it was the AJ, Kevin and Howie show. The two primary primaries, the tenors with the golden hair and the golden voices, weren't the center of the show the way they were last leg. Alex was on! And, following the rumors that there seems to be a recent spate of Carter-Dorough affection, Jane asked me to note down that Howie referred to the two of them as "Nicky and I."
The boys stripped down to blue undershirts next and performed "Don't Want You Back," during which were a few amusing phenomena... the cousins bodyslamming one another, just skimming up into the air, and Nick humping the camera. I have the feeling that boy could make me blush if I let him. The song ended with a bit of pyro and AJ started bitching about hating the costumes, so they started stripping down on stage. He was like (gesturing to the audience) "It's not like they'd mind." Heheh... no, Alex, we wouldn't mind in the least! Please, feel free to strip bare before us! Naked concerts are juuuuuust fine! Nick and Howie actually got their belts off before Brian suggested they change in the wardrobe trunk which was lugged on stage especially for the occasion. So in they went--Brian, Nick, and Howie disappearing into the presumably understage dressing room. When Kevin and Alex were left on stage, Alex declared that it was now "The Kevin and AJ show" which "has potential." Then AJ too disappeared into the trunk and Kevin closed it and sat on the lid. "Now I've got you all to myself," he declared. (Egads, I'm novelizing a concert report.) He asked us if we'd like to hear some material he'd been working on by himself, started humming, sang a line about "a girl in the front row," then stopped and said he'd just made that up. Jane has declared him a tease. But it's like... damn, Nick and Brian have a billion solos, so does AJ, Howie wrote songs just so he could get some, when's Kevin gonna have more solos? The last he had was Millenium! Well, he's got one on "Drowing" too, but that's not out yet. Train's voice is niiiiice. So then he too disappeared beneath the stage, theoretically taking a camera crew with him. Which would've been nice, except by AJ's hairstyle you could tell it was all prerecorded. Still, amusing bits: Nick had two dressing spaces, he and Howie decided to console AJ for all his recent troubles with a blowup doll, Howie and the mirror and his hair products (he has a hair fetish second only to Timberlake's, I've decided) and AJ not wanting to go (away from the mirror? out of the dressing room? it was not clear to me, but I was laughing anyway).
Next they reappeared onstage in pinstrip suits, in which they looked rather nice. Nick's, for some unknown reason, had a pink lining. Don't ask me--I work at a fabric store and notice these things. They performed "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely," dedicating it to their crewmember Daniel Lee, who was on one of the September 11th flights. The song was perfect. Once again, orgasmic harmonies. The following song, "How Did I Fall in Love With You," was similarly wonderful. After that they all sat down at the front center of the stage for "Time," one of my favorites. Nick was being all chummy with Kevin and Howie and he and D kept whispering back and forth to one another. Then they invited the audience to sing along with them as they performed "America the Beautiful." Brian took the first section of the song, then Howie, Kevin, Nick, then they were all singing, then Brian again, AJ, and then they all sang together, concluding it. After that, Kevin talked for a little while about their foundations, and then they sang (and played instruments for) "The Answer to Our Life." I feel kind of sorry for poor Howie, being relegated to playing the cowbell. During this Kevin did his first surge of touching the hands of the audience. I was actually a bit surprised he wasn't on the keyboards for the song.
For the next song Nick took a fedora from one of their dancers, played with it, gave it to Brian, and Brian gave it to the audience. I did not recognize the song they sang next. I know it wasn't one of their album songs... either it was a cover of another song or something which was released only on a movie soundtrack. But they were all wearing fedoras, singing as a group into a 1940s-style mike... again, orgasmic harmony. Then four of them did a little breakdown dance, one at a time, and AJ came up from under the stage and played with making the audience scream. After that came "Shining Star" and the moment I use to torture people. Close enough to see Nick's sweat fly! (And AJ's saliva, too, but that's less conductive to jealousy.) Kevin, Nick, and AJ next intro'd the band, with a cute little Japanese style bow occurring between Kevin and Nick when the latter came back onstage to do his part. Memorable bits: Nickolas munching on the guitar during the guitarist's solo ("Don't try that at home.") and doing a little breakdown with AJ before the two of them introduced the keyboardist, whose birthday it was. They invited the audience to join them in singing "Happy Birthday" to him, AJ adding in the phrase "older than dirt" at every possible turn. And since it was his birthday, Nick hinted that the keyboardist might get extra funky and wild during his solo... and the man promptly burst into the chorus of Destiny's Child's "Bootylicious," with Mister Carter singing along and shaking his behind at the audience. AJ, Brian, and Howie then introduced the dancers who strutted their stuff, rather impressively. I need to move like that!
At this point the BSB were wearing simple white pants and undershirts... if you ignore the mesh overshirts Nick, Howie, and Kevin were wearing. :9 When they came back up on stage, however, it was Halloween a few weeks early! Howie in an afro wig, and Frick and Frack respectively in blue and red spikes, while the Kevin had an American flag bandanna tied over his hair and Alex had a white bandanna rolled into a strip and knotted on his forehead. Thus ensembled, they launched into "Everybody," followed by "Get Another Boyfriend." During the latter Brian tried to get AJ to try on a red and black bra someone had thrown on stage. AJ vehemently refused. And after the end of the song, as the others scurried offstage, AJ introduced us to a guest. "He used to be this tall," he said, gesturing around knee-height, "and now he's this tall," gesturing slightly above his head. "He's blond, and he's a pop star." And as the screams rose, out onto the stage walked the younger Carter brother. Egads but he and Nick look, act, and sound alike! Apparently he (thinks he) kicks Nick's butt in basketball, and AJ is his favorite Backstreet Boy. At that point, Brian ran onstage and wrestled Aaron to the ground. Then Nick came on, slung his younger brother over one shoulder, and bodily carried Aaron offstage. *giggle* Chou kawaii. With a bit more banter (and another approach of the bra) AJ announced they only had time for two more songs. He then got a call on his cel. Enter "The Call." At one point during the song (the choral bit) they wore blue chorus robes. Ah, and Howie had a white visor on, don't ask me why. Then came "Shape of My Heart" which had the added bonus of seeing Alex shirtless! And wearing Calvin Kleins. ^^; It should worry me that I wrote that in my notebook, shouldn't it? Kevin and Howie touched people's hands at opposite sides of the stage (Jane noted down that Howie was a tease) and AJ and Nick jumped off the stage and ran in front of the front row touching people's hands. Um, oh. I should mention Nick Silly Stringed Howie, shouldn't I? Heheh.
For their encore, the Boys rose on pillars in the center of the stage to sing "Drowning." AJ was in tears. And... oh, fuck but is that a beautiful song. It was a flawless performance. Oh so niiiiiiice.
After that they took their bows, thanked everyone for coming, etcetera, engaged in just a bit more tomfoolery (Kevin holding up a black lace bustier in front of Alex... this time the response was "Interesting concept.") and left the stage and the venue. Jane and I sat down for a bit to let the worst of the crowd leave before the venue security hustled us out too. We stopped at the merchandise booth and I got a tour program (different from first leg and five dollars more), a t-shirt (black; they didn't have the cartoony white one they'd had on first leg so I'm never gonna be able to get it! *sob* ;;;;;_;;;;;) and the Black and Blue World Tour keychain, which was fifteen dollars, but something else I'd wanted but not been able to afford on the first leg. Then we went out and sat in the car for a while, until, again, the worst of the crowd had gone. My singing voice was actually better leaving the concert than it was going in. Jane's was rough from screaming. Thing is, I wasn't screaming much. I'm not of the mentality, I guess. But I discovered that evening a few things. (1) Front row seats are nice, and I'm now addicted to them. (2) It feels very good to make someone you admire laugh. (3) The emotional state of singing songs to their performers instead of with their performers changes the timbre and tone entirely.
So, if any of the 'Boys ever reads this page, I just want to say: "Thank you for the evening, and thank you for the music."
29th October 2001 - o/~ I'm layin' it on the line for your love....
Me singing. Scary concept. :)
This weekend I held my first annual Halloween costume party, a mixed success to be sure. Each "first" party is always a debacle. I'm good at summer parties by now, but other holidays appear to be in need of work. Anyhow, dressed up as Daphne Blake from Scooby Doo to complement my friend Sandy's Velma. The costume's not quite complete--I still need the pink tights and to do the shoes, but, yes, I have red hair at the moment. Very red. A picture will be put up at some point. San-chan even had a box of Scooby Snacks! Heehee.
Anyhow, as the party wore on into the night, I dragged Jane (who, alas, I did not manage to talk into dressing up as a screaming fangirl...) and my friend Cyndie out to the movie theater where we saw On The Line. It wasn't bad, though I'll need to see it again to be able to form a solid critical judgement on the film. Even though the scene in commercials with Joey in curlers was cut, it was more than made up for by seeing Joseph Fatone play the male equivalent of a screaming fangirl. Don't ask, not gonna tell--you have to go see the movie yourself! But seeing it made me miss my Douglas very much, so I called him when we got back. It reminded me of the reason why I liked Lance in the first place: he reminds me of Douglas.
I was amused that the gay issue was raised four or five times in the film. Dancing around rumors? Who knows. Anyhow, off now to see if there are any copies of the script floating around on eBay. I want to read it. Ja mata ne~!