The One: The Backstreet Boys Residency in Las Vegas

At TRL, 2000 for the Backstreet Boys
(c) PipPepPop

  Some people go to a concert once a year. Some go to a concert a couple of times a year. Other people get in the car and drive somewhere  to see their favorite band. I hopped a plane to Las Vegas to see The Backstreet Boys, and I'm so glad I did it! I came, I saw, and I rocked my body right at the Axis at Planet Hollywood on St. Patrick's Day. Today is BSB's 24th anniversary, according to the timeline on their website and social media channels. On this day, Brian officially had joined the band and cemented their place in history.

 

(c) PipPepPop

     I began my BSB journey back in 1998. I was a 4th grader and I was obsessed with the song Quit Playing Games with My Heart. I still may be obsessed because that song rocked at the concert. While the audience was in no danger of getting carded, the crowd around me swayed and screamed like a bunch of teenagers. My friend gave me a shrug when the girl next to us yelled "The Call! That's my JAM! That's my song!" **

     The BSB has been a part of the cultural zeitgeist for well over 20 years now. They ruled the pop charts and MTV's video-heavy Total Request Live countdown show. In a related note, live shows like this are getting new life later this year. I want it that way is consistently on the top song lists. Rolling Stone's list of top boy band songs of all time (including acts like the Jackson 5 and the Monkees) ranked the 1999 classic, I Want it That Way, as its 5th entry. While they're never taken home the coveted Grammy award (7 time nominees), they have won countless fan awards such as MTV Video Music Awards, Billboard Awards, Kids Choice Awards and Teen Choice Awards. They're also left us pondering what exactly it means to "want it that way" or why the "loneliness is tragical." As of early April, BSB proved they still have it. They were back, taking the stage at the ACM Awards  with friends Florida Georgia Line. The septet performed their new single, God, Your Mama and Me and everyone enjoyed it. Then they music changed and all 7 guys launched into Everybody (Backstreet's Back) complete with dance moves. I have never seen Tim McGraw so into a performance before. He and his wife Faith were like a young Taylor Swift, dancing and singing in the front row.

A Vegas Take on Suits. (c) PipPepPop

     The concert was filled with memories. Nearly all of the songs from the self-titled Backstreet Boys album were played, even forgotten favorites like Darlin' (with Kevin's sexy talking intro) and uplifting ballad, Anywhere for You. We were dancing in our seats during the Euro-pop hit, Get Down, which lends itself to AJ's bad-ass rap portion. There was a heavy amount of dancing in the show, and it was more impressive than all the other BSB concerts I've seen combined (6 or 7), with the possible exception of NKOTBSB. The "chair dance" from As Long as You Love Me was perfection.  There were fedoras present during the mid-tempo ballad, All I Have to Give. The songs from Millennium and Black and Blue were represented, bringing the boys and their 10 dancers together for driving dance tunes like Larger Than Life, The Call and the not heard enough Get Another Boyfriend. , and subduing the crowd with sweet songs like Drowning and Incomplete. The only song from the non-Kevin years performed was the heartbreaking and haunting song, Undone. I have been listening to this non-stop. The show concluded with Everybody (Backstreet's Back), which you can find following the below link to you Youtube channel. We made some new memories that night and I will not soon forget this show.

At the show, 2017
(c) PipPepPop

** The reason I found this comment to be disturbing is that The Call is a song about cheating, and she screamed this directly in her boyfriend's face.

Read more reviews of the show on Ticketmaster. Mine is in there somewhere.
Read the Billboard.com review of the show.
See more of my concert footage on Youtube.

She's A Dominatrix Supermodel Beauty Queen

     Just over 16 years ago, boy band O-Town brought out one of their most remembered hits, Liquid Dreams. This song was a bouncing ditty about the "perfect woman," made up of the best physical characteristics (and Halle Berry's personality). At a teenager's listening, it's a catchy pop song. At an adult woman's listening the song is kinda offensive, reducing us down to our physical appearances. The song lyrics follow below. I assembled images from magazines to create this woman, and I am revealing it to the world now. I think all of these parts would make one very odd looking woman. Ideal maybe, but not real. Let's all take 2017 to appreciate our own unique beauty. Let me know what you think of her look...

Posters of (Jennifer) Love surrounding me, lost in the world of fantasy.
Every night she comes to me and gives me all the love I need.
Now this hot girl, she's not your average girl
She's a morpharotic dream from a magazine.
And she's so fine, designed to blow your mind.
She's a dominatrix supermodel beauty queen!

I dream about a girl who's a mix of Destiny's Child,
Just a little touch Madonna's wild style,
With Janet Jackson's smile. Throw in a body like Jennifer's,
You've got the star of my liquid dreams.

Angelina Jolie's lips to kiss in the dark,
Underneath Cindy C's beauty mark.
When it comes to the test, well Tyra's the best.
And Salma Hayek brings the rest.

Now this hot girl, she's not your average girl.
She's a morpharotic dream from a magazine.
And she's so fine, designed to blow your mind.
She's a dominatrix supermodel beauty queen!

I dream about a girl who's a mix of Destiny's Child,
Just a little touch Madonna's wild style,
With Janet Jackson's smile. Throw in a body like Jennifer's,
You've got the star of my liquid dreams.

Looks ain't everything, she's got the sweetest personality,
Like Halle B.
My mama thinks I'm lazy, my friend all think I'm crazy,
But in my mind, I leave the world behind... every night I dream.

Liquid Dreams, my Liquid Dreams
Waterfall and streams, these liquid dreams...

I dream about a girl who's a mix of Destiny's Child,
Just a little touch Madonna's wild style,
With Janet Jackson's smile. Throw in a body like Jennifer's,
You've got the star of my liquid dreams, my liquid dreams.

Samantha Mumba Lives!

     My friend and I recently pondered what became of 2000's two-hit wonder, Samantha Mumba. She brought us the Now compilation classic hits like Baby, Come on Over and Gotta Tell You, and then disappeared. Good news! She recently had a baby this spring, and she is singing again!

     Samantha performed at an anniversary opening of  large shopping mall/marketplace in Orlando, and she wasn't alone. The Artegon Marketplace event was hosted by Joey Fatone (or as my family calls him, Joey fat one, from a long-ago N*SYNC video joke) and Aaron Carter was also there! All is well with the old 90's crew!

Britney Comes Back to TV, a JTV Special

     In Monday night's Jane the Virgin, the show had a special guest star, none other than Britney. I began this episode being super excited to see the Brit, but I was quickly let down and disappointed.

     Appearances like this  used to be a pretty big deal back in the day, but somehow it made me feel kind of sad. The show opened with Jane taking her baby to the Maribela hotel to stalk Britney, then they got together and did a creepy dreamed-up imaginary dance sequence to one of Britney's much weaker hits, Toxic.

     Something seemed off about Britney in a way I cannot explain, like she might have been forced to do this as a favor to someone, or it was a blackmail scenario? We're way past the days of "eave Britney alone", but I have to wonder, who is she? Could is just be weird for her to act in something that's not the Mickey Mouse Club? Having seen Crossroads (never the full movie, just bits and pieces), we know she is not he best at holding down a feature presentation.

     This led to a much weirder plot where Britney had been invited to Miami to perform at a highly important wedding ceremony. Who's wedding, you may ask? Crazy Petra is blackmailed into marrying a crazy explosives salesman, Miloche.

     The episode got  downright hilarious when Jane's telenovela star dad Rohelio De La Vega (always use his full name) admits to having a feud with Britney over a Latin Grammy Awards presentation. A very serious twitter feud with some "Mean Girls-esque" banter. I did at least laugh at Britney and her dancers began walking around the hotel in one large synchronized group. Is Brit really that desperate for exposure, or am I just not in the joke?

     My favorite Britney tv appearance is when she showed up on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, teaching Sabs some dance moves in Paris. It was also kinda a weird situation,  but it worked because she really seemed like herself, just a teen pop star dancing around with a fan, and not a glambot. Alas, it was during the Drive Me Crazy phase of 199, so maybe Britney was just more of an authentic gal back then.

A Note for Lisa Loeb- The Founder of Emo Hipsterdom

NOTE: I have nothing against Lisa Loeb, I'm just pointing this out.



Feast your eyes on Lisa Loeb. In 1994, she had a big hit single- Stay (I Missed You). As I listened to the iconic song on my drive to work today, I had a loeb-alation. Lisa Loeb may have invented emo music AND HIPSTERS! Hear me out- listen to the song as you watch the original music video. She wears all black, she talks directly in soft tones, she wears big black glasses (at a time when everyone, minus the kids in my elementary school class, were dressing a la Nirvana). Furthermore, she was the only artist at the time to have a Billboard Hot 100 single without being signed to a record label- very un-mainstream. Despite her somewhat recognizable second big single, I Do, Lisa remains largely obscure. She's still making music, but not in heavy radio rotation.



Back to STAY, Lisa plays her guitar, she talks about feeling sad because she misses someone, and she is emotionally wrecked- paving the way for her raw emotion-baring counterparts like Alanis Morisette (I still can't believe she had an affair with Joey from Full House, eww), P!nk, Jewel in her early years, and Natalie Imbruglia (Torn- 1997). Plus, Stay was used quite epically at the end of Ben Stiller's directorial debut movie, Reality Bites (the movie to define the beginning of emo hipsterdom's very existence!), starring the 90's queen and king of emo(tion), Wynonna Ryder and Christina Slater. How did her little song make a major motion picture soundtrack? Little Lisa was a neighbor of Mr. Hawke- such a small world it is....

RB is a fantastic movie that defines what it is to be young and lost, and I immensely respect Stiller's P.O.V. as a fresh new director at the time. I strongly recommend you check it out.