Kalamazoo Gazette Review: 3/13/00, East Lansing, MI

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Mar 17, 2000 Source: Kalamazoo Gazette Submitted By: Holysz@aol.com The Backstreet Boys are growing up East Lansing - Bet you never thought you'd hear jazz music at a Backstreet Boys concert. But if you were one of the 14,000 screaming fans who attended the heartthrobs' sold-out "Into the Millennium" show Monday at the Breslin Center, you heard a little jazz and funk amidst all the breathy ballads and splashy R&B dance numbers. It's all a part of the bid for respectability that began with the release of last year's blockbuster "Millennium" album and this tour, the second leg of which began after New Year and concludes this week in Toronto. "Millennium" showed off a more mature sound, especially on grownup ballads like the lovely hit "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely" and earned the group a Grammy nomination, something that seemed unfathomable when the group first broke on theses shores four years ago. It wasn't that long ago that BSB looked like an exploitive Svengali's cheesy ploy to pick millions from the pockets of teen and pre-teen girls everywhere. Their manger created them with just that in mind. But the Backstreets took on a life of their own and they fired their former boss, signing on with Korn's managers, who've given this photogenic quintet a chance to grow some substance to go with its style. The contrast is obvious on stage. The Backstreet Boys have grown up a lot since their first U.S. tour in 1997. Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, A.J. McLean, and Howie Dorough are better singers, dancers, and entertainers. They've learned that it's better to give to an audience if you're going to take from them (in the form of substantial ticket prices and extensive merchandising, from glow sticks to "limited edition" comic books). The "Millennium" show, which sold out three performances last November at The Palace, is lavishly staged, hit-filled, two-hour production that has the group working 110 percent and shows off its growing vocal skills, particularly on harmonies. The stage is pentagon-shaped (one side for each of BSB's five members) and was filled with a jamming six-member band, 10 spirited dancers, plenty of pyrotechnics and even a few moms and daughters, who were brought up from the audience for a touching version of "Perfect Fan" a tribute Littrell, the group's best singer, wrote for his mother. There are numerous costumes changes, slick choreography and a couple of neat flying stunts. One ushers the group in on skyboards to the strains of "Larger Than Life." The other swings them out within grabbing distance of their adoring fans, mostly girls and their moms. It's a neat trick, but they don't really need it. If anything, the stunt distracted form the sweetness of the song they were singing, "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)," and would have worked better on one of their flashier numbers. Really, it was the pretty stuff that worked best, particularly during a ballad segment late in the show that came to a rousing finish with the lush harmonies of their prettiest song, "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely." BSB worked very hard last night to make sure none of their fans left feeling lonely, or empty handed. Even the numerous costume changes were made a little more palatable by the band, which often launched into funk or jazz jams to fill the gaps. No tapes, no dead space, just live music played with heart. Bet you skeptics out there didn't think they were capable of that. - By Doug Pullen Gazette News Service Comment on this item. 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I'm sure that pales in cimsaropon to having submitted a letter of resignation and then having the terms of the employment changed afterwards .that is just so incredibly underhanded that Mr. Miller did the right thing I'd take it as a sign of how they do business no thanks.Insofar as what to do if the entrenched appointee is the root cause. Petitions would be a good start but you have to know your commissioners to understand if such petitions would be accepted and acted on. Reviewing the laws that made the creation of the position could be procured with a FOIA request. This would be needed to understand what provivions exist to undo/unseat. Often such positions exist in part via a contract (also subject to a FOIA request to get the specifics including the length of contract and provisions which the contract could be undone. In the case from my personal experience a governing board can simply choose not to renew the contract at the end of the contract. Also can it be done via recall or can the law that created the position be undone via referendum (most likely not)? If not you'd need enough candidates in enough districts that could unseat any incumbents not so inclined. You can't just simply recall or unseat the incumbents unless you have a viable pool of candidates to backfill for folks to get behind it unseating government without a tangible plan to backfill is a bad plan that simply would lead to chaos. Frankly your best bet would be to unseat via election as recall is subject to appointment rules and the survivors could simply appoint more of the same.Anything that can be done can be undone with enough persistence and understanding the rules of engagement. Once upon a time I had to deal with two appointees and a few elected folks that made all one cozy little arrangement. One of those appointees was entrenched for about 16 years. Before they were done, they left a legacy of expense that residents feel today (see the story about the sewer billing fiasco if you want just one example of one of their gifts that keep on giving). And now nearly all of them are out of office and most have also left town leaving one heckuva mess for others to clean up. If you think that was fun or easy or without personal cost .you are mistaken. It took several years for domino's to start to fall and in that time I have had more character attacks than I care to count. I've had personal attacks in papers and even had the previous TR Mayor accuse me in a televised City meeting of libel and asked the city attorney to have me investigated for libel only to refuse my invitation the next day to present supporting documents, an hour of commission time and a projector to go through page by page. That doesn't count the threatening phone calls in the middle of the night. 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