Playing with the big Boys

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Jun 14, 2099 Source: MacLean's Magazine, June 21, 1999 (Canada) Submitted By: From the Opening Notes section of the magazine: Millions of teenage girls around the world dream about meeting the Backstreet Boys -- but for Caitlin Deachman, that fantasy has come true. The 13-year-old Ottawa girl started a fan Web site (www.backstreet.net) featuring the chiselled twentysomething crooners in January, 1998. Even though it is one of hundreds of Internet sites dedicated to the U.S. pop sensations, it caught the attention of the band's keyboardist and their record company, BMG/Jive. In May, Deachman's encyclopedic 700 pages of text was declared the Backstreet Boys' best "un-official" Internet site. In honour of her Web-whiz status, the band flew her and her mother to New York City. There the teen helped launch the group's second CD, Millennium (which shot immediately to No. 1 on the charts), co-ordinating telephone calls from around the world during a fan conference broadcast live on the Internet. "It was really something. I was on stage with them and had so much fun," says Caitlin. "I just wish I could have had more time to talk with them." Back home, she works on the site two hours a day, updating information and answering e-mail from Backstreet fans around the world. The site now receives 15,000 hits a day (between 20,000 and 25,000 on weekends) and has drawn rave reviews from teen magazines, one of which she now writes for. "My friends really like my Web site," she says. "The guys at school just make fun of it -- but I don't care." Comment on this item. Next Item: J-14 Magazine Special Edition: The Life Story of the Backstreet Boys Prev Item: Let's Hear it For the Boys (St. Paul Pioneer Press)