Mom and Dad find quiet and coffee waiting in the Parents Room

Back - Index - Submissions - Backstreet.net RSS News Feed - What is RSS?

Date: Nov 16, 2099
Source: The Buffalo News
Submitted By:
Y

By MARY KUNZ
News Arts Reporter
11/15/99

'Twas the night before the Backstreet Boys concert, and Tammy Brant of Newfane, was bringing three girls to the show at Marine Midland Arena. A fourth girl, a friend's daughter, had been dying to go, too. But there were only four tickets.

Then Brant found out about the Parents Room: a place in the Arena (the Harbor Club, actually) where parents could wait out the show while their kids grooved outside. "I don't need my ticket after all," Brant reasoned. She phoned the ecstatic fourth girl, offering her the ticket. "She found out at midnight last night," Brant beamed.

Such St. Nick stories weren't unusual in the Parents Room, which played host to at least 500 parents Sunday night. Here's how it works: Parents sign up at a table in the lobby. The kids they brought are noted on a list, along with their seat locations. In go the kids, shepherded by ushers, while the parents don bracelets and are taken to the Parents Room.

That's where they'll stay until the last two songs, when they're free to meet their young charges. Without tickets, parents don't have the right to visit their kids. What they can do, though, is wait in comfort. The concert is manageably broadcast on TV screens; the bass and drums are a muffled pulse. There's carpeting, big round tables and a spread of complimentary snacks, including coffee, tortilla chips and salsa.

Surprisingly, few parents brought books or diversions. Instead, they talked. At one table, Nancy Maroney laughed with a new acquaintance, Jean Kelchlin, about the concert program her three daughters had begged for. "Twenty dollars," said Maroney, of South Buffalo, rolling her eyes. "They're going to fight over it."

"Can I see?" Kelchlin asked. "I'll give you a dollar," she joked.

Dawn Thompson had trekked her daughter and a friend in from Syracuse. And she counted herself lucky; the kids, desperate, had been suggesting Backstreet concerts as remote as New Brunswick. In Buffalo, Thompson hooked up with her sister, Laurie Antonio of Niagara Falls, and their aunt, Mary Lou Fiordalice. "This is like a social event for us," Fiordalice beamed, as they shared a table. "This is so nice of the arena."

Before the show, Fiordalice volunteered her North Tonawanda home for a pre-concert party. Nine girls attended. "They posted the boys' pictures, so Aunt Mary Lou could see the band," Fiordalice said. "I kept thinking: Was I like this about Frank Sinatra?"

Parents they laughed about the lengths to which their daughters went to catch the band's eye. Antonio's and Thompson's girls craftily brought along red and white glow sticks, colors not on sale at the Arena. Four kids brought in by Peter Sherlock of Williamsville went even farther. "They painted N-I-C-K on their bellies," he said.

"We had to get them to eat," he added. "They were so excited they were afraid they'd throw up."

The roomful, in general, took a bright view of the band. "They're nice, clean-cut boys," said Mary Alexander of Ellicottville. Robert Binner, of Jamestown, agreed. "They're OK. I'd rather see Bruce Springsteen," he shrugged.

Fiordalice said, "It's super for little girls to let their dreams come true."

Comment on this item.

Recent Comments

Submitted by: Barneyxcq

CvBThg http://www.LnAJ7K8QSpfMO2wQ8gO.com

Comment on this item.

Next Item: Boys delight screaming fans with their huge reservoirs of talent
Prev Item: The Boys awash in cash

Back - Top - Home - Contact - Privacy

Translate To: Spanish German French Italian Portuguese Japanese Korean Chinese

This is a fan site. This is a Backstreet archive. This is Your site.

Serving fans since 1997.