RomyD's BSB Hideaway
AJ Encounter - Vegas, 3/8/2001
Who'd have thought that we'd actually be lucky enough to meet AJ McLean at one of the most beautiful places in Las Vegas??!
After an amazing concert, we got back to the hotel and decided to forget about going to Studio 54 that night because we were tired. So, we decided to freshen up, change and hit the strip for some gambling at 12:30 a.m. We walked down towards the Venetian and decided to swing on by, because none of them (all my buddies...Di(PiC), my mom, Sherry, Heather and Jeanne) had actually seen the inside of the casino. While walking down one of the aisle's of slot machines I noticed someone who looked vaguely familiar over at a circular bar located in the middle of the casino. I recognized him from "The Call" video shoot…he's the guy who's in the picture with AJ! So I mentioned it to Sherry, Jeanne, Heather, my mom and Di and we just kept walking and looking at everything. Di made her way next to me and I kept saying, "I think he's here…I think AJ's here." Then Di immediately turned around and said that if I had a hunch he was there then why aren't we walking in that direction? So I followed her, but the others stayed behind because Di told them to…they asked me where I was going and I told them that Di was on a mission and to stay here so we could find them afterwards.
Di was a few feet in front of me, she was walking so fast! I kept looking around to see if I could find anyone. That's when she said it, "Oh my God, there he is." I turned around and there was AJ sitting at the bar surrounded by about 10 to 15 other people. He was wearing a black, leather jacket with a red stripe down the sleeve and black pants, no sunglasses, black bandana wrapped around his forehead, corn-rows in the hair and no piercing in his lower lip. I immediately looked in the general vicinity just in case he had any "Backstreet" friends, unfortunately, no other boys were there. Di walked straight over to the group of people that immediately surrounded AJ. I kinda blended in with the background as she spoke to an extremely drunk, young lady who initiated a conversation with Di. All I remember her saying was that AJ worked really hard that night and was sorta tired. Di told her that all she wanted was a hug and the girl thought that was sooo sweet. AJ must have heard that because he turned his head and made his way through the people around him straight towards Di and me. Di asked AJ if she could get a hug and he quickly obliged…and me, being the opportunist that I am, also asked for "some love" and AJ said, "of course, love for free". We spoke to him for 10 to 15 minutes about a possible Johnny No Name tour in the states. He said that it depended on the BSB tour and if it kicked up again in June then he would be able to do JNN in May. We also discussed a planned schedule of cities for JNN, Los Angeles was not going to be one of them because we got it the last time…he wanted to bring it around to people who hadn't seen it already. Di asked him when Johnny was going to get into the studio to record his album and AJ said that he really needed to get Johnny working again…really stressing the fact that people don't understand that AJ and Johnny are 2 completely different people. Finally we made our exit because we knew he wanted to relax. Di asked for another hug and she gave him a kiss on the cheek…he turned towards me and I got another one…while hugging him I told him that they did an incredible job tonight and the show was incredible…he thanked me and then we parted ways.
We went back towards Sherry, Jeanne, Heather and my mom and told them the happy news. We told them that he seemed more than willing to talk with us because we didn't act like crazed fans…we didn't even ask for pictures or an autograph! We knew that if we did then it would attract attention and he'd have to leave. We thought it was the best thing to do…
So there you have it...a chance meeting with another Backstreet Boy...it was an amazing night full of fun and friends...something I won't soon forget!
