AJ Interview Mar 4 '00..

[Karen]

Source: 102.7 KIIS FM, Burbank , CA

A.J. - JoJo

JoJo - Hey, A.J., what's happening, man?

A.J. - Oh, not much, man.

JoJo - Are you in Dallas right now? Where you at?

A.J. - Yeah, I'm in Dallas. I - I am sitting inside Johnny Rocket's. I'm just
getting ready to get my chili cheese fries.

JoJo - So you're into health food, too, right?

A.J. - Oh, you know man! (Laughing) Chili cheese fries, extra chili, ranch
dressing, and a fried egg.

JoJo - Excellent, brother, excellent.

A.J. - I'm on a brand new diet, you know. It's called "Lots of Carbs."

JoJo - That's always good. A good chili cheese dog; you can't knock those
things, man, it's a great American past time.

A.J. - Oh, hell no.

JoJo - We gotta give you the official introduction, you guys. Once again,
from the Backstreet Boys, A.J.

(CHEERING)

JoJo - It is my pleasure to have you on the JoJo On The Radio Show. Last time
we talked to you, the last one of the Backstreet Boys we talked to was Howie,
so pass the word on: We said "Hello".

A.J. - I know, I will, man.

JoJo - Lemme see... Grammy's, you guys were in L.A. last with the Grammy's.
Uh... Did you have fun, brother?

A.J. - We had a wonderful time. And, I mean even though we didn't take home
any awards, the way I feel about is I could leave happy with my head high and
so could the rest of us because we had a kick-ass performance.

JoJo- Man, your performance was absolutely... Listen, I mean, I have to give
it up for you. It was amazing.

A.J. - I mean we had so much help...

(CLAPPING)

A.J. - Thank you, man. And I just want to take, like, five quick seconds to
give a shout-out to Ricky Minor (?) and to the guys from Take Six because
they really helped us out a lot.

JoJo - Are you talking about the performance, the uh... You started off with
the old school songs with "Papa was a rolling stone..."

A.J. - Yes, they - Take Six got with us, two of the guys, Mark & Dave from
Take Six got with us and arranged all a cappella with our help. It was so
cool to meet Take Six.

JoJo - Those guys could sing as well, you know.

A.J. - Oh, yes, they can. I grew up listening to them. And then, the whole
Elton John performance was really fun. Elton is just the best.

JoJo - You know that, I guess I can't recall a time where one group or one
performer has performed twice in one Grammy's show. Is that common or
uncommon?

A.J. - No, actually, I believe that was the first time that it was ever done
with us, from what I was told, unless they're just giving us a line, but I
don't know, but...

JoJo - I don't recall.

A.J. - They said, I believe, "You were the first group to ever do it twice."

JoJo - Now was that kinda weird to go on stage, to come back, and then to
kind of warm up for the next time you go out? And...

A.J. - It was, man. I mean, 'cause I had never even heard of "Philadelphia
Freedom", and I don't know if that makes me, like, retarded or what...

(LAUGHING)

A.J. - I have never even heard about that song until two days before we're
supposed to do it. And all the guys are telling me, "Oh, A.J. Once you hear
it, you'll know it," you know, "I'm sure you've heard it." I ain't never
heard it before! JoJo - Yeah, I think we can say, "A.J.'s not retarded!"
(CLAPPING) Not retarded. It's okay. I can't believe you didn't know the song
two days before that.

A.J. - Nope. Everything turned out perfect. I mean, actually, Elton asked to
come into our dressing room and actually sit down with us and go over it. And
you know, hear it, hear us, you know, just any of our ideas that we had to,
like, broaden it, background vocals, or whatnot. And beside that with Elton
and his two background singers, and we got together with all of them and we
tried to just arrange it and figured out what it was that we were gonna sing,
and it turned out great. I actually have a permanent scar from Elton's
jacket, because... (LAUGHING) He was wearing a jacket by Versace and it had,
like, these 14 carat gold doled razor blade looking things on it, and when I
hugged him on stage good-bye, it cut my hand.

JoJo - Are you kidding me?

A.J. - I am dead serious. And now it's, like, with this scar on the top of my
hand in between my knuckles that I will never, ever forget Elton John because
his suit jacket gave me a fricking scar.

JoJo - Good thing that you didn't, like, give him a body hug! I mean, my God!
You'd be dead!

A.J. - I would have been all sliced up!

JoJo - A.J. killed by Elton John... News @ 11! (LAUGHING) Last night, I took
a little survey here with people that wanted to come in and help me do the
interview, and I got this girl named Vanity from Laguna Miguel who has one
question to ask you. She put it brilliantly, better than I'll ever do in any
interview, so Vanity, step to the microphone and ask A.J. the question.

(CLAPPING)

JoJo - Look out, A.J. She's good, man.

Vanity - Hi, A.J.

A.J. - How you doing, sweetheart?

Vanity - I'm doing well, and yourself?

A.J. - I'm doing just peachy.

Vanity - Ok, here's my question. Are you ready?

A.J. - I'm ready.

Vanity - Ok. With the recent engagement of Brian and Kevin, do you feel it
puts pressure on yourself and the remaining members of the group to stay
single for the fans and the media, or is their engagement a reminder to you
about having to grow up, settle down, and finding your true love?

JoJo - Oh, my God! That's deep.

(APPLAUDING)

A.J. - Wow, that's a good question. Man, I don't know. I mean, you were
asking some good ones, but that's a damn good question.

JoJo - That's a good one, Vanity.

A.J. - Honestly, Vanity, to be honest with you, I think it is a sign of
growth because all of us, eventually, have to grow up someday, and that means
everyone besides Backstreet Boys, and us as a unit and as a family, each of
us someday have to grow up and move on and have a family, and we've talked
about it in many interviews in our past, but I'm actually really proud for
Kevin and Brian and I hope they're very happy with their future wives, and
hopefully, I'll be doing it myself someday, but not any time soon, but, you
know, I'm just happy with me and my girlfriend and I'm sure Nick is happy
with his girlfriend, and Nick's a little young, anyways, and so am I. You
know, I've got to get my career going and keep on doing what I'm doing and I
wanna make sure that my girlfriend's happy with her life and her career and I
just think it's gonna be a shock to everyone at first, but if our fans truly
love us and truly respect what we do and love us as people besides Backstreet
Boys, then I think they'll understand that, you know what? These guys gotta
do something that makes them happy, and if they're happy then we're happy.

JoJo - Is Howie the only one that doesn't have a girlfriend? 'Cause he's
gonna get a lotta babes, now.

(LAUGHING)

A.J. - Howie's gonna have lots of babes, man. Howie's the man. Howie's the
only one that doesn't have a girlfriend. Howie's, you know, just dating. So
Howie's gonna be the man for the next couple of years.

JoJo - Oh, right on, right on. This Johnny Suede character you have going on.
Do you care to touch on that?

A.J. - Uh, yeah, um...

JoJo - By the way, is your chili cheese dog gone yet?

A.J. - Actually, yes, it is, but I do wanna just touch on that before I have
to go.

JoJo - OK

A.J. - We're actually coming out on the 27th. We have a show in L.A.

JoJo - Now, I was talking to your buddy, you know, Eric Podwell? Your buddy
Eric?

A.J. - Yeah.

JoJo - I was chatting with him about that. We were out at the club the other
night. He mentioned some things to me about that, but I promised I wouldn't
say anything on the radio 'til I got word from you, so...

A.J. - Yup, it's, uh, actually, it's no longer Johnny Suede. It's now called
Johnny No-Name because apparently there was a guy that did a movie a while
ago with Brad Pitt called "Johnny Suede".

JoJo - Oh, that's right.

Vanity - I remember that.

A.J. - And, yeah, and he has the right to the name, so I can't use it, unless
I wanna pay him some un-guyly crap. So...

JoJo - So, enough of that huh?

A.J. - So, I'm just gonna go in as Johnny No-Name, but I think everyone will
catch on. And then, we already had one show back at the Hard Rock in Orlando,
and it was all for charity. And just like the shows that are coming up, it's
all for charity. We're going on tour for about a good week, and it's all for
charity for VH1: Save the Music and/or my diabetes fund that I have just
recently set up.

JoJo - OK.

A.J. - You will definitely be hearing a lot about it then. But you gotta
promise me that you're gonna come and see the first show.

JoJo - Dude, actually , you know what? Maybe this should be off-air stuff. I
was chatting with Eric about coming over there and I think being a part of
like, you know, getting the tickets going whenever you announce it, whenever
you decide. And kinda going on and maybe doing any emcee thing you guys want
me to do, so I'm all over that.

A.J. - Yeah, man! Come on and fricking host it, dude!

Vanity - Can I host?

A.J. - It's gonna be one giant party.

JoJo - Mm-hmm. Dude, I am all over it, brother.

A.J. - Well, sounds good, buddy.

JoJo - Man, it's awesome to talk to you. When you get in town, we'll have to
hook up and do some grub or whatever. And Vanity, nice job, as well.

Vanity - Thank you.

A.J. - Thank you very much, Vanity

Vanity - Thank you so much. You're such a sweetheart!

JoJo - Ladies and gentlemen, A.J. of the Backstreet Boys!

--
~~Karen~~

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