Backstreet Mom: A Mother's Tale of Backstreet Boy AJ McLean's Rise to Fame, Struggle With Addiction, and Ultimate Triumph (43 page)

When Alex came home, he had about six days to rehearse the show
and buy wardrobes for himself and the band. We decided to give the
proceeds to the VHI Save The Music Foundation, as they were a pleasure to work with and made very few demands of Alex. All that they
really asked for were a few meet-and-greets and a press conference. They
gave us a ton of support on the promotional end of things and helped us
get in touch with some major networks to cover the shows. Since we
only played in small venues that held from 1,500 to 4,000 patrons, that meant we could charge a minimal amount and still make some money
by selling out the shows.

By the time the tickets went on sale, there was a real buzz about the
concert. Most of the shows sold out quickly. We probably could have
held the concerts in larger halls, but we needed to keep our costs down.
Some of the venues we played in were ones that the Backstreet Boys had
performed in on their first tour. Our friend and booking agent from
New York, David Zedeck, got us great deals from the promoters. He
helped us cut expenses so that we could make a profit.

The promoters were easy to deal with. The fact that they had known
the booking agent and me for so many years helped us get some very
sweet deals. David had
been the natural choice
for booking the tour. He
was a dear and trusted
friend. He also helped
me find a good tour accountant. Alex promised
some of the staff from
the Backstreet tour that
they would have a place
with him on his tour, so
I had to make good on
those offers as well.

At Christinis Restaurant in Orlando for my fortyeighth birthday

I was less than thrilled
with that, since The
Firm had hired them
and I did not know them
very well. Most of them
turned out to be independent contractors who were reasonably loyal to whomever was signing their paychecks. I negotiated reduced rates with everyone since our
goal was to raise as much money as possible for the charity

We named the tour the Nine City Swang. I tried my best to keep an
eye on Alex during the tour and he tried to stay healthy by eating right
and getting enough sleep, but it was hard for him to resist partying with
the hand. A few times I really had to get on his case so that he did not
get into trouble.

Looking hack, I think that Alex was nervous about performing solo.
As the tour progressed, he improvised more in an attempt to make the
show more entertaining for the fans. He got great reviews. The only hitch we came across was with his name. The writer who allowed us to
use it for the first show asked for a lot of money to use it again. We
refused and subsequently dropped the name. Alex and the band tried to
come up with a new name, but they couldn't think of anything appropriate, so he became Johnny No-Name.

As we moved from city to city, the press became more intrigued by
his new persona. Alex invented an entire background biography for his
character. It was a little bizarre, but it caught the magazines' attention
and they loved it. The more he talked about Johnny, the more stories he
was able to invent.

The main question everyone kept asking was, "How come Johnny
and AJ from the Backstreet Boys are never seen anywhere at the same
time?" Alex's answer to that was that Johnny was always in jail when AJ
was out in public. AJ usually appeared at the end of the show, when he
performed the final number and the encore.

We hit all the major cities, including New York, Chicago, Las Vegas
and Los Angeles. As the tour went along, Alex's confidence in his abilities as a solo artist grew. Paralleling that growth was an improvement in
our communication with each other. I felt better about that, but Alex
still had a difficult time dealing with his grandmother's illness. Unless I
called her and personally handed him the phone, he avoided the issue.
I tried to talk to him about the inevitable outcome of her disease, but he
did not want any part of that conversation.

Alex, Nina and me in Las Vegas

I also talked to him about his drinking. He said he knew that there
was a problem, but that he was getting it under control. That was not
the case. After each show,
he was so fired up by the
excitement of it all that he
went out with the band to
blow off steam. Once he
returned to his hotel room,
he took some over-thecounter sedatives in an effort to get some sleep. I
warned him that was a dangerous combination and
tried to get him to stop, but
he insisted that he understood the dangers and knew what he was doing. Almost every night, he went out until dawn
and then slept all day. He said that was the only way he could get some
rest.

I felt helpless and frustrated. Since he clearly was not ready to admit the severity of his problem, or ask for help, all I could do was
stand by and watch him slowly destroy himself. My hope was that he
would seek professional help once the tour ended. I enlisted the help
of other people on the tour to talk to him and our combined efforts
seemed to make a difference. Finally, Alex said that he realized that we
were trying to help him and he agreed to see a professional once we
returned to Florida.

I called my brother and asked for his help. I knew that the core of the
problem was with his grandmother's illness, so I focused on trying to
find Alex a therapist who would be able to tackle that as well as the rest
of his problems.

When we completed the tour for Johnny No-Name, we were able to
hand the Save the Music Foundation a check for around $50,000, after
expenses were deducted. The show had been very popular among AJ's
fans. We started getting numerous e-mails, letters and phone calls asking when Johnny would perform again and how his fans could help with
donations for the charity. That prompted an idea.

Fooling around with an expensive prop during a video shoot in Las Vegas

Alex and I decided to form a foundation to support his future Johnny
No-Name shows. He discussed it with the other boys and no one seemed
to object, so I went to work setting it up. We called it the JNN Foundation and with it we could raise money for various charities. I felt that
would be a way to showcase Alex's philanthropic efforts. He even seeded the foundation from his own pocket.

BY THE END OF 2000, the Backstreet Boys tour was complete and everyone took a break for the holidays. That gave us time to tie up some loose
ends with the foundation. It was during that time that we planned one
more Johnny No-Name show that would take place at the end of the
year. Once again, we called on our friends at the Hard Rock Cafe.

We were able to schedule a year-end bash at which Johnny No-Name
could fill the house with a fan party. We used that occasion to let everyone know about the newly formed JNN Foundation that would go into
full swing the following year. We sold out the place and raised more
money for several local charities of our choice.

When Alex finally came home, he was visibly shocked at how frail
his grandmother had become. The sight of her affected him more than
we realized. He started making excuses to travel out of town for socalled Backstreet business. He befriended a local glommer, who claimed
to own a record label in Orlando, and he started writing and producing
for some of the artists on that label. Eventually, I found out this friend
was a bartender that worked for a local poolroom.