Cali Girl Convention
© 2001

When I had first suggested the idea to Lena, a friend of mine in 
Sacramento, the owner of the CaliBSBgirls list that I belonged to, she 
thought it was great. A convention so all the Cali girls could meet. We 
started planning for the following summer, giving us plenty of time to 
organize. Since it was my idea, I was the one who got to make all the 
arrangements and handle all the publicity and phone calls. Lena was my 
co-cooridnator, mainly because the group was hers. 

I found the perfect spot in Sacramento, at their convention center on J 
Street. Then I had to worry about invitations and sponsors and food and 
every little thing. Fortunately for me, I had a couple of connections. 
I managed to get MIX 96.1 out of Sacramento to sponsor us. I also 
secured Sweet Tomatoes to do dinner for the function and Chevy's to do 
lunch. Once I had those basics taken care of, I cooperated with Lena to 
get invites done. For some strange reason, I sent one to the official 
Backstreet Boys fan club to let them know what we were doing. I didn't 
know why. 

Well, I started getting RSVP cards back as we got closer to the date we 
had picked. Having grown to two hundred members in a little more than a 
year and a half, I was surprised to see our final count around one 
hundred and sixty. I told the restaurants catering the event and they 
got to work. I arranged hotels for the out of town people who were 
coming and soon everything was in place.

It was Thursday. I was going to be heading to Sacramento that evening 
from my home up in Chico. I would be staying with Lena. I had a couple 
of appointments to take care of the next day there in Sac, so I had to 
be there. I was packing my bag when I heard the phone ring. Racing for 
the other room, I glanced at the caller ID. Noticing a number from out 
of the state with no name listed, I picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hi, may I speak with Becca please?" a woman said on the other end.

"This is she."

"Hi, this is Sandra, publicity agent for the Backstreet Boys. I wanted 
to let you know that the Boys have agreed to come to your convention."

It took a second for the words to register in my brain. When they did, 
all I could say was, "Huh?"

"I'm sorry it's so late," Sandra said. "We had to rearrange some things 
and get some things in order. We've already contacted Sacramento. 
Here's what going to happen. They are going to fly into Sacramento 
International Airport into Terminal...B. It has been completely cleared 
of flights between eleven and eleven-thirty that morning. You will be 
the one to pick them up at eleven-ten. A limousine will be at the 
convention center to pick you up at ten-forty. That is where you'll be 
right?"

"Yeah," I answered, still not quite believing my ears.

"After you pick them up at the airport, you will be escorted by the 
police back to the convention center. No one is to know of this. They 
are staying at the Hyatt Regency. And will be leaving the following 
day."

"Okay. Sac International, eleven-ten. I think I got it." My heart was 
pounding. I couldn't believe it! I had just sent them the invitation 
just for the hell of it, just to kinda say, "Hey, look what we're 
doing!" and here they were, coming to see us! I couldn't wait to tell 
Lena. Then I realized I couldn't tell her. It was a surprise.

"Alright," Sandra said, "the Boys are really looking forward to meeting 
you. Have a good time."

"Thanks," I sighed and hung up the phone. I then picked up the phone 
again and called Lena. She answered on the third ring. "Lena, its 
Becca. We've got a tiny problem."

"What? Mix cancelled? Sweet Tomatoes isn't doing dinner? What?" she 
said frantically.

"No. Nothing that big. If it were big, I would have said it was big. 
This is tiny. I need you to do check-in for me."

"Why?" she asked cautiously.

"Because I've gotta go pick up a special guest at the airport at 
eleven-ten."

"This special guest wouldn't happen to be the Backstreet Boys, would 
it?"

"Hell no! I don't know them, I don't claim to know them, and if they 
were coming, you'd be the first to know! No, it's just someone who 
called me a few minutes ago. Said she was coming in then. I have to go 
pick her up. I'll let you know when we're on our way to the center 
okay? But until then, I can't tell you who it is and you have to do 
check-in for me. I need a final count when I call you."

I heard Lena sigh on the other end. "Sure, I'll take care of it."

"Thank you thank you thank you. Well, I gotta go. I gotta call Mix and 
make sure they can do the remote broadcast and such okay? So I'll talk 
to you later."

We said our goodbyes and hung up. I really didn't have to call Mix. I 
would tell Dave Diamond when he got there what was going on, but I 
needed an excuse to get off the phone with Lena.

The next two days passed in a blur. I drove to Sacramento the next day 
and stayed with my best friend Heather. In between my setting up at the 
convention center with black and blue helium filled balloons and black 
and blue streamers and everything else being black and blue, I spent a 
little time with my best friend planning her wedding. We had a blast as 
she watched me set up the rooms for venders and for lunch and dinner. 
It was great.

On Saturday, the day of the convention, I was down at the center at 
nine. Vender check-in was at ten, and I wanted to be there extra early 
to make sure that everything would work out and to fix any last minute 
problems. Exactly at ten, KYMX, Mix 96 showed up. Dave Diamond and a 
couple of interns came walking in and I told them where they could set 
up. In a matter of ten minutes he was set up and on the air. At ten-
thirty, Lena came stumbling in and I introduced her to Dave. Dave then 
put me on the air.

"Good Saturday morning. This is Dave Diamond out here at the Sacramento 
Convention Center on J Street for a very special event. It's the first 
time gathering of the California Backstreet Boys fan club. And with me 
right now is event coordinator, Backstreet Becca. Good morning Becca, 
how's it going?" he said, holding the microphone in front of my face.

"Good morning Dave. So far so good."

"So tell me, what made you think about having a get-together?"

I smiled. "Well, we usually have get-togethers at concerts when a good 
chunk of us are going and occasionally we meet up just for no reason. 
But that's usually local chapters, it's never the whole group. So I 
decided about last year that we should hold a state-wide gathering so 
we all could meet face to face."

"Now how well do you all know each other?"

"Pretty well, I'd say. We've all been chatting online now for almost 
two years, some of us longer. Many of us have met up with others in the 
group. And a lot of us are friends already."

"So tell us what's going on today?"

"Well, like you said, it is our first gathering of the whole group. 
We're gonna have lunch today provided by Chevy's Fresh Mex of 
Sacramento. And we're also gonna have dinner, a buffet provided by 
Sweet Tomatoes of Sacramento. We've got karaoke lined up, tons of 
vendors, many of which from the charities the Backstreet Boys have 
started. Um, CDNOW is here along with Artist Direct selling 
merchandise. And then of course we've got KYMX, Mix 96 out here who I 
hear has promised to play Backstreet at the top of every hour."

Dave smiled. "Yes, that's right, we are. We got your letter and were 
very surprised to hear that you got the entire Sacramento group 
supporting Mix 96. I can't tell you how many emails we got from all of 
you. We love the Cali girls."

"And the Cali girls love Mix 96!" I said. We both started laughing. Out 
of the corner of my eye I noticed a very confused man walk into the 
main room where Mix was set up. I pointed and waved in his direction 
and Dave got the hint.

"Well Becca, we hope to be talking to you more throughout the day."

"Thanks Dave," I said.

"Again, this is Dave Diamond out here at an invitation only party for 
the California Backstreet Boys fan club. If you'd like more information 
on joining the club, you call us at the station; we have their website. 
You're listening to more soft rock with less talk on Mix 96.1." He put 
the microphone down and pulled the headphones off his head.

"Dave. I've gotta go get someone. I need to tell you, you CANNOT 
announce who this someone is on the air. It's secret. Just for us."

Dave nodded. "Alright. I can do that. Are they going to be here all 
day?"

"Yes. Um. I'll be gone till about eleven-thirty I would think. If you 
need anything more, um, Lena is doing check-in, so. She's kinda like 
our club president if you really wanna get technical." Dave nodded 
again, and I headed over to the young man who had walked in. He was 
wearing a black suit, had short brown hair, and blue eyes.

"Are you Becca?" he asked.

"Yes. You must be the driver sent to pick me up to go get them?" I 
asked.

He nodded and led me outside into the waiting limousine. I had never 
been in a limo before, so I stared, touching everything. In my lap I 
held a black piece of cardboard holding a vinyl record of the 
Backstreet Boys single "Shape of my Heart." I also had a silver pen. I 
had grabbed it right before we left, knowing I would most definitely 
want to get the Boys autographs. That and I wanted to see their jaws 
drop when I asked them to sign my record.

I rode to the airport in silence, not sure what to say. When we arrived 
at Terminal B, the driver, whose name was Jeremy, held open the door 
for me and said, "They'll be coming in to gate 32, and uh, afterwards, 
there will be a van here to escort the bodyguards and we will be led 
back to the convention center."

"Thank you," I said and headed inside. I looked around. The only people 
who were there at eleven were the workers for each of the airlines. 
There were no people bustling about to try and get to gates, no one 
running around lost, no one standing in line at the food counters on 
the first floor. I ran up the stairs to the second floor where the 
gates were. I was quickly ushered through the security checkpoint and 
metal detector. I found gate 32 and waited. There was an attendant 
there and she was very nice to me, realizing whom I was there for. I 
wasn't waiting long when she was told that the plane would be landing 
and began setting up for the Boys to deplane. I never understood when 
"Plane" and "Train" became verbs, but people were always "deplaning" 
and "detraining." I stood there; practically shaking like a leaf, as I 
watched seven big buff black men come walking out of the corridor. 
"Hi," I squeaked out. "You must be the bodyguards." They looked at me 
with stern faces and nodded curtly. I smiled weakly as I turned and 
watched the corridor. The seven men fanned out; quickly checking the 
area to make sure it was secure and then came back to stand near the 
exit. Nick was the first one off, followed by Kevin, AJ, Howie and then 
Brian. I said my hellos to the first three, shaking hands as they each 
came near me. I then came back and took Howie's hand. "Hola," I said in 
Spanish. "¿Còmo está?" I asked him.

He smiled at me and replied. "Muy bien, gracias. ¿Y tú?"

I shook my head slightly and replied, "Bien."

Howie looked at me quizzically for a second before asking, "¿Hablo 
español?"

I chuckled slightly. "Eh, un pocito. Not much. That's about the extent 
of my Spanish. That and I know how to ask where the bathroom is. So I’m 
set to go to Mèxico!" I laughed and so did Howie.

"I can't say you're the first fan to speak Spanish to me, but that was 
neat. I wasn't expecting that."

"Well, I'm full of surprises." I then walked over to Brian. In American 
Sign Language, I asked him "How are you?"

He smiled and placed his left thumb to his chest and moved his hand up 
and down slightly. He was telling me he was fine.

I then asked him if the flight was okay. He nodded his head. I regarded 
him for a second and then asked in sign, "How much Sign do you know?" 
He stared at me with a questioning look in his face. I repeated the 
question this time with voice as well.

He laughed. "Not much," he told me. "The basics really. How did you 
know I knew sign?"

I smiled. "I saw you sign 'thank you' at the last concert in San Diego 
on the previous tour. That and I heard you signed 'I love you' to your 
wife when you were in the hospital. So I was taking a big guess." 

He laughed at me again. "How much do you know?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Probably not much more than you. I, uh, do 
you know, like ten or something songs of yours."

"Really? I'd like to see that sometime."

Just then one of the big security guards came over and said to 
everyone, "We should get going."

I nodded my agreement. "That we should. We have all day." The men 
around me laughed and we headed for the exit. The bodyguards split up, 
four in front of us and three flanking us making sure no fans tried to 
jump us. There was not a fan in sight. The big men made sure everyone 
got into the limo safely and then climbed into a white unmarked van. As 
we drove away from the airport, two motorcycle cops got in front of us 
and two more followed behind. Sitting in the limo with the guys, I was 
overjoyed and they could tell.

"Are you okay?" AJ asked me.

"Yeah," I breathed. "I just never thought I'd be sitting next to you 
guys. Wow." I then took a moment to savor my surroundings. With it 
eternally etched in my mind, I decided to loosen things up. "AJ," I 
said turning towards the man sitting beside me, "could you touch me 
please?" He raised an eyebrow at me. "Anywhere's fine. Shoulder, arm, 
wherever." He gave me an awkward smile and then placed a hand gingerly 
on my shoulder. I sat there for a moment with AJ's hand on me. I sighed 
and shivered and then said, "I've had better." AJ immediately caught on 
to what I was referring to and started laughing. The rest of the guys 
were quick to follow suit. I laughed with them and then reached behind 
me and pulled out the black sheathed vinyl record. Sitting it on my 
lap, I gingerly said to them, "Guys, could you sign my record?"

"Don't you mean your CD?" Howie said.

"No, I mean my record," I replied, handing the album over to Kevin. "I 
wouldn't call it an album because it's only one song. But yes, I still 
refer to them as records or albums, depending on my mood."

Kevin looked at the large piece of cardboard in his hands and uttered 
the phrase, "Oh my God. Where did you get this?"

"CDNOW," I told them. "I've only played it once and well, I'd like you 
all to sign the jacket. I brought a special pen, but you don't have to 
do it now. You can do it later."

They all looked at it. "Hey, it's our song!" Nick said reading the 
label. "I didn't know we put out a record?"

"I didn't think we did either," Kevin replied. "There was talk of it, 
but I didn't think Jive would actually go through with it."

I grinned. "Well, it wasn't very expensive. And I love showing it off! 
It's so cool for me to tell my friends, 'I own a Backstreet Record!' 
Its so much fun!" The guys laughed.

"We'll sign it later, okay?" Brian said. I nodded.

I reached behind me and picked up my cell phone. Dialing Lena's cell 
number I waited for her to answer. "Hi," she said.

"Hi Lena. The eagle has landed. We are enroute. ETA maybe ten minutes. 
How's check-in going?"

"Check-in is just about done."

"What's the final count?"

Lena thought for a minute. "I think it's one hundred fifty-three."

"Is that counting you and me?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Tell Chevy's and Sweet Tomatoes the final count is one hundred 
sixty-five."

"A hundred sixty-five? Where'd the extra twelve come from?"

"Wow Lena. You subtract fast. You'll know when we get there. I can't 
tell you until then, okay?"

Lena sighed. "Alright. I'll tell them. I'm trusting you."

"Girl. This is going to be one big fat surprise. You are going to love 
me. Hell, everyone is going to love me. Just trust me on this."

She sighed again. "Okay. See you in ten." We hung up.

Once I hung up, Kevin said, "So no one knows huh?"

"Nope, me, you, the driver and the bodyguards are the only ones."

"Too bad you can't keep it that way," Brian said. I chuckled. Leave it 
to Brian to want to remain hidden.

"You are going to make a hundred and fifty girls' days here in a 
minute," I told them.

"Glad we could help," Howie said.

"Hey, there's something we wanted to talk to you about," Nick said to 
me.

"What?"

"Well," Kevin started, "we've kinda been watching the group for a while 
now and well, we would like to make it an official fan club."

I laughed. "That's funny. I thought you just said you wanted to make 
the Cali Girls an official fan club."

"I did," Kevin said seriously.

My breath caught in my throat. "I really can't say for that. I'm just 
the event coordinator. You'll have to talk to Lena about that."

"Sure thing," Howie replied.

"So you'd really like to make us an official fan club?" I choked out.

Brian smiled and placed a hand on my arm. "Yes. Like Kevin said, we've 
been watching the group for a while now and we like the way you gals 
organize stuff. The fundraisers, the gatherings, the fanbooks, it's 
really incredible."

"Plus there'd be benefits," Nick added.

"Like what?" I inquired skeptically.

"Merchandising, publicity, first grab at tickets and such," AJ said.



I looked at Kevin. "Would you guys be willing to give us Cali Girls the 
first grab at all California shows you guys do?"

"Well, talk about it," he replied.

I looked around the small enclosure, relishing the fact that I was 
sitting in between the Backstreet Boys. Before I knew it, we were 
pulling up at the convention center. I instructed them to let me out in 
front and for them to go around back and I would go in and introduce 
them. They agreed. I got out of the limo and walked thru the front 
door. I caught Lena's eye and she came running over to me. "So who is 
this special guest?" she begged.

"You'll see. Where's Dave?"

"Just finishing up an on air plug, why?"

"We need to get all the Cali girls into the main room. I wanna 
introduce our special guest." Lena nodded, still not knowing what to 
think about me and my special guest. She walked over to Dave and when 
he finished and was playing another song, he announced that he needed 
everyone into the main room.

In the main room, a small stage had been set up, mainly for when we did 
karaoke later in the day, but it was really gonna come in handy here in 
a second. I walked back behind the curtain into the staging area. There 
I found the five Backstreet Boys and their seven bodyguards. I really 
had no idea why they had seven, but okay, whatever. "Are you guys 
ready?" I asked. They all nodded and I sighed. "Good, because I'm not."

AJ placed a hand on my shoulder. "Sure you are."

I looked up at him. "If you tell me to picture the crowd in their 
underwear I'll hit you."

He grinned at me. "No, that's what I'm gonna do." I rolled my eyes and 
heaved another breath.

"Okay. Here I go." I walked away from them and up onto the stage. The 
seven bodyguards split themselves up. Five of them went to the front 
and stood in front of the stage to prevent people from trying to get on 
stage. The remaining two each took a ladder onto the stage to keep 
someone from trying to get up that way. Walking out on that stage, I 
noticed Lena staring at me. My friends from Fresno, Laura and Kelly 
were also staring at me. Everyone in the room was looking at me with 
this big fat question on their faces, "What the hell is up with the 
bodyguards?"

I took the microphone from Dave, who was standing on the side of the 
stage, just to make sure nothing technical went wrong. "Can everyone 
hear me?" I said into the mic. Most people nodded. "Are we all here?" I 
saw a few stragglers come in along with a couple of the venders poking 
their heads in. "Come on in, guys. You're more than welcome to sit down 
and join us," I told the vendors. I smiled, before continuing. "Well, I 
wanna welcome you all to the first annual Cali BSB Girls state wide 
gathering!" Most people applauded, some yelled. "Hopefully, we'll do 
this again next year. As of right now, I wanna thank our wonderful 
sponsors. KYMX Mix 96.1 and Dave Diamond for keeping our lives full of 
music, especially Backstreet music." Dave waved at the crowd as they 
all yelled for him. "And I wanna thank our wonderful food providers, 
Chevy's Fresh Mex and Sweet Tomatoes. Lunch will be served about 12:15 
from Chevy's. And I also wanna thank our wonderful vendors out there. 
Artist Direct, CDNOW.com, the Brian Littrell Healthy Heart Club, the 
Dorough Lupus Foundation, the Johnny No-Name Foundation, Just Within 
Reach, and everyone else out there in the vending room." Everyone 
applauded at this as the various vendors waved their hands in the back 
of the room. I sighed and glanced out of the corner of my eye. The 
bodyguard manning the stairway the Boys would be coming up nodded to 
me. Closing my eyes momentarily, I said a quick prayer that this went 
over well. Looking back out at the crowd, I said to them, "And probably 
the most important people we have to thank are the Backstreet Boys 
themselves, for without their wonderful music, none of us would even 
know of each other. So I must ask you now to please refrain from 
rushing the stage. Please welcome Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, 
Howie Dorough, Nick Carter and AJ McLean, the Backstreet Boys!" I 
squeezed the last sentence all out in one breath as the five men each 
ascended the stairs onto the stage and waved at the girls who were too 
shocked to even scream. It took them about a minute to realize that it 
really was the Backstreet Boys standing on the stage before them. When 
they did realize it, they all started screaming.

I handed the microphone over to Kevin and then stepped back to stand 
with Dave. "How did you manage this?" he asked me, as the girls 
continued to scream.

"I just sent them an invitation kinda saying, 'Hey this is what we're 
up to' and they replied." Dave smiled at me.

"We're gonna be hanging with you gals all day," Kevin said to the 
crowd, and another uproar of screams erupted.

"And if you're nice, we may even sign some stuff too," AJ said, 
grabbing the mic still in Kevin's hand.

Later, after everyone had met everyone and had stuff signed, Lena, 
myself and the Backstreet Boys sat down and talked. I told Lena what I 
had done and how things had worked out and she was very shocked. And 
when Kevin presented her with the proposal, she almost fainted. AJ said 
he'd check with his mom and everyone else in charge of the official BSB 
fan club about getting the Cali Girls first crack at the California 
shows. They also said we'd have to have membership fees, which we 
thought was fine, if we were gonna do a major gathering every year.

By the time the Boys left for their hotel, I had had my record signed 
and things couldn't be better. The Cali Girls were on their way to 
becoming an official fan club.