Who's your favorite?

Can't wait for the concert next Tuesday? Why not pass the time by voting for your favorite Backstreet
Boy? Is it Nick (sigh!)? Maybe A.J. (meow!)? Or could it be Howie (yum!) or Brian (yum yum!)? Perhaps
it's Kevin (wheeeee!!). Decide which one you'd like to slather on a biscuit, and call The Seattle Times
InfoLine at 206-464-2000 and enter category BOYS (2697). You can vote until 5 p.m. Sunday, and
we'll publish the results next Thursday right here in the Pass.

Before we go any further, let me get a few friendly reminders out of the way.

The Backstage Pass crew does not have any means of meeting or seeing the Backstreet Boys. Normally,
we'd give you some tactics for securing tickets at the last minute, but other than phoning a few local
ticket brokers in the phone book - one offered a pair of tickets for about $85 - don't hold your breath.

We have no backstage passes. Nor do we have any three-ring binders, folders, lunch boxes or potato
chips with their likenesses on the package.

If that doesn't ruffle your feathers, this might: The Backstreets are doing a meet-and-greet when they
come to Seattle - and most of us aren't invited! The only Seattle folks who have a chance of rubbing
elbows with Brian, Howie, Nick, A.J. and Kevin are members of the local fan club chapter and lucky
Make-A-Wish foundation folks who've already gotten their invites from the Backstreet Boys' Florida
headquarters. Oh, fickle fate!

Even so, we don't want to be completely unhelpful to the Backstreet crew's adoring fans. In the pages
ahead, you'll read plenty of stuff about the Orlando group and you'll even get a poster you can pull out
and save.

Meanwhile, we here at the Pass have been hard at work trying to get some details about the concert
itself - the special effects, the lighting, the costumes, all that good stuff - so we can hip fans to what
they should expect. We must admit, those Backstreet Boys are a secretive bunch. But after hitting
numerous walls with label representatives and press people, we finally wised up and started shaking down
relatives who had seen the show.

Here are the concert details revealed unto us by our 68-year-old Aunt Marge, the Backstreet Boys'
oldest fan, and her mother, Great Aunt Beulah, who accompanied Marge to the show in Chicago.

Marge: Ohmig awd! That show was the bomb-persnickety!

Beulah: What?

Marge: THE . . . BEST! OK, first? The stage looks like a big flying plate!

Beulah: Saucer, ya idjit. I should have left my hearing aid off. What was I thinking?

Marge: OK, then? They enter from the air! From . . . the . . . air! I won't tell you how! They use some kind
of newfangled rigging! I haven't seen anything so amazing since Glinda popped out of that ball in "The
Wizard of Oz"!

Beulah: That Nick boy sure is a cute one. I wonder what cologne he wears?

Marge: And the dancers . . . spandex! Nothin' but spandex!

Beulah: Nick reminds me of your father when he was a young man.

Marge: But Mom really liked the nice dedication they sang to her. They're so nice!

Beulah: I wonder how Nick would look in some nicely worn-in chaps?

All right, so Marge and Beulah weren't too helpful. You'll just have to go to the concert, or check out our
post-show coverage Wednesday to see how it all works out.

The Backstreet Boys might not have plans to invite you to their party, but the "Almost Live" crew isn't
nearly as picky. In fact, anybody in Seattle - well, anybody over 21 - can come to the farewell party for
the "Almost Live" cast at the Metropolitan Grill, 820 Second Ave., Seattle, at 9 p.m. Saturday.

John Keister, Nancy Guppy, Pat Cashman, Steve Wilson, Bob Nelson, Tracy Conway and Lauren Weedman
are scheduled to join in the celebration, which will be highlighted by the airing of an hourlong "Almost
Live" special at 10 p.m. Drink and appetizer specials abound - and so will the laughs! For information,
call 206-624-3287.