Faithful camp out for 'Boys'

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Dec 14, 2099 Source: The Times-Picayune, New Orleans Submitted By: Lindsey deBlieux Sunday, December 12, 1999 By Dayna Harpster (Staff Writer) -- Concert tickets on Christmas lists -- For thousands of people at the 20 Ticketmaster outlets throughout the New Orleans area Saturday, admission to the February Backstreet Boys Millennium Tour concert at the Superdome was just the ticker for Christmas '99. If you could get one. Dennis Terry, an accountant from New Orleans, took a vacation day and pitched a pup tent Friday at 5 a.m. outside the Superdome with his 12-year-old daughter Megan, and two of her friends, hoping to get their hands on some of the 41,000 tickets -- at $37.50 and $45 each -- that wnet on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. Terry was one of several hundred people with sleeping bags, lawn chairs, mattresses, coolers, potato chips, peanut butter sandwiches and a whole bunch of determination to battle the 49-degree overnight temperatures so their kids could get a glimpse of Kein, Nick, Brian, A.J., and Howie at their February concert. But they didn't beat Marcella Melerine to the punch. On Wednesday night at 8 p.m., Melerine was the first resident of a hooverville that sprang up across Poydra Street outside the Entergy building. Granddaughter Elise, 7, wanted a ticket to see the reigning kings of boy band0land as a Christmas gift. Melerine's name occupied the coveted first-place slot on a wide-lined sheet of notebook paper that campers at the Dome had begun as a way of policing themselves. In August, the Backstreet Boys sold out the 16,500-seat New Orleans Arena in 19 minutes for a November performance. As of Saturday at 4 p.m., about 37,000 tickets had been sold for their Feb. 26 engagement at the Superdome. For several days, signs in the windows of the Major Video store on Lapaclo Boulevard in Gretna informed Ticketmaster costomers that Backstreet Boys tickets would be sold my lottery. And they were. Ticketmaster outlets all had been told to use its prearanged "ramdom number distrubution" system, giving everyone who arrived at an outlet by Saturday at 9 a.m. and equal chance of being first in line, said Jim Tallman, a general manager for Ticketmaster. Fussell and her friends however, had arrived at Major Video very early, undeterred. "I'm just hoping to get a better chance at a better number," she said. "It's great to see all these parents here and how much they care about their kids," said 24-year-old Michelle Herman of Algiers, buying tickets for Katie, 9, and Rebecca, 4. Nearby, Leslie Rollo of Port Sulpher, armed with two hand-drawn diagrams of possible Superdome seating arrangements and a list of Ticketmaster outlets as far away as Texas and Florida, worked a cell phone in pursuit of tickets for her daughters Brandy and Danielle, 12 nad 7. That strategy worked off for Lou Adams, 39, of Harvey, who, after waiting for three hours with her cell phone, got good news. Surfing the Internet at home had worked for somebody. Son Doug, 12, was going to be pleased. Martha Long and her husband Charles, took turns in line for 12 hours at the Major Video in Gretna. "My mother said, 'This isn't any different than when you were 9 and you told us you wanted go-go boot'" for Christmas, said Long, 44. "And they didn't find them until Christmas Eve and had to drive all the way from Kenner to Baton Rouge." Comment on this item. Recent Comments Submitted by: markus http://imrdsoacha.gov.co/silvitra-120mg-qrms Comment on this item. Next Item: SMTMOBL News Prev Item: Backstreet Boys Shoot New Video As Tickets Go On Sale