The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 59

Montgomery Advertiser EDGE 3 Sunday, April 23. 2000 TV's mock boy bands collide with success on and off screen I mr ft. Gannett News Service The Popular boy band 'N Sync has been one of the inspirations behind TV movie spoof of boy bands. "O-Town is the real thing. '2gether' is a parody.

I see the same trends emerging with O-Town as with Backstreet and 'N Sync. It takes a while, but with the TV show, it should go a little faster. Louis J. Pearlman, creator of 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys It--- It if sf l' VW" -3, If 5 By Jefferson Graham Gannett News Service On the Billboard charts, boy band 'N Sync rules. On MTV.

"2gether," the February TV movie spoof of boy bands such as 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys, has turned into a real-life hot commodity. The soundtrack has sold nearly 500,000 copies, 2gether's "U(PLUS)Me(EQUAL)Us: Calculus" video is in heavy rotation, and a second album will be out in August to coincide with the premiere of a weekly series on MTV. Most surprising of all, chart-topper Britney Spears has asked the stars of "2gether" to be the opening band for her summer tour. "I saw this as a three-week act- ing deal," said Evan Farmer, 27, who plays Jerry in "2gether." "I had no idea it would take on a life of its own." Meanwhile, ABC, which has been chronicling the creation of a boy band O-Town on "Making the Band," has seen a more muted response. So far, ratings have been low, but ABC says it's encouraged by week-to-week growth during its Friday 8:30 p.m.

slot, where audiences have grown from 7.4 million to 7.8 million viewers. "This is the sort of show that needs word of mouth," says analyst Marc Berman. With "Band," Louis J. Pearl-man, who formed 'N Sync and Backstreet, offered to do it again, this time with cameras rolling. He told USA Today in March that he expected to finalize an album deal for O-Town by the end of the month but has yet to sign with a label.

That's because, Pearlman says, a "bidding war" has erupted among several record companies for the rights to the album. Holding up the video, single and other projects is "Band's" concept. The show premiered with the formation of the eight-member band. By the 10th episode (May 19), the group will be pared to five members. This arc has prevented O-Town from promotional gigs, because the final lineup is to be kept a surprise.

But Pearlman says the first single and video will be released in late May, an album will be completed, and the band will tour "extensively" this summer. Now that "2gether" is a hit, can MTV still parody boy bands? "It's still satirical," said Brian Gunn, who will oversee the series. "But it will grow old if we hammer home the same kind of inside jokes every week. The TV show will have more heart." MTV president of programming Brian Graden says, "We were surprised to see (a video) meant merely to be a promotional trailer for the film make it into the top 10. Then, with record ratings and more than 250,000 downloads from MTV.com, our J.

Gannett News Service my 2gether, MTV's mock boy band, left to right, Noah Bastian (Chad), Kevin Farley (Doug), Evan Farmer (Jerry), Alex Solowitz (Mickey) and Michael Cuccione CQ.T.'), has been asked to be the opening act for Britney Spears' summer tour. 1 Some 22 episodes of "Band" have already been completed, and the second season is set to focus on the tour. Pearlman says ABC execs are "loving the show," and even without cameras, there will be a tour. SILK "O-Town is the real thing," Pearlman said. is a parody.

I see the same trends emerging with O-Town as with Backstreet and 'N Sync. It takes a while, but with the TV show, it should go a little faster." MTV kicked ofT a series of TV movies with "2gether" in February. The video premiered three weeks before the movie, and so many viewers called "Total Request Live" that it made the daily countdown. DRAPERY PANELS 94" Length Ltited After lip sync gig, Evan Farmer has his act '2gether' 'I EUROPEAN GOBLET PLEAT ill the group, so they chose me," said Farmer, 27, who now is a member of MTV's boy-band parody 2gether. "And two days later I stepped off a plane and was surrounded by three bodyguards in Russia.

The? people there were just as extreme in their responses. We couldn't go anywhere without being mobbed." Singing songs in Russian could have presented a problem, but Farmer says he was just asked to lip sync and move across the stage. (the audience) were dancing so feverishly, they didn't even By Jefferson Graham Gannett News Service Evan Farmer of Hoboken, N.J., got his first taste of the whole boy-band thing three years ago when he toured with the group Na-Na, Russia's answer to the Backstreet Boys. The group lost a member and came to America to find a replacement, someone who looked good, could dance well, and, well, sing a little bit. "In a weird twist of fate, I looked identical to the guy who quit Still, after five weeks, he realized this wasn't the life for him, quit and returned to the USA, where he worked off-Broadway in "The Fantasticks" and acted in the upcoming film remake of "Shaft" with Samuel L.

Jackson. And now he's in a hot boy band again. But he's not complaining. "The first time, there were too many cultural differences," he said. "I wasn't ready to commit to moving to Russia or Europe.

I love music, but I want to focus on my acting right now." He's also showing off his hunky self to great advantage. Fanner has been a guest host on MTV's "Total Request Live" three times to adoring, screaming young female fans and is gearing up to go to Canada in May to begin production of eight episodes of the series. "I didn't anticipate this happening, but I feel very fortunate," Farmer said. "It's different from The Monkees. We're treated as a band, but also as funny actors.

And for once I have job security in a business where there's none." Starting at LEE ANN'S INTERIORS 4695 VAUGHN RD. 270-0060 Singer nixes tour to do his own thing ON THE NET Web site for Mercury Records Nashville mm ii 1 1 ll It it 'Put a hat on. Put your big belt buckle and your boots and your starched shirt on, and then we'll "That drove me nuts, man." At a recent Tootsie's show, Heatherly proved he wasn't about to fit into any mold. He opened the show with a Ventures-style instrumental that showcased his guitar prowess. He did original numbers reminiscent of Midwestern rockers like Mellencamp.

The show culminated with "Flowers on the Wall," which he has transformed from a fiddle-and-banjo singalong to an electric guitar-centered tour de force. "It's just one of those songs that never left me from when I was a kid," Heatherly said. "My dad had the 1965 vinyl record version, back when the Statlers were dressed up like the Beatles, with their pointed patent leather shoes and their striped ties. As I got older, I started integrating it into my style with more guitar riff stuff." 'r I fc.t- ft LASER VISION By Jim Patterson The Associated Press NASHVILLE, Tenn. Country singer Eric Heatherly thrusts out his hands.

They are rough with calluses from 10 years of landscaping and painting houses while pursuing his dream of stardom. "I knew that the Lord would find some way to make this happen for me," the 29-year-old singer-songwriter said. "I just kept trudging through it." Things are happening in a big way for Heatherly, who looks like Elvis Presley, writes songs like Tom Petty and John Mellencamp, and plays Telecaster guitar like a surf rocker. His reworking of the Statler Brothers' "Flowers on the Wall" is getting radio airplay and rising in the charts, and his first album "Swimming in Champagne" was just released by Mercury Records Nashville. "Just because you're different doesn't mean that you can't fit and that you can't bring something to the table that people like," Heatherly said.

After three years of playing Tuesday nights at the legendary Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, Heatherly is regularly packing the house. College students and truck drivers sing along to his songs, while music industry spies and journalists lurk about to check him out. The police, however, aren't impressed. Heatherly said they cite him for double-parking on nights when there is an event at the new Gaylord Entertainment Center, across the street from Tootsie's, where Willie Nelson and Roger Miller once drank and tried out new material. "It's irritating, man," he said, looking and sounding much like Elvis with his light Southern drawl, black sideburns and wraparound yellow-tinted sunglasses.

"So what? My equipment is magically supposed to appear into the club?" Heatherly turned down a high-jirofile job playing guitar for coun- Alabama Aestmetdc (Center! The Associated Press Country singer Eric Heatherly looks like Elvis Presley, writes songs like Tom Petty and John Mellencamp and plays a Tele-caster guitar like a surf rocker. His first album, 'Swimming in was just released. try music superstar Shania Twain on her last tour. "It was the toughest decision of my life," he said. "I did the 1997 CMA Awards with Shania and then was offered the guitar spot for the 18-month tour." Luke Lewis, head of Mercury Records, recommended Heatherly.

to Twain. After Heatherly turned down the job, Lewis signed him to a recording contract. "I think Luke really respected the fact that I was committing so hard to my own thing," he said. Heatherly, the son of a truck driver and postal worker, was the hot guitar player in Chattanooga as a teen-ager. He spent one year in college to please his mother, then quit and moved to Nashville.

He arrived in the heat of the Garth Brooks era and didn't fit the mold of copycat acts being pushed at the time. "I knocked on every door in Nashville," he said. "They'd say, jj. 10 years younger Call Our rSffirA tn crhprliilp After Before yourfREii consultation today Alabama Aesthetics Center! (33.4) 264-6090.