"THE GLASS CEILING OF BEAUTY
*Spring, 1997: You were darn sure of the fact that Taylor Hanson was the zenith of blond boy beauty. You can't imagine anything more aesthetically perfect, no matter how hard you try.
* Spring, 2000: Taylor emerges from the studio in California much in the same manner as a butterfly escaping his chrysalis. You suddenly realize that the 1997 Taylor, with his creaky voice and tooth-picky bod was the victim of a rather bothersome awkward stage.
* Which only prompts us to ask: What could possibly be next?"
~"As Time Goes By", by Laura, Bright and Beautiful, http://riveronline.net/bab/
To all of our friends who are attending the Vancouver show tonight {{Hey, Marica!!!}}: Have a GREAT time! :)
"When I'm on stage, I forget everything around me and concentrate only on the music. You can't really describe the feeling." ~Taylor
To all our TAD members in the Portland area who will be attending the Hanson concert, we hope you have an awesome time! Rock on! ~TC & TLS
"I think there is a chemistry bewteen two people, and no one can explain it. The two may have nothing in common, but they just like each other. It's mother nature taking its course." ~Taylor
"Look around you guys and make sure you're not stepping on anybody." ~Taylor
And while this time out Zac and Isaac share more of the lead vocal duties, Taylor is the indisputable star. Three years ago, he was as nimble and precocious a boy-diva as young Michael Jackson, and he's developing right on track. His voice has indeed gone through the dreaded change.
"Fortunately," Taylor says, "everyone's voice has sort of dropped. For old songs, we just lower the key. For new songs, we just write them as we go. It's exciting to be able to have a new sound." True enough, even though nothing on the new album is quite as unforgettably exuberant as the bright and shiny 'MMMBop.' But Taylor has accommodated the advancing years graciously, blossoming into a bluesy, soulful rock singer.
~Joan Anderman, Boston Globe
To all our TAD members in the San Francisco area, be safe and have a great time at the Hanson concert! ~TC & TLS
While lyrically the band are still mostly in teen-luv mode, they
~Boys Are For Noise, Hanson Busts Out, aritcle written by Erik Hammelsbach
for LA Weekly
Gus: You know, they made a book out of the Rolling Stone interviews with John Lennon and Jerry Garcia, too, so who knows. We don't want to miss anything.
Taylor: Oh, wow.
Isaac Hanson: That sounds like a really good book.
Zachary Hanson: It sounds like an ice cream.
Isaac: Actually it's Cherry Garcia.
Zachary: Cherry Garcia! Cherry Garcia!
Taylor: I have to take it intravenously. (Laughter. Taylor pretends he is shooting up in his left arm with a syringe)
~Interview magazine, July 2000
I cannot recall having done anything this summer that has been more difficult than going to the Hanson concert. And it hasn't even happened yet. It's next week. Some people are supposed to go. Those would be young girls. Some people evidently are not supposed to go. That would be me. I guess I am supposed to go see Dwight Yoakum. Which I will be glad to do when next he is at the Brady Theater. But I am also going to see Hanson. And I wouldn't try to stop me, if I were you.
~Jay Cronley, 'Hanson is Summer's Greatest Exertion', for Tulsaworld.com, July 21, 2000
We hope all our TAD members in the Los Angeles area have an awesome time!
"I'm sorry, they're so gorgeous I can't speak! I look at them and go HOLY SHIT!"
~Paula Cale, "The List" on VH1, July 14, 2000
"It's not like you meet somebody and go 'wow, she's hot' and you ask her out. I want to make friends with her first. You want to make sure it's actually about them liking you as opposed to them thinking, 'Wow, I'm gonna date a guy from Hanson'. I don't want dating to be something superficial."
~Taylor, Tiger Beat
Everybody going to the Phoenix show tonight--have fun!
"Before you can say 98 Degrees, Hanson is back, and these boys want to kick your ass. "This Time Around" is as damn near perfect as an innocuous pop record can be."
"Boys Are For Noise-Hanson Busts Out", by Erik Himmelsbach, LA Weekly
"If you guys were not so beautiful I would not be able to, like, carry on with this."
~Paula Cale, "The List" on VH1, July 14, 2000
Have a great time tonight, San Antonio fans!!
"I think this new record represents more of who Hanson truly is."
~Taylor, "This Time Around....With Hanson", Time Online, May 15, 2000
"Taylor, the middle Hanson boy and its forthright lead vocalist, is certainly a great soul singer, possibly one day to be hailed among the best of generation Y. His voice is immensely powerful and dynamic--if that come-back line, "Do you know why I died?" at the end of the title track doesn't stop your heart, double check that you're still actually alive--and, when, as he grows older, it becomes a partner to his passions, he might rewrite the story of Jericho."
~Thomas Connor, "Soul Brothers", Tulsa World, May 5, 2000
"Taylor is quite possibly more gorgeous than ever."
~Tiger Beat
AMEN!!!! ~TLS & TC
**Today's photo taken in NYC by Di. :)
Have fun at the Houston show tonight, y'all!
"Music and being Hanson--that's the core of it. You do it because it's more than just a job, it's a part of your life too. Music making is a part of you. I mean, if we stopped right now and went back to Tulsa and lived on the farm, we'd still be writing songs."
~Taylor, Paper Mag, May, 2000
*Today's Oklahoma City photo is courtesy of Ariel. :)
"I've gotta say I am so impressed with how knowledgeable you Hanson family are about the music. It blows my mind."
~Paula Cale, "The List" on VH1, July 14, 2000
Woo HOOO! Have fun at the House of Blues in New Orleans tonight, you guys!
"We actually just stayed in the studio, turned the lights off and locked the doors and got food delivered via the mail slots in tubes."
~Taylor, Tiger Beat
"When everybody else was listening to MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice, we were into Bill Haley and Carl Perkins." ~Taylor
Everyone going out to Six Flags tonight, enjoy the show!!!
"Taylor's very good at being sneaky." ~Isaac
"People are really wild. They write these fantasies about how they met us, how they did this with us, or that with us -- these complete elaborations -- like it really happened!" -Taylor [on fan fiction]
Don't call them a boy band. The only thing Hanson has in common with the Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync and the like is frequent appearances in Tiger Beat magazine. ~The Atlanta Constitution
Hanson will be rockin' Atlanta tonight. Those of you attending the show, have an awesome time!
***Thanks to Brina (http://www.angelfire.com/tx4/lilprettay/tulsa.html) for the use of her awesome picture of Taylor on today's TAD!***
Way hipper and more substantial than almost anything else offered by current teen-level acts, this single deserves--make that *demands*--immediate top 40 programmer approval. ~Billboard Review of "If Only" 6/1/00
They covered "Piece of My Heart," and Taylor's growl and falsetto would have earned Janis Joplin's respect. ~Stephen Lynch, for The Orange County Register, August 10, 2000
TC hopes Hanson sings "Piece of My Heart" tonight at the Tampa show! ::crosses fingers:: Any of you TAD members attending the concert at the T.P.A.C., have fun and rock on!
Another reason I am going to see Hanson, the singular name for the group, is because they make good music, writing much of their own material. Everybody knows how difficult writing can be. Read the last letter you wrote aloud and see what that sounds like. There is an awful lot of really bad stuff out there passing as music these days. ~J, Cronley, 'Hanson is Summer's Greatest Exertion', for Tulsaworld.com, July 21, 2000
***** Today's picture of Taylor courtesy of Rachel! :) *****
When John Popper joined them onstage for two songs of virtuoso harmonica playing, including the brilliant "If Only," they more then held their own. Popper was having a grand time; he looked ready to leave Blues Traveler and become a brother. ~Stephen Lynch, for The Orange County Register, August 10, 2000
TC & TLS will be rockin' out in Ft. Lauderdale tonight along with the Hanson men! Woo-freakin'-hoo!!!
T: What makes someone cool is just being yourself and not trying to be something your not. So we're all equally cool.
I: No, we're all dorks.
Z: Yeah, I'm not that conceited. Please let me be the dork!
T: No, Zac is the coolest.
T: Honestly, none of us is the coolest, because we're all dorks.
Jump magazine, June/July 2000
TC & TLS are just passing through on our way to the Orlando concert, but we wanted to show all you awesome TAD members what the Babe looked like in Ft. Lauderdale from the second row last night! DROOL!!! :-P
Details when we get back from Orlando! Enjoy the picture!
"The success of the last album is the reason why we have a second album. And that's enabled you to have fans all over the world and made it possible to continue doing it, so yeah, it's a huge, huge blessing". ~Taylor, CDNow interview by Allison Stewart
Taylor is a triple threat, singing, playing keyboard and tossing his head to keep his blond locks out of his eyes. Toward the end of Saturday's show, he pulled out bongo drums and a harmonica and stripped down to a tank top (which, judging by the ensuing screams, the fans appreciated). ~Anne Miller, for My San Antonio.com, August 13, 2000
TC & TLS hope Taylor has that "stripped down to a tank top" thing goin' on tonight at the Orlando show! ;)
This Time Around sounds like a band planting its feet for the long haul. In fact, don’t be surprised if, in 10 years, when Hanson releases its White Album, Zac starts bitching to the press about having to play “MMMBop” every night. Hey, babe, it beats the alternative — you could always join the Backstreet Boys for a regular Tuesday-night gig in Branson, Missouri. ~Boys Are For Noise, Hanson Busts Out, article written by Erik Hammelsbach for LA Weekly
Okay, so this isn't exactly a "Taylor-quote", but this particular quote makes TC & TLS laugh, HARD! :D
At the risk of getting kicked out of the rock critics union and enduring the mockery of friends who dismiss Hanson as just another bit o' teen fluff, I have a confession: I loved, loved, loved this concert. ~Stephen Lynch, for The Orange County Register, August 10, 2000
And we love, love, love Stephen for saying so, don't we?! ;) Those of you attending the Charlotte concert tonight, have an awesome time!
We had an unbelievably awesome time at the Florida concerts and appearances. We not only got to rock out at the shows, but we got to speak to, get autographs from, and TOUCH the rock god and his gorgeous brothers not once, but TWICE!!! As soon as we can recover, we will be writing up a detailed review for you to read, along with letting you see our mouth watering pics like the one attached today! Enjoy!
To read every detail of our Hanson experiences that surpassed all expectations, go here.