Menudo: Still making music

 Backstreet Boys? ‘N Sync?

No.

It's Menudo. ...

The new Menudo. The original boy band with a twist - all members are Hispanic - from the 1970s is back after a recent MTV reality show called "Making Menudo" scoured the country looking for five top performers to turn into a singing, dancing and scream-inducing quintet.

Judging by the frenzy encircling Jacksonville Mall Tuesday as the group took the stage at center court, the result is a success. 

The BOB 93.3 Listener Lounge, marking Menudo's recent success with their first single, "Lost" on Top 40 charts, drew precarious looks from uninformed shoppers as they scurried up to the scene to inquire about the performance.

Although a few continued on their way, most stayed and watched as Carlos Olivero, Chris Moy, Emmanuel Vèlez, José Bordonada and Monti Montañez, ranging in age from 15 to 19 years old, dazzled a crowd of dedicated new fans of all ages - from parents who remember the original group to their kids who are experiencing boy-band fanaticism, practically a rite of passage, for the first time.

Officially only a group for less than a year - the show wrapped in August 2007 - the teen heartthrobs-in-the-making are already walking the fine line between anonymity and stardom.

"Literally, before we came onstage, we were in Barnes and Noble reading," Olivero said. "I think its so cool how you can switch from just chilling to getting onstage and having everyone go crazy for your performance."

Friends Erica Zepeda and Winter Ortiz, both 15, of Jacksonville, were front and center, "going crazy" reaching for the band members' hands and squealing with delight during the performance.

Taking into consideration the group's youthful looks combined with choreographed dance moves and poppy tunes, Ortiz describes the band as a "triple threat," which may even explain the presence of swooning six-year-olds.

At the same time, a recent incident involving Olivero that turned into a tabloid target proves the group is not as anonymous as their uninterrupted trip to Barnes and Noble, and their low key stop at Applebee's in New Bern after the show, may lead them to believe.

On July 4, while prepping for take off on a small Delta Airlines flight from Atlanta on their way to a performance in Knoxville, Olivero and a flight attendant had a disagreement about the placement of his iPod that resulted in Olivero and the rest of the band leaving the plane.

By all accounts, including a written apology issued by Delta Airlines, the flight attendant, who was soon followed by the tabloid media, blew the dispute out of proportion.

 "My mom called me freaking out saying, ‘Papi you're everywhere! You're in People magazine, US Weekly, Perez Hilton and TMZ.' And I'm thinking to myself, there must not be enough drama going on in this world to have me in the tabloids because it wasn't even that big of a story. I was just laughing," said Olivero. "I never thought it was so easy to get in the tabloids."

 "But it's proof that we're getting known," said Vèlez.

Yet for the band, the result of the whole incident is a focus on their work and the opportunity to prove theirselves when they open for Good Charlotte, Boys Like Girls and Metro Station at the Knoxville show.

 "We still made it to our show and we sang a couple songs a cappella because we didn't have our sound guy with us. But regardless we still showed to the people we could sing, we could perform no matter what the circumstances are. ... We performed in front of 75,000 people with no track, just live a cappella."

 "And we earned respect that night," Montañez said.

 "Everything happens for a reason," added Vèlez.

Liz Bowles can be reached at lbowles@freedomenc.com or (252) 635-5677.