Nobody believes Tad Randie, not his mom, not his ex-girlfriend, not even Interpol. And
lately, he's even counted himself among the doubters. That's understandable, because
Tad Randie has an unbelievable story to tell. Tad is speaking to us over a cellphone. The
batteries are weak, and he sounds strained, desperate. Two unsmiling Hamilton police
officers flank him. Tad Randie is being escorted out of town, and Tad Randie is not going quietly.

"I have a legal right to be here!," he is pleading. "This is a public park!"

For almost three weeks -- since Monday, March 13, to be precise -- Tad, his best
friend Tyler, and his best friend's dog, Society, had been holed up in a sloppy pop-up
trailer in the far corner of the carpark at Chedoke golf course.

Up until yesterday, when the police came calling to evict, no one cared that Tad Randie
was there.

That's remarkable, considering that Tad Randie is a Backstreet Boy, an original
Backstreet Boy and, he feels, a viciously backstabbed Backstreet Boy.

Tad, 29, did not want to go public, but yesterday's events basically forced his hand.
With the Backstreet Boys' tour over, this confused young man finds himself at the end of
a long, very twisted rope.

"This is too much. You won't believe this," he says to a Spec reporter who has arrived
on the scene. "Does your stuff get sent to the States?"

It is a bizarre story, indeed, one made even more that way by the fact that it checks out.
Tad Randie isn't lying.

When Orlando promoter Lou Pearlman auditioned for membership in the Backstreet Boys,
there were supposed to be six singers, not five. The southern trend, after all, is to six-part
harmony.

Tad was No. 6. He was, that is, until he wasn't. What happened?

Tad Randie went to Osceola High School in Kissimmee, Fla., same school as fellow Backstreeter
A.J. Tad still calls him Alex, from the days they were still talking.

Tad, who had taken singing lessons from the real Milli Vanilli, studio singers Isaac
Walter and Tolee Simmons, went along with A.J. to the audition sessions for what became the
Backstreet Boys.

Don't say the name Lou Pearlman around Tad Randie.

"I signed the contract, and then they took it from me," Tad says.

Pearlman is no longer associated with the Backstreet Boys, and he wouldn't talk to The
Spectator about Tad's lament.

"I can't believe the guy is still thumping that tub," said Pearlman when reached at his
home in Coral Gables, Fla. "Living in a trailer? Tad, get a life."

But that's the problem. Tad had a life. He toured with the Backstreet Boys right up until
the start of the Millennium tour last year.

But various squabbles with the other five members -- A.J., Howie, Nick, Brian and Kevin --
led to Tad being unceremoniously dropped from the lineup.

Tad Randie sang on all the records. And in the art spread of the multi-million selling
Millennium album, you'll see a line between Brian and Nick where Tad's image was airbrushed out
at the last minute.

The carve line is quite evident on the picture, but it's nothing compared to the deep,
piercing jab to the heart of Tad Randie when he saw what had been done.

He provided us with a dog-eared copy of the original photo as proof. He showed the same
stuff to officials at the office of Interpol in Toronto last week and got only smirks.

It's the same with the first album, Backstreet Boys. Tad was kneeling down front with his
hands clasped. Again, he was airbrushed out.

Like Nick, Tad struggles to maintain a healthy weight, and he loses that struggle often.
But two of the boys also had a problem with Tad's choice of food. He apparently has a
penchant for the spicy and exotic.

"Kevin said to me once, 'You eat spicy food, and then you smell like it the whole next day.
That infringes on our rights.'

"I'll tell you, Kevin's a big jerk."

Tad said he tried to explain that it happens to everyone, that all those other guys smell like
Big Macs sometimes, for instance, but Kevin would have none of it.

The issue drove a subtle wedge between Tad and the rest of the boys, but it wasn't nearly as
damaging as the dandruff controversy.

Tad, it seems, has a chronic and severe dandruff problem, bad enough that it prevented
the Backstreet Boys from wearing black outfits, which most of them prefer for the "cool" factor.

Tad admits he's hard to deal with, and harbours a pretty lofty opinion of himself. There
are three full-length mirrors in the tiny trailer -- two are broken -- and they are strategically
placed. He gazes into them often.

The other boys took to calling him Donna, as in prima donna.

So there was some animosity there. And when the rest of the boys decided to ostracize
Tad by blending their different issues together and approaching road manager Ray Trejillo, the
fate of the sixth Backstreet Boy was sealed.

To fulfill contractual obligations, Tad was asked instead to be the alternate Backstreet
Boy, to go on the road with the tour and fill in when one of A.J., Nick Kevin, Howie or Brian
was feeling out of sorts.

But there was a catch -- Tad Randie wasn't to travel with the group. Instead, he was supplied
with a pop-up trailer and rental car and told to follow the massive bus-and-truck entourage
around from city to city.

He was also ordered to keep quiet, which he did -- until yesterday.

"They took off on me. They're still holding my contract," he said with a classic Floridian
accent, "and I'm stuck with no money here."

When the Backstreet Boys played Hamilton and then Toronto in the middle of last month to
close out the Into the Millennium tour, they "forgot" to leave Tad a forwarding address.

So he got directions to the Chedoke golf course parking lot from the lady behind the counter
at the Dundurn/Aberdeen Tim Hortons.

Every time he calls his mother, Rhonda Randie-Stewart, or his girlfriend, Shawna Getz, both
still in Orlando, they think he's pulling a big prank on them.

"They just talk about how proud they are of me."

But Tad's best friend Tyler took his chum's desperation seriously, and the two met up
in Buffalo about a month ago.

The pair, along with Tyler's half-poodle, Society, have been living on bagels and Tim
Hortons' scrumptious coffee cake for two weeks.

But early yesterday, Chedoke golf pro Jim Beddome noticed the car and trailer and called
police. And Tad Randie called The Spectator.

He knows not where he will go next and expressed concern about getting back over the
border at Buffalo last night.

Tad says he has plans for a showbiz comeback.

"I'm putting together my old band, Sloof Lirpa, and will be back," he said, glancing
again at the mirror. "I'll straighten all this out and be back. One year from today."

With that, Tad Randie looked at the mirror again, as if to say goodbye to himself, smiled
at the police officers, and headed south.

© 1997 kaytlin@chickmail.com

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