Letters: Hanson Interview

JAMES HATTORI, host:

Time now for a dip into our mailbag.

Our story on the former boy band Hanson brought back a decade-old memory for Lindsay Barker(ph) of Stuarts Draft, Virginia. She writes: I attended the Hoard tour, a music festival devoted to the indie alternative rock sound. The performances that afternoon and evening had their ups and downs but the amphitheater was packed for Blues Traveler's performance at the end of the night. Halfway through their set, Blue Traveler front man John Popper brought out the group that had performed in that venue the previous night, Hanson.

They were predictably greeted with jeers and boos. This was most assuredly not their crowd. But they took it all with good grace and got down to playing -"MmmBop," of course. After 30 seconds, the catcall stopped. After a minute, the crowd was tapping its collective toe. By the end of the first chorus, they had won over the entire audience and we all whooped like teenyboppers as they grinned at us and waved goodbye.

Ms. Barker concludes, I had new respect for those three young men on that day. To win over a hostile mob several thousand strong takes guts, talent and some real stage presence. Thank you for reminding us that they are still out there, still talented and still the kind of guys you wouldn't mind dating your niece.

Since we aired our interview with Hanson, one of the band members has met another more serious challenge. Isaac Hanson was hospitalized in Dallas this week. A blood clot caused his right arm to swell during a concert. He underwent surgery on Thursday and he walked out of the hospital the very next day. Isaac Hanson's arm remains bandaged but he can't be feeling too bad. He and his brothers plan to resume their tour tomorrow night in Knoxville, Tennessee. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.