Tuesday, July 13, 1999--

It was the date that I, as well as hundreds of devoted fans, had waited for patiently for what seemed like an eternity. Ever since various mailing lists devoted to the band of the century had let the proverbial cat out of the bag, an insatiable desire in the hearts of the fans began to demand satisfaction : WE WANT OUR ENUFF Z'NUFF AND WE WANT EM NOW!!!!! The countdown had begun. Months receded into weeks, weeks dwindled into days, days disappeared until we were mere hours away. Every tick of the clock inched us closer and closer to the long awaited climax. Finally, the time was upon us...10PM EST, everything else fell off the face of the planet. It was time...time Enuff Z'nuff reclaimed their rightful places back on the airwaves and the vehicle for this momentous occasion was VH1's Where are they now: Hair Bands. Approximately half an hour after the show had begun and after such bands as Great White, L.A. Guns, and Slaughter had their moments in the sun, EZN took the stage...and ran away with the show. Many consider their segment to have been the best of the show. Everyone else paled in comparison. Interspersed with day glow trippy images from days past and bits of home videos, we learn how the band has matured yet managed to stay the same. The viewer is presented with a brief history of the band. We learn where they have been and from whom some of the more famous kudos have come from. A highlight came in 1991 when, as the announcer reminds us, the band was named THE hot new band by Rolling Stone. "We really had our hopes up at that point." said frontman Donnie Vie. "It was kind of a letdown the way things happened. We watched ourselves go from 40 with a bullet on the charts to the next week nothing; it all happened too fast" It would appear that EZN was down for the count and only a miracle could revive them. A miracle is exactly what they got in the form of Japan where, in 1998, they sold out a week of performances. In comparing the differences between their popularity in Japan and here in the states, the band's namesake Chip Z'nuff said "In Japan, the first thing you do when you have to play is run into a couple hundred fans that have gifts for you. You play out there, it's 1000 people. You come back home and there's [no one] at the airport waiting on you." "Everyone else we knew started a record company, why not us" said Donnie...and that's exactly what the guys did. In 1998, the guys started their own record label (Stoney Records) and in 1999 they released what many consider to be their best work to date...their 9th album Paraphernalia. We are treated to brief clips from the first video from Para (Freak) which includes, among other things, the band dressed in drag. With all the good things in the rock n world of Enuff Z'nuff, can a "comeback" be far behind? As Mr. Vie quips, "We're starting another trend. It's called old. We're going to be the pioneers of the old era." From this fan's perspective, the guys from EZN are FAR from old and even if they consider themselves as such, someone should remind them that being old is not such a bad thing to be. In fact, most things do get better with age (and wisdom). The future is bright for EZN and long after such flash-in-the-pan artists as N* Sync and Ricky Martin have faded away, Enuff Z'nuff's star will continue to be the brightest star in the heavens, shining brightly for everyone in the world to see.