Yeah, I won't post anything unsubstantiated which might be libellous or slanderous. I can say that I don't find him to be a very wholesome individual.
I'd characterise his presence in the room as 'wheezy and greazy'. You can hear when he enters, even if he tiptoes in wearing brothel-creepers. -The whole ensemble is something which -I would imagine- would put ANYONE who presents themselves in such a manner to a business meeting at a disadvantage. -I have always imagined that the only people who don't come away from meeting him sniggering about his general manner and demeanour are those star-struck people who don't know anything about the business or power dynamics in general.
The guy's just slimy and unwholesome in my view. There's no way you don't come away from shaking his hand without shuddering and looking for some soap or a sanitizing towelette.
The studio complex which he built here has its good points. Nice big console, decent outboard gear and actually some very good staff. -Of course the main export is teen-mush, but it still takes a certain skill to do it well. -I'm fairly certain that if I tried to record a teen band and make it sound like a hit, I'd be missing many of the skills to make the uber-polished product, and it would take me a good while to get up to the throughput-rate and efficiency level that these people have mastered.
I'll say this though: Many of the Backstreet boys/N-Sync are actually staggeringly pleasant people. I know I read a lot of Timberlake-bashing after the Grammy award performances, but he's good, he's self deprecating, and he's actually VERY funny. (I mean... C'mon... -We ALL laughed at "dick-in-a-box", after all.) I hope he gets some sort of privacy; he's a decent bloke. It would be VERY sad if he and the rest of them got mauled and 'fishbowled' by the press to the extent that Anna-Nicole did. Britney's obviously having a hard time flying straight and level, but Justin seems to be coping really well, considering he's getting just as much heat.
But Lou Pearlman is a different animal. I really think that he stumbled luckily into his fortune, and he's possibly lost it just as easily.
Just goes to show; there really is a GUARANTEED way to make a small fortune in the music biz...
...-start with a large fortune.
Keith