N Sync Lands At Planet Hollywood New York
(7/29/00) Launch

'N Sync and a few of their celebrity friends showed up for a press conference at New York City's Planet Hollywood on Friday (July 28) to introduce the Daze and Knights team members for the group's second annual charity basketball game, Challenge For The Children II.

Justin Timberlake, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, J.C. Chasez, Lance Bass, and group manager Johnny Wright were all on hand, as were Pink, Beverly Mitchell, Donell Jones, Rockmond Dunbar, Boris Kodjoe, RCA recording artist Josh Keaton, Nikki DeLoach of girl-group Innosense, A.B. of 95 South, and others.

Usher was scheduled to appear, but word came that the singer-actor was hospitalized for exhaustion and dehydration and would also be unable to participate in today's (July 29) charity basketball game.

Since the first leg of the 'N Sync tour wraps up tomorrow (August 1) in Joliet, Illinois, opening act Pink was asked by reporters what she enjoyed most about being on the road.

"I just feel blessed to be in front of this many people in such a short period of time, basically," she replied. "I love to sing, and I'm just happy about getting a chance to do it. "

'N Sync singer Chasez said that group will take two months off following their last tour date in Illinois. He also described what fans can expect during the next leg of the group's tour in support of No Strings Attached, which will kick off October 29 and run for 31 dates.

"I think for the next tour it will be pretty much the same," he said. "If anything, we'll just add a Christmas song or two to get into the holiday spirit. Other than that, it's going to be a continuation. We're taking these two months to organize the next album and look at the movie scripts and things like that."

Chasez added that group members really need a short break just to get themselves organized after being out on the road for so long. "It's all a big mess. We have piles of stuff sitting at home and that's basically what we're taking these two months off for," he admitted, "to really reorganize that stuff. We're not really going to have a lot of downtime because we've got to do some promotion in Japan and stuff like that."

'N Sync founded Challenge For The Children in 1999 to offer financial support to a variety of children's programs and charities across the nation. Five different organizations benefit from this year's game, including the Arnold Palmer Foundation For Children & Women, the Justin Timberlake Foundation, Child Watch North America, the Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy Foundation, and Camp Good Times. Last year the charity basketball game raised more than $100,000.