98 Degrees News

(12/28/00, 4 p.m. ET) - Dick Clark will spend New Year's Eve presiding over his New Year's Rockin' Eve 2001 live from New York City's Times Square, as he has for the last 28 years. "I'll be there with 98 Degrees, the Bangles, Baha Men, Boyz II Men, Third Eye Blind, Lonestar, K.C. & the Sunshine Band, Joe, and Vertical Horizon, and goodness knows who else."

The 29th annual broadcast of the show on ABC starts at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Sunday (December 31), and it features three segments. The first, Dick Clark's Primetime New Year's Rockin' Eve, will air from 10 to11 p.m. ET/PT, with Clark reporting on the festivities in Times Square, while correspondents Steve Doocy and Madison Michelle report from around the city. Kiss, O-Town, 'N Sync, and Jessica Simpson provide the entertainment in this segment with highlights from their respective tours during the year.

Next, from 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m., Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2001, Part 1 kicks in, featuring Clark's traditional countdown to midnight in Times Square. Clark will by joined by co-host Wayne Brady (Whose Line Is It Anyway?) checking in from Hollywood. Performances in this segment include the Baha Men, the Bangles, Boyz II Men, 98 Degrees, Lonestar, and Third Eye Blind. Finally, Part 2 will conclude the New Year's festivities with rockers Vertical Horizon and Joe joining the all-star line-up of performers as Dick Clark wraps things up from Times Square.

At age 71, Clark is affectionately known as "America's Oldest Teenager." He is often asked how he maintains his ever-youthful appearance, and he explains to LAUNCH that it's quite simple after nearly three decades of hosting New Year's Rockin' Eve in ice-cold Times Square. "Well, it's very easy--you go out in Times Square and you do the cryogenic freezing treatment every year and you freeze your tail off," he says. "You know, I've often said it's a game for people under 18 or under 21 because once you reach that point you've got better sense. Why would you hang out with a mess of strangers and scream and yell with a funny hat on when you can be somewhere warm?"

Despite the often-frigid temperatures, the screaming strangers, and the funny hats, New Year's Eve for many would not be the same without Clark's participation. "I'll just put on my layers and layers of underwear and my heavy boots and tromp out into Times Square with 500,000 of my intimate friends," he says with a smile.

--Jason Gelman, New York

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