Friday, August 25, 2006

Justin Timberlake fans who wanted to practice their enamored screaming for his 9:30 club appearance tonight should have stopped by the venue on Wednesday. There, a lesser-known heartthrob, 17-year-old Teddy Geiger, was basking in similar high-frequency accolades.

Geiger is the anti-Justin -- no choreographed dance moves, no sly half-smiles, no otherworldly falsetto. Sure, the Rochester, N.Y., native started his musical career on reality television, but for a bona fide hottie, the kid is absolutely ordinary. Sporting a baggy T-shirt, jeans and a dark mop of hair, he looks like he should be off on a paper route somewhere.

But as a songwriter, Geiger is beyond his years. Way beyond his years. Before a smitten teen-pop audience, he performed some decidedly adult-pop tunes, the kind that could gently swell in waiting rooms the world over. He sang these songs with the same inflection as soft-rock lothario John Mayer -- a pseudo-soulful warble that comes from the back of the throat, then evaporates from the mouth in a breathy coo. Apparently, it melts young girls' hearts on contact.

Alternating between guitar and piano, Geiger seemed eager to prove his grown-up talents, but it's his boy-next-door appeal that earned him so many shrieks and camera phone flashes. "Nothing can prepare us for the day / When little boys grow old," he sang on the cleverly titled "Thinking Underage." Don't grow up too fast, Teddy.

-- Chris Richards