James & Abba

James & Abba
Team Profile
Born:	(1959-01-13) January 13, 1959 (James) (1967-08-02) August 2, 1967 (Abba)
Hometown:	Scituate, Massachusetts (James) Denver, Colorardo (Abba)
Relation:	Friends
Occupation:	Professional Musician (James) Entertainment Lawyer (Abba)
Legs Competed:	8
Legs Won:	2
Placement:	6th
Average Position:	4.12
RoadblockCount:	James: 3 Abba: 5
CountriesRaced:

James LoMenzo and Mark "Abba" Abbattista are a team of Rock Star/Lawyer on The Amazing Race 21.

Unlike most of their competitors, James & Abba generally shirked away from alliances, preferring to run the race on their own. Although this approach to the race led to success and propelled them to the final six, they were also prone to misplacing their possessions, leading to trouble down the line. They first misplaced their money in the sixth leg, leading to Natalie & Nadiya and Trey & Lexi finding it and claiming it for themselves. In the following leg, despite having a lead of over six hours over Abbie & Ryan and Josh & Brent, they left their bags and Abba's passport in a Russian gypsy cab, which then drove off without them. This proved to be their undoing as they spent the remainder of their time in Russia trying to find Abba's passport, before ultimately being eliminated in 6th place.

Profile

Retrieved from CBS.com

James

Age: 53
Hometown: Scituate, MA.
Connection to your teammate: Friends
Current occupation: Professional Musician – former band member of White Lion and Megadeth.
Describe what you do: For the past 30 plus years I've been a professional touring musician. I've toured and recorded with some of the most popular, iconic artists, such as White Lion, Ozzy Osbourne, Slash, David Lee Roth, Black Label Society, Megadeth, Bobby Brown and DMC (to name more than a few). I'm also founder of Monster House Productions, a video production company geared mostly towards the musical instrument manufacturing sector. We do product demos, instructional videos and just about everything else to help companies promote their products and services.
Favorite hobby: Photography
Word to describe you: Gregarious and reliable.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of: My career as a professional musician.
What famous person reminds you of yourself: Me
What famous person reminds you of your teammate: Jack Sparrow
What scares you most about traveling: Not much scares me about traveling. I've gotten accustomed to it over the years.
What excites you most about traveling: Seeing new places and meeting new people.
Biggest challenge you and your teammate will face on The Race together: I don't think we will have too many challenges. We work pretty well together.
Pet peeve about your teammate: He's too handsome.
What country and place would you most like to visit and why? Africa, because I have never been.

Abba

Age: 45
Hometown: Denver, CO
Connection to your teammate: Friends
Current occupation: Entertainment Lawyer
Describe what you do: I negotiate and draft various music-related contracts and licenses. I help create and develop business strategies and touring opportunities for music and entertainment clients.
Favorite hobbies: Baseball, traveling and photography.
Three words to describe you: Charming, funny and sarcastic.
What is the accomplishment you are most proud of: Being with my wife since we were 14 years old and my children.
What famous person reminds you of yourself: I look like John Lennon or Jesus, but I have the personality of Scarecrow from "The Wizard of Oz."
What famous person reminds you of your teammate: James LoMenzo
What scares you most about traveling: Foreign medical care being sub par.
What excites you most about traveling: New sights, sounds, smells and meeting new people. Plus, I like getting my passport stamped!
Biggest challenge you and your teammate will face on The Race together: I don't foresee any.
Pet peeve about your teammate: His pink suitcase! (He swears it's salmon.)
What country and place would you most like to visit and why? Antarctica and the Himalayas – I can't think of anything more spectacular.
What do you hope to accomplish by running The Race (other than winning one million bucks)? I hope to make my children proud of me.

The Amazing Race 21

Race History

James & Abba's Race History
Episode	Leg	Destination(s)	Detour Choice (underlined)	Roadblock Performer	Placement	Notes
1	1	United States → China	No Detour	James	6 of 11	[1]
				Abba
2	2	China → Indonesia	Ice-by-the-Pound / Fish-by-the-Barrel	James	6 of 10
3	3	Indonesia	Lion's Head / Egg Head	Abba	4 of 9
4	4	Indonesia → Bangladesh	Used Fast Forward		1 of 8►
5	5	Bangladesh	Straw Dogs / Bamboo Jungle	James	1 of 7
6	6	Bangladesh → Turkey	Simit / Scrub It	Abba	3 of 7
7	7	Turkey → Russia	Alphabetized / Synchronized	Abba	6 of 6	[2]
8	8	Russia	Did not perform	Abba	6 of 6	[3]
				Average	4.12
Legend:      The team finished in first place      The team finished in last place and was eliminated from the race      The team finished in last place in a non-elimination leg      The team that won The Amazing Race      The team that crossed the Finish Line second      The team that crossed the Finish Line third ϵ The team used the Express Pass somewhere during the leg ⊂ The team used the U-Turn ⊃ Recipient of the U-Turn ⋐ The team that used the second slot of the "Double U-Turn" ⋑ Recipient of a second U-Turn due to the "Double U-Turn" twist
Notes: 1: Leg 1 had two Roadblocks and no Detour. The team member who sat out the first Roadblock was required to perform the second one. 2: James & Abba initially arrived 4th, but were not allowed to check in because Abba's passport was amongst the items stolen by their cabbie during the Roadblock. As they tried to retrieve the passport, Abbie & Ryan and Josh & Brent checked in during this time, dropping James & Abba to last place. However, Leg 7 was a non-elimination leg and they were allowed to keep racing until they came to a point where they would need to produce their passports for international travel. 3: As they spent much of the leg trying to retrieve Abba's passport or acquire a new one, James & Abba were only shown retrieving the Speed Bump clue and traveling to the task before arriving at the Pit Stop in last place and being eliminated. On the official website, Abba disclosed that he was able to complete the Roadblock, but did not perform the Detour as they were too far behind the other teams and were ordered to go directly to the Pit Stop.

Trivia

• First team to run an entire leg without a team member's passport.

External links

• James's Wikipedia page: James LoMenzo

• James's Website: jameslomenzo.com

Interviews

Season 21

• Kimberly Nordyke at The Hollywood Reporter (11/19/2012): "James and Abba on Their Stolen Passport and Why They Were in a Limo With a Priest"
• Sheldon Sherman at Yakkity Yaks (11/19/2012): "The Amazing Race: The Yak Chats with James and Mark"
• Elizabeth Kwiatkowski at Reality TV World (11/19/2012): "Exclusive: James LoMenzo and Mark 'Abba' Abbattista talk The Amazing Race" [Parts 1 & 2]
• Reg Seeton at The Deadbolt (11/19/2012): "I ran the race with two broken legs"
• Gina Scarpa at Reality Wanted (11/20/2012): "The Amazing Race 21: Exclusive Interview with James LoMenzo and Mark "Abba" Abbattista"
• Elimination Interviews at CBS.com (11/20/2012): "Elimination Interview: Abba and James"
• Lindsay Zier-Vogel at CTV.ca (11/21/2012): "When the rockers were handed (passport-less) lemons, they made (vodka-spiked) lemonade"

Post-Show

• Marah Eakin at A.V. Club (12/06/2013): "What's it like to be a contestant on The Amazing Race?"
• Rob Cesternino & Jessica Liese (03/10/2014): "Amazing Race All-Stars Episode 3 Recap with Abba from TAR 21"

Social Media Profiles

• James's Facebook: /jameslomenzofanpage

• James's Instagram: /bassmonsterr

• Abba's Twitter: @BassiusMaximus