Atypical Events

Live Earth Concert Cancelled Due to Terrorist Attacks

Posted by jessie under Music, News

This year’s Live Earth concert, scheduled for this Saturday, December 7th in Mumbai, has been postponed indefinitely.

The event has been canceled due to security fears in wake of terrorist attacks that took place there last week, in which more than 170 people were killed when gunmen opened fire at hotels, railway stations, and other locations throughout Mumbai.

The Live Earth concert series was founded by Emmy award winning Kevin Wall who partnered with former Vice President Al Gore to raise awareness about global warming and environmental issues facing the planet today.

It was scheduled to take place at Mumbai’s Andheri Sports Complex and was to feature musical acts such as Roger Waters (of Pink Floyd), Will.i.am (of the Black Eyed Peas) and Bon Jovi, in addition to Bollywood stars.

On July 7th, 2007, Live Earth: Concerts for a Climate in Crisis took place around the world to raise awareness of global warming. The concerts were seen by 2 billion people, and the concert in Mumbai was meant to be a follow-up to raise money for solar energy projects.

The attacks have also prompted cancellation of other events, including the annual Sangat Chamber Music Festival, which has been relocated to Stockholm, Sweden. Additionally, English cricket players may decide not to return to India due to safety concerns following last week’s attacks.

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All Points West Goes Green

Posted by jessie under Amusement, Music

The inaugural All Points West music festival concert took place last weekend, August 8-10 in Jersey City’s Liberty State Park.

Radiohead and Jack Johnson headlined the festival, which also featured performances from the Roots, Kings of Leon, Chromeo, Metric, Andrew Bird and the Virgins, just to name a few.

Over 40 acts played Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the historic 80-acre park, which offers striking views of the Manhattan skyline and Statue of Liberty.

All Points West was the first festival of its size to come to the Tri-State area in a long time. All Points West promoted itself as a “green” festival, taking precautions to lower the carbon footprints of the festival and its attendees, promoting recycling and mass transit.

One of the most notable ways the festival encouraged attendees to be green was by taking the ferry from Pier 11 at South Street Seaport in Manhattan to get to Liberty State Park, which was how most people got to the event.

Attendees were also encouraged to ride bikes, take the light rail or PATH train. People who wanted to drive to the event had to carpool and obtain a special carpool parking pass.

Large music festivals can generate a lot of waste. With this in mind All Points West used non-disposable materials in the backstage area, per request of the artists. It was an important priority of the artists to keep the festival green.

Radiohead, who headlined the festival on Friday and Saturday, even commissioned a carbon-footprint study of their tour. Jack Johnson, Sunday’s headliner, educated attendees on the importance of going green with an interactive eco-village that he brought along to the festival.

Eco-friendly art and environmental awareness booths were scattered throughout the festival, which also featured a “recycling store” called “TRASHed.:” Attendees could go around collecting plastic bottles and turn them in to collect merchandise like t-shirts, skateboards and beach balls.

People were also able to cut down on bottle usage by bringing their own water bottle that they could fill up for free at faucets throughout the festival grounds.

As a result of the greening efforts, the festival grounds were kept especially clean and over 70,000 people were able to reach All Points West by using mass transit.

Concert Venues From Hell: Worst Tragedies of All Time

Posted by jessie under Amusement, Music

Everyone loves a good concert. Your favorite bands in town so you and a few friends grab tickets, show up early and head right for the front of the stage. This is what good times are all about, at least until something goes wrong.

Concerts are usually a great time, but things can turn bad in a heartbeat. Of course no one expects to go to a concert and actually die but it can, and does happen.

Here are some of the worst concert tragedies over the years that have rocked and shocked us.

1. Free Rolling Stones Concert at Altamont Speedway, 1969

Organized and headlined by the Rolling Stones, the Altamont Festival also featured Santana, Jefferson Airplane, The Flying Burrito Brothers and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The Grateful Dead were originally included in the lineup but they bailed out because the event was so disorganized.

Some heralded the event as being “Woodstock West,” with roughly 300,000 people in attendance. What started out as a good idea is best remembered as an event marred by violence and death. read more »

Country Music Hall Of Fame Inductees Announced

Posted by sonali under Music

Brian Ferriman, founder of Savannah Records, and Wes Montgomery, a famous radio show host, will both be inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame during Country Music Week in September, 2008.

The inductees will be recognized during the four-day Country Music Week conference, which will begin Sept. 8 with the CCMA Awards ceremony.