PINK FLOYD'S ROGER WATERS TO RE-UNITE AT LIVE8
PINK FLOYD'S ROGER WATERS TO RE-UNITE AT LIVE8
REUTERS - LONDON - What does it take to get 100 bands and a million fans to show up at four concerts?Well, maybe not just four people, but that's a pretty close answer.
Four members of seminal British rock band Pink Floyd will play together for the first time in
24 years at London's Live 8 charity concert for Africa on July 2, publicists for the event
said.
Guitarist David Gilmour, drummer Nick Mason and keyboard player Richard Wright
will be on stage with bassist Roger Waters for their first public performance since
they played at London's Earls Court in 1981.
The rock legends will join a star-studded line-up including Coldplay, Elton John and Paul McCartney
at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, organized by activist rocker Bob Geldof to pressure rich nations
to ease African poverty.
"Like most people I want to do everything I can to persuade the G8 leaders to make huge commitments
to the relief of poverty and increased aid to the third world," said Gilmour.
"Any squabbles Roger and the band have had in the past are so petty in this context, and if reforming
for this concert will help focus attention then it's got to be worthwhile."
The band released their first album "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" in 1967 and broke records with 1973's
"The Dark Side Of The Moon", which remained in the American album charts for more than a decade.
In the 1980s relations between Waters and the rest of the group soured, with Waters suing over
the rights to the Pink Floyd name.
Gilmore, Mason and Wright continued to record and tour as Pink Floyd, releasing their last
studio album "The Division Bell" in 1994.
To me, this seems like the concert(s) of the century at Hyde Park, London. Four other concerts with different
lineups will be held under the same theme in Philadelphia, Paris, Berlin and Rome. The shows are all free,
however, the London gig will require tickets, distributed and obtained - somehow! For more information
go to the LIVE8 Website....but keep reading the news briefs below, first.
Here's the LONDON LINEUP. I don't know if I could wear my Rush jacket through all these artist performances! There are
25 bands, if each one plays an hour....and takes an hour to set up and break down (easily....that's over 50 hours
of...entertainment!). With this lineup, I couldn't possibly imagine what the experience would be like, how one could take
it all in, and how many aid stations there would be. Anyone want to blow off life and go with me?:
Coldplay
The Cure
Dido
Bob Geldof
Elton John
Keane
The Killers
Annie Lennox
Madonna
Mariah Carey
Paul McCartney
Ms. Dynamite
Muse
Pink Floyd
Razorlight
REM
Scissor Sisters
Snoop Dogg
Snow Patrol
Stereophonics
Sting
Joss Stone
U2
Velvet Revolver
Robbie Williams
Traveling more than twice the speed limit of 62 miles per hour, the motorcycle rider was caught on film in a police radar trap near Bad Freienwalde outside Berlin but authorities don’t know who the speeder was because motorcycles have no front license plates.
“We are not able to identify him,” said Lothar Wiegand, a spokesman for the Brandenburg Transport Ministry in Potsdam.
While German motorists who break speed limits are identified by their license plates in police photos
and receive their fines by mail shortly after their infractions, motorcycle riders often escape unpunished.
The direct link is: HERE.
Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson--along with his son and daughter-in-law--have filed a federal lawsuit
against three Florida sheriff's deputies, the parent company of the Ritz-Carlton hotel and the hotel's
security director. The suit stems from a New Year's Eve 2003 incident in Naples, FL, during which Lifeson
and his son scuffled with police.
"I thought I could accept the fact that I was punched in the face so hard it ripped the cartilage
from my nose, fracturing the bone and shattering my septum," Lifeson said in part in a lengthy statement
issued on Thursday (6/9). "I thought I could accept the incredibly painful nasal surgery and weeks of
recovery, and the discomfort I feel every night when I go to sleep. I thought I could accept the fact
that I was Tasered six times, twice while lying face down in a growing pool of my own blood, and so
severely that it burned bloody holes in my back. I thought I could accept watching my son get electrocuted
numerous times as well, and erase the memory of his screams of pain and terror. ... I thought I could accept
watching my daughter-in-law, through a crack in the prison door, as tears streamed down her face because she
was unlawfully jailed and separated from her two-month-old son. ... What was I thinking?"
In April, Lifeson and his son--who originally were charged with felonies in connection with the
incident--pled no contest to a single, misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest without violence,
and were sentenced to probation.
According to published reports, Lifeson was accused of spitting blood in a deputy's face and
pushing an officer down a stairwell. The incident reportedly began when Lifeson's son jumped
onto a stage where a house band was performing, then refused to leave. The resulting multiple-felony
charges were reduced after "the prosecution's case began to crumble as the truth emerged and witnesses
came forward to expose the behavior of these Collier County Sheriff's Deputies and certain employees
of the Ritz-Carlton," according to Lifeson's statement.
"The legal action we are embarking on now will hopefully bring attention to the fact that people
cannot and should not be treated this way."
REUTERS - BERLIN - A motorcyclist captured on film by German police racing at 155 mph on a road near
Berlin has set a new unofficial national record for speeding, Germany's Bild newspaper reported Monday.
If you haven't already followed up on Alex Lifeson's growing legal saga, this is some of the latest news, as reported by
LIVE DAILY.
Since
Geddy likes baseball so much, and so do I, here's a little side note to keep an ear out for. On more nights
than not, if you watch the New York Yankees or the San Diego Padres, it's almost a sure thing that
you'll hear a Rush song sometime during most (but not all) home games. Seems like a guy in the SD booth
likes Rush, and from time to time he arranges to have Tom Sawyer, Limelight or Subdivisions
played between batters or innings, and occasionally makes some wild reference to Rush like "Wow,
he got all of that one! That one's Flyin' through the Night! or some crazy stuff like that!
Same thing and same songs with the Yankees. Interesting, since I've lived extensively in both home teams' cities!
I'll have to start writing the references down or interview the announcer for SD. - Jman2112