The star-studded benefit concert will be held at Madison Square Garden instead of Boardwalk Hall. Some are wondering why it's not being held at the latter with artists such as Bruce and Bon Jovi headlining.
The Boss is among many musicians who will play a benefit concert for victims of Sandy at Madison Square Garden on Dec. 12.
Some extra things to chew on — besides turkey — this Thanksgiving:
Erroneous media reports of the destruction of the Atlantic City Boardwalk during Hurricane Sandy had members of the entertainment community wondering if their future paychecks had been washed away along with the boards.
Last week, during back-to-back interviews, Aerosmith bass player Tom Hamilton (read interviews with Joe Perry and Steven Tyler here) and The Moody Blues bassist John Lodge each expressed concern about the town where both bands will be performing over the next eight days.
“Is it as bad as we’re hearing?” asked Hamilton, who expressed relief when he learned that TV and radio network news outlets along with major print media inaccurately reported Sandy’s destruction of the Boardwalk.
Hamilton said he’d heard conflicting reports about what Sandy did (or didn’t) do to Atlantic City. But he also said there was never one word of discussion whether Aerosmith would be able to play its Friday (Nov. 23) night concert in Revel’s Ovation Hall.
“They never said a word about canceling,” he said.
Lodge, who’s been visiting Atlantic City with the Moody Blues for 30 years, was relieved to hear the Boardwalk was mostly intact, save a couple thousand feet of rickety boards in the Inlet section that was going to be replaced anyway.
“Atlantic City always reminded me of Brighton [England],” Lodge told me. Brighton is a major coastal resort in the south of Great Britain and has a boardwalk similar to Atlantic City’s.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked on the [Atlantic City] Boardwalk,” he added. “I love getting up there and seeing the ocean. It would have been a tragedy to have lost [the Boardwalk].”
Based on the media reports he’d seen out of Atlantic City, Lodge was concerned the entire Boardwalk had been washed away during the storm.
“That’s how [the media] made it seem,” he said.
Another longtime Atlantic City entertainer called me the day after Sandy rolled through. Tony Orlando, who had been following the storm from his home outside Branson, Mo, was worried about what he’d seen on television.
“Thank God you answered. Are you OK?” he asked with obvious concern in his voice. “Is Atlantic City OK?”
I told him not to believe everything he’d seen on TV and gave him the accurate story on how Atlantic City had weathered the storm.
“That’s not what I was seeing; I was seeing the Boardwalk floating down the street,” he said. He was relieved when I told him the footage he’d seen was aired out of context and that 99 percent of the Boardwalk had escaped the storm without damage.
* * *
Hurricane Sandy’s flood waters had barely receded when word leaked out — and was then confirmed — that a massive Hurricane Sandy fundraising concert was being planned for Madison Square Garden on Dec. 12.
The core lineup consists of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Jon Bon Jovi, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, The Who, Roger Waters, with more artists being added to the show on a daily basis.
Alicia Keys talks ‘Girl on Fire,’ motherhood and more in exclusive interview with AC Weekly prior to Revel show April 13.
Something is happening in Atlantic City’s main casino venues this weekend that — barring another hurricane or some other act of God — will probably never happen again this year.
In a perfect world, if the casinos had their way, the year would always end on a Friday or Saturday. It would never end on a Monday, as it does this year.
“It’s a shame, really, because progressive rock ... has been a really integral part of [American music], and I don’t understand why they miss that in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
Nearly 11,000 people came out for the charity game, which has been hailed as a big success by organizers, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the victims of Sandy.
Inspired by many of the bands coming out of Great Britain in the late 1960s (The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Who), and fueled by their love of American blues (Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Chuck Ber...
By Jeff Schwachter LAST YEAR, THE BOYS IN Aerosmith decided it was time to take a break from the big productions, glossy videos, and the power-ballad cheese that made them one of the most recognized bands on MTV for the past 20 years. They wanted to get back to the basics. They wanted to get back to playing what they did best: hard and sweaty rock music. But as is the case with any rock 'n' roll band looking to get back to its roots, the road led the band to the blues. Their latest album on Columbia, Honkin' on Bobo, collects 11 blues covers and one new track for an energized assemblage of gritty, blues-rock numbers. Although the songs are not their own, they sound like vintage Aerosmith, reminiscent of the band's early records like Get Your Wings and Toys in the Attic. "I think Aerosmith is better doing this type of music," says Brad Whitford, the Boston-based band's guitarist for over 30 years. "This is more like the way we originally started out. Rather than trying to write something that you think would get played on the radio, we just did what we felt like doing. That's the way...
By Jeff Schwachter AS THE MOODY BLUES' Justin Hayward tells it, life on the road certainly has changed for the British band that once drove itself across America in a station wagon and a U-Haul truck full of guitars and amps. "We literally did drive across America," remembers Hayward, speaking from a hotel room in Toronto during a recent phone conversation. "When we came over for the first time we only had two certain gigs: One at the Fillmore East in New York and the Fillmore West in San Francisco." The band that will forever be known as one of the first to join orchestral music with rock came to the states in 1968 after experiencing success with a new lineup and their groundbreaking recording, Days of Future Passed. The historic album with the hits "Nights in White Satin," "Question" and "Tuesday Afternoon" went on to become one of the classic albums of the 1960s. Driving themselves from coast to coast in '68, they picked up gigs at small clubs along the way. The band Canned Heat ended up inviting them on a two-week tour between the Fillmore gigs. The brief encounter was an eye-opening experience for the young Brits, enabling them...
All money raised through a $10 cover charge will be divided and dispersed among two non-profit organizations — the Brigantine Marine Mammal Stranding Center and the Ocean City Repertory Theatre — each of which was severely impacted by Hurricane Sandy.
The South Jersey shore community — along with celebs from across the country — come together for post-Sandy relief and to let folks know Atlantic City is open (and the Boardwalk) for business.
Not heeding pending-storm evacuation orders is never a wise move, but it can afford a better appreciation for what workers are up against when making barrier islands safe for return.
"Since the national media showed so many images of a city underwater and a broken Boardwalk, we launched the 'Can DO AC' blog. It includes pictures of the city ready and open for business."
The latest Sandy storm coverage for the Atlantic City, New Jersey area.
According to the report, "Each New Jersey power company gave out a slightly different power outage estimate, but the longest outages during Hurricane Irene were seven or eight days, said Greg Reinerk, a spokesman for the state Board of Public Utilities
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1. Fred Frith said... on Nov 20, 2012 at 04:33PM
“Why not do a benefit in AC as well? There are plenty of musicians with roots in New Jersey / NY region.”