Suicide on stage
2003-09-29 17:53:03.505319+00 by
Dan Lyke
7 comments
It was via a post on Weird Ass Shit that I first learned that the band Hell On Earth (slow and flakey site) claimed to be planning on assisting the suicide of a terminally ill person on stage during one of their concerts. The St. Petersburg City Council has passed a law to forbid this [edit: Was "Tampa", my bad]...
...making it illegal to conduct a suicide for commercial or entertainment
purposes, and to host, promote and sell tickets for such an event.
But it's fairly clear that there are a few clueless bozos who haven't really looked at the issues surrounding assisted suicide and terminal illness:
"While I still think it's a publicity stunt, we still couldn't sit idly
by and let somebody lose their life," council member Bill Foster said.
And for the record: I'm guessing publicity stunt, but we'll never really know.
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comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: Suicide on stage made: 2003-09-29 18:43:50.106437+00 by:
baylink
SFGate correctly notes that it's the *St Pete* City Council who passed the ordinance; happens I know the lead
singer, and the concert was scheduled to be at the venue I'm the part time production manager for.
As of now, so far as I know, even the venue owner isn't sure if it is just a publicity stunt, but, given the
terms of the ordinance (with which he's apparently happy), he's unlikely to find out -- if he hasn't cancelled
the date completely already (I forget what he said).
But we may, in fact, eventually find out; I'll report back.
Nice to know they're getting their names spelled right. ;-)
#Comment Re: Suicide on stage made: 2003-09-29 19:25:53.452637+00 by:
Dan Lyke
Thanks, fixed the note.
I'm sure that if I were the owner I'd be itching for a reason to drop that band from my venue, probably surreptitiously calling up the city council to make campaign donations. After all, if it's not your fault you get both the street cred and off the hook.
#Comment Re: Suicide on stage made: 2003-09-29 20:28:19.289767+00 by:
Dan Lyke
Damn, and of course ya always miss the good headlines when you're whipping these things off. I should've tried "Suicide: Live".
#Comment Re: Suicide on stage made: 2003-09-30 14:29:31.582147+00 by:
ghasty
Band claims it's still a go
Band Vows To Defy New St. Pete Law With Onstage Suicide
#Comment Re: Suicide on stage made: 2003-09-30 17:57:14.985435+00 by:
petronius
If only the band would kill themselves before they begin to play....
#Comment Re: Suicide on stage made: 2003-09-30 20:20:04.758413+00 by:
Diane Reese
And I know how they should do it! They should grind themselves up one by one in a blender, as they've done with live rats at their shows! What a great PR stunt, huh?
#Comment Re: Suicide on stage made: 2003-09-30 20:31:23.830334+00 by:
baylink
Actually, the venue owner is probably quietly pleased with the whole fracas -- he's a great guy, but the council
is always on his ass (cause, y'know, making life happy for teenagers) -- this was a good opportunity for him to
do something they appreciated...