Features
Odds & Ends: Gregg Allman/Eric Church, Morrissey, Chief Keef
“Celebrating Gregg Allman: Storytelling And Special Performances, Featuring Eric Church” is presented as part of the Grammy Foundation’s Living Histories program.
The event takes place Sept. 24 at Los Angeles’ Skirball Cultural Center, which is hosting the exhibition “Bill Graham and the Rock & Roll Revolution.”
Before putting on an acoustic set, Allman and Church will chat about the influence of the legendary concert promoter during a conversation moderated by Scott Goldman, vice president of the Grammy Foundation and MusiCares.
The Allman Brothers Band is one of the many artists whose careers were launched thanks to the support of Graham. After making its debut at New York’s Fillmore East in 1969, Allman Brothers Band returned two years later to record its first live album. An announcement points out that the band’s live shows “eventually contributed to a young Eric Church’s interest in country music.”
The event will be recorded and archived as part of the Grammy Foundation Living Histories program. Attendees will want to arrive to the venue early to check out the Bill Graham exhibition, which will be open to ticketholders from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Tickets are available now. Visit Skirball.org for more information.
Morrissey claims he was passing through the security area at San Francisco International July 27 when an airport security officer came up to the singer and groped him.
A post on fan site True-To-You.net notes that Morrissey had already gone through the standard airport security procedure, including the stand-up scanner, without any issues.
“Before I could gather my belongings from the usual array of trays I was approached by an ‘airport security officer’ who stopped me, crouched before me and groped my penis and testicles. He quickly moved away as an older ‘airport security officer’ approached,” Morrissey writes.
Two members of British Airways Special Services, who were accompanying Morrissey, convinced him to lodge a complaint against the security officer, who was identified as the general manager on duty.
But first, the security officer in question was confronted. The officer reportedly refused to comment other than saying, “That’s just your opinion.”
Morrissey writes, “But, of course, what the airport security officer was saying was: your opinion will never count in the eyes of the law.”
He added, “In the interests of imperishable bureaucracy my submitted complaint against this ‘officer’ will obviously be either unread or ignored because, as we all know, on matters of officialism it is not possible to be pleasantly surprised by anything at all.”
Holograms are often used in place of artists who are deceased but Chief Keef had hoped to perform in the Chicago-area via hologram to avoid being arrested. Unfortunately, two performances were canceled this month and a September show hasn’t found a venue yet.
The rapper apparently can’t physically take the stage because of an outstanding warrant for failure to pay child support, according to USAToday.com.
A hologram of Chief Keef performing from a soundstage in Beverly Hills, Calif., appeared at Craze Fest in Hammond, Ind., July 26 for just one song before it was shut down by police.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Hammond’s mayor said the rapper wasn’t authorized to perform at the festival.
A hologram gig that would have been shown at Chicago’s Redmoon Theater was called off earlier in July after Mayor Rahm Emanuel convinced the venue to nix the show. According to USA Today, Emanuel’s office said the rapper promoted violence and that the concert “posed a significant public safety risk.”
Although Chief Keef’s lyrics have been accused of glorifying violence and he has a rap sheet that includes aggravated assault of a police officer with a firearm, the rapper was speaking out against violence at the Hammond show. The canceled shows were supposed to benefit the family of his friend and fellow rapper, Marvin “Capo” Carr, who was killed in a shooting July 11, as well as the family of 13-month-old Dillan Harris. The infant was killed in the aftermath of the shooting, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Chief Keef is reportedly trying to host yet another benefit with a hologram concert shown simultaneously in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles via a partnership with Hologram USA. After announcing that the mid-September show would feature an “all-star hip hop lineup” at Madison Square Garden Co. venues, a MSG representative released a statement saying, “We are not involved in this in any way.”
Hologram USA CEO Alki David told the Chicago Tribune he’s disappointed but the show will still go on.