Word: concertizer
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Nobody would accuse Rick Garson of thinking small. The Las Vegas-based music producer is planning a benefit concert in Beijing on April 17 that will rival - and possibly exceed - such celebrity-spangled extravaganzas as Live Aid and Live 8. The ebullient Garson is well aware that China has what might politely be described as a mixed record when it comes to public performances by foreign artists; 2009 alone featured a trail of government last-minute cancellations. Notable among them was the nixing of Oasis concerts in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, reportedly because of one band member's attendance...
...China. [The government is] looking at this as the branding of the new China: red China going green." Participating bands will be donating their time, and half of all money raised will be funneled into global projects dedicated to promoting peace and protecting the environment. The slogan on the concert's website encapsulates Garson's oft-repeated objectives: Peace = Green + No War + Water + Food + Health + Education. (See pictures of the making of modern China...
...There's no doubting Garson's sincerity, but the question remains: Can Garson pull off what would be by far the biggest concert in China's history? The Chinese authorities have long been suspicious of rock music, notes Kaiser Kuo, a Beijing-based writer and musician who was once front man for one of China's most popular bands, Tang Dynasty. Pop music, initially associated with spiritual pollution from the West, later came to be seen as a potentially subversive force that might encourage rebelliousness among China's youth. But lately restrictions seem to be relaxing, and Kuo says bands...
...Garson says the authorities, who have already green-lighted Show of Peace, probably understand that the concert would be a good way of improving China's image overseas. "Everybody is looking for the next big event that will put China in a positive light since the Olympics," he says. "I think it's very powerful that this statement of green and harmony is coming from China...
...Soon, the idea of a global concert for peace was born. Though it was originally intended to be held within the Vatican, years of delays and cancellations led Garson to look further afield. At one point the concert was to be held at the U.N. office in Geneva, but that, too, was cancelled, leading him to search in the Middle East. Eventually, his work took him to China, where he believes he was destined to hold the concert all along. "Things happen for a reason," he says...