This seems possible , what with Elvis playing
Chicago on Sept.26th , a short `plane ride away.
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see
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprov ... 7A6F3DF41E
NEWS STORY
Fire concert takes shape
Extravaganza of Canadian musical talent on display in
Kamloops next Saturday
Stuart Hunter
The Province
Sunday, September 21, 2003
Toronto may have had SARStock but the B.C. Interior is
getting FIREstock.
And even though Mick and Keith won't be at FIREstock,
Matthew and Michelle will be.
Some of the biggest names in the Canadian music
industry will be heading to Kamloops next Saturday to
perform at Fire on the Mountain -- a.k.a. FIREstock --
a fundraising concert to aid victims of this summer's
devastating fires in the B.C. Interior.
The hastily organized concert at Kamloops' Sport Mart
Place Plaza Park will feature Coquitlam rocker Matthew
Good, chanteuse Chantal Kreviazuk and country crooner
Michelle Wright among other acts and is expected to
draw 30,000 fans and generate about $600,000 in relief
aid.
The Sept. 27 concert is the brainchild of country
artist/producer Randall Prescott and took root at the
recent Canadian Country Music Awards in Calgary.
"I guess it was [Bach] who said: 'Music is God's
greatest gift to his sorrowing creatures,' so we just
wanted to help," Prescott said last night from
Vancouver International Airport before heading home to
Ontario's Ottawa valley. "Where I'm coming from on
this is just to lift these people's spirits and give
them a day off."
The concert, sponsored by Canadian Pacific Railway,
WestJet and RBC Financial Group, will also include
Beverley Mahood, Lisa Brokop and Tracey Brown --
Prescott's wife.
Prescott said two additional big-name acts are
expected to be named in the next few days and while he
refused to identify the acts, he did say they were a
group-oriented country band and a rock act.
When asked if it was B.C. rockers Nickelback, Prescott
said: "I wish."
Other names rumoured to be involved are Nanaimo jazz
star Diana Krall and her beau, British pop icon Elvis
Costello, pop star Sarah McLachlan and rocker Bryan
Adams, who lives in London and rarely returns to B.C.
Fire on the Mountain will be held on a unique stage
with a CPR steam locomotive from the 1930s
incorporated into it. Admission to the show is by
donation, with recommended donations of $20 per person
or $50 per family. Proceeds will go to affected
residents in the Kelowna, Kamloops and Cranbrook
areas.
Kelowna Mayor Walter Gray predicted the concert will
help bring people in the hardest-hit communities
together.
"We're delighted -- now Kamloops seems much closer to
Kelowna than it seemed in the past," Gray said of the
two traditional rivals. "Now there is a bonding that
has taken place as a result of us both going through
the same thing."
Several smaller benefit concerts have also been
organized to help the people affected by the 2,460
forest fires that have consumed 2,500 square
kilometres of land, bush and residential area this
summer -- one of the hottest and driest on record. The
fires claimed three lives and destroyed 334 homes.
Pop diva Cher kicked things off by donating about
$50,000 from her Aug. 23 show at GM Place to the B.C.
Fire Relief Fund and the Salvation Army, which has
raised $1.85 million for fire victims.
The B.C. Country Music Association is holding a
benefit concert on Sept. 28 at Surrey's Bell
Performing Centre. Proceeds from the show featuring
John Landry and The Cruzeros will go to the Canadian
Red Cross, which has raised $2.4 million to date.
Heritage Minister Sheila Copps and Vancouver's Shout
Theatrical Entertainment plan a mid-October
concert/telethon to help fire victims and rebuild the
12 historic trestles of the Kettle Valley Railway
destroyed by the Okanagan Mountain Park fire.
Kelowna is planning a "community group-hug" as a
tribute to those who helped douse the flames on Oct.
13 -- Thanksgiving.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada estimated the fires
could be the second most expensive natural disaster in
Canadian history after the $1.3 billion ice storm that
paralyzed Quebec and eastern Ontario. The firefighting
cost has been pegged at $545 million.
shunter@png.canwest.com
© Copyright 2003 The Province