(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — In celebration of the tenth year of the Vans Warped Tour, presented by Samsung and Cingular Wireless, veteran bands will come together August 20 at Boston's Gillette Stadium Parking Lot for the Vans Warped Tour 10TH Anniversary Reunion Show. Artists confirmed so far include: Rancid, Pennywise, Good Charlotte, New Found Glory, Less Than Jake, Unwritten Law, face to face, The Vandals, Finch, Sick of it All, Something Corporate, Simple Plan, Hepcat, Ozomatli and Strung Out.
Highlights from this show will be broadcast exclusively on Fuse as a 90-minute concert special, scheduled to air September 24 at 7:00 PM ET/PT. Fuse will build up to this event with weekly "Warped Wednesdays" premiering on June 16. Every Wednesday all summer long between 11:00 AM-3:00 PM (EST), Fuse's air will be overtaken by the hottest bands on the tour, hosting hours of their favorite music videos and sharing their Warped road stories. Later in the day, fans can then tune-in to Fuse's live daily studio telecast between 6:00-7:00 PM (EST) for a final fix of tour updates, news, exclusive interviews from the road, and much more.
In other news, for the first time in the Vans Warped Tour history, band set times will be distributed daily to fans by Samsung via a text message on the morning of the show. Samsung and Cingular Wireless will connect fans with their favorite bands by presenting "Wireless Warped" band updates, band promotions and exclusive prizes. Fans can register to receive the daily band schedule by visiting www.warpedtour.com.
The Vans Warped Tour will intensify its online presence in 2004 via multiple new aspects. The Vans Warped Tour Digital Music Club powered by MusicNow launches June 24 and is the world's first online music store and subscription service created for a concert festival. The download store will offer exclusive live tracks from the 2004 tour as well as album tracks from bands on the present and past tours. Individual tracks from participating artists will be available for $.99 and entire albums for $9.99. Membership for the subscription service will be $9.99 per month.
The Warped Digital Media Pavilion will make its debut on this summer's tour and will feature a variety of technology-oriented activities for fans. The Warped Unwired tent will offer Internet access, games, contests, photo workshops, as well as MusicNow and Memorex Warped digital music services.
In the Memorex area, fans can check out the Vans Warped Tour Digital Music Club, listen to Warped radio (powered by MusicNow), purchase, download and burn music from the Warped Music store and check out the Warped TVDesktop by TVDesktop.com. The Warped TVDesktop will enable fans to get daily video updates from the tour. A few of the channels already planned are: The Pit Reporter (daily inside scoop on behind-the-scenes and onstage happenings), Warped Live! (exclusive live videos of performances from the 2004 tour), Warped Discovery (music videos from up-and-coming Warped bands) and Punk Rock Holocaust Online (serialized version of the forthcoming feature slasher film shot on the 2003 tour).
The Vans Warped Tour is made possible through the support of Vans; presenting sponsors Samsung Telecommunications America and Cingular Wireless; and Fuse, PlayStation2, Wrigley's Winterfresh, AOL, Hot Topic, the truth, Monster Energy and Hansen's Sodas, Alternative Press and SPIN magazine. –Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen
Columbia Might Stop Funding Music Festival
COLUMBIA, SC – City Council is considering whether to fund the 3 Rivers Music Festival next year, after the three-day event lost money for a second year in a row.
The April event lost $184,000. The city already had provided $300,000 for the festival, which attracted between 45,000 and 50,000 people.
Fans complained of a poor lineup. Organizers blamed the losses on the number of big-name acts playing in the area last month.
"I would hate for it to go away, … but we need to make a business-like decision," council member Anne Sinclair said.
City Council voted Wednesday to cover the loss and provide $16,000 to begin planning next year, if the event is held.
Columbia has had to cover festival deficits for three of its five years.
Festival board chairman Fred Monk said the string of concerts at the Colonial Center, including Prince, Aerosmith, Britney Spears, Shania Twain and Jimmy Buffett, was the biggest obstacle.
Three-day passes for the festival were $30. Single-day tickets were $20.
No Smoking For Bluesman In Logo For Fest
HAGERSTOWN, MD (AP) The bluesman in the logo for this year's Western Maryland Blues Fest won't be smoking. The festival's organizing committee has removed a cigarette from the image.
"It just was an unnecessary element to the beauty of the painting," said Carl Disque, Blues Fest founder and committee chairman.
The committee opposes the promotion or portrayal of alcohol, tobacco or drug use, Disque said recently. "It's a family event," he said.
The three-day Blues Fest opens Friday.
Francisco Amaya, a college art teacher from Buffalo, N.Y., who painted the image, said the change bothered him, but the contract allowed it.
"No kid or person is going to look at a painting and want to smoke a cigarette," he said.
The original hangs at the Washington County Arts Council Gallery in Hagerstown.
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