Report: Station Charity Makes GREAT WHITE Snub

January 11, 2007

Dave Wedge of the Boston Herald reports:

Rockers GREAT WHITE stopped raising money for a fund for victims of the 2003 Rhode Island nightclub inferno because the charity’s organizers no longer wanted to be associated with the band, the group’s manager said yesterday.

"The Station Family Fund wanted to distance themselves from GREAT WHITE," manager Obi Steinman said. "They thought GREAT WHITE's efforts were hindering their ability to raise money."

The band, whose pyrotechnics ignited a blaze that killed 100 at The Station in West Warwick, R.I., was blasted by victims' families this week because it will perform a charity show in Los Angeles to raise money to save harp seals, not for the fire victims. The concert comes as the Station Family Fund has run dry after handing out more than $800,000 to victims to help with medical bills, housing and other costs. GREAT WHITE has donated $82,000 to the charity.

Fund officials did not return calls.

Steinman said GREAT WHITE is one of four bands on the bill for the harp seal benefit show at L.A.'s Key Club Jan. 27. The band is planning a 25th anniversary reunion tour with its original lineup but no other dates have been booked. Steinman also said the band has 11 songs written that the original members plan to begin recording next month for a new album.

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).