Jack Russell of Great White wanted to be able to give proceeds from a benefit concert recognizing the tenth anniversary of The Station nightclub tragedy to the Station Fire Memorial Fund, but the charity wants nothing of it.
Great White
Shortly after announcing his show on February 7 at the Saint Rocke club in Hermosa Beach, CA, his manager received an e-mail from the organization “stating that they will refuse any donations from me. The proceeds from the show will be donated to a different charitable organization, to be determined shortly.”
This event was not approved by, nor endorsed by the Station Fire Memorial Foundation.
We require all third party fundraisers to be recognised and approved prior to advertising.
The foundation felt that this event was not something we wished to be associated with. This is due to the resentment and animosity still felt by many of the families and survivors. We feel that the upset caused by his involvement would outweigh the amount of funds raised at this event
Mr Russell’s manager, Ms Valerie Ince, responded that she would remove the name of the foundation from the event and another worthy charity would be chosen. We thanked her, and tried to have all traces of the event taken down from various music news websites before any damage could be done.
Instead of graciously adhering to our heartfelt and polite request, Ms Ince then released an additional statement to the media.
We stand behind our decision that our organisation represents the feelings and the needs of the family members and survivors above the need for publicity or opportunity of one person.
As of the time of this writing, the Saint Rocke site is still listing the Station Foundation Memorial Fund as the beneficiary for the concert.
The Station fire was caused by Great White’s pyrotechnics setting acoustic foam on the club’s ceiling and walls on fire. 100 people were killed and 230 injured.
