fwd: Free PJ show hoax by lame-o DJ at 107.7 The End

[mir...@inter.nl.net]

1 april-'grap':

"T. Vines" <tod...@u.washington.edu> wrote:

Salutations fellow PJ fans! Listen to this CRAP that they tried to
pull here in Seattle.

I am an English major at the University of Washington
and a long time fan of Pearl Jam. It is my loyality to the band that has
moved me to write these thoughts. An all out injustice has been done. I
will try to be as quick and to the point as possible.

The whole thing began around 3 in the afternoon. I was in my car,
driving off campus when the announcement came over the radio that Pearl
Jam would be performing a free concert at the 148th st. Park-N-Ride in
Burien (south of Seattle).Bill Reed, afternoon diskjocky at 107.7, The
End, informed the listeners that at 6pm, the band would be performing and
all were welcome.

After the initial shock and excitement wore off, I began to doubt.
It was, after all, April 1st. But a "joke" of this size seemed totally
unprofessional and immoral at the very least. Not to mention this kind of
intentional misinformation seemed to have "lawsuit" written all over it. A
few songs passed and they announced it again. Again it was repeated after
a commercial break.

By now I was southbound on I-5, driving at unsafe speeds in an
attempt to reach the location before the hordes. My pal and I arrived in
Burien about 3:45 pm. We were the first of the crowd to gather. The
parking lot was full of cars, no sign of a stage or the band was in sight.
Still, however, Bill Reed continued to announce the "big news", as he
called it. "Should be a blast," he said.

By 4:30, the crowd began to thicken. Over a hundred people were
in their cars at the lot, listening closely to their radios, waiting for
more information. Where was the stage? Will we be bussed somewhere? Will
they simply give us vouchers for a show later tonight in a hidden
location? What was going on???

Bill Reed continued on, listing the Pearl Jam show in the daily
concert calander. He said that concert could be taped, but the band asks
that no video or coolers be brought in. He even went on to talk about how
bad the traffic had suddenly gotten heading into Burien.

Finally the cops showed up at the Park-N-Ride. I spoke with a
female officer who had absolutly NO IDEA what we were talking about. She
called her superior and he informed us that we had "been had", that there
was no concert about to happen anywhere in the area.

The crowd still stood fast, not wanting to believe that our
beloved Pearl Jam would involve themselves in such a dishonest act. It was
against everything the band, and the crowd that had gathered to see them,
stood for. Finally, as people continued to flock to the Park-N-Ride, more
police began to come, wondering if there wasn't going to be some sort of
problem.

Then here comes that old joker Bill Reed on the air asking "Come
on guys! What day is it?"

He goes on to act like anyone who had been duped was a fool. "I
didn't think any of you guys would go for it!"

And even then, people sill hesitated to leave. No one wanted to
believe that the only decent radio station in town would pull such a dirty
trick. People were vocally cursing the station. I was one of the more
verbal of those people. The parking lot was filled with totally loyal,
diehard PJ fans, kids and parents alike, shocked that The End would punch
so low below the belt. Who knows how many people were on the way when they
heard the bad news? This was most certainly NOT a humerous April Fool's
Day joke!

A few weak apologies were uttered by Bill Reed over the air and he
made some passing mention that the cops were on the way to the station to
speak with him. In all of this, he still insisted that anyone who believed
him and his concert announcement were idiots.

The most important thing to note here, however, is that Bill Reed
was not only representing himself and his radio station when he made the
untrue announcement, but Pearl Jam as well. I fear the ammount of negative
feelings towards the band that will arise from this, maybe not so much
from those that were standing at the Park-N-Ride, but the average listener
to the radio station. We also know how the rumor mill works. I'm sure the
rumors are circulating "on line" right now.

"Pearl Jam announces suprise concert and then doesn't show up..."

"Eddie gets stuck in traffic... Pearl Jam show canceled..."

"Band says 'Screw fans' and doesn't show for show..."


It seems to me enough misinformation gets out into the open on its
own, it most certainly does not need Bill Reed aiding in the process.
We have seen this type of manipulation in the past. For example,
when PJ did one of they're Monky Wrench Radio broadcasts from Seattle a
few years back, stations across America calimed that Eddie and the gang
were actually in their particular city, some stations even claiming that
they were in their own studio. Luckily Eddie denounced all of these
roumors on the air.

But here we go again with Bill Reed and "the joke factory".

Most troubling of all, Bill Reed never apolgized to the band on
the air. How unprofessional can you get? I have no idea how he could have
overlooked this.


Please post this wherever you can.

This is not an event that should be burried.

Let the truth be known.

Sincerely,
Todd Vines

P.S. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments at...

tod...@u.washington.edu