2013/07/30

Roger Waters The Wall - Stadio Euganeo, Padova, 26.07.2013



2013/07/11

Roger Waters, John Mayer Help Build New Homes for Returning Vets






By Phil Gallo, Los Angeles
 June 24, 2013

When Roger Waters started his tour of The Wall in early 2010, he wanted to create a connection between the concept album’s anti-war sentiment and the former soldiers who returned from battle wounded. He asked his brother-in-law, Jim Durning, to invite veterans to the shows, perhaps 20 in each city.


“It was moving and illuminating -- we learned so much about the challenges they face,” says Durning, who handles Waters’ merchandise and veterans-outreach efforts, having brought more than 1,500 wounded vets to "The Wall Live" shows and orchestrated meet-and-greets with Waters.



A meeting with Bob and Lee Woodruff at last year’s Stand Up for Heroes event -- a dozen wounded vets performed with Waters there -- led to discussions with Habitat for Humanity founder Millard Fuller, whose Fuller Foundation provides housing for the homeless.



As research began on where best to start, they discovered Shreveport, La., one of the top three cities with high rates of homelessness and unemployment among veterans and a high percentage of vets living below the poverty line. They created Veterans Village with houses going to veterans who completed a two-year program that included 90 days in rehab, steady employment and adherence to a formulated financial plan.

Ground was broken for the first four houses, financed by Waters’ $300,000 donation, on March 9. Keys were handed out to families on June 4 after Volunteers of America and musician John Mayer helped build, paint and furnish the homes.

“Collectively, we have a responsibility to these men and women when they come home,” Mayer wrote in an email. “They take good care of us when they are serving their country -- we need to take good care of them when they come back to us.”


Mayer spent a day in Shreveport, accompanied by some fans, painting a house with its future resident working along side him. They toured other homes, shared a group lunch with the volunteers and veterans and, in Mayer’s words, “got to do something important together.”

“It’s amazing what everyone has accomplished there,” Mayer says.  “It’s a real community.”

Mayer and Waters share a personal interest in helping U.S. military veterans adjust to healthy civilian lives. Since 2011 Mayer -- a longtime supporter of veterans causes -- has been involved with the Northern California Institute for Research and Education (NCIRE) in providing post-traumatic stress programs for soldiers after they return home from service.

“What was also great about the day was that it brought together so many people and organizations behind one cause—building these veterans and their families a home,” Mayer says.  “We had Roger’s team represented, we had my team from NCIRE there, we had people from Bob Woodruff’s team there, and several local organizations there, too.

“I’d love to get Roger and Bob to the Bay Area to check out what NCIRE is doing and see how veterans are benefitting from their programs.  And last year I played at Bob’s annual gala in New York.  It’s great to be able to help each other out.”

The Woodruff Foundation, which stepped in to steward funds and handle accountability reports, found itself in a unique position of working with multiple smaller organizations. “This is a good example of a community getting to the heart of a problem,” foundation executive director Anne Marie Dougherty says. “And for us, it’s the definition of a model for future success.”

From billboard.com


2013/07/05

Roger Waters Pays Tribute to 'The Wall' Stage Designer


01 July 2013


Pink Floyd's Roger Waters has paid tribute to Mark Fisher who designed the iconic "The Wall" stage set in 1980.

Fisher passed away on Friday after a long battle with cancer at the age of 66.

"Mark was a great man and a great friend," Waters told TeamRock Radio (via Classic Rock ). "I remember Mick Jagger coming to see The Wall. He came straight backstage afterwards and said: 'Who did that? I want it.'"

Waters turned to Fisher for advice again in 2010 when The Wall show returned to the stage. "I called him in 2010 and he was an enormous help. I was thinking about a virtual wall and he said, 'No, you've got to build the wall just like you did. You can do it – go on mate.'"
A statement from Fisher's agency tells more about his contribution to the last two Olympic opening ceremonies:

"Mark passed away peacefully in his sleep at the Marie Curie Hospice in Hampstead with his wife Cristina at his side, after a long and difficult illness, which he suffered with stoicism and courage and his customary good humour.

"Mark's work as a set designer and artistic director has transformed the landscape of rock concerts and large scale events over the last 25 years. He was the senior designer for the Beijing Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies and was one of the three executive producers at the London 2012 Games ceremonies."

From ultimate-guitar.com

New book about Pink Floyd - "Behind the Wall" (2 Oct 2013)


Hugh Fielder - Pink Floyd: Behind the Wall


"With a music career spanning nearly half a century, Pink Floyd is one of the most successful rock bands in history. With more than 250 million album sales to their credit, the band remains hugely popular worldwide. Both Rolling Stone and VH1 have named Floyd one of “The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time,” and they continue to attract new legions of fans every single year. They were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. Their 2011 "immersion" box sets for their classic Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here albums were met with unanimous critical acclaim and prolific press. The Wall Live concert tour featuring Roger Waters was the second highest grossing concert tour in North America in 2010 (over $89.5 million dollars) and the sixth highest in the world.
In this, the first complete illustrated history of Pink Floyd from 1965 through today, author and journalist Hugh Fielder gets “behind the wall” and recounts the band’s entire history, analyzes their recordings, and provides a complete discography. Readers will discover stories behind the band’s formation, recordings, and tours, as well as the bitter disputes, both public and private. 
Complemented with more than 250 images, including live performance and candid off-stage photographs, as well as rare memorabilia like gig posters, concert tees, picture sleeves, backstage passes, buttons, and ticket stubs, this is the book that every Floyd fan will want on their shelf." amazaon.com

Pre-order :

Roger Waters in Bradley Manning video