Start me up ... with what? The Rolling Stones sang only three songs Sunday at the Super Bowl halftime show--"Start Me Up," "Rough Justice" and a song older than anyone on the playing rosters of the teams in contention, "Satisfaction." But because the veteran rockers wouldn't share their play list until right before the event, the Los Angeles Times reports, producer-director Don Mischer attended four Stones concerts and reviewed "countless hours" of concert tapes in order to be able to predict camera angles. After the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" that bared singer Janet Jackson's breast at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, this year's show was on a five-second tape delay for the first time in the event's history. (The delay wasn't deemed necessary for Paul McCartney's performance at last year's Super Bowl) ...
Guilty plea in Rhode Island nightclub tragedy: The band manager whose pyrotechnics display for the band Great White triggered a nightclub fire that killed 100 two years ago in Rhode Island pleaded guilty last week to manslaughter. The tragedy roiled the event industry by panicking clients about the safety of special effects ...
The luxury life: The Mandarin Oriental hotel chain topped the list as the luxury hotel delivering the best "customer experience" as rated by its own upscale clientele, according to the New York-based Luxury Institute. Ritz-Carlton and Four Seasons tied for second, with the St. Regis a close third, the survey said. Mandarin Oriental achieved the highest scores in brand effectiveness, brand attitude, brand environment and price worthiness, as well as in the customer retention and customer referral indexes ...
Call us by a new name: Special Events and its sister publications and trade shows have a new owner--New York-based Wasserstein & Co., which purchased our division from Primedia Inc. last fall. We now have a new name--Prism Business Media--but all else is the same.
