INSOMNIAC PRODUCTIONS
Electronic music concert-production conglomerate Insomniac is facing dark days, with the indictment of the company’s CEO Pasquale Rotella on charges of bribery, conspiracy, embezzlement, and conflict of interest. However, Insomniac representatives say the upcoming Electric Daisy Carnivals, taking place May 19-20 at MetLife Stadium and June 8-10 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, will live on.
Rotella was among six defendants named in the case, stemming from shady work contracts at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Rotella has not pleaded guilty, but co-defendant Patrick Lynch, who managed the Coliseum for 17 years, announced his guilty plea last week - making him eligible to testify against Rotella.
EDC had enjoyed the Coliseum for years as its host, but following the overdose death of a 15-year-old girl in 2010 outside of the concert, the festival relocated to Las Vegas for 2011 where roughly 80,000 people were in attendance daily.
The end of EDC would not only mean disappointed ravers, but also a detriment to the city of Las Vegas, which saw a $130 million increase to the southern Nevada economy, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
House music industry key players are rallying in support of Rotella, taking their message to twitter with the hashtag “#FreePasqualeRotella.” Kaskade tweeted the message when the news of Rotella’s arrest first broke, and the hashtag spread like wildfire in the scene, garnishing tweets from electronic duo The Crystal Method and fans around the country.
According to a Billboard article, BBC radio host Pete Tong was heard backstage at his party at the Surfcomber Hotel saying, “I hope for the sake of the scene that it turns out OK. He's a great guy, and a major contributor to what is happening here in America, and why it's happening the way it is."
What’s better than dancing to sick beats all weekend long?
Yes, having your latest bass-inspired fist pump contribute to the greater good.
In the fashion of walk-a-thons and dance-a-thons, earlier this week Insomniac Productions donated $75,000 from Electric Daisy Carnival ticket sales to Las Vegas charities. A ceremony held at Las Vegas’s The Cosmopolitan presented checks for $25,000 each to the following three programs: The Clark County School-Community Partnership Program, The Smith Center for Performing Arts, and the Injured Police Officer Funds.
(Aptly, you should see how each charity fits in with the night of music, art, and potential insanity that is Electric Daisy Carnival... but if not...)
The Clark County School-Community Partnernship Program links business and community resources with school resources in order to enrich educational experience and increase student achievement. The fund is extremely diverse, with hundreds of partnerships with programs focusing on kindergarten to 12th grade, from tutorial programs to scholarships, spanning academics from science to fine arts. Emphasizing human resources, the Partnership program’s ventures are founded to support, supplement, and complement the existing curriculum in Nevada’s Clark County public schools.
The Smith Center for Performing Arts is slated to open in 2012 and will become the centerpiece for cultural life in Las Vegas. In 2010, The Kennedy Center chose this location as the fourth partner city for Any Given Child, a program that will create a long-range arts education plan for Las Vegas area students. In a time where our country is desperately cutting many arts programs in favor of increasing math and science achivement, this program will seek to incorporate existing resources within the Las Vegas school system with local arts organizations and The Kennedy Center to ensure that arts are not left out and that every child will have the chance to receive a meaningful arts education.
Finally, the Injured Police Officers Fund helps lessen the financial burden felt by police offiers and their families in the event the officer is injured or killed in the line of duty. Monetary assistance is provided to these officers and their families.
After much controversy surrounding the throwing of EDC this year and the festival’s relocation from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and an 18+ age requirement, the future of the festival was questionable. But last month’s event turned out very successful in terms of artistry, production, and audience behavior. Over the course of three days, Las Vegas’s Motor Speedway witnessed more than 230,000 partiers, 100 electronic arists and 430 performance artists. "This year’s festival was one of the best in Insomniac history, and we are incredibly appreciative of the Las Vegas community joining together to welcome us and assist with a memorable event,” Pasquale Rotella, Insomniac’s CEO and founder, was quoted saying. “We are thrilled to be able to present $25,000 donations to key organizations that will only help improve the city where our fans and partners reside.”
Additional donations will be made by Insomniac in the the upcoming week as the funds raised from Electric Daisy Carnival are finalized.
For the first time this year, the largest dance music festival in the nation, Electric Daisy Carnival was held last month in Las Vegas. The massive three day event gathered over 200,000 people, uniting dance music fans under the desert sky with the synthesized sounds of the world’s most talented dance music artists. Beginning in 1997 in Southern California, the prestigious festival has fallen victim to controversy with its growing popularity. During the 2010 event, there were reports of an overdose which caused the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission to hold off on having further raves within the city and question age restrictions. Not to disappoint fans, this year the show indeed went on to move across state lines to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where the festival returned (safely!) as an 18 and older event. This year’s lineup featured European sensations such as Swedish House Mafia, Tiesto, and David Guetta along with a slue of top DJs and producers.
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