Dave Matthews Band, Other Musical Artists Tape Concert for MTV’s World AIDS Day Programming
The Dave Matthews Band, along with musical artists Michelle Branch and Missy Elliot, on Thursday filmed a concert in Seattle that will air on MTV on Dec. 1 to commemorate World AIDS Day, the Tacoma News Tribune reports. MTV will tape another concert on Nov. 23 in Cape Town, South Africa, featuring Grammy award winner Alicia Keys and rapper Sean "P. Diddy" Combs that will also air on Dec. 1 (Jasmin, Tacoma News Tribune, 11/8). The concerts are part of MTV's "long-running AIDS campaign" in which the network enlists the help of entertainers "to whom kids can relate." MTV estimates that two billion people will view the concerts. The concerts are sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and Levi Strauss & Co. (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 10/4). Dave Matthews, who was born in South Africa, said, "The people [who] are 15 to 25 were very small or didn't exist at all" when HIV was first in the news, but "[n]ow we've lived with it so long it's like this ghost that hangs over us, but it doesn't nearly have the impact that it used to." He added, "So it's up to us to reignite the horror for our young people so they know this thing is everywhere and ... it takes very little to avoid." MTV on Dec. 1 will also air the documentary "Staying Alive: The Documentary 2002," which is hosted by R&B singer Mary J. Blige (Takoma News Tribune, 11/8).
This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.