Life’s a birch Slight Birching gives bizarre performance >> pg.4
thegazette Getting in trouble for everything since 1906
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2014
WESTERN UNIVERSITY • CANADA’S ONLY DAILY STUDENT NEWSPAPER • FOUNDED 1906
TODAY high 20 low 13
TOMORROW high 22 low 12 VOLUME 108, ISSUE 18
>> RIGHT TO PLAY BREAKS WORLD RECORD
Courtesy of Jess Cheung
PASSING THE BATON. Martin Parnell receives the baton as part of Right to Play Western’s record-breaking relay event Monday night. Western athletes and students participated in the event, breaking the world record for the most people running a 100-metre relay in an hour. > SEE PAGE 7 FOR MORE
Rock Lottery controversy The music event was marred by allegations of fraud and alleged threats of violence a week after the contest. Hamza Tariq NEWS EDITOR @HamzaAtGazette
A rock lottery event in London has garnered controversy after the winner of the contest has claimed that the promised prize was not delivered. The event was hosted on September 18 at Call the Office and was organized by a promotions company called Bloodline London, which is run by Eric McCauley. This was Bloodline London’s first Rock Lottery. Frank Taggart of the band Captain Bringdown and the Buzzkillers, was announced as the winner of the lottery. According to Michael del Vecchio, Taggart’s band member and manager and owner of local promotion and videography company 331arts, a prize of up to $1,000 was promised before the event. According to an earlier Gazette article, the names of the 21 participants were drawn from a hat, who then formed five to six bands on the spot and worked on new material together for the next nine hours. They later performed at Call the Office the same night. “Frank [Taggart] won the prize via a draw. After winning the prize, I was talking with Frank and Eric
[McCauley],” del Vecchio said. “He sent a bunch of questions and different things to Frank who then forwarded them to me, because being the manager, I take care of that kind of stuff.” According to del Vecchio, the purpose of the questions he received from McCauley seemed vague. Upon further inquiry, McCauley stopped responding, became hostile and blocked del Vecchio from Bloodline London’s Facebook page. McCauley posted on Bloodline London’s Facebook page a week after the event claiming that he was threatened with violence from the band members. He also stated that the band had failed to follow the guidelines he had provided them with regards to their purchases as included in the Bloodline’s package for the winner. “My intent was to build them a strategic plan for promotion and touring a product so that Bloodline could support and promote them every step of the way,” he said. According to del Vecchio, ever since they posted about the incident on the band’s Facebook page, they have received responses from as far as Barrie and Niagara from people who had been critical of Bloodline. “As far as I can tell, Bloodline is a joke. I don’t know what it is, I don’t know how it can help local
bands,” he said. “If this is any indication of where it is going, it is not only unhelpful, it’s harmful to our community.” Responding to the violence allegations, del Vecchio said that it was a misinterpretation of something Taggart had said and threats of physical violence were not intended in any way. McCauley said there was a lot of frustration from both sides. “Being rude and insensitive at any point in time never works out in anyone’s favour — I think both sides were frustrated,” McCauley said. “My intent was to develop strategic planning into a business plan for them to be presented for future business grants by the government and to also put a little bit of extra bit of cash in their pocket.” According to del Vecchio, he and his band have given up any hopes for the prize now and have moved on. “As far as I am concerned, we are not going to see that money and we don’t really care,” he said. “This affects us in no way whatsoever — we are going to continue to do what we do because we love to do it. “ McCauley added that he hoped that the band and him could move past their differences and work out a deal. “I wish the best of luck to the Buzzkillers and 331arts in the future,” he said. “I too have hosted a number of charity events and admire their contribution to their city.”