Band promotes 'onstage suicide'
A local industrial rock group known for outrageous stunts has cranked up the publicity machine again. And people are talking.
By GINA VIVINETTO, Times Pop Music Critic
Published September 17, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG - A local band known for its outlandish stage antics is at it again, this time promising an "onstage suicide" by a terminally ill person during an Oct. 4 performance at the State Theatre in St. Petersburg. The event is billed in an e-mailed press release as a "platform to help make back-street suicides a thing of the past."
Industrial rock band Hell On Earth has in the past promoted shows with onstage chocolate syrup wrestling by scantily clad women and stunts that involved breast milk, among other things.
"I'm assuming (the suicide) is a stunt and it will be a great illusion," said Dave Hundley, manager of the State Theatre. "This is an era when entertainment is bizarre."
If it's a publicity stunt, it worked. At least one radio station was talking about it Tuesday, and the Associated Press called Hundley seeking comment.
The band e-mailed press releases stating that a terminally ill member of the "Euthanasia Society" would carry out an "onstage suicide" (the phrase was in quotation marks in the release). The individual's identity was not revealed, and what the Euthanasia Society is was not explained.
"Billy has done some crazy things," Hundley said of Hell On Earth's leader, William Tourtelot, 33, of St. Petersburg. "I really can't put anything past him, but obviously, no, I can't allow a suicide on my stage."
Hundley says Hell On Earth has performed at the State Theatre twice, drawing about 300 people per show. "They have a strong fan base," Hundley said. "Billy knows to be outrageous. He's unique."
Hundley recalled a Hell On Earth performance in which Billy claimed he had tossed live rats in a blender and drank the concoction, but Hundley was quite sure it was a stunt. "Like any good sideshow attraction, there is typically an illusion involved," he said.
Hundley is hesitant to cancel the October performance. "I don't want to be a wet blanket. Billy knows how to get people in the door. It doesn't mean it's great art," he said. "If I had to like it, 90 percent of what we put on wouldn't happen."
St. Petersburg Police Department spokesman Bill Proffitt said his agency started getting calls about the band's stunt Tuesday morning. It's a second-degree felony in Florida to assist a suicide, he said, but police were trying to get more information and hadn't determined how to respond.
"We've just begun looking at it, and we're not quite sure where to go from here," Proffitt said. "Obviously, the St. Petersburg Police (Department) does not condone public displays of suicide."
Nor should the band expect applause from right-to-die advocates, said David Goldberg, spokesman for the Denver-based End-of-Life Choices, formerly known as the Hemlock Society.
"While we encourage national dialogue on dying and death issues, we are concerned about this particular circumstance," Goldberg said.
- Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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