Chi Town y Soy Rebelde

Greetings from Chi Town...so far my Chicago experience has been quite pleasant. When I stepped out of O'Hare International Airport, I was expecting it to be super frigid and my winter clothes from California to be no match for the Windy City.

In fact, the weather is chilly but manageable. And my drive into Downtown showed me what Chicagoans have bragged about for years to me...that their city's core is nice, full of shops and great establishments. Although I cannot confirm the statement to the fullest at this point, I hope to find sufficient evidence in the next couple of days to prove them right.

By the way, I am including a tragic incident that just happened in South America involving the pop group RBD, which is a huge teeny-bopper group in Mexico that has been leading the charts with such hits as "Y Soy Rebelde", literally "I Am A Rebel".

Anyhow, the article below proves just how far people can go in their fanaticism of pop groups, and the terrible consequences of inferior crowd management.

Of course, I was alerted to this email from the President of the Scotland RBD club herself, Ms. Devlin! Fortunately for residents of Glasgow, Ms. Devlin is currently conducting emergency crowd control seminars for all her RBD agents.


3 killed in crush to get autographs

Sunday, February 5, 2006 Posted: 1823 GMT (0223 HKT)

Fans wait near a Sao Paulo parking lot where three people died in a crush to get band autographs.
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Manage Alerts | What Is This? SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Police were investigating whether organizers of an autograph session with the Mexican pop band RBD were authorized to stage the event, which left three people dead and 38 injured, authorities said Sunday.

A woman and two teenage girls were crushed to death Saturday morning when thousands of fans tried to get closer to the group, which stars in the popular soap opera "Rebelde."

Authorities said event organizers have until Monday to prove they had authorization from Sao Paulo city officials, police and firefighters to stage the autograph session at the parking lot, said Adriano Moneta, a spokesman with Sao Paulo state's public safety secretariat.

Organizers -- which include Brazilian supermarket chain Extra and the record company EMI Group PLC -- said in a statement Saturday night that there was no wrongdoing on their part and that they had been properly authorized. They said security measures had prevented a greater tragedy.

Jose Augusto da Silva Ramos, a city official in charge of the district where the incident happened, told the Diario de S. Paulo newspaper that the organizers had not yet come up with documents showing they had the authorization for the event.

Between 10,000 and 15,000 fans gathered for the autograph session, Sao Paulo state's public safety secretariat said.

A security fence keeping fans from getting too close to the group collapsed after the crowed apparently surged forward as the band began preparing for a brief performance following the autograph session.

Broadcasts of "Rebelde," which also is aired in the United States and other countries, have helped make RBD one of the most popular groups in Latin America and among Spanish-speaking communities in the United States.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.