Brazilian Nightclub Fire

Overnight a fire tore through the packed Kiss nightclub in the Brazilian city of Santa Maria during a live performance by a band. The current death toll stands at 245 but with many in hospital and many still unaccounted for that is expected to rise significantly. In 2014 Brazil will host the football World Cup and in 2016 it will have to endure the great fascist dictatorship known as the Olympics. Therefore until those big events are out of the way I think it's safe to assume that the Brazilian government has had a hand in everything that has happened. Along with crime in the favelas and child prostitution public safety both at the stadiums and in the surrounding nightlife are going to be major issues.

However that said I think the governments role in this fire is something as small as switching an indoor firework for an outdoor firework. It then becomes a test of the venue and the promoter. For example do they check all their equipment is safe before they use it? If not are they able to contain any fire before it spreads? If they're not are they then able to safely evacuate people from the venue? Clearly in this case those tests have been failed and appropriately enough for Holocaust memorial day sometimes people need to see what the absolute worst that can happen is so they understand why they have to work to prevent it.

As she is pretty much considered an honorary citizen and is part of the Olympic baton passed from the UK to Brazil this story has a Rihanna element to it. If she continues on her current path and becomes nothing more then a US diplomatic pawn at best Rihanna can expect to become the pressure point everybody pushes on to let the US know they're p*ssed off. If Chris Brown remains out of prison there are going to be a lot of people who are very p*ssed off. At worst people may become so annoyed with Rihanna that they simply put her out of business. Having had this explained to them Beyonce (wife of Roc Nation boss Jay-Z) lip-synced her performance of the US national anthem at President Obama's inauguration to open discussion about what possible methods could be used to achieve that aim. After all being exposed as not being able to sing is quite damaging to a singers brand. What's happened in Brazil is the other end of that spectrum because you try getting people to pay $100 to attend a concert where they will be legitimately in fear for their life.

Of course by bringing this out into the open we are trying to reduce the possibility of it happening for this tour at least.

14:55 on 27/1/13.


(Originally posted on 27/1/13)