http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_r...p-109718c.html
Band plans suicide, right on the stage
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A rock band's announcement that its concert would include an onstage suicide prompted the city council to pass a law yesterday that made it illegal to sell tickets to a suicide.
The hard-rock band Hell on Earth said it would go ahead with its concert and the suicide in an attempt to raise awareness of right-to-die issues.
An alarmed city council met yesterday to unanimously approve an emergency ordinance to outlaw a suicide for commercial or entertainment purposes, and to promote and sell tickets for such an event.
"While I still think it's a publicity stunt, we still couldn't sit idly by and let somebody lose their life," council member Bill Foster said.
Hell on Earth, known for such outrageous onstage stunts as grinding up live rats in a blender, created the furor by announcing a suicide by a terminally ill person would take place Saturday at the Palace Theater in downtown St. Petersburg.
The theater's owner promptly canceled the band's show, and another venue also turned away the event.
But band leader Billy Tourtelot has vowed that the concert and suicide will still take place at an undisclosed location in the city, broadcast live on the band's Web site.
"This show is far more than a typical Hell on Earth performance," Tourtelot said in an E-mail last week. "This is about standing up for what you believe in, and I am a strong supporter of physician-assisted suicide."