CONCERT THAT COUNTS: NEW LINEUP ANNOUNCED

It was a far cry from Madonna and Nancy Reagan, but the long-awaited talent lineup of the “Concert That Counts” was revealed to the press Thursday . . . along with the names of the six acts that sparked the withdrawal of the White House’s endorsement of the project.

Headliners on the list of 21 confirmed acts for the 11-hour April 26 anti-drug concert include Mr. Mister, John Denver, Aretha Franklin and James Brown. Dominating the remainder of the list are heavy metal acts, such as Quiet Riot and Black ‘N Blue.

A second list of performers will be released next week, according to promoter Tony Verna. The groups will either appear live at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on April 26 or will be contributing pre-taped performances for use in an international telecast of the program.

The concert’s producers, who were instrumental in the telecast of last summer’s Live Aid concert, say they already have commitments to establish satellite transmission linkups to countries representing up to 75% of the globe, including Japan and Russia. Several performances will be broadcast to the Coliseum in that way as well.

John Denver, for example, will be in Australia during the concert, but his performance there will be beamed to the Coliseum.

During the Thursday press conference, Aretha Franklin appeared via satellite transmission from Detroit to offer her own live endorsement of the concert. She assured some 50 reporters that she would be on hand, live, for the concert.

Details surrounding sale of tickets, expected to cost about $35, will be revealed along with the rest of the talent lineup next week.

For the present, the confirmed talent list is comprised of such varied groups as middle-of-the-road Toto, new wave Los Angeles bands such as Oingo Boingo and X, and acknowledged former drug and alcohol abusers such as Power Station’s Michael Des Barres and Motley Crue’s Vince Neal.

Both rock stars appeared on the dais along with Verna, KROQ-FM morning deejay Richard Blade and Rams running back Eric Dickerson. All five used the opportunity to point out that the concert is no telethon like Live Aid but, rather, a “consciousness raising” event to decry drug abuse.

“I spent the ‘70s in a cocaine haze,” said Des Barres, who told reporters that he has been drug-free since June, 1981.

Des Barres said the Concert That Counts would help end the myth that drugs and rock and roll are synonymous--a situation Des Barres called “the Keith Richards syndrome”.

“My theory is that the ‘60s was all hashish and Hendrix, the ‘70s was all cocaine and herpes and the ‘80s are all pushups and Perrier,” he said.

Some of the acts announced Thursday have as rowdy a reputation as Des Barres and Neal and were the reason that Verna’s company, Global Media Ltd., ultimately broke off relations last week with the White House.

Black ‘N Blue, for example, was one of six acts to which the staff of First Lady Nancy Reagan objected last week when Verna and his partner, Hal Uplinger, opted to end their attempts to get Mrs. Reagan to read the talent lineup direct from the White House.

Mrs. Reagan’s aides also asked Verna and Uplinger to remove Ozzy Osbourne, Sheena Easton, the Fixx, Berlin and Iron Maiden from the proposed lineup because each had recorded songs previously that contained “offensive lyrics,” Verna said.

Verna said he would not bow to prior censorship, but added that none of the acts on the program would sing lyrics glamorizing drug use during the Concert That Counts.