Pop Benefits : Optimistic Warwick, Friends in AIDS Show

Even the specter of the suffering and despair surrounding AIDS didn’t dampen the “That’s What Friends Are For” benefit concert Saturday night at the Universal Amphitheatre.

The predominant mood at the third annual event was one of unfailing optimism as most of the all-star lineup--which included Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Quincy Jones--chose to celebrate life and to concentrate on the progress being made against the disease.

“I know, just as sure as Mandela is free, that we will one day find the cure,” Wonder said during his brief, three-song set near the end of the 4 1/2-hour program.

The slickly produced concert--which was broadcast live on closed-circuit television to locations in five other cities--was even injected with some AIDS humor.

Comedian Byron Allen said, “Now that we have AIDS, couples work it out. Before, you could get dumped for any reason. Before, it was, ‘Baby, I don’t like that shirt. We’re through.’ Now it’s, ‘Baby, I know you pulled a knife on me, but we have something special. Now put that gun down and let’s show the SWAT team we love each other.’ ”

Despite the show’s generally jubilant mood, some of the performers reflected somberly backstage about friends and associates who had died of the disease.

“I have a number of friends whom I have lost to AIDS,” said Melissa Manchester, who drew one of the evening’s loudest responses for her rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

The singer said it was not always easy being an entertainer at benefits that are overshadowed by disease and death. “It’s very hard, but we have no choice.” she said. “The fear that surrounds the disease is uncanny, but so is the enormous denial surrounding it. We’ve got to go on talking about it until we’re booed off the stage.”

Los Angeles rapper Ice-T said that he did not know anyone who has the virus but that he was grateful to participate in the benefit and that rap musicians have generally been excluded from similar events because of rap’s hard-core, urban sound.

“We want to be involved,” he said backstage. “I have a tough audience. . . . They think they can’t get AIDS. I need to let them know it can happen to them. Entertainers have a responsibility to do that. And we can reach a different audience than Dionne’s audience.”

Warwick, who coordinates the annual benefits, was hailed by the performers as an inspiration in the AIDS struggle.

Since organizing the recording of “That’s What Friends Are For,” the 1988 hit featuring Warwick, Wonder, Gladys Knight and Elton John that raised nearly $2 million for AIDS research, Warwick has been in the forefront of entertainers fighting the disease. (There was no estimate Saturday of how much was raised by the Amphitheatre concert and the dinners held in other cities.)

“There is no problem at all getting commitments from entertainers who care and who have lost friendships,” Warwick said in an interview. “Seeing the demise of so many people is getting to be too much. There’s too much death. It’s touched the lives of everyone in the industry.”

She said that she was trying to remain hopeful about the battle against AIDS but that it wasn’t always easy. “This is as bleak as cancer was in the beginning,” Warwick said. “The message we want to drive home is that there is only one alternative: death.”

However, Warwick said she was not overwhelmed by the challenges involved: “This has not consumed me. . . . I still sing for a living. That is my profession. I am not a politician. I am a concerned human being who wants the best possible health care for me and my family.”

Saturday’s audience of about 5,000 paid from $15 to $1,000 a ticket to see a potpourri of musical styles, ranging from Air Supply’s easygoing vocals to the stark, aggressive rap of Ice-T and Def Jef, who performed their new anti-violence song, “We’re All in the Same Gang,” while prompting the formally attired audience to pump fists in the air.

Sprinkled in between was moving gospel by Tremaine Hawkins, energetic dance-pop by Latin sensation Chayanne and harmonic stylings by Manhattan Transfer.

Among the emotional high points of Saturday’s concert: Warwick’s duets with Isaac Hayes on “Deja Vu” and with Wonder on “It’s You.” Wonder’s brief set, which included “Dark n’ Lovely” and his “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” received the biggest ovation.

Although he did not know anyone who had died of AIDS, Wonder said backstage that he felt compelled to participate in the benefit. “We are all touched by hearing of any death by the virus,” he said. “That’s why we’re here.”

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