1. ULTRA MUSIC FESTIVAL COMPARED TO FYRE FEST AFTER TRANSPORTATION DISASTER: The first night of Miami's Ultra Music Festival had some dubbing the event "Fyre Festival 2" on social media, after thousands of attendees were stranded on the festival's island home of Virginia Key waiting for shuttles to take them back to the mainland. Many attendees ended up walking the Rickenbacker Causeway to get to where they were staying. Organizers apologized and promised to not have a repeat incident. Miami Herald: "Ultra uses private charter buses to move people in out of the festival grounds. Miami-Dade, which controls the William Powell Bridge connecting Miami’s Virginia Key to the mainland, approved a plan to close off two westbound lanes at 1 a.m. to clear the way for Ultra busses for the Friday night departing crowds. Juan Perez, Miami-Dade’s police director, said Saturday Ultra wasn’t prepared for significant numbers of pre-midnight exits. ... Alice Bravo, Miami-Dade’s transportation director, said Ultra concertgoers were expected to use the Powell bridge to get back to the mainland if buses were running behind or getting full. The issue was so many people walking caused spillover from the segregated pedestrian path on the south side of the bridge, Bravo said." https://hrld.us/2WxvLC4
2. BELLAGIO FOUNTAINS IN VEGAS GET 'GAME OF THRONES' MAKEOVER: Winter is here for Game of Thrones fans—even in Las Vegas. Ahead of the final season premiere on April 14, the fountains at the Bellagio resort displayed projections and pyrotechnics alluding to show elements, including fire-breathing dragons, during a three-and-a-half minute showcase created by Wet Design. Associated Press: "At the heart of the fountain show is the giant wall of water. It represents the ice wall that defines the TV show, but also serves as a surface onto which the creators project falling snow, the series’ logo, and the silhouettes of the dragons breathing orange and blue flames. The company worked with the series’ composer Ramin Djawadi to create a special score that along with the dancing water aimed to capture the excitement of the TV hit. ... 'We have to make sure that the fountain gives the same kind of energy, the same kind of drama, that people are associating this music with,' said Peter Kopik, director of design and choreography for Wet Design. '(That) was the hard part of the choreography because it’s continuously energetic and continuously up and loud and strong, and choreography had to reflect the same thing and not being tiring at the same time.' The spectacle ends as the shadow of the Night King appears one last time, and flames cover part of the roughly nine-acre (3.6-hectare) lake." https://bit.ly/2uMgHFb
3. STARS INCLUDING STEVIE NICKS AND JANET JACKSON INDUCTED AT ROCK HALL OF FAME CEREMONY: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Stevie Nicks, Janet Jackson, Def Leppard, The Cure, and others at a ceremony on Friday, which was highlighted by long sets from most of the inductees, and some entertaining and tearful speeches. Variety: "Yet the excruciatingly long 34th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Friday night did manage to produce some genuinely moving moments, especially a dignified speech from Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott about the astonishing ups-and-downs of the band’s career, and some trademark hilarious and historically fascinating battiness from Stevie Nicks. The Cure, Roxy Music, the Zombies, Janet Jackson, and Radiohead were inducted as well; the latter two did not perform. (A source tells Variety that Jackson decided not to perform because the Rock Hall show will be broadcast April 27 on HBO, the network that produced the controversial Leaving Neverland documentary containing multiple allegations of child abuse against Michael Jackson, Janet’s late brother.) The evening started off with one of the show’s strongest performances—and definitely the most amusing speech—from Nicks, who was joined in song by both former paramour Don Henley and current friend and fanboy Harry Styles. She brought a bevy of her inimitable bon mots to a nearly 15-minute acceptance speech and lots of between-song banter." https://bit.ly/2YDPcej
