By Sheryl Aronson
Grammy Time approaching! In honor of the late rock and roll star, Andy Fraser, (All Right Now) who I met and interviewed at the after party of the Grammys for Rock Against Human Trafficking Concert, February 2015, I would like to repost this article.
The Hollywood 360 actually ran into Gary Miller, Founder of Rock Against Human Trafficking at NAMM last week-end and we reminisced about his wonderful friend.
On Sunday evening after the Grammy Show, there was a red carpet event and party for Rock Against Trafficking (RAT) with The Sunset Marquis Hotel at Exchange LA. The celebrities posed, smiled, and paraded by in a pageant of fashion and hipness. Yet the cause they were supporting was deadly serious.
Human trafficking is a 31.6 billion dollar business and is one of the fastest growing activities of tans-national criminal organizations. Statistics show that 27 million people are slaves today. 80 percent of these victims are women and children. Fifty percent are minors. RAT is dedicated to using the power of music and the entertainment industry to raise money and provide resources to rescue and rehabilitate the abused children, prosecute the perpetrators and open the eyes of the world to this critical cause.
Andy Fraser, musician, singer, song-writer best know for his hit “All Right Now,” is involved with RAT‘s album “Set Them Free” which is the first project of the organization featuring legendary guitarist SLASH. “Once I learned about the horrors of human trafficking, I signed up immediately to play on the “Set Them Free” record. Once you know about the horrors, you can’t unknown it.”
Joining forces with Rock Against Human Trafficking is Viante Fox Quesada, a Mexican businessman who was President of Mexico from December 1, 2000 to November 30, 2006. He is also the Co-President of the Centrist Democrat International an international organization of Christian Democrat political parties. He and his family were guests that evening, but his statements regarding the subject were enlightening. “I am with an organization in Mexico that is doing very similar work as the RAT people and I had the fortune of meeting Gary Miller recently and decided to work in conjunction with him. Right now we are working on a summit meeting in Latin American. Human trafficking is very big in Latin American but the people are not aware of this violation against human rights, women’s rights, and children’s rights.”
The biggest star of the evening, Pierce Brosnan graced the red carpet with his 18-year-old son, Dylan. Mr. Brosnan looked dashing, very James Bond-like in his royal blue evening jacket over black jeans. He wanted the press to know how proud he was of his son who is a musician. He looked fondly at the young Brosnan and smiled. Pierce’s connection to Rock Against Human Trafficking though hails from his elder son, Sean Brosnan, as the two men star in a new movie called Bonded. The Brosnans play cops that follow a case of a Mexican teen-ager named Jesus, who was sold into slavery by his father after his mother died. Jesus ends up being forced into slave labor at a sweatshop in downtown Los Angeles.
At the Grammy’s after party Rock Against Trafficking, Pierce Brosnan commented to Sharp (the company responsible for the High Resolution Audio Player responsible for the music at the party) and RED, (a high resolution digital camera company) “There are many ways to experience a film. What I like in a film is high quality, beautiful photography and sensuality – I’m kind of a romantic. But then there are great films, which can kick your butt and grab your heart at the same time. If the story is good, the story will work, however it’s told.”
Ira Black, heavy metal guitarist and leader of the band Attika 7, strolled down the red carpet with his girlfriend. His mane of hair down to his waist could have been an advertisement for Herbal Essence Shampoo as it gleamed a shiny brown and curled perfectly at the ends. When I commented about how women must be jealous of how good his hair looked, he smiled and said, “It’s thirty years in the making.” But onto more serious topics… as a father of three children, he was very concerned about the subject of human trafficking. “I believe in the cause. I will contribute my talents to the album “Set Me Free” a recording of Police songs that will raise money for this worthy cause.”
Many of the musicians that sauntered down the red carpet exhibited their musicianship talents onstage for the rock’n’roll party that followed. Shwayze, the rapper, jumped around dancing and singing as smoke puffed up from the floor, and neon lights flashed throughout the room. The crowd rocked out at the end of the evening with Gary Miller, the founder of RAT and his all-star band with Andy Fraser. Both men displayed their plugged in electric guitar skills as different artists sat in with them.
This power-driven night charged everyone involved with the desire to help, the desire to make a difference.
A footnote to this story…Andy Fraser passed away soon after the concert on March 15th, 2015.
Photo Credit: Sheryl Aronson / The Hollywood 360
