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Neil Young cancels picketed L.A. concert
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Neil Young has scrapped a Los Angeles concert scheduled for Thursday out of respect to a planned union picket, representatives for the veteran rocker said.
The show was set to take place at The Forum, an indoor arena whose striking workers are engaged in a contract dispute with the venue's owner, Faithful Central Bible Church.
Since Young and his wife Pegi are honorary lifetime members of the workers' union, the Intl. Assn. of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), he decided to scrap the show rather than cross their picket line.
"I am extremely disappointed to have to choose between satisfying my fans or backing my brothers and sisters of the IATSE," Young said in a statement issued late on Wednesday.
The date will be rescheduled for sometime in 2009, and ticket holders will be able to get refunds at the point of purchase, the statement said.
The politically active Canadian singer/songwriter is in the middle of a North American tour that included a pair of annual fundraisers near San Francisco last weekend for the Bridge School, which educates disabled children. He is also gearing up for the November 25 release of an archival live album, "Sugar Mountain: Live at Canterbury House 1968."
(Reporting by Dean Goodman)
