Terrorist Acts Bring Cities, Music Biz To A Standstill

The U.S. music industry went into a state of near-total paralysis yesterday following the deadly terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

At deadline last night, Bulletin was unable to confirm reports that former Walt Disney Records senior VP Carolyn Beug was a passenger on American Airlines flight No. 11. The plane, en route to L.A. from Boston, was one of two commercial jets that crashed into the World Trade Center. Reports say Beug, whose husband, John, is a longtime executive at Warner Bros. Records, was returning to L.A. with her mother after dropping off their twin daughters at Brown University in Rhode Island.

The second annual Latin Grammy Awards?scheduled for last night at the Forum in L.A. after relocation from Miami?led a list of nationwide cancellations last night. Latin Academy senior VP Enrique Fernández says all events surrounding the awards have been postponed; no new dates have been set.

NARM has cancelled until further notice its Fall Conference, which was scheduled to begin today in Bal Harbour, Fla., and run through Friday.

In New York, activity came to a virtual standstill. Among confirmed concert cancellations were Babyface at the Apollo Theatre, Flickerstick at Irving Plaza, and the Levi's "Self Engineered" tour featuring the Roots, Me'shell Ndegeocello, Bilal, Pru, and Amel Larrieux at B.B. King's Blues Club & Grill.

With telephone traffic completely snarled in New York, few record labels could be reached, but it appears that most were closed. Universal Music Group left its offices open and gave employees the option to remain in Manhattan, providing blankets, sleeping bags, and food. Ray Cooper, the L.A.-based co-president of Virgin Records, said last night he thought the label's New York office would re-open today, but added, "We're going to take it day-by-day as far as New York is concerned."

Some artists witnessed the day's events first-hand. Mary Chapin Carpenter, who had just flown to New York to tape an episode of the new PBS series "Life 360," says she saw one of the planes crash into the World Trade Center. Garth Brooks, his manager, and his publicist were in midtown Manhattan on their way to meetings when they saw smoke downtown. Brooks was slated to fly to Washington, D.C., to receive ASCAP's Golden Note Award. The event was postponed.

At deadline, it was unclear whether the CMJ Music Marathon would begin as scheduled tomorrow in New York. The event, which was to run through Sunday, was scheduled to bring hundreds of international bands to perform at the city's venues.

In Washington, D.C., Alanis Morissette's testimony before the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel was cancelled, as were events at the Kennedy Center. The national headquarters of the RIAA and the National Assn. of Broadcasters both closed early.

Clear Channel Entertainment, the world's largest promoter, cancelled all U.S. events yesterday. The company, which operates 44 U.S. amphitheaters, issued an internal memo to all its offices stating that events would be cancelled "out of respect for the victims" of the tragedy, and that details on refunds or exchanges would be announced at a later date.

Like Virgin in L.A., the West Coast operations of Warner Bros., Interscope, Capitol, Rhino, and Hollywood Records shuttered their offices. Among many L.A. postponements were concerts by Madonna at the Staples Center, the Black Crowes at the Greek Theatre, and the L.A. Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl. House of Blues, the Roxy, the Knitting Factory, and the Key Club were among the venues that remained closed for the night. ?Compiled by the Billboard, Amusement Business, and Hollywood Reporter staffs