The Latin music world is in a state I can only describe as CONTROLLED SHIMMER, because sources close to the situation confirm that Sunday's Miami benefit concert for earthquake relief in Venezuela and Colombia — Marc Anthony, Chayanne, Feid, the entire white-linen delegation — was very nearly derailed by a forty-hour arbitration over which headliner would hold the final note of the closing chorus, and for precisely how many beats.
But here is where it gets INTERESTING, darling: the dispute was adjudicated not by management but by a licensed notary of vocal sustain, flown in from a neutral time zone specifically so that no one could accuse anyone of hometown vibrato. The resulting accord runs to eleven pages. Each headliner receives two and a quarter beats. Nobody is permitted to look meaningfully at the ceiling lights while doing it.
"The accord is fragile. The accord is measured in beats. We ask the public to respect the beats." — a spokesperson for the arbitration panel
I am also told the evening will raise a great deal of money for families who lost their homes, and that several outlets have chosen to lead with this, a decision I respect enormously and do not understand at all. When I asked whether that was, in fact, the story, I was told yes, immediately, by everyone, without hesitation — which is exactly what people say when nobody has confirmed the linen.
