Kevin Wall has a convert's fervor, a concert promoter's Rolodex and a firm belief that music can change the world.
He's seen music's power close up over the years, helping organize some of rock's biggest charity events, including the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert (to fight AIDS) and the anti-poverty fundraiser Live Aid.
These days, the Emmy-winning producer has a cause he says eclipses all others: bringing awareness to the dangers of global warming. "We have got to put up a red alert to the planet," he said recently in an interview at his vast office overlooking a busy Beverly Hills intersection.
Wall and a team of young techno-gurus are putting together what they say will be the biggest day of concerts in the world's history: Live Earth, to be held July 7, is expected to bring together more than 150 artists, including Madonna, the Police, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Black Eyed Peas -- for 24 hours of music at nine concerts across seven continents, including Antarctica, where scientists have formed their own band.
Proceeds from the concerts will be used to create a foundation to combat climate change. The nonprofit organization will be led by former Vice President Al Gore, who inspired Wall with his global-warming slide show and subsequent Oscar-winning movie, "An Inconvenient Truth."
"Thousands of people saw Al Gore's slide show, millions of people saw the movie," said Wall, who at age 55 looks the part of a Hollywood hipster with spiked gray hair and faded jeans. "We're hoping the concerts will reach 2 billion people."
Along with raised awareness, however, comes criticism. Britain's Daily Mail called Madonna a hypocrite for owning a "collection of fuel-guzzling cars." In the United States, some conservative lawmakers and bloggers have called global warming a "hoax" and Republicans blocked plans to hold a Live Earth concert this year in Washington D.C.
Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) used the website for the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works to criticize Gore and others who champion the cause. He posted a challenge to Hollywood celebrities, urging them to sign an agreement saying they'll reduce their own energy use before they start preaching to others.
"I'm issuing an Earth Day challenge to Hollywood's global warming activists who talk the talk to walk the walk," Inhofe said in the posting.
