As revealed on ITM earlier this week, up to 30 revellers partying at the Aquamarine Open Air Festival in Kirzhach, Russia, were hospitalised after giant lasers damaged their retinas following staging problems. Local newspaper Kommersant said torrential storms prompted festival organisers to erect giant marquees over the dancefloor which led to the outdoor lasers being inadvertently trained on the crowd. “They all have retinal burns, scarring is visible on them,” an eye specialist told the newspaper. “Loss of vision in individual cases is as high as 80%, and regaining it is already impossible,” he added. A story
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The Stay! Team remain immobile, ponder the point of exclamation mark Photo by Jaime Beeden Here’s something to stand up and cheer about: The Go! Team kick off their North American tour tomorrow night at Chicago’s Double Door. Joined at times by the equally-exuberant likes of Cool Kids, Bodies of Water, and Matt & Kim, the Team will fill up stages on this continent through October before heading to Europe, Japan, and finally Australia to ring in ’08. If you hunger for more Go! Team, the group also made a documentary about the making of their new album Proof of Youth, out now on Sub Pop. Go! Team: 10-13 Chicago, IL – Double Door * 10-15 Seattle, WA – Neumos ~ 10-17 Portland, OR – D
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Phew. Turns out, all is (relatively) well with the family Leo, and that cancelled Pharmacists date in Cleveland earlier this week proved to be an exception and not the rule. Ted posted this brief update on his website yesterday: Yo – the treatment went well yesterday, and though it will be ongoing for quite a while now, having gotten through this first round, we feel confident enough in how it’ll go for the next week and a half, for me to go on with the tour for the next… week and a half. Tonight I’ll be flying out to Chicago to meet the rest of the guys (who are driving from NJ today), and tomorrow, we will play. Thank you for all of the kind words that you’ve been sending – they do not go unnoticed!
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Mark James is the biggest name in Australian dance music promotion, and he aint a half bad DJ either – he’ll be flying the flag at both Dance Valley and Global Gathering this year, two of the world’s largest dance events.

He’s no stranger to the big events – he regularly plays to 20,000+ crowds at his own events in Australia, but he says he was humbled when he was invited to play at the two iconic events. “I’ve played my share of huge festival gigs locally, but these two sets will no doubt be hands-down career highlights! I’m looking forward to f

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