Ski resort benefit concert cancelled

A financial loss last year has forced officials of Boarding for Breast Cancer to cancel the event this year, Sierra-at-Tahoe officials said.

Todd Majoris, marketing director for Sierra, said the resort will attempt to construct its own grass-roots concert to take the place of Boarding for Breast Cancer, an April event that raised funds and awareness of the cancer that nearly 250,000 U.S. women under 40 contract annually. It is the leading cause of death for women ages 35 to 54.

"It solely came down to the cost to put on the event on their behalf," said Majoris. "They (were) shelling out more money than they (were) actually bringing in."

He hinted that the event may make a return in 2004.

Majoris attributed the financial loss to the nonprofit foundation abandoning a marketing firm that helped them sign bands such as Beastie Boys, Foo Fighters, Blink 182 and Linkin Park to play.

But last year, BBC decided to go on its own. It signed Crazy Town as its headliner -- a band whose hit "Butterfly" floated into FM radio waves, following the "Gift of Game" release in November 1999. A lackluster crowd proved a better band could have been chosen.

"It was not the level of bands they had in the past," Majoris said.

Boarding for Breast Cancer's phones in Southern California have been disconnected. There was no e-mail response.

In 1996, the first BBC fused professional snowboarders with big-name bands. The first five years raised more than $500,000 for cancer research and educational programs. Tahoe's Barton Health Resource Center has benefited, using funds to buy educational materials.

In hopes to not lose an event that raised money for a good cause, Majoris is considering the idea of a concert that will bring in grass-root bands.