Emotions High At Bonfire Benefit
(February 7, 2000) In an effort to help the Texas A&M University community heal following last year's bonfire collapse, student organizers held a benefit concert on Sunday for victims and the families of the tragedy.
About 10,000 people attended the emotional concert, which featured music stars Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen. Both performers are now-famous friends who attended A&M in the late 1970s, reports CBS Affiliate KHOU in Houston.
Before the music started, though, a smiling John Comstock -- the only victim still hospitalized -- appeared on a giant video screen over the stage to wish the concertgoers well.
"I'm doing pretty good, and I'm ready to get out of ICU soon," Comstock said from his hospital bed at College Station Medical Center, where he remained in serious condition late Sunday.
"I wish I could be with everybody tonight," the 19-year-old Richardson, Texas, man told the crowd, who also watched news footage gathered from the Nov. 18 accident that killed 12 and left Comstock and 26 others injured.
Organizers hoped to raise more than $100,000 for the Bonfire Relief Fund established by The Association of Former Students to help offset medical and other costs associated with the accident.
The concert at Reed Arena was sponsored by the association and Town Hall, a student committee in A&M's Memorial Student Center.
The university television station KAMU-TV broadcast the concert via the Internet into Comstock's room, exclusively, according to the Bryan-College Station Eagle.
Porter Garner, the executive director of Former Students, said both Keen and Lovett called A&M immediately after the Bonfire collapse to offer their assistance, which led to an announcement last month that the pair would perform.
"It took me back 20 years thinking about them playing again in Aggieland," Garner said.
An independent commission has accepted a March 31 deadline and a $1 million budget to determine what caused the 59-foot stack of logs to collapse during preparation.
The bonfire is a 90-year tradition that precedes the annual football game between A&M and the University of Texas.
© 2000 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report