Criss Angel (and 99 stars) aims to raise $1 million for Heal Every Life Possible
September 11, 2016 - 1:00 am
MINDFREAK LIVE! at The Luxor headliner magician Criss Angel is praying for another miracle just 24 hours before the curtain goes up on his ambitious pediatric cancer fundraiser Heal Every Life Possible at The Luxor on Monday night.
He’s already rounded up a staggering Night of a 100 Stars (99 to be exact) for the once-in-a-lifetime concert inspired by his 2-year-old son Johnny Crisstopher’s battle against acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Although now in remission, Johnny still faces another three years of continuing chemotherapy, steroid injections and blood treatments.
“I want him to outlive me,” Criss told me. “He is such a bundle of love, the truest form of magic.” But Criss admits that he’s “incredibly frustrated.”
He’s beyond thrilled with the outpouring of support from showbiz pals who have donated auction items and their time to perform. He’s happy about getting “extraordinary media recognition” around the world for seeking a cure for kids cancer and the “We’re Not Gonna Take It” music video he directed with Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider.
But box office sales for HELP and individual donations for the cause have been disappointing. Criss points out that a child is diagnosed with cancer every three minutes, and pediatric research receives only 4 percent of federal funding for cancer.
Going into the weekend, he fears that he won’t reach his $1 million goal despite the fact that he’s picked up the entire cost of the project. “If everybody who has seen the video donated just 50 cents, we’d be triple the target amount I set,” he told me.
Here are highlights of our one-on-one conversation about what he believes will be one of the biggest, star-studded events in Strip history.
“The reception, not only in Las Vegas but also globally, has been unbelievable. The 6 million views for the Dee Snider video, the amount of attention in the media, everybody’s covering it. The frustrating thing for me is that it’s not converting into donations. It’s not converting into ticket sales at the rate we should be at right now.
“We’re really below our goal. We’re below what we set out to accomplish so far. We targeted $1 million, and we’re far, far, far below that. It’s incredibly frustrating and baffling to me because the awareness is everywhere. In hindsight, I should have asked everybody who saw the video to donate 50 cents or $1. If I had received 50 cents from the 6 million people who watched that video, I’d be three times over my goal.
“I would have reached the target I set and then some. So, for me now, it’s become all about getting educated and how to engage people for the future. Not only for the moment, but to commit to donating $1, donating $5, buying a $50 ticket to see a show that will never happen again. This show is really historic if you think about the people who we’re going to have onstage.”
The lineup of stars, with Tony Orlando hosting, includes Jerry Lewis, Wayne Newton, Siegfried & Roy, Gary Oldman, Vince Neil, Richie Sambora, Gene Simmons, Mike Tyson, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his Luxor pals Carrot Top and Blue Man Group.
Criss continued: “I am frustrated because people are not following through with buying a ticket or making a donation or bidding on an incredible auction item. We’re just not able to convert all of the attention into dollars for kids.
“I’m not sleeping a lot. I’m reaching out to people who own hotels. I’m reaching out to all types of people. The outpouring of love is incredible. Last night onstage, I talked with my audience at the end of my show about my frustration. People were standing up applauding the show, and I had to get it off my chest.
“It was unbelievable because it started out with a man, when I was talking about it, coming to the stage, he handed me $1. The next thing you know, a young boy came and handed me $1. The next thing you know, a girl came and handed me $2, then $100 came, then $20 more, then $5 came. In five minutes, I had more than $800 in my hand from people who connected to it and followed through.
“Just go to CrissAngelHelp.com, donate $1 or buy a $50 or $100 ticket to the show, or bid on one of the 60-plus incredible auction experiences and items that we have. If you love Celine Dion or Britney Spears or Jennifer Lopez, you’ll not just stay at their hotel overnight, see their show, eat at their favorite restaurant, but you’ll get an opportunity to hang out with them and meet them after the show.
“You can go to a UFC fight as Dana White’s personal guest. You can sit in the seat right next to him, a seat that you can’t even purchase for a fight. Your elbows will be right on The Octagon. You can have this incredible time. I’m donating two of my MINDFREAK! motorcycles to the auction. If you want to stay at my house for three days and two nights, you can bid on that opportunity. I’ll even cook for you.
“I’m also going to break the magician’s code. I’m giving the opportunity to the highest bidder to stand backstage at The Luxor for unprecedented access. After they sign the secrecy agreement, they can watch every single trick and illusion that I do. There’s over 50 of them in MINDFREAK LIVE!
“They’ll get to see how I do everything, and I’ll answer any questions that they have about the illusions, including how I levitate all over the stage. I’m willing to sacrifice and give up my most-guarded secrets because this effort to find a cure is much greater than the magic I perform.
“This is children who are living and dying every moment of every day, and it’s our responsibility to reach out and make a difference collectively. Think about it: Of $4 billion the government spends on cancer research, less than 4 percent goes to 12 types of pediatric cancers. We should spend money on the elderly, on everybody. But children haven’t even lived their life. Some of these kids won’t see their 15th birthday. At Make-a-Wish that I support, we just lost a kid this week who wasn’t even 5 years old.
“These children will never get to graduate school. They’ll never get to become what they dreamt about. How can we ignore our children? How can cancer raise $100 and only give less than 70 cents to pediatric cancer? I don’t understand it. It boggles my mind, but I will die trying to make a difference and die trying to make others make a difference, not for me but for these kids who have to live with this nightmare.”
Once Criss got the Luxor theater secured this year for HELP, it became a one-man effort to ensure that it’s pulled off perfectly:
“It took me a couple of months to get the celebrities and friends of mine to commit and make sure their schedule worked out. I called every single person myself; every single donor, every single sponsor, every single celebrity, every auction item. I was there in the trenches every day trying to get people to focus on this subject .The outpouring of love from friends and celebrities and auction item gifts has been amazing. The sentiment out there is incredible.
“Lance Burton was the first involved, a beautiful man. Siegfried & Roy will be there onstage as presenters. I’m honored and thrilled to have these two incredible legends involved in this show, as I am with all these incredible people: Chuck Liddell, Frank Mir, Randy Couture, Tommy Lasorda just signed on, Terry Fator is performing, Gordie Brown, Debbie Gibson is coming, Imagine Dragons.
“It’s just amazing. It really blows my mind.”