Dead in concert. (rock band Hell on Earth claims it will feature the suicide of a terminally ill person during a concert).

To show support for physician-assisted suicide, members of the Tampa, Fla., shock rock band Hell on Earth announced that they would feature the suicide of a terminally ill person during one of their shows. In response, the St. Petersburg, Fla., city council passed an emergency law against conducting a suicide for commercial or entertainment purposes. A state law already bans assisted suicide. Tour dates were canceled in the wake of the controversy, but band leader Billy Tourtelot said a concert and suicide would go on at two undisclosed St. Petersburg locations, to be broadcast on the band's Web site. (No physician would be on hand.) But the Web site was unavailable on the night of the purported events. Mr. Tourtelot told the media that the band played a show that night but would not say if a suicide took place. Police reported no suspicious deaths. It seems the band may have added "mass media hoax" to its list of shocking stunts.