Pop World Benefits Join Fight on AIDS

The pop world is finally getting serious about combatting AIDS, with the following benefit concerts planned for next year:

Lou Reed, Kiss and Thomas Dolby have joined the roster of acts scheduled to appear at “Rock Response” on Jan. 14 at the Universal Amphitheatre. (The Bangles, Squeeze, Taylor Dayne and Tom Jones were announced previously.) The event, to air at a later date on MTV, is being co-chaired by I.R.S. Records chairman Miles Copeland.

Numerous top stars are expected to perform at “Rock and a Hard Place,” set for June 8 at Radio City Music Hall in New York. The event is being co-chaired by Arista Records President Clive Davis, with industry veteran David Geffen and Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner among those serving as vice chairmen. Dick Ebersol, executive producer of “Saturday Night Live,” is producing the show for TV.

Dionne Warwick is set to headline a pop-oriented benefit concert series at Avery Fisher Hall in New York on June 8-11. It is expected to be similar to a benefit concert Warwick headlined last year at Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., which featured Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Barry Manilow, among others.