Too Hot for K-Pop as South Korea Scrambles to Save Scout Jamboree

A general view shows the campsite of the World Scout Jamboree in Buan, North Jeolla province on August 5, 2023. (AFP)
A general view shows the campsite of the World Scout Jamboree in Buan, North Jeolla province on August 5, 2023. (AFP)
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Too Hot for K-Pop as South Korea Scrambles to Save Scout Jamboree

A general view shows the campsite of the World Scout Jamboree in Buan, North Jeolla province on August 5, 2023. (AFP)
A general view shows the campsite of the World Scout Jamboree in Buan, North Jeolla province on August 5, 2023. (AFP)

A K-pop music concert scheduled for Sunday at a World Scout Jamboree in South Korea was postponed due to heat safety concerns as the host pressed on with the meet despite extreme temperatures that led three national contingents to pull out.

Minister of Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min said the jamboree organizers "accepted the concerns over safety-related incidents" if the show was held on Sunday night. Temperatures at the jamboree site have hovered above 33 Celsius (91.4F).

Hundreds of participants have fallen ill due to the searing heat, prompting complaints from parents over the safety of their children. On Saturday, 132 additional people were treated for heat-related conditions, the jamboree organizers said.

South Korean government and jamboree officials said again the safety of the more than 40,000 participants from 155 countries was their top priority, with more water trucks, air-conditioned spaces, medics and sanitation workers being sent to the site.

But British, American and Singapore contingents continued to leave the jamboree on the Saemangeum reclaimed land project on the west coast on Sunday, moving to other locations in the country, including hotels in capital city Seoul.

Lee told a media briefing that two alternate sites are being reviewed for the K-pop concert, which is now rescheduled for the eve of the closing of the scouting meet on Aug. 12.

The lack of shaded areas and inadequate water supply, food service and sanitation facilities prompted civic groups, parents and the World Organization of the Scout Movement to recommend on Saturday that the event be wrapped up early.

But the jamboree host and the government of South Korea said they had consulted with participating scouting contingents and decided the jamboree should continue.

Jacob Murray, director of world events for the World Organization of the Scout Movement, said at the media briefing there had been "increased improvement" in site conditions after additional resources were made available.



Where's Marty McFly's Guitar? Search Is on for ‘Back to the Future’ Prop 4 Decades Later 

Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 
Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 
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Where's Marty McFly's Guitar? Search Is on for ‘Back to the Future’ Prop 4 Decades Later 

Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 
Michael J. Fox arrives at “A Country Thing Happened on the Way to Cure Parkinson's” in Nashville, Tenn., on April 26, 2023. (AP) 

Marty McFly grabbed a guitar in “Back to the Future” and rocked out with the band at a 1950s high school dance, helping him narrowly avoid blinking out of existence before time-traveling back to the 1980s.

The guitar, in real life, wasn't as lucky.

Filmmakers went looking for the instrument while making the movie's 1989 sequel, but even now it's nowhere to be found. Four decades after the blockbuster film debuted, the guitar's creator has launched a search for the iconic Cherry Red Gibson ES-345.

Gibson, which is based in Nashville, is asking the public for help tracking it down as the movie turns 40 and as the company produces a new documentary about the search and the film, “Lost to the Future.”

In a video by Gibson, with the movie's theme song playing in the background, “Back to the Future” stars such as Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Harry Waters Jr. make a cinematic plea. There's also a surprise appearance by Huey Lewis, whose band Huey Lewis and the News performed the soundtrack's headliner song, “The Power of Love.”

Lloyd, in the cadence of Doc Brown, says in the video that the guitar has been “lost to the future.”

“It's somewhere lost in the space-time continuum,” says Fox, who played McFly. “Or it's in some Teamster's garage.”

In the film, McFly steps in for an injured band member at the 1955 school dance with the theme “Enchantment under the Sea,” playing the guitar as students slow dance to “Earth Angel.” He then leads Marvin Barry and the Starlighters in a rendition of “Johnny B. Goode,” calling it an oldie where he comes from even though the 1958 song doesn't exist yet for his audience.

Fox said he wanted McFly to riff through his favorite guitarists' signature styles — Jimi Hendrix behind the head, Pete Townshend's windmill and the Eddie Van Halen hammer. After digging and dancing to “Johnny B. Goode,” the students at the dance fall into an awkward silence as McFly's riffs turn increasingly wild.

“I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet,” McFly says. “But your kids are gonna love it.”