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Ferndale music cafe owner AJ O'Neil has officially set a Guinness world record for the longest nonstop music concert and he hopes to set another record next year.He hosted the 288-hour Assembly Line Concert at his AJ's Music Cafe in March to draw attention to the plight of autoworkers and domestic automakers.
"I was notified of the record by Guinness World Records in an e-mail," O'Neil said Thursday.
His certificate from the Guinness organization will be sent to him shortly, he was told.
"It was as hard as running a marathon," O'Neil said of the 12-day concert that began March 20 and included over 300 performers.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm and other dignitaries stopped by O'Neill's cafe at 240 W. Nine Mile Road as the concert continued and gained international media coverage.
O'Neil, of Royal Oak, made the announcement about his world record Thursday, and thanked Keith Dalton who produced and promoted the event.
The concert focused on getting people to pledge to buy cars from Detroit's Big Three automakers with a website. The IPromiseAmerica is now at www.Facebook.com.
So far about 3,000 people have made pledges to buy Big Three vehicles, O'Neil said.
"This really validates our cause and raises awareness that what we buy is very much related to our national economic prosperity or peril," he said. "We did the concert in a bold way to show we have grit and determination it takes to regain that position as the Motor City, the preeminent car builder in the World."
Just over 50 percent of money from the government's "cash for clunkers" programs is used by consumers to buy non-American cars, O'Neill said.
He plans to attempt another world-record setting nonstop concert next year to raise domestic car purchases to at least 65 percent of all U.S. sales.
"We'll probably tack on one more day to our 12-day record for our next concert on March 20, 2010," O'Neil said.
