| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 12/09/2004 : 01:22:01 AM
Just when you thought the gun violence in america could not get any worse......
http://www.theneworleanschannel.com/news/3983737/detail.html
quote:
Police Seek Motive In Nightclub Shooting Rampage
Officers: More Would Have Died If Gunman Were Not Killed
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Loud music made it hard to hear the last words of a man who jumped on stage and killed a guitarist and three other people at a concert Wednesday night before being shot and killed by a police officer, Ohio police said.
Two members of the heavy metal band Damageplan were killed. Darrell Abbott, who was known as "Dimebag Darrell," was pronounced dead at the scene. Three other people inside the club were shot and killed. Police identified one of the shooting victims as Nathan Bray, 23, who was in the audience. Erin Halk, 29, also died. Police did not know whether he was associated with the band or was part of the crowd.
Abbott is a former member of the popular band Pantera.
A police official said witnesses heard someone accuse Abbott, a guitarist for Damageplan, of breaking up his former band. Police are not sure if the speaker was the gunman or a fan.
Witnesses said the man jumped an eight-foot security fence and was being followed through the crowd by security before the shooting. The man who opened fire on band members of Damageplan also wounded two other people.
An officer described the fatal shootings during the heavy metal concert as "a horrific scene."
The shooting took place shortly after 10 p.m. at the Alrosa Villa nightclub. Police said that they are searching for a motive. A crowd of about 250 people was inside for the concert by Damageplan.
Police said a police officer shot and killed the gunman, identified as Nathan Gale, 25, a man with a minor arrest record in his hometown of Marysville, Ohio. He was pulled over for driving on a suspended license last month.
(grafs moved up from here)
"He's playing the guitar and (the gunman) just went right up to him," witness Jim Climer said. "He started blowing his brains out, basically. Dimebag was still playing. He didn't know what was going on, and that's when he hit the ground."
Police spokeswoman Sherry Mercurio identified the gunman as Gale. She said there was no information on a motive or if he had any connection to the band.
"(The gunman) came on stage, from the back, like he knew what he was doing and went straight to Dimebag Darrell immediately," an unidentified witness said.
The gunman reportedly shot and killed another member of the band before firing shots into the crowd.
The police spokesman said it "would have been a lot worse" if the policeman, Officer James D. Niggemeyer, had not responded as quickly as he did.
The band took the stage shortly after 10 p.m., and minutes later, a man who was wearing a hockey jersey and a hooded sweatshirt, began firing at point-blank range at least four times at Abbott.
A witness said the gunman appeared to have some kind of "grudge" when he jumped on stage and shot the guitarist several times.
Witnesses said that several shots were fired at the band before a bouncer tackled the gunman.
Niggemeyer entered the nightclub, and then shot and killed the gunman during an apparent hostage situation, police said. Columbus Police Sgt. Brent Mull said that the gunman was holding a person hostage at the time he was shot.
According to Mull, amateur video was taken from inside the nightclub and investigators were examining the tape to see if they could determine the events that led to the shootings.
There were no Columbus police officers inside the club due to a policy that prohibits officers from working inside liquor establishments, Mull said. Alrosa Villa management was in charge of the building's security, Mull said.
As for a motive, police said they have none.
"Unless he left a note (behind), we may never know," Mull said.
According to police, the gunman had a hostage in a headlock position and moved slightly, allowing Niggemeyer a clear shot.
A female fan said at first she thought the shooting was part of the show, but once she saw the guitarist fall she "decided to get out of there."
The fan said she wasn't searched on her way in. She added that she didn't see any metal detectors or uniformed police officers at the venue.
Of the surviving victims, one person was in critical condition and the other was in fair condition, according to WCMH-TV in Columbus. Several others were treated at the scene, suffering from various injuries.
Columbus police were flooded with 911 calls from concertgoers right after the shooting. Many people who were injured during the shooting spree and in the chaos that followed were put on buses and treated for injuries at the scene.
Alrosa Villa is a popular north Columbus nightspot for young adults, featuring rock and heavy metal bands.
According to the band's Web site, Damageplan was touring nationally. It performed in Buffalo, N.Y., on Tuesday night and had a concert scheduled in Flint, Mich., on Thursday.
Damageplan featured former Pantera artists Abbott and Vinnie Paul. The pair was joined by vocalist Patrick Lachman and bassist Bobzilla, according to the band's Web site.
That sucks!! I did one tour with Pantera way back in the day. TR and Tim Rew are also big Dimebag fans. What is the world coming too? |
| 12 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| PJK |
Posted - 12/10/2004 : 3:45:47 PM
Strange coincidence but Dimebag Darrell was murdered 24 years to the day of when John Lennon was murdered!
More info. 12-11
An Obsession With Pantera
Nightclub Gunman Said Metal Band Stole His Lyrics
By ANITA CHANG, AP
AP
A photocopy of Nathan Gale's driver's license. Police identified him as the man who killed four at an Ohio nightclub.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Dec. 11) - The man who gunned down former Pantera guitarist "Dimebag'' Darrell Abbott during a concert was an obsessed fan of Abbott's former band and alarmed people with his bizarre behavior, a one-time friend said Friday.
Nathan Gale had told friends that Pantera musicians had stolen lyrics from him and were trying to steal his identity, former friend Dave Johnson said.
Gale, 25, charged the stage Wednesday at a show by Abbott's new band, Damageplan, and gunned down four people including Abbott before a police officer shot him to death. Two others were wounded.
Investigators said they may never know Gale's motive. Some witnesses said he yelled accusations that the influential heavy metal guitarist broke up Pantera, but police had not verified those reports.
Gale once showed up at a friend's house with songs he said he had written, said Johnson, 27. He wanted to sing the songs with Johnson's band but one musician said no because the lyrics were copied from Pantera.
"He'd been kind of weird before that so we thought it was another 'Crazy Nate' thing,'' Johnson said. "That was our nickname for him, 'Crazy Nate.'''
Johnson said Gale then calmly said that Pantera had stolen the lyrics from him and he was going to sue them. He also said the band was trying to steal his identity.
Johnson said Gale was a "hardcore'' Pantera fan and "that was all he listened to.''
Johnson said he last saw Gale in their hometown of Marysville, about 25 miles northwest of Columbus, about six months ago. He had distanced himself from Gale by then because of odd behavior that included talking and laughing to himself and once appearing to be holding an imaginary dog, he said.
Getty Images
Dimebag Darrell performs with Damageplan in New York in April.
An imposing figure at 6-foot-3, Gale had made people uneasy at a Marysville tattoo parlor, staring and locking them into conversations about heavy metal music.
When he played offensive line for the semi-pro Lima Thunder football team, he psyched himself up before games by piping Pantera music into his headphones, coach Mark Green said.
"He seemed like a normal guy you would meet any other day,'' said Anthony Bundy, 20, who lived on the same block as Gale. "He was a keep-to-yourself type of person. He was real quiet.''
Hours before the shootings, Gale got into an argument with a worker at the tattoo studio over some equipment he wanted the studio to order for him. He later angrily walked out of the shop.
The worker, Bo Toler, said he thought Gale had come to the tattoo parlor because he wanted somebody to hang out with. "I just thought he was quiet. I thought he had low-self esteem because of his thick glasses,'' Toler said.
Gale had had minor run-ins with police since 1997 but wasn't considered a troublemaker, authorities said.
He served in the Marines in North Carolina until November 2003, when he was discharged after less than half of the typical four-year stint, Marine spokeswoman Gunnery Sgt. Kristine Scarber said. She declined to explain the discharge, citing privacy rules.
Gale's mother, Mary Clark, did not return phone messages seeking comment.
The violence at the Alrosa Villa club came just after the opening chords by Texas-based Damageplan, the band formed by Abbott and his brother, drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, after they left Pantera. Gale dodged two band members, grabbed Darrell Abbott and shot him at least five times in the head, witnesses and police said.
In less than five minutes, Gale had also killed Erin Halk, 29, a club employee who loaded band equipment; fan Nathan Bray, 23; and band bodyguard Jeff Thompson, 40.
The band's drum technician, John Brooks, was released from Riverside Hospital on Friday, said Sgt. Mark Allen of hospital security. Tour manager Chris Paluska was in stable condition.
Vinnie Paul Abbott thanked fans for their support in a statement the band released Friday.
"With all his greatness and accomplishments on the guitar, DIME will be missed more for his giving personality, charisma, caring for others, love and most of all his HEART!! Twice as big as the state of TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!!!,'' Abbott said.
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| dan p. |
Posted - 12/10/2004 : 11:36:42 AM
According to Mull, amateur video was taken from inside the nightclub and investigators were examining the tape to see if they could determine the events that led to the shootings.
that'll be on the internet before long. |
| thomasode |
Posted - 12/09/2004 : 10:11:02 PM
well at the last Denver show some fucker threw a hunting knife at Dave....DMB hasnt been back since... |
| Erich |
Posted - 12/09/2004 : 5:49:08 PM
Im being dead honest here. this makes me not care how fucking stupid people are at DMB and Tim shows. |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 12/09/2004 : 5:14:13 PM
apparently there might be video of the shooting......
Five dead, including noted guitarist 'Dimebag' Abbott
By Jay Cohen
ASSOCIATED PRESS8:24 a.m. December 9, 2004
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A gunman charged onstage at a packed nightclub and opened fire on the band and crowd, killing top heavy metal guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott and three other people before a police officer shot him to death, authorities and witnesses said.
Police spokeswoman Sherry Mercurio identified three of the victims of Wednesday's shooting as Abbott, who played for the Texas-based band Damageplan, and two other men, Nathan Bray, 23; and Erin Halk, 29.
She identified the gunman as Nathan Gale, 25, of Marysville, 25 miles northwest of Columbus. Police said they had no information on a motive or any connection to the band.
The gunman had a hostage in a headlock and seemed to be preparing to kill him when the officer, James D. Niggemeyer, managed to shoot without injuring the hostage, police said.
Damageplan had just begun its first song at Alrosa Villa club when the man shot Abbott five or six times at point-blank range, a witness said.
Abbott, 38, one of metal's top guitarists, and his brother, Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul Abbott, were members of Pantera, the Grammy-nominated thrash-rock pioneer that enjoyed wide popularity in the 1990s.
The witness, 22-year-old Chris Couch, said he was standing about 30 feet from the stage when he saw a man wearing a hooded sweat shirt walk up to the stage, followed by a bouncer and another club employee.
The man in the sweat shirt climbed onto the stage, started yelling and opened fire on the guitarist, then shot a bouncer who pulled him off the musician, Couch said.
Police spokesman Sgt. Brent Mull said that after shooting at band members, the gunman fired into the crowd. Niggemeyer, patrolling nearby, arrived within two minutes, he said.
"If the officer wasn't as close as he was, I think this would have been a lot worse," Mull said. "It was a chaotic scene, just a horrific scene."
Niggemeyer, 31, entered the club through a back door and was directed to the stage, where he saw one person lying dead and the suspect holding onto another "pretty much in a headlock," Mull said.
"The officer was able to strategically gun this guy down before he was able to kill this hostage," Mull said. He said the hostage, "probably a fan, maybe someone who worked with the band," was able to maneuver out of the way somewhat before the officer fired.
Mull said he believed there was amateur video that officers could view for clues.
The name of the fifth person killed was not immediately released. Mercurio said family members were still being notified.
Thursday morning, a dozen yellow roses, still in plastic wrap, lay near the entry to the low-slung beige building that since 1974 has hosted mostly heavy metal acts. The 641-person-capacity club, just off a freeway exit on the city's north side, sits amid motels, small businesses and office complexes.
After the shooting began, Couch and a friend headed for the exit along with a tide of hundreds of fans.
"It was definitely a grudge. It was against something," Couch said.
Amanda Stankus, 19, who attended the show with Couch, said she initially thought the shooting was part of the show. "I just saw the guitarist fall down, and we decided to get out of there," she said.
The Abbott brothers produced Damageplan's debut album, "New Found Power," which was released in February. Other band members are vocalist Patrick Lachman and bassist Bob Zilla.
"Damageplan carries on the tradition Pantera started, the ... hell-raising tradition we were all about," Vinnie Paul Abbott told The Dallas Morning News in October. "We do play some Pantera songs. Me and Dime wrote them, and we feel like we have the right to play them. But the focus is on Damageplan.
"It took awhile for some of the Pantera fans to accept it; we knew that was gonna be the case," he said. "Change is something that people have a hard time accepting. But me and Dime intended on doing this our whole lives."
A message left with Atlantic Records Group, which oversees Damageplan's label Elektra, was not immediately returned.
Damageplan's Web site said Darrel and Vinnie Abbott grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where their father, country songwriter Jerry Abbott, owned a recording studio.
Telephone numbers for Darrell and Jerry Abbott are unlisted and could not be reached early Thursday by The Associated Press.
Pantera, known for its fast, aggressive sound, recorded several albums in the 1990s, attracting a massive cult following. The third release, "Far Beyond Driven," debuted at No. 1 in 1994, surprising chart-watchers and critics alike. Other hit albums were "The Great Southern Trendkill" and "Reinventing The Steel." A song by the band became the Dallas Stars hockey team's signature tune in 1999.
Pantera was nominated for Grammies for best metal performance in 1995 for "I'm Broken" and in 2001 for "Revolution Is My Name."
The video "The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboys' Vulgar Hits" hit the top 10 for music-video sales earlier this year; another video, "3-Watch It Go," hit the top 10 in 1998.
The shootings came exactly 24 years after John Lennon was shot to death outside his New York apartment building by a deranged fan.
Dozens of messages were posted to the Dallas band's Web site after the shootings.
"This is the worst day in metal history," one posting read.
"The metal world feels your pain," another wrote.
Associated Press writer Jay Jorden in Dallas contributed to this report.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20041209-0824-nightclubshooting.html
Another one to check out:
IMAGINE THE FEAR these people felt.....
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1494653/20041209/damageplan.jhtml?headlines=true |
| GuitarGuy305 |
Posted - 12/09/2004 : 4:51:37 PM
I was on my way to post this as well. I'm so fucking pissed. Another hit for "real" music fans everywhere. Long live punk-pop I guess...
The way the shooting is described is just disturbing:
quote:
"He's playing the guitar and (the gunman) just went right up to him," witness Jim Climer said. "He started blowing his brains out, basically. Dimebag was still playing. He didn't know what was going on, and that's when he hit the ground."
Was Vinnie Paul killed too? No one is saying the name of the other band member.
Adam |
| Fluffy |
Posted - 12/09/2004 : 4:36:04 PM
From the moment he and his brother Vinnie (who went by Vinnie Paul) formed Pantera in Dallas in 1982, Abbott lived to be a heavy metal hero and strived to take guitar playing to a new place. And when Pantera took off, he gleefully indulged in the spoils of rock stardom, launching his own strip club and endorsing his own line of guitars. But what he'll always be best remembered for is his mastery of his instrument.
For more than 15 years, Abbott's playing crackled and burned like a dangerous brushfire, first with Pantera, and then, when that band publicly exploded in 2000, with Damageplan, which he co-founded with Vinnie last year. He also worked on an album with country maverick David Allen Coe and guested on records by Nickelback, Anthrax and others. While he came of age in the '80s thrash-metal scene, Abbott had tremendous influence with the recent crop of metalcore and nü-metal acts.
"After Eddie Van Halen, you had Dimebag Darrell," said Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian. "He was the next guy that came along and did something as original and important on guitar."
"Dime's music gave me so much to live for when I was younger, and he truly changed the face of metal with his unique style of guitar playing," Chimaira frontman Mark Hunter said. "There isn't a metal band I know that hasn't borrowed a riff or three from him."
Indeed, Abbott's playing was powerful, innovative and unpredictable. He was equally capable of churning out crunching, staccato riffs as ominous textural arpeggios, and while he was metal to the core, his Texas roots and love for ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd gave his playing a southern swing that, in the early years of Pantera's success, was dubbed "power-groove." In addition, Abbott flavored his songs with squealing harmonics and tuneful lead licks that became an integral part of his rhythms. However, he may be best known for his searing, virtuosic leads, which were filled with lightning-fast runs that cascaded from his amplifiers like torrential rain.
"He could take a riff that would take somebody a year to master and he could rip it off in seconds," added Slipknot's Corey Taylor. "He made everything look like he was playing 'Smoke on the Water' with one finger."
Abbott's musical abilities playing were matched only by his outsized personality, which, as much as anything, resembled that of a professional wrestler. In 1999, when I was an editor at Guitar magazine, he agreed to an interview for a cover story — but he had some very clear and specific conditions. He wanted a fifth of Seagrams 7, two six-packs of Coors Light and a six-pack of Coca-Cola before he'd talk to me. And if the cans weren't cold, he'd walk. Once his terms were met, he was as cooperative and enthusiastic as a kid in sex-ed class, and gave me an interview that was colorful, funny and revealing.
It's important to note that Abbott wasn't being a jerk with those requests; he was just being Dime. He cherished being a rock star, was always "on," and lived to have a raucous good time. And he always made sure everyone around him was as pumped up, comfortable and/or inebriated as he was.
"He's the type of guy that would do anything for his friends," Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian said. "He really did put his family and his friends first, and for him everyone was his family. Once you came into contact with Dimebag and became friends with that guy, it was a sacred bond. Once you shared drinks with that guy, you became a part of his extended family."
Abbott was born on August 20, 1966, in Dallas, the son of country & western songwriter and producer Jerry Abbott. From an early age, he watched his dad in the studio, an experience that inspired him to be a musician. "I used to go down there as much as I could to see anybody play any kind of music," he told me in 1999. "I was lucky enough to get to see guys like Bugs Henderson, Jimmy Wallace, all those great Texas blues players."
He started listening to music by Merle Haggard and country maverick David Allen Coe, and as he got older, Abbott discovered ZZ Top and Skynyrd. But it was Kiss, and especially Van Halen, that turned the young Abbott on to rock music. Like Eddie Van Halen, Dime had originally played drums, but his older brother Vinnie showed more aptitude for the instrument, so at age 12, he switched to guitar. He quickly learned Boston's "More Than a Feeling" and Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water," after which his dad taught him some scales and music theory, but he said that his mistakes served him best on his road to musical discovery. "When I tried to play something and screwed up, I'd hear some other note that would come into play," he said. "And then I started moving it around and trying different things to find the beauty in it."
Three months after picking up a guitar, Abbott could already play better than most people who'd been hacking away at it for years. His brother was as much of a natural on drums. After winning several local guitar competitions, Dime and Vinnie formed Pantera with singer Terrence Lee and bassist Rex Brown in 1982. But that incarnation of the band had little in common with the blazing group that later created heavy metal landmarks like 1990's Cowboys From Hell and 1992's A Vulgar Display of Power. At first, Pantera more closely resembled a second-rate Def Leppard or Kiss, and for most of their career, the bandmembers distanced themselves from their first four albums, which were all released when Abbott was in his mid-teens.
The turning point for Pantera came when vocalist Phil Anselmo joined in 1988. His abrasive, hardcore vocal style encouraged the Abbotts to play a more aggressive form of music that had more in common with thrash bands like Metallica and Slayer. Two years later, Pantera were signed to major label Atlantic's Atco Records imprint and released the breakthrough Cowboys From Hell. Pantera toured exhaustively and quickly built a reputation as one of the most exciting live acts on the heavy-music circuit.
Even when Nirvana ushered in the alternative revolution and heavy metal faded from the charts, Pantera continued to thrive through the '90s, releasing uncompromising, uncommercial albums that connected with their dedicated fanbase. At the same time, Abbott was routinely elected as one of the top metal axemen in numerous readers polls, and the band continued to pack 'em in at shows. "People that love this form of music have loved it from way back — Sabbath, Zeppelin, the early days. And we still get those kind of cats coming out to our shows," Abbott said in a 2001 interview with MTV. "Once you're into it, you're into it for a lifetime. And maybe it's not the coolest thing when it comes to what's on top of the charts, but that sh-- that's been on top of the charts — on and off, on and off, a million times — and we're still standing strong. So we'll be here forever. United and hard we f---ing stand."
Pantera reached the end of the line in 2000. After releasing Reinventing the Steel, the band played Ozzfest for the second time, a tour about which Godsmack frontman Sully Erna commented, "I'm just glad we're going on before Pantera — that's a hard act to follow." But while the band remained as tight as ever onstage, offstage a rift was growing ever wider between the Abbott brothers and Anselmo. After two years on indefinite hold and scathing comments from both camps, Pantera officially broke up, and the Abbotts eventually formed Damageplan with singer Patrick Lachman, who'd formerly been a guitarist with ex-Judas Priest singer Rob Halford; he'd become friends with the Abbotts in 2000 during a Dallas tour stop. When Halford rejoined Judas Priest, Lachman was out of a job, and called up Dime. "I said, 'Well, I got the guitars handled,' and he said, 'Dude, I can sing. Let me take a shot at it,' " Abbott recalled in an interview in January. "So, we gave him a couple [tracks] to try, [and] he nailed them, and it was on."
The band's debut album, New Found Power, came out in February of this year, and proved that not only could Dimebag still rip, he also could evolve. In addition to crushing grooves, the record was packed with atmospheric flourishes and a combination of caustic and melodic vocals. Damageplan spent most of this year on tour, and were planning to spend much of 2005 on the road before going back into the studio to record new material.
The mark that Abbott left on heavy music and its community is indelible. He was a stellar player, a true character and an unforgettable friend to many. "He was one of the coolest people I've ever met," said Slipknot's Corey Taylor. "The guy just loved to laugh and he loved to make you laugh. And he loved to make you do something that you would never do in a million years. He was a guy that lived in the moment. His philosophy was, 'Let's do something that is gonna make us remember tonight for the rest of our lives.' And that's something I'm gonna f---ing miss for the rest of mine."
For fans' reactions to the death of Dimebag Darrell, check out You Tell Us.
Click here for more on the tragic death of Dimebag Darrell and the Ohio club shooting.
For much more on Dimebag Darrell's life, music and influence, tune in to a special edition of "Headbangers Ball" premiering Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET on MTV2.
— Jon Wiederhorn
The part in RED sounds like someone we all know.... |
| PJK |
Posted - 12/09/2004 : 3:57:19 PM
Another reminder that we need to live life to its fullest, and never take it for granted.
Sad that both the musicians and the fans were there to get high on music and escape the realities of the world and they ended up dead. quote:
Posted - 12/09/2004 : 10:23:33 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That really does suck. I had actually heard they were in town (Buffalo) a couple days ago. I'll be interested to hear what the motive was with this one.
Unfortunately they probably won't ever find out what the motive was, and nothing can bring back those who were killed. The only positive thing I can think of about this is that the band members died doing what they loved. |
| dan p. |
Posted - 12/09/2004 : 1:59:14 PM
i never much cared for dimebag. |
| CPPJames |
Posted - 12/09/2004 : 10:23:33 AM
That really does suck. I had actually heard they were in town (Buffalo) a couple days ago. I'll be interested to hear what the motive was with this one. |
| JTR |
Posted - 12/09/2004 : 08:25:49 AM
That sucks... Loved Darrell, although I haven't really been paying attention to his more recent projects, like Damageplan, I did love Cowboys and Vulgar, and Darrell played lead guitar on the last 3 or 4 Anthrax albums, in which he was awesome. He'll be missed. |
| Erich |
Posted - 12/09/2004 : 01:50:25 AM
I was just going to post this, Fluffy. I thought of Tn'T imeadiatly, knowing how big of fans they are. This is a sad day in Metal, and a sadder day in social history. |
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