http://apnews.myway.com/article/20041209/D86S4U201.html
Dimebag was a great guy. I can't say that I knew him, but I met him a coupla times, shook his hand, he bought some beers, we talked a while.
According to reports, one of the others killed was a guy known as Mayhem, bodyguard for the Abbots and general badass.
I am actually pretty worked up about this. I was going to go off on one of my funerary type speeches, and I can't.
...not familiar with their stuff, but read this on a local news website. I am kinda shocked that there was now searching of attendees upon entrance to the club. This may have been preventable.
--DDTM
There're idiots on local talk radio blathering about how the crowd "probably didn't know it was real, they jsut thought someone gettign shot was part of the show, you know how these heavy metal types are so into violence, (blah, blah, blah)" It's amazing that peoiple don't think that there are laws about what can and can't go on during a show. Dischange of firearms inside city limits is a very basic one that nearly every major town has. Guns going off as a stunt during metal shows is unheard of in my memory.
Into Violence, heh. People always say this. The only types of metal that really sing about violence are the ones who are really underground, and not in the public eye at all. Pantera/Damage Plan where great groups. Darrell was a great guitar player, one of the best in the metal industry. And everybody I know of who has met him has said that he was just a great guy. I will miss hearing future works from the Abbot brothers.
The ones who say crap like that are the ones who never heard the things that Dime could do with a guitar. He was a virtuoso.
The ones who say crap like that are also the ones that would have judged Dime and Mayhem with a glance. In doing so, they would have missed knowing two really good human beings. Sure, Dimebag looked like an escaped mental patient, but he was real, down to earth, and never turned away a fan.
Sure, Mayhem looked like he could squash you with his pinky (almost 7 feet and 400 lbs), but he was one of the people that they had to coin the phrase "Gentle Giant" for. That's what made him such a good bodyguard for the Abbots... he was like them.
I once saw Mayhem at Scarborough Faire (local ren fair). He was in his Highland Dress costume (not the "whole nine yards", more like the "whole 15.5 yards"), walking along with his seemingly neverending cup of Guinness, when a little girl of about 3 or 4 fell down in front of him. She had been walking along, staring up at his sheer size, and tripped. He kneeled down, helped her up, and then carried her over to her parents. He set her down no harder than a feather would have landed, then gave her a wink. This giant man put a smile on the face of a little girl just by being who he was.
...
Yesterday and today, I have found myself on the verge of tears many times. I didn't even know these men. I knew of them. I knew what kind of people they were. I know that this life has let go of two people that more of the world should be like. By that, I don't mean that the world needs more metal, more rockers, more bulk, more badass... I mean that these were good men. Gracious men. Men that make their families proud. Men that made the world a better place simply by being in it. I can never be ashamed for crying over the loss of them.