It doesn't seem like it's been seven years since the murder of one of the world's most talented guitarists. I realize that he played in a musical niche that most people don't care for, or even appreciate, but I didn't take it too well when he was killed.
"Dimebag" Darrel Abbott was killed on stage this day in 2004 in Columbus, Ohio by a scumbag with a handgun. Here is a video that offers a view of a mass shooting that may change your perspective a bit on what happens.
First thing I noticed was that the audience didn't go anywhere, or seem to panic at all; they kind of just stood there for several minutes like a bunch of goons and watched a gunman murder five people. Next, one of the band's technicians repeatedly attacked the gunman, and was shot multiple times all over his body, including his chest, and yet he still persisted in trying to stop the gunman from killing his friends. The whole time he was getting shot fighting the gunman, he was pleading for somebody to help him. Nobody did. Hundreds of men stood there quite calmly and watched him fight a madman alone.
A cop finally walks in with a shotgun and, when the gunman took a hostage and pointed his pistol at his head, the cop shot the gunman and killed him. The most profound part was the look on the officer's face when he walked away after killing the psycho; to me it looks like a man that did the hard thing that day, even though he didn't want to. The last thing was I noticed was what another band tech said while he was watching his friends get murdered: "I kept screaming NO! Ya' know, but. . . there was nothing I could do."
"There was nothing I could do" is not an excuse that I ever want the option of being able to make. I willingly inconvenience my life by a substantial margin just so I don't ever have to face that regret; so there's something I can do in a moment where someone may need me. I'm not knocking the guy; shit happens in life and we chose day to day how we will be postured to prepare for it.
To end on a better note, here's Dimebag at his finest (embeds are disabled, probably because of today).
***ETA: Here's one:
5 comments:
You have to have some pretty F'ed up priorities to be despondent over a band's break-up.
And yes, the look on the cop's face is one of horror for having to take the life of another human. Hopefully he didn't suffer too much psychological damage and is still on the force.
we always go out tonight and drink to the dime. smile, it's a blacktooth grin!
I was able to see Pantera live at the old Joe's Garage venue north of Fort Worth in '88 just before the band hit it big. It still stands out in my mind as the rawest, tightest, highest energy show I've been too, and it was clear even back then that Darrell was the heart of that band. Pantera's music goes under appreciated by a lot of folks which is a shame.
You are right about that video. Amazing that no one helped Kat try and subdue the guy. I mean the crowd at a Pantera show is not filled with members of the chess club for crying out loud. I would think that there be at least a couple of fearless metal heads in the crowd that would step up to help after seeing an unarmed, scrawny little guy take on an armed lunatic. I guess the crowds at these shows have changed since I decided to stop my hearing loss at the hands of bands like Pantera.
Unfortunately, I never did get to see them play together. That's something I still regret. I still have all their albums, though.
"I mean the crowd at a Pantera show is not filled with members of the chess club for crying out loud."
Very true. It's still telling that one guy who took on the shooter was the little guy. Good on him.
Being unarmed against an active shooter is a severe tactical disadvantage, and nobody should be faulted for failing to participate in a suicidal bonsai charge. Of course, there is also the fact that many in the audience look tougher than they are.
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