2004-12-12 - 4:15 p.m.

more stolen pictures

from damageplan.com, at the bottom of the page.

One of the four men killed by that idiot was Jeff Thompson, head of the band's security. From all reports, he used to say that he would take a bullet for them.

I just don't have anything else to say about that except that I have great respect for a person like that. He seems to have been well loved. I think I love him from here.

Two others killed were a fan and a club employee who ran up and tried to help.

The band's tour manager and a drum tech were also shot. The manager is still in the hospital and the drum tech was just released.

It's so scary. I go to venues of all sizes and once in a while they search my bag pretty well, but sometimes they don't even glance. Usually somewhere in between. Very rarely do they do the pat-down searches. But, is that a bad thing? It just comes down to the question, do you want to search people every time they enter every public building? This kind of thing can - and DOES - happen in office buildings, schools, restaurants, post offices, and on and on. Furthermore, it happens out in the open on public sidewalks. So, where, when, and how do we search everyone? You just can't make the entire world perfectly safe no matter what you do. You have to take reasonable precautions and hope for the best, or dig a hole and climb in it. I'm as safe and cautious as I can reasonably be, and after that, if something happens... well, would I be happier if I stayed home and got hit by a banana truck on the way down to Walmart?

It's unnerving when I think about who was injured. The lead guitarist who was blamed for a band breakup. The tour manager. A tech. A security guy. If someone got up on stage with my band (which has happened - usually just a drunk who wants attention or a girl who wants a hug, thank goodness, but still), I know who would be running right after them. In fact, I've heard my band's production manager telling the local security that they of course should do their jobs and do everything they can to make sure people don't get onto the stage in the first place, but that if it happens, they should back off at that point and let the band's staff take care of removing them.

And I know these guys. I'm not at their houses for the holidays or anything, but I know them. They see me, they come over and say hi. We chat when they have down time. They tell me to be careful driving because it's icy out there. They smile when they run into me by coincidence (and it really is) in yet one more hotel lobby or venue parking lot.

So I feel like I know something about the Damageplan guys too. I know about their dedication to their jobs and their co-workers; the kind of dedication that makes you run out on stage to stop an attacker even when you can see quite plainly he has a gun, is not shy about using it, and is batshit crazy. You go not because it's your job but because #1 these guys are your friends and #2, this fucker has invaded YOUR STAGE.

In almost every case when I've seen someone get on the stage with my band, it was pretty clear they weren't a threat. Of course, you never know. People said about this guy, that at first they weren't sure it wasn't part of the show. Those are the scary ones. When it's a fan who gets up on stage, and either goes to hug someone or turns around and yells "woo hoo!" at the audience - okay. Yes, it's a priority to get them out of the way and off the stage, but it's not scary. Once I saw a guy get up on stage with my band, and I really did wonder for a second if he was "supposed" to be there - he ran out from the wings between songs, went up to a microphone and started addressing the audience, and I thought for a second that maybe he was from the venue, even though I knew it wasn't "part of the show." Next thing I saw, though, was the production manager and the guy who, among other things, does security, approaching the guy quickly, and I knew. Luckily for this guy, my band's people put a priority on keeping things like this low-key. No one's getting tackled or carried off unless it's the last resort. So this guy was escorted off stage - firmly - and it was forgotten and the show went on. But that was a bit scary to me. Was he drunk? Crazy? What did he want? I don't know.

Anyway.

It does make me smile a bit that people are so ANGRY about Dime being killed. I think he would approve of people being pissed that he's gone. I hope people are pissed when I'm gone. I thought about something this week. While moments of silence in respect of a person are nice and all, whenever my time comes, I'd like a moment of noise. If there are enough people who care that I'm not around to actually gather somewhere, I'd like them to all scream at the top of their lungs, or whistle, or clap, or SOMETHING - for a couple five seconds. A moment of noise in my memory, please. I'd like that.

my mood -

the mood of the whole world wide bleepin' web -