Aftermath: The Station Fire Five Years Later

It sucks that it takes a tragedy to tug at the heart strings of people, to get them to help, to move someone to do the right thing. Tragedy is all around us all the time. Whether it's an abused child you hear about on the news or a beaten, stray dog you see walking down your street, tragedy is never too far away. And when tragedy strikes close to home, it really tends to have lasting effect on your life.


Although I was hundreds of miles away during the Station Nightclub fire, it still made an impact on me. That could have been any night club anywhere in the world. If it happened in my home town, I would have been at that show because I love Great White. It could have been me. It could have been any of us.


Then when tragedy did strike at my local nightclub on December 8, 2004 with the shooting deaths of Dimebag Darrell, Nathan Bray, Erin Halk, and Jeff "Mayhem" Thompson, I was completely devastated. I was supposed to be there. I had friends who were there. It could have been me.

As time passes, it's easy for the rest of the world to forget what happened and go on with their lives. I pass that club almost daily and everytime I look at it, I am always reminded that one of my rock 'n roll heros was murdered there.


That's why I am impressed that even after five years, there was a benefit concert for the victims of the Station Nightclub fire. Hopefully, some of you were able to catch the concert special, Aftermath: The Station Fire Five Years Later, on Vh1 last Sunday. It brought to light that even though it has been five years, victims and families are still struggling from this tragedy.


Ufortunately, the concert was whittled down to just one hour of air time. The event itself was quite monumental. The place was packed and there was an exciting line up of bands: Tesla, Stryper, Eric Martin, Gary Hoey, members of Boston, and Winger just to name a few. I can't say I was impressed with all the performances, but I was very impressed with the magnitude of the event.

Out of all of the performances that I saw, there was only one that really took my breath away: Gretchen Wilson. Leave it to the unabashed redneck woman to blow the socks off of a bunch of rockers! She performed Heart's Straight On and stole the show. If you would have closed your eyes and just listened to her voice, you would have sworn it was Nancy Wilson herself singing. Gretchen Wilson's voice is full of strength and soul; I got goosebumps just listening to her.

If you missed the show last Sunday, you should definitely check your local listings and try to catch it. It's definitely worth an hour of your day.

Please visit http://www.stationfamilyfund.org/ for more information on how you can help those still struggling from the aftermath of that fire. Make a donation if you can.

Really Bret Michaels? Really?

Back in the good ol' days, I remember when music was good and concert ticket prices were reasonable. In today's world, I can't tell the difference between Nickelback and a pile of poo, and now I have to sell my soul just to get a ticket in the nose bleed section for a good show.

Case & point: Bret Michaels. Now, I love me some Bret Michaels...pre Rock of Love of course. Last week, he played in Columbus at one of my favorite venues, the Alrosa Villa. Did I go? Not a chance in hell. Why? Because tickets were $35. Really? Just because he's got a hit reality show on VH1, he has the audacity to charge his fans $35 to get into a dirty, little bar? When he played at the Alrosa a year and a half ago, tickets were $20. A few of my friends gawked at that price, but we went anyway. We had a good time even though his guitartist had the goofiest joker like smile across his face the whole time and it drove me insane. Even though I had fun, I would have rather spent $20 to see Poison instead of Bret Michaels and some band.

Charging people $35 to get into any small club is ludacris to me no matter who you are. I don't even think tickets for Poison's summer tour last year cost that much. Now rumor has it that Poison is touring this summer, and I can only imagine what assanine price they will charge for these tickets. I can remember when my big brother paid $13.50 to see Motley Crue in an arena during the Theater of Pain tour (I wasn't allowd to go and I'm emotionally scarred from it). Granted, that was over 20 years ago, but ticket prices for most major tours these days are absolutely outrageous. That's one of the reasons why it took me so long to see Aerosmith in concert...because I couldn't afford to buy a freaking ticket. That is one of the reasons I haven't seen Bon Jovi play in over 5 years (that and they didn't play anything off their first album the last time I saw them). I paid around $50 for the worst seats in the place, and they were selling Bon Jovi tank tops for $45 (Yeah, I bought one). Thank god I wasn't a drinker back then because I would have had to take out a loan just to go and have a good time.

I suppose it all boils down to economy and the basics of supply and demand or inflation. Maybe that's why I can't wrap my mind around these outrageous ticket prices...because I could barely pass economics in college anyway. Or maybe it's all about greed. These boys are just trying to get a piece of that almighty dollar. I understand that they need to make a buck, but could you cut me a break here?

It's not that I don't think Bret Michaels is worth $35. OK, I take that back. After his decision to do Rock of Love, I don't think he's worth $35. However, I do think seeing Poison is worth $35. And isn't that all we want to hear anyway? Now, with the surge in popularity of 80's hair bands, the price of tickets to see our favorite cock rock bands is only going to sky rocket. I'm willing to pay a pretty stupid price to relive the glory days with some of my favorite bands, but they just have to realize that we're not all millionaires, you know?

Broken Heart

WHAT??????

A part of me just died.

They've Gone Country?

Sure, he's proclaimed to be a cowboy, and he rides a steele horse. But that doesn't necessarily make him country...does it? Apparently, it does.

Bon Jovi has been nominated for a CMT Award for Group Video of the Year for (You Want To) Make A Memory. Knowing that Miley Cyrus was sharing hosting duties with her father, Billy Ray Cyrus, was enough to make me dry heave, but this nomination made me vomit in my mouth.

Their nomination for Collaborative Video of the Year with LeAnn Rimes for 'Til We Ain't Strangers Anymore makes sense; at least LeAnn Rimes is a country star. However, Make A Memory isn't country. It's not even close. Last time I checked, that tune should have been filed under ballad or adult contemporary. But country? Not a chance. It is beyond me how it was even considered for a country music award.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that Bon Jovi is now on Mercury Nashville. Why the shift from Mercury to Mercury Nashville? Is it because they did a collaboration with Sugarland and one with LeAnn Rimes? I'm not sure if that justifies a shift from pop to country because 100% of their music is still pop rock.

I have no beef with country music, except that most of what's out today is crap. But good ol' fashioned, outlaw country is still some of the best music that's ever been made. However, Bon Jovi's music has no place in either realm of country. I just don't think their nomination should have taken the place of some other authentic country group who may have deserved it.

Regardless, Bon Jovi will never be a country band, at least to me. I don't care how many songs he writes for cowboy movies. They're a rock band. They've already made a shift to adult contemporary, so can we please just leave it at that and not give them another stupid genre?