Band Members Subpoenaed to Testify in Nightclub Fire Probe

AP via FoxNews ^ | Feb 25, 2003 | AP

[dixierose]

Love your tag line :-)

[TLBSHOW]

Both the band and the club are at fault....

[Howlin]

Well, you have a point since I've never seen it PACKED.....LOL. And I do know what an ATA case looks like; have several of them.

I'm still saying there is no way they could have put those things on that stage without SOMEBODY noticing.

What's going to happen here is that everybody is going to go for themselves; I predict we'll hear some hot stuff from the club EMPLOYEES before this is all over.

Quite sad that it ever happened. But any building that burns up in three minutes had problems before GW got there.

[SirFishalot]

Oh yes, most definately. I have had nightmares about some of the rat holes I've played in.

Here's something else I found common. Many times the venue is rated for say 300 so the promoter sells 300 tickets. The problem is that you have club employees, figure at least one more friend for each of them, the promoters staff, a few of their friends, the band members and their crew and entourage, the opening band(s) and their entourage, radio personalities, club owners friends, production crew, loaders, and etc. Next thing you know, 300 is 400.

[SirFishalot]

Yep, I agree. My main point is that it's very possible that nobody from the club saw the gerbs until mere minutes before the band went on. I have seen it happen and I have experienced it first hand.

[Howlin]

Isn't it amazing how alert you become when you're older?

I told this last week, but I'll tell you all: when my niece was a Zeta at Carolina, one night she called and said "We're all going over to a party at the PiKa house; an image of a blackened hole of a basement with about 6 or 7 foot ceilings (where I had seen MANY big name bands) flashed through my mind and I literally yelled into the phone: "DON'T GO INTO THAT BASEMENT." Live and learn.

[Howlin]

Not arguing the point; I still don't think the band is all that culpable.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

You GOTTA be kidding. I downloaded their signature tune this weekend, barely remembered it, and thought it was mediocre.

[SirFishalot]

Ohh lordy, I've done the Frat concert circuit also, now there's some scary times. Those places were like drug warehouses in the late 70s-late 80s.

[TLBSHOW]

Not to mention the band first thing looks around for something to put it out with. Duh maybe that would of been on their list of items needed right next to the fireworks they set off that killed almost a 100 and from what I hear more of those burned will die too.

[Howlin]

'70's and 80's, eh?

What would you say if I told you I saw the Beatles on their FIRST trip to America?

[dixierose]

My first thought when I saw the tape was, "I can't believe they did that...the ceiling's so low!" I have fond memories of Great White (and other hair bands) in the 80's, but it seems that someone in the band should have noticed how close they were to the ceiling before the pyro went off (whether or not they had permission to use it).

As for extinguishers...aren't all businesses required to have fire estinguishers within easy reach? Knowing that the club had just passed a fire inspection tells me that extinguishers were on site. Of course, when a fire takes off as quick as that one did, fire extinguishers would have been of little help.

I also understand that the people in the club didn't use all available exits. That's sad. Were the exists not posted as such? When I enter a crowded building I scope out the exits first thing (of course I'm a little claustrophobic and worry about a stampeding, panicing crowd because I hate being in the middle of a crowd.)

Saying that, after watching news coverage of the event, I can't place blame on any one person or group. It looks like a set of circumstances that many people had their hands in. I believe that everyone that may be to blame feels terrible though. The owners lost co-workers and friends, and the band lost one of its members. I'd hate to be in any of their shoes.

[SirFishalot]

I think they both share the blame. The person that decided to use it that night and lit it is the one that should go to jail in my opinion. According to Great White's lawyer, that would be their tour/road manager.

[Howlin]

Knowing that the club had just passed a fire inspection tells me that extinguishers were on site.

Last November.

Of course, when a fire takes off as quick as that one did, fire extinguishers would have been of little help.

Somehow I don't think anybody can pin THAT on the band.

[Howlin]

I'm betting that somebody could have thrown a lit cigarette in the corner of the stage and the same thing would have happened.

[TLBSHOW]

The band's stage show is believed to have started Thursday's fire at the Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., that left nearly 100 people dead. The band has said it had permission to use pyrotechnics, a claim disputed by the club's owners.


Club officials in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida and Maine also say the band failed to notify them it was going to use pyrotechnics at shows earlier this month. Investigators have met with club officials in at least three of those states.


Domenic Santana, owner of the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, said New Jersey State Police investigators asked him whether the band used the special effects at their Feb. 14 show without notice.


Santana said he told them the band had not asked permission and then used pyrotechnics anyway. He said the band's contract and other documents did not mention pyrotechnics and that stage managers didn't see the effects when the set up the band.


Sgt. Kevin Rehmann, a spokesman for the New Jersey State Police, said Monday the interviews were conducted last week but refused to discuss details.


Rui Farias, director of marketing for the Pinellas Expo Center in Pinellas Park, Fla., said the band used fireworks at a Feb. 7 show without informing the venue or promoter, Past 2 Present Productions.


"If they would have brought up the pyro to use we would have OK'd it," said promoter Tim Bryant, adding the size of the 5,000-seat venue minimized the risk. "At a nightclub, it should never have been used."


Bryant said he had been contacted by law enforcement officials from the West Warwick Police, Rhode Island State Police and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030225/ap_on_re_us/nightclub_fire_other_states_2

[truth_seeker]

"Just who started the fire? The club owners? The fire marshalls? The corrupt politicians?"

What about the patrons, who went there, probably expecting pyro? They knew this band used it, and knew other bands at this club used it.

Aren't fans responsible, in large measure, for their own safety?

If I drive a car with bald tires, in a rainstorm, is it the roadbuilders, or tire manufacturers, or govt. regulators, or is it ME?

I'm sad for the lost ones. This touched people across the nation. But to a degree, I believe it is unfair to shift ALL of the responsibility away from the club patrons.

[DaughterofEve]

I am sure there is enough guilt to go around a few thousand times, but I do think some people are attributing too much importance to a singer (even the lead one) in a band. The guy just sings and plays. Why more JR's fault than any of the other band members? I mean, if there is a good answer to that, I just don't happen to know it.
I think its more between their manager and the club owners than the musicians themselves. (If they didn't have a manager and managed themselves, I'd feel differently.)
Also, do we know who physically started the pyrotechnics? Was it somehow one of the musicians, perhaps remotely? Still haven't seen that answer.

[Howlin]

I mean, if there is a good answer to that

There isn't. I don't understand blaming him.

Sometimes I believe people on this forum just like to BLAME a person......never have understood why.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Now wait just a minute. Common sense says that a clubowner would be negligent or worse to allow large amounts of flammable material in his club. Its a nite club, cig. lighters and electrical shorts(all that equipment on stage) are very realistic hazards to consider. Pyro has been used at that club in the past. So how the heck is the owner/manager not at least partially responsible, account of failure to maintain a venue safe enough to handle reasonably anticipated hazards? In a place that serves alcohol, a drunk flicking a cigarette or one with a match or lighter trying to burn curtains/tablecloths/anything he thinks might burn is certainly a possibility that should have been anticipated. Common sense says don't have large amounts of unprotected flammable material in such a room, and don't introduce it(the soundproofing).

Its like a parent leaving bottles of poisonous cleaners sitting around within easy rich of their small kids. Even if they tell their kids not to drink it, if a kid does anyway and dies, are not the parents somewhat responsible and culpable, due to reckless negligence? "Just who drank the poison, the parents or the child?"

So what's the difference between those parents and these club owners?