Free Republic

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A former rock-band manager whose pyrotechnics caused a nightclub fire that killed 100 people was sentenced Wednesday to four years in prison. Daniel Biechele, 29, could have gotten as much as 10 years behind bars under a deal he struck with prosecutors in February, when he pleaded guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter. excerptLink

The members of Great White were spared Tuesday (December 9) when the band's tour manager and the club owners were indicted for the fire that took 100 lives in Rhode Island earlier this year. Tour manager Dan Biechele and the owners of The Station, Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, were each charged with 200 counts of manslaughter for the February 20 blaze in West Warwick that also injured 200 other people. All three men pled innocent at the hearing and were released after posting bail. Their next hearing is February 9. Biechele and the Derderians were each charged with 100 counts...

Rock band sent pyrotechnics into ceiling of Bangor club Tuesday,February25,2003,6:44 AM BANGOR (AP) -- The rock band Great White sent pyrotechnics into the ceiling of a Bangor nightclub two nights before that deadly fire in Rhode Island. That's according to Sgt. Stu Jacobs, a state fire investigator in Bangor. Jacobs says discarded canisters from the band's Bangor show indicate that the pyrotechnics required a minimum ceiling height of 15 feet. But the ceiling at Russell's nightclub was only 10 feet, and a 30-inch-high stage reduced the clearance further. Jacobs says pyrotechnics were shot into the ceiling but there was...

NEWARK, N.J. -- The owner and employees of a well-known New Jersey rock 'n' roll club said the band Great White failed to tell them they would use pyrotechnics for a concert there a week before a deadly blaze at the band's Rhode Island show. "We just did them and we did not have any advance notice," said Domenic Santana, owner of the Stone Pony, the storied Asbury Park nightclub. "Our stage manager didn't even know it until it was done. My sound man freaked out because of the heat and everything, and they jeopardized the health and the safety...