Imagine going to a show in a small club and having the band shoot of pyrotechnics.
Cool, huh? Now imagine that the ceiling tiles catch on fire in an old ratty rock club not up to fire code. Now imagine trying to get out as the place collapses around you. Imagine the band is ushered out the back.
100 people died that day Trapped in a filthy club as the flammable foam lining the walls ignited and created a brick fire oven. A horrible event at a Great White concert. This wasn’t in some obscure country with no regulation, no this was Warwick Rhode Island. I can attest to the Providence Rhode Island club such as Lupo’s, Club Hell, and even the new Metro- they’re all filthy horrific cesspools of sticky wretch. Bathed in red light it they are the worse clubs I have ever entered. So let’s just say RI is not the tops of show destinations. I am stunned that in the wake of the The Station tragedy that there has not been a mass clean up of venues. Nope. Just waiting for someone deaths at Lupo’s, though there may already been some but they can’t find the bodies in the filth.
The owner of the Station has donated the plot of land that housed The Station to the city to be memorial to those who perished. In 2006 the two club owners and Great Whites tour manager were charged with 100 counts of manslaughter. Why the TM? I suppose for shooting off the pyro, who knows but I would suspect he was the least of the guilty.
Survivors and family of those killed struck a $176 million deal in 2009 with several companies to settle lawsuits brought over the fire. With the civil and criminal prosecutions over, attention turned to building the memorial. Cuz everyone’s head has a price tag. Fucking hate that but they did it cuz its blood money and we all love that right?
Aside from suing people we love memorials. Plots of land to stand on and think. Since the graves of these people isn’t enough hell, let’s use the actual spot it went down as trib!! So the owners dedicate it to the city so you can go visit, put that on your tour map.
I’m going to cut and paste the rest of this nonsense from Pollstar. Look if I should perish in a nightclub fire don’t build a fucking memorial garden on the plot. Do something worthwhile with the money you earn from my death- don’t make my charred remains Disney.
“The transfer was announced during a news conference at the site Friday, which was attended by dozens of survivors, relatives of those killed and supporters. Gov. Lincoln Chafee choked up as he offered a prayer, while members of the foundation’s board cried and held hands. In the crowd that gathered to hear their announcement, people hugged and sobbed.
Dave Kane, father of victim Nicholas O’Neill and a former member of the memorial foundation’s board, had been critical of how long it took to secure the land, Last week, he called on the state to seize it by eminent domain, a possibility Chafee and House Speaker Gordon Fox said they would explore. At the site on Friday, after visiting his son’s cross, he said he was thrilled.
“It’s been a long haul,” Kane said.
McKiernan told the AP the Villanova family had always wanted a “tasteful, somber and timeless memorial” at the site, and had been working on donating the land even as Chafee and Fox said they were looking into the legalities of seizing the land. The one condition of the transfer is that a suitable memorial be maintained at the site in perpetuity.
Over the years, McKiernan said Villanova tried to donate the land, including during the settlement of the lawsuit, but concerns were raised at that time that the transfer of the land might not be legal. He said they also had conversations with local and state officials over the years about transferring the land, which did not pan out because of concerns about maintaining the land and other issues.
Villanova, his daughter and members of the foundation met Monday at McKiernan’s office to hammer out terms of the deal in a meeting that foundation board president Gina Russo described as “emotional.”
“It was important for us, but I think just as important for them to give back,” said Russo, who was badly burned in the fire and whose fiancé was killed. “He needs to be able to trust that the right thing is going to be done. It will be a memorial. It will always be maintained. That was very important to him.”
Carol Mancini, whose stepson, Keith Mancini, 34, died in the fire, said it was fantastic to know a memorial would be built, especially for those who live with the loss of their loved ones every day.
“It’ll always be here,” she said.
Eagan said that with the land secured, the foundation will now turn its attention to raising money. The foundation has raised more than $100,000 for a memorial, but Eagan said their hope is to raise $5 million over the next five years. She said that up until now, it has been difficult to aggressively raise money because the foundation did not own the land.
They will do everything from hold grassroots fundraisers to hit up “deeper pockets” and major corporations for money, she said.
“We know it’s a lofty goal, but it is achievable,” Eagan said.
She said the foundation aims to approve a final design by February. It will be scaled back slightly from a design that was approved a few years ago to make it simpler to maintain. She hopes to hold a groundbreaking on the memorial before the 10th anniversary.”