Owner Of Alrosa Villa Where Dimebag Was Killed Says He's "Never Opened On The Anniversary, I Probably Never Will - It's Just A Feeling I Have"
December 8, 2009, 14 years ago
John Futty from The Columbus Dispatch is reporting:
The owner of the Alrosa Villa expects visitors at the North Side nightclub today and tonight, even though no show is scheduled.
Some will linger outside the club. Others will gather around a boulder spray-painted with the words RIP Dimebag - the closest thing to a memorial for the heavy-metal guitarist who was shot and killed by a deranged fan on the club's stage five years ago today.
Alrosa owner Rick Cautela will be there to observe the anniversary the way he has each year - quietly.
"I've never opened on the anniversary," he said. "I probably never will. It's just a feeling I have."In the days after Nathan Gale stormed the stage with a handgun during a performance by DAMAGEPLAN and fatally shot guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott (ex-PANTERA) and three people who tried to intervene, Cautela doubted that the club would ever reopen.
Some fans of heavy metal and Abbott - who was a founding member of influential metal band Pantera before starting Damageplan - saw the place as evil, and blamed the venue for the tragedy. Some bands said they wouldn't play there, and some booking agents stopped returning Cautela's calls.
But most fans urged him to reopen, which he did with occasional shows in the months after the slayings on December 8, 2004. The bookings have picked up, and some of the bands that vowed not to return have come back to the club at 5055 Sinclair Rd.
"After every single show, I have at least one person say to me, 'Thanks for keeping it open,' " Cautela said.
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