The following report is courtesy of Aaron Beck from Columbusdispatch.com:

During a recent concert at the Alrosa Villa, owner Rick Cautela carried on a conversation while keeping an eye on two poker-faced security guards aggressively patting down customers at the front door.

"We feel pretty safe in here, but, you know, the same thing could happen all over again — in any place," said Cautela, standing behind the bar he has tended for more than three decades.

"I’d be more afraid to work in a little neighborhood bar. They can’t even afford people (security) to search."

Two years ago today, Marysville resident Nathan Gale shot seven people inside the North Side nightclub.

Four died — including ex-PANTERA guitarist Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott.

DAMAGEPLAN, his Texas heavy-metal band, had just started to play when Gale, a former Marine, climbed over a security fence about 10 p.m., walked past a guard on the patio and entered through the door.

He quickly made his way onto the stage, where he began firing a handgun.

Within three minutes, Abbott as well as Damageplan crew member Jeffrey "Mayhem" Thompson, club guard Erin Halk and patron Nathan Bray were dead.

Gale, too, was killed — shot by Columbus Police Officer James Niggemeyer.

Two other crew members, Christopher Paluska and John Brooks, and patron Travis Burnett were wounded.

Along with brother John, his club cooperator, Cautela has since been named in a wrongful-death and personal-injury lawsuit filed on behalf of the estate of Abbott and two of the wounded — Paluska, the band manager; and Brooks, a technician.

Inside, the club has changed little: Posters for upcoming concerts still hang behind the bar; young people still mosh on the concrete floor in front of the stage.

And an amiable Diane Colasante, the Cautelas’ sister, still takes money and stamps hands from the ticket-booth window.

But the place certainly hasn’t been the same.

The well of internationally touring hardrock and heavy-metal bands that routinely performed before the shootings is on the verge of drying up.

The club, open sporadically this year, used to host local and national concerts several nights a week. More common now: two- and three-week stretches of silence.

Before the tragedy, Cautela dealt regularly with agents for big acts.

Since then, he said, his dealings have been limited largely to nearby promoters or band members themselves.

Agents aren’t deliberately shunning the club, said Dave Kirby, chief executive officer of the Kirby Organization in Hollywood, Calif. — which booked Buckcherry and Sepultura this year in the Alrosa Villa.

"Rick has been there for a long, long time," Kirby said. "He has supported live music for decades, and he had a very unfortunate and brutal situation happen in his club through no fault of his own.

"Nobody knows when a maniac will be empowered, as this guy was. To hold it against Rick would be like blaming the World Trade Center for the fact that they (the towers) were hit by planes."

On the bright side for Cautela: Even if agents are giving up on the venue, central Ohio rock fans aren’t.

The draws have been sizable on the less-frequent occasions when he has booked shows with brand-name bands.

On November 10, for example, JACKYL performed to a sellout crowd of 700.

And the Brazilian heavy-metal band SEPULTURA played to almost 400 on Dec. 1, two nights after performing for fewer than 50 in Cleveland.

A big rock remains in front of the Alrosa Villa - an unofficial memorial to Abbott, a spot where people sometimes gather to pray. (Spray-painted on it: "R.I.P. Dime.")

On the night of Nov. 30, when the poppunk band PATENT PENDING played, the club was just another stop off an interstate en route to the next roadhouse - much as it was for Damageplan on Dec. 8, 2004.

"When we got here, he (Cautela) told us about . . . (the shootings)," said Patent Pending guitarist Marc Kantor. "I knew about them, but I didn’t know where they happened."

For the owner, that comment offers a reason for optimism: Perhaps the future holds more normalcy.

"It’s just one of those lightning-neverstrikes-twice things, you know?" Kantor said. "Hopefully that’s what it is."