Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Memories of fatal fire haunt band members

By TOM ZUCCO
Published July 3, 2004

ST. PETERSBURG - Of all the dates to book this band, the Fourth of July seemed the most unlikely. The connection to what happened last year in Rhode Island, to the fire sparked by pyrotechnics that killed 100 people, was too easy to make.

And Jannus Landing owner John Claude Bodziak, the concert's promoter, was fully aware of it.

"When I booked the band, I said to myself, "Okay, either I do it on July Fourth or not at all" because of scheduling conflicts, Bodziak said earlier this week. "Because of the irony, do I not do the show? Or do I go ahead with it?

"I don't want people to get the wrong idea; that I arranged for this date.

"July Fourth was the only date left.

The opening number that night was Desert Moon. Among the lyrics: "This is the time to stay out all night. I've got a fire like a heavenly light."

As the rock band Great White plowed into that song Feb. 20, 2003, a crowd of about 400 at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, R.I., pressed toward the stage. On cue, the band's pyrotechnics display shot geysers of sparks toward the ceiling behind the stage.

The foam pasted on the walls as makeshift soundproofing caught fire almost immediately.

Jack Russell, the band's lead singer, dropped his microphone and rushed out a side door. In the parking lot he called his wife on his cell phone.

"I told her there's been a fire and we might lose our equipment," Russell recalled earlier this week from his home in Palm Desert, Calif. "We thought someone would come with a fire extinguisher.

"We had no idea."

It took three minutes for the small wooden structure without a sprinkler system to become completely engulfed in flames. Ninety-six people died that frigid night, including Ty Longley, Great White's guitarist. Nearly 200 people were injured, including four who later died.

A year and a half later, as resulting civil and criminal cases thread their way through the courts, Great White is scheduled to perform at Jannus Landing in downtown St. Petersburg - on the day most associated with pyrotechnics.

The 8 p.m. concert won't include fireworks of any kind; the band stopped using pyrotechnics after the fire. But the show at the outdoor venue should be in full swing when the city's annual waterfront fireworks display, just three blocks away, is scheduled to begin an hour later.

"Oh my God, I hadn't even thought about that," said Russell, 43. "It's just a coincidence. Really. We didn't plan this.

"We just want to tour and get the word out about what we're doing."

The band members have been cleared of wrongdoing, but Great White's former tour manager and the nightclub's two co-owners have been indicted on manslaughter charges. All three have pleaded innocent. Band members have been named as defendants in several pending lawsuits.

In the meantime, Great White, a second-tier metal band whose only major hit was the 1989 single Once Bitten, Twice Shy, decided to remain together, continue to tour, and donate some concert proceeds to The Station Family Fund (www.thestationfamilyfund.org) which provides financial support to family members of the victims.

"This is what I do," Russell said. "The love of my life. And now there's a bigger reason to help our friends out of some difficulties."

But the tour has been criticized by some who say it is self-serving and blame the band for the fire. On Wednesday, Russell sued a former publicist for slander, alleging the publicist threatened to tell charity organizations associated with the tragedy that Russell and his manager were withholding money they promised for the fund.

This past February, the Boston Globe reported that although the band had "toiled in obscurity for more than a decade," it had sold more than 55,000 albums since the incident. But if there was a spike in sales, it was short-lived. According to Nielsen Soundscan, Great White sold 40,000 albums in 2002, 50,000 in 2003, and 16,000 so far this year.

"Look, we'll always be a club band," Russell said. "You won't see Donald Trump or Liz Taylor in the front row. Our heyday is long over and that's okay.

"People always find fault in what we do. I understand that. But I'm able to sleep at night knowing there's nothing I could've done to make that night not happen."

That's a point he didn't reach easily.

"I spent two months on the psychiatrist's couch," he said. "Even now, when I go out places, I'm looking around. Where's the exit door? Where would I go if something happened? Because you know that in the blink of an eye, everything can change.

"I don't want to relive that night over and over, but I don't want to forget, either. I hope people will remember us for our music, but I know we'll always be associated with the fire."

Russell has spoken with relatives of several victims. "We had our tears and our laughs," he said, "and that made it even more important for me to raise the awareness of the fund."

In the wake of the disaster, reforms have been made in the use of pyrotechnics and enforcement of fire codes during rock concerts, and the band has raised more than $90,000 for the victims' fund.

But Russell said the potential for another disaster still exists. "So many things are overlooked and not done correctly," he said. "When I'm on the road, I go into so many buildings and think, "My God, didn't they hear about the fire?' "

The band has played to crowds ranging from several hundred to nearly 40,000, and the fans have been kind.

"We were all victims," Russell said. "We lost our guitarist and 99 of our friends, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about that."

The day John Bodziak is thinking about is Sunday.

Bodziak, 31, said tickets are selling well. "But Great White did a strong crowd before this happened," he said. "They've done over 1,000 at Jannus Landing (which has a capacity of 1,500)."

When they played there before, Bodziak said he got a permit for pyrotechnics and had a fire marshal on hand for the show. "It's a no-brainer for a venue owner. "So I don't hold it against the band in any way. I did business with them before and will do business with them again. They've been penalized enough."

[Last modified July 3, 2004, 01:00:34]