Thursday, December 08, 2005

Dimebag Darrell Abbott Rest In Peace

Dimebag Darrell Abbott
1966-2004


On December 8, 2004, a date which will live in heavy metal infamy, Darrell Abbott was shot and killed by a merciless killer whose sole purpose was to inflict pain and suffering upon Dimebag's family and the heavy metal masses. It has been a year since Dime was brutally murdered. The wounds have yet to heal. Some have moved on. Others, like me, think about Dime everyday. I hope he's jamming in heaven with Randy Rhoads, Cliff Burton, Jimmy Hendrix, and even John Lennon (also murdered today), all while God sits back and enjoys the show, eventually showing them how it's really done! Vinnie, we all know we can't feel what you've felt. It must be terrible feeling alone without your mother or Dime at your side. At least mother Abbott gets to be with one of her sons already. You'll be there someday dude, we all will!

Rest in Peace to all the other victims of the Alrosa Villa tragedy: Nathan Bray, Erin Halk, and Jeff Thompson. Nathan Gale, you're a troubled soul, and hopefully you're paying for your crime.

Everyone feel free to post directly on the front page with your thoughts (especially you BigNewsDay).

From BigNewsDay:

I can’t believe it has already been a year. A year since that day; that awful day when our friend, brother was taken from us so senselessly. Growing up in Arlington, seeing Dime around was so commonplace, that I never really paid much attention to it. I would see him at the smallest of gigs to the largest arena concerts in town. I remember seeing Pantera play at Rascals down in the river-bottoms back in the mid-eighties, and then play at Reunion Arena opening up for Black Sabbath in the late nineties. In between, I can’t even count how many times I’ve seen them play. Metalworks, Joe’s Garage, The Basement, The Backroom in Austin, HardRocks in Lawton, or even at the Tattoo Bar with his side-band Gasoline. When Dime was alive and kicking much ass, I guess I failed to appreciate him as much I should have, because now it is fucked knowing I’ll never get to see him slay audiences with his guitar again.

Please share your thoughts and memories with us as we remember Dime and all the great music he gave us.

With love and respect,
BND

4 comments:

BlackLabelAxe said...

"You can't kill what's stronger than Death" -Z. Wylde

Dime has proven this true. Although his body was taken, wherever somebody's playing a guitar, wherever somebody's smokin' and drinkin', wherever people are raising hell and kicking ass, he lives. His body died, but his heart, soul, and spirit are STRONGER THAN DEATH, and live with us everytime a band takes the stage.

He inspired an entire generation of young axemen, just like Hendrix, Iommi, and Van Halen. These men changed the way we think about the guitar, and their legacies extend beyond their own catalogues into virtually every hard rock and metal band on earth.

On this day of remembrance, the evil that one man did is titanically overshadowed by the love and joy he brought us, and the delightful channel for anger that his music afforded us.

Don't forget that John Lennon was taken from us on this day also. His time was before mine, so I don't know much about how he was as a person, but his role as an innovator in music is undeniable.

It's funny hearing stories from the people that met Dimebag. Everybody has a great story about him, and nobody ever forgets the experience. He was such a beautiful person, which is why he's missed so much. He's the reason I got a subsription to Guitar World magazine.

Lefty, we'll talk about gun control later, this is a very poor time to mention it. I'm having a very metal moment right now.

SDMF!!!!!!!
CFH!!!!!!!!

Lefty Metalhead said...

Thanks to every person who has shared his or her thoughts. This is a day of remembrance for metalheads. It's the day we'll remember for the rest of our lives. Please continue to share your thoughts.

Axe: I agree with your feelings about the gun control comment. I will edit it out. This is Dime's moment, and we'll leave the debate for later. Thanks for being a true friend and ally.

Big: Your insights always help in some way to make me feel better. Thanks for continuing to support this crazy blog idea of mine.

To all the Metal Pundits: just know I appreciate you all. Thanks for being here and let's not take our lives for granted!

Lefty Metalhead said...

Idiotsilas: drop me an email if you would like to join our community.

Anonymous said...

this is a very sad day for me.darrell and i went to school together,we are or were the same age.so it makes everything that happened very surreal for me.not only was he great guitarist he also had one of the biggest hearts of anyone i have ever met.R.I.P.DARRELl. bignewsday's bigsister