Club fire charity to Great White singer: No thanks

[JRNYMAN]

Wow! This is just a sad story! And, can you believe on Feb. 20th it will be 10 years since the fire?!?!

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A foundation working to build a permanent memorial at the site of a deadly 2003 nightclub fire caused by a band's pyrotechnics has asked the lead singer to take the foundation's name off a benefit concert.

The fire at The Station nightclub in West Warwick was started when pyrotechnics for the heavy metal band Great White ignited flammable foam that lined the club's walls and ceiling. It killed 100 people and injured more than twice that many. The 10th anniversary is Feb. 20.

The band's lead singer at the time, Jack Russell, announced on Tuesday that he would play a Feb. 7 benefit for the Station Fire Memorial Foundation in a club in Hermosa Beach, Calif., near Los Angeles. Members of the foundation learned of the show Wednesday, Victoria Eagan, the foundation's vice president, told The Associated Press on Friday. Members of the group did not wish to be associated with the event and immediately began working to get Russell to drop his use of its name.

"This is due to the resentment and animosity still felt by many of the families and survivors that our very organization represents," the foundation wrote in a statement. "We feel that the upset caused by his involvement would outweigh the amount of funds raised at this event."

In a statement to the AP Friday, Russell said he would honor the request and donate the money from his show to a different charity that he would determine soon.

"I am utterly saddened by the response of the foundation and the motives behind it," he wrote.

The foundation needs to raise more than $1 million to build and maintain a permanent memorial at the fire site, said its president, Gina Russo. The group secured the land last year and plans to release a design during a Feb. 17 ceremony at the site. It has so far raised more than $100,000, Russo said, and has several other fundraisers planned.

Great White held benefit concerts after the fire, Eagan said, and raised about $185,000 for the Station Family Fund, a charity that helped people who were severely burned, children who had lost parents and others. She said that at that time, there was backlash from some families, but board members decided people so desperately needed the money it didn't matter where it came from.

That fund agreed to allow the band to raise money in its name, and agreed ahead of time that band members would not be making money off the performances, she said. Their association ended in 2005.

Since then, band members agreed to pay $1 million to settle lawsuits brought by families of those killed, although they did not admit wrongdoing. The band's tour manager, Daniel Biechele, who lit the pyrotechnics, pleaded guilty to 100 counts of manslaughter. The brothers who owned the club pleaded no contest.

Russell and Great White have split and are arguing over who has rights to the name of the band.

http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/C ... 205367.php

Taking offense at someone's sincere attempt to help the very people who were affected by the actions of an associate's mistake is pretty damned un-christian-like and just plain mean. Russell has been genuinely remorseful since the night of the tragic event and has had deep, serious psychological issues ever since. There's no one in the world who has more of a personal interest in the lives of those touched by what happened than Russell nor is there anyone who wants to help in any way they can. This is just sad and you can't help but feel so sorry for Jack Russell considering all he's been through and he's tried to do for the victims and to have this kind of reaction and treatment by these people is just wrong in my opinion.

For those who have not seen it, here is the full, unedited amateur video of the tragedy as it happened... as people were trapped, and as the building becomes a raging inferno.

WARNING! THIS VIDEO CONTAINS IMAGES AND SOUNDS THAT ARE DISTURBING!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jae1fglq-9g

[conversationpc]

Wow...I kinda feel sorry for the guy. I would think they would be appreciative that he's wanting to raise money for them.

[AR]

Wow...I kinda feel sorry for the guy. I would think they would be appreciative that he's wanting to raise money for them.

Really!

He's trying to help.

Awful tragedy. I often think of some of the shows I saw in small packed clubs, and Great White are not the only band to use pyro in that kind of setting.

[jrnyman28]

This pisses me off. Jack with Great White have been raising money for this charity for ten years. And NOW they have a problem with it? Smacks of favoritism for "Great White" VS Jack Russel...

[slucero]

JAck outta be happy.. he just got a "get outta Purgatory Card"