Epilogue: I’ll Cast a Shadow

Tributes, Lawsuits, and Riffs from the Great Beyond

A month after the murders at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Nathan Gale claimed his last victim.

Albert Catuela, who opened Alrosa Villa with his wife, Rosa, in 1974, died at Riverside Hospital on January 9, 2005. He had fallen ill the morning after the shootings, not long after his son Rick—who had taken over the club’s operations, along with his brother, John, years earlier—told him what had happened. It was too much for his weakened heart and frail body to take. Catuela was ninety-one.

Alrosa Villa reopened not long after Albert Catuela’s death, hosting a sold-out benefit concert for the victims’ families. More than three years later, this concert stands out as one of the few highlights of its post-December 8 existence. The club’s concert calendar, once full of national and international touring acts, is mostly barren, and the few gigs the Catuelas do manage to book typically feature Ohio-area bands. The club is often dark for weeks at a time.

On the first anniversary of Darrell Abbott’s murder, the Catuelas were named in a wrongful death and personal injury lawsuit filed on behalf of Darrell’s estate, as well as two of the wounded, Chris Paluska and John “Kat” Brooks. A year later, Jerry and Karen Wessler, who were in the crowd that night, also filed a civil suit against the club, claiming the incident had caused acute and lasting emotional damage. Even if the Catuelas reach settlements in both suits, they will inflict acute and lasting financial damage on the club.

James Niggemeyer, the Columbus police officer who ended Nathan Gale’s rampage, was cleared by a Franklin County grand jury and was later nationally recognized for his heroism in the line of duty. Niggemeyer was named one of eight finalists for America’s Most Wanted’s All-Star award for first-responders. He also received honorable mention for the Police Officer of the Year award sponsored by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and Parade magazine, as well as a 2005 Distinguished Law Enforcement Valor Award from Ohio attorney general Jim Petro.

Posthumously, Darrell was honored, too. On November 9, 2006, he was inducted into Hard Rock Café Dallas’s Walk of Fame, an accolade that was long overdue. By then, there had been plenty of other tributes.

Dean Guitars went forward with the line of signature Razorback guitars it had been planning with Darrell in the weeks before his murder. The company also made available exacting re-creations of two of his most famous axes, the “Dean from Hell” and the sunburst-finish model Jerry Abbott bought for him, with the original KISS sticker Darrell had affixed to the body replaced with a replica that substituted his head for those of all four KISS members. In 2005, Dean partnered with Curse Mackey to create Six-String Masterpieces: The Dimebag Darrell Art Tribute. Mackey recruited fifty of Darrell’s fans, friends, and fellow guitarists for the touring exhibit. The contributors—which include James Hetfield, Jerry Cantrell, Dave Grohl, Kerry King, Rob Zombie, and Marilyn Manson—used Dean MLs as a canvas, hand-painting homages to Darrell.

Most of the other tributes came, naturally, in the form of music. Nickelback recorded “Side of a Bullet,” which featured lyrics about Darrell and—thanks to a cache of circa Far Beyond Driven outtakes sent along by Vinnie—a new “Dimebag” Darrell guitar solo. The Abbotts had been friends with Nickelback singer-guitarist Chad Kroeger since his band toured with Jerry Cantrell, and Darrell had contributed guitar to Nickelback’s collaboration with Kid Rock on a cover of Elton John’s “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting,” which appeared on the soundtrack to 2003’s Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. “Side of a Bullet” was released on Nickelback’s 2005 album, All the Right Reasons.

Another one of Darrell’s longtime friends, Black Label Society leader Zakk Wylde, recorded “In This River” and dedicated it to his fallen friend. While Wylde had written the song (which appears on Black Label Society’s 2005 album, Mafia) prior to Darrell’s death, its lyrics still adequately sum up his mood: “All shall fade to black again and again/This storm that’s broken me, my only friend.” In the video for the song, two kids—dressed like Zakk and Darrell—swim in a river. It ends with the Darrell stand-in being swallowed up by the water.

There were many more songs where that came from. Brides of Destruction, the hard-rock supergroup featuring Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx and L.A. Guns guitarist Tracii Guns, released the song “Dime’s in Heaven” on its 2005 disc, Runaway Brides. A Texas country band, Cross Canadian Ragweed, recorded “Dimebag” in honor of the “cowboy from hell on a twisted trail” for its album Garage. During the 2005 Gigantour, Dream Theater, Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine, Russell Allen of Symphony X, and Fear Factory’s Burton C. Bell performed “Cemetery Gates” as a nightly tribute. Dozens of bands dedicated songs and liner-note space to Darrell. Dozens of others—including Alice in Chains, Avenged Sevenfold, Staind, and Anthrax—added Pantera songs (usually “Walk”) to their live shows.

Vinnie Paul Abbott made his own return to live music on February 23, 2005, at a benefit for the Dimebag Darrell Memorial Fund, established to cover the funeral and medical expenses incurred by the families of the victims of the Alrosa Villa attack. The show, at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom, featured Disturbed, Anthrax, Drowning Pool, and Soil. Vinnie first joined Anthrax behind the drum kit for “A New Level,” then sat in with Disturbed for a version of “Walk.” The latter proved too much for him: When the members of the other bands on the bill invaded the stage to scream along with the song’s authoritative, two-word, three-syllable chorus—a staple of every Pantera/Damageplan set since “Walk” first appeared on a set list—Vinnie couldn’t help but look around for his brother, who enjoyed that moment of fraternity more than anyone else. The weight of the previous three months brought him to his knees when the song was over.

Vinnie made sporadic guest appearances with Black Label Society and Sammy Hagar over the next year or so, but for the most part, he devoted his time to his new record label, Big Vin Records. The label’s first two releases—Rebel Meets Rebel, the long-awaited collaboration with country iconoclast David Allan Coe, and Dimevision, Vol. 1: That’s the Fun I Have, a DVD collecting a fraction of the video footage Darrell left behind—were issued on May 2, 2006. Both were tributes to Darrell, but they were more about remembering his life than memorializing his death. The Dimevision collection went a long way toward blowing away the dark cloud that had hung over his name for the previous year and a half, showcasing Darrell’s status as the original Jackass.

In the summer of 2006, Vinnie returned to music full time, teaming up with Chad Gray and Greg Tribbett of Mudvayne and Jerry Montano and Tom Maxwell in a new band they shyly dubbed Hellyeah. The newly formed band recorded its debut over the course of three eight-day sessions—at Darrell’s home studio, which had become something of a shrine to him, left almost exactly as it had been when he went on his final tour.

Darrell undoubtedly would have wanted a new band to set up shop in there, and definitely if it was one called Hellyeah and had Vinnie on drums. He would have liked that some part of him continued making music after his death. That, to him, would have meant more than any tear-stained remembrance. He would want people in there spilling shots on the carpet, firing off roman candles in the control room, blowing out amps, pulling pranks, breaking things. He wouldn’t want that room to become a mausoleum, a testament to his life. It was built as a testament to the power of heavy metal, everything it had done and everything left to come. He didn’t think it would outlive him, but he wouldn’t have minded that it did. He would want the party to go on forever.

Van Halen? Van-fuckin’-Halen.