Great White tour manager sentenced

[nh_mopar_fan]

Could've got 10 years with an additional 5 years of probation.
The judge gave him 10 years, 6 suspended. You could hear the families in the background as he read the sentence. they were not happy.

This is a tough one. I followed this trial and the victims families' statements ripped your heart out. I also heard Biechele's statement prior to sentencing today. The guy made a very very stupid mistake and 100 people lost their lives. The crime is a friggin misdemeanor...

What do you think of what he got?

[Mike DC]

 
I totally agree that the band manager was criminally stupid for doing pyro without getting the safety cleared, but I get the feeling there was more to the incident than just that.

I think the soundproofing was discovered to be some cheap (and flagrantly unsafe) substance that burned like hell immediately on contact.  The surviors kept talking about thick black poisonous smoke completely engulfing the whole place as soon as the fire started.

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And why couldn't they clear the place out? 
I don't know what the building codes were on that place, but the whole incident seems like it just shouldn't have been able to happen if the location was safe in the first place. 

We pay fire & safety inspectors to make sure crowded businesses can be evactuated & sprinkled out well within a minute or two of a fire starting.  But the home video footage from the incident looks like the club was packed.  It was like several hundred people in there, and the building looked really tiny from the later helicopter footage of the smoldering foundation on the news.

 

[nh_mopar_fan]

Yeah, the owners of the club are awaiting their own trial.

[PocketThunder]

if the music is so old (or that bad) that they need a fireworks show going on to keep the crowd entertained, then maybe they shouldn't be on stage anymore.

I'm 31 and a few years behind the 80's hair bands, but i dont think they needed fireworks.  I would have been happy just seeing them play.

[JimShine]

Anyone who is involved in the music scene can tell you instances they remembered in some small dive where similar situations almost happened, but someone got the fire out in time.


I love pyros. It is far from a hair metal thing. But I only want to see them done in the appropriate places with real professionals doing it.

[Lowprofile]

I have worked in the entertainment industry for the better part of 25 years. And I can tell you from my experience that Mr.Biechele only did what he was told to do by the lead singer of the band. On a small club tour such as this was, there were probably no more than 3 or 4 crew guys, which means Biechele most likely did many more jobs than "tour manager". These "club tours" usually work 6-7 days a week for months at a time. These guys and girls who do this work 16-18 hour days every day. Its a recipe for disaster. And thats just what happened.

It looks like the state is going after the owners of the club. They are the most culpable in this disaster. 1OO Souls lost because they were too cheap to do the right thing and upgrade the club. It seems in this country, it always takes a monumental tragedy to make politicans get off their butts and do something.
The fire code has been revamped and upgraded, and the laws have been changed regarding live acts performing in any venue in this state. But alas, its a day late and a dollar short. 

[4402tuff4u]

I watched the video that shows the flames lighting up the ceiling very quickly and people were still standing there looking at it like saying "wow, cool special effects!" It seemed like it took awhile for the audience to realize that the whole place was on fire. Truely sad incident. The bottom line is that someone has to be accountable even though it was not intended to harm anyone. It was a "no win" situation for anyone.

[hemihead]

That was atruely sad and tragic thing to happen and all involved should be held accountable.What I would like to know is why the offical responsible for checking on these events is not being tried? Shouldn't he be getting a jail sentence also?

[JimShine]

The crew hide the pyros from officials. 6 or 7 years ago a similar deal happened up here in Maine. They set the pyros up after the place was inspected. The amature packed the pots too tight and blew a chunk of the roof off the building. Atleast a dozen people had permanent hearing damage from the explosion.

Bands get creative with when they think outside pyros. Two cool effects I have seen in recent times was Slayer having it rain blood on the stage for the final song and Type O Negative had it snow on stage.

[nh_mopar_fan]

That was atruely sad and tragic thing to happen and all involved should be held accountable.What I would like to know is why the offical responsible for checking on these events is not being tried? Shouldn't he be getting a jail sentence also?

The fire chief and building inspector are govt officals and therefore are protected from prosecution. It's the law.

I agree, those two are the one who should answer for this. This guy was the first one up and I think if he'd been tried after the owners, he'd have gotten a much lesser sentence.

I think the club owners are going to do some serious time.