i was raised in Arlington, TX. Pantera was one of many local bands. my friend, Jerry Warden, took me to see these boys at a local club back in '78 or '79. they had their Dad there, running sound, 'cause all these boys were underage. the legal age then was 18. after just a few songs, there was no doubt, that this band was headed for greatness. Darrells chops at 15 would have made Eddie V, proud(envious). anyway, we hired them to play a show for us in '81. me and Jerry built a 600sq ft. stage in my back yard(4 acres), at the time. we had over 300 people show up, at $5 a head, to see the 3 band show. i was 21 yso, at the time. this show, and many following, was known as, Heavy Meadows. the name was Jerry's idea, 'cause where we built the stage was in a meadow on my(folks) property. ok, enough of that. Dimebag-Darrell Abbott was a friend of mine from the day i met him. he and the boys were very respectful and appreciative, but Darrell really seemed to care about you, and your story. he was a one of a kind "nice guy". this blog is not about bragging, it is about thankfulness, that i got to meet, and associate with, such a fine human being. thank God for people like Darrell. -Rick
Amazing stuff. I've always been fascinated with the concept of six degrees of separation. You with Pantera; Mr. Swift losing the opening spot for the Beatles. When I bought my Warwick, the manager and I talked for an hour, and he's a friend of Jerry Jemmott. He played with Aretha! He interviewed Jaco! He told me the story of his friend going to get a lesson from Jaco in NYC in '85 (search bar for it)... I've been told a crazy Jaco story, just like all the magazines say. One of the studio dudes where I recorded my album left to go on tour with Rush. Slash and Kirk smiled at me, Matt Sorum gave me his drum stick, and John Entwistle asked my dad "Did you enjoy the show?" after a Who concert in Toronto in 1980. On Friday, I'm playing on a stage that The Stones, U2, and the Ramones played on. It just goes to show you that if you think about it, you're really close to all your heroes. Thank you for the story, and sorry for ranting/name dropping.
Yeah that had to have been amazing. Though it probably made it harder when he died.
My teacher had a fairly similar thing. His name is Ed Carter, and he played bass in the Beach Boys for a time (a few sessions if I believe). He also claims that at one point Jimi Hendrix jammed in his house because he had nowhere else to go.
you know, IRockStar, i will never forget when i heard the bad news about Dime.
i did attend public memorial for Dime at the Arlington Convention Cntr, 'cause the private funeral was invitation only. there was like 7,000 people waiting in a line, that wrapped around the entire place. it was like 30 degrees outside, and everybody in line were telling their "when i met Dime" stories. i was with a close friend of mine that knew Darrell way better than me. after we made it thru the security check, we grabbed a drink, a "black tooth" which was Dime's favorite.
and got invited to the front of the public viewing area. we got to see Jerry Cantrell, Eddie Van H. , and Zakke Wilde, singing the praises of a fallen hero, in the music world. it was very moving to realize, i wasn't the only one that got touched by Dime's caring personality. he was greatness, at it's highest form.
i had a friend that lived in the apartment complex that they were at and he has a pic with the band, he also says how respectful and caring he was. Much respect!
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