Will do, R Lady. Youā??re the best. Had a whole dinner at the Cowesett Inn with Brandon Fravala and his girlfriend. Iā??m getting to that soon.
Will do, R Lady. Youā??re the best. Had a whole dinner at the Cowesett Inn with Brandon Fravala and his girlfriend. Iā??m getting to that soon.
---Steven Burgess---addendum
(found some new information on Burgess--hope it's new to this thread, as well.)
1.) You've gotta see this--I don't want to say too much: Google/YouTube: "Those Guys Newport Firewatch Special..." (posted 11/16/07)
2.) Firehouse.com--forums--"When is a firefighter not a firefighter?" (easy to join)
Some highlights from that:
--After they got out the kitchen door, Burgess reportedly told his date, the lucky Jennifer Stocks, " 'You're not going to believe what you're going to see. I want you to get out of here.' "
--Burgess sliced his hands and arms on bar glass. Then he "held a hose 15 feet from the front door without...gear on." His eyebrows were singed off and his clothing got burned.
--The City of Cranston later denied his request for injured-on-duty status when he later sought treatment for PTSD. They were afraid of setting a precedent!!
--He left the band and his role as bass player a few years ago. Still with the Cranston Fire Dept. though.
Wow, I'm so happy to see all the activity in the time I've been gone! There's some great new stuff here. I do have a question though- where in the Google Drive is the Before the Show video? I cannot, for the life of me, find it anywhere, and it's no longer on YouTube. Help please? Thanks
Welcome back, Veteran. I was just a lurker when you were in your prime.
Remember when Dion created ā??Contents Not On The Original Hard Drive?ā? It should be in there in several versions. For the best in sound & light, Iā??ve occasionally gone to YouTube and selected one of the choices that says ā??includes dramatization.ā? That is frequently code for ā??contains pre-show as well but we donā??t want to advertise it.ā? You should be good-to-go now...and thanks again for your earlier work.
What I find most intriguing about the fire are the various psychological aspects. One being the way that some Station survivors have talked about being a changed person following the catastrophe.
Deborah Lemay of West Warwick was 29 years old at the time. She suffered an array of injuries, barely making it out a bar window with her life. Said Lemay: "I realize that the person I was before is gone, and I have to grieve that."
Todd King: "Some of us came home, some of us didn't. But a small part of each one of us who did, died that night."
John Pinkham: "It's totally torn my life apart. It's not the same. It's never going to be the same."
Stefanie Simpson/Campopiano, after a particularly harrowing escape from the club: "[I] will never be the same."
George Solitro: "You just can't understand what it's like faring for your life for the, like, 30 seconds that you were in there not knowing if you could get out. I don't think anybody that was there that night is the same person. Anybody who was there and got out--they're not the same person--at all. (Of his group of 9 friends and/or co-workers, 5 survived.)
---Could it be that when the animal will-to-survive gets switched on--whether in ourselves or others--it never really gets 100% switched off? Guess that's a lot of what PTSD is about, basically.
(Quotes: RI AG witness statements; Boston Herald; Boston Globe; Providence Journal.)
Billoween was correct! I'm glad the Google Drive is still a good resource for interested folks.
Also thanks to Billoween for carrying the torch, pardon the pun, of this thread lately. I'm sure things will pick up when the documentary The Guest List comes out. Scheduled for October 1st!
You guys are too nice.
Just got back from a quickie to Rhode Island. Talked to a lot of folks who knew Jude Henault and Sam Miceli. Can't wait to regroup and carry some more torch.
Guest
---The Often Quirky Commentary of Survivor Anthony Cugini---
26 year-old Anthony Cugini of Randolph, Massachusetts, drove down to see Great White with his best friend, Howard Rubin. Neither had ever been to The Station or seen Great White before. "I'm really a classic Van Halen guy," writes Cugini.
The two arrived late--Trip had finished playing--and they were standing mid-room, near the soundboard, when "Desert Moon" began.
"In my mind the two symmetrical torches could [very well] have been part of the show," says Cugini. But, in a better-safe-than-sorry move, he decides he'll "find out from outside."
"When I turned to leave I saw a line at the front door. I didn't want to wait in line to get out of a possibly burning building so I continued straight and luckily noticed [a bar door exit] that wasn't [yet] crowded with people.
(Cugini says that events now begin occurring "in fast forward," and he gets separated from Howard Rubin.)
As soon as he reaches the bar exit, the band quits playing. Two thoughts occurred to him: One, that the bar door might be chained shut and he'll be out of luck. And two, "If fire [really] was [just] part of the show, I could get in trouble going out a fire exit." But the bar door opens for him, and that, he believes, sets off the club's fire alarm.
Safely out, he momentarily considers waking up all the residents of "houses dangerously close by." Then, though, he loses his car keys in the parking lot. (He's happy he has a spare in his wallet.) Finally, he sees Rubin emerge from the front doors with his hands over his ears because of the fire alarm. "If I had lost my best friend, I would've been a basket case for a long time. Especially since I invited him to the show, bought tickets, and drove."
Then he writes: "[Howard] was clueless as ever, unwittingly telling me to calm down. At this point a man walked by, his face completely covered in blood. Like Blue Man Group but red. All I could see were the whites of his deliberate eyes.....things were happening very fast." But, "because there was nothing for them to do," they leave for Massachusetts. They wanted to help, but "didn't want to get in the way."
Later: "Me and my friend were over 45 minutes north on 95, heading back toward Boston, and ambulances were STILL passing us headed south toward the site. WHAT A F***ING DISASTER."
--Some more bits from Cugini's account:
-"Being religious, I believe the people who died are in a better place."
-"I think about [the fire] everyday. I want to make sure I learn from it."
-"I should at least donate the amount of the refunded tickets but I haven't yet. Funny, I joked about wanting my $ back after the show. Actually getting a refund [later] hit me hard."
-"I e-mailed Jack Russell immediately after the fire. One of the things I said was 'What good would it do not to play again? People still love the music.' "
-"I bought a [Great White] CD that night. . . before Great White went on of course."
-"[I'm] in a band [with Rubin] called Rebel Jet. We'll be playing clubs soon."
-"Me [and Howard] saw LA Guns play . . . in Attlesboro a week after [the fire]. There were people there selling T's in memory of the Doc [Dr. Metal]. I felt it was ok to enjoy the music. I knew there were 100's from the week before who wished they still could."
Last edited by billoween; 08-19-2018 at 04:04 PM.
Death Hag
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There is a nice website now for the upcoming film The Guest List:https://www.theguestlistfilm.com/
I am a bit confused by the press details on the site. It is promoted to be a documentary film, but part of the site also explains it will be a 6-part series. Not sure what the discrepancy is?
Six part documentary film maybe, like they did for the one on youtube, I think it was youtube.
I saw that new detail, too. It surprised me. I don't understand it, either.
Guest
So the release date of October 1 for The Guest List shown on IMDB has come and gone. To their credit, the official movie website never showed a date and still shows a pending status for dates of the premiere, and other features to come such as a press kit. I guess we need to continue to monitor the official site for updates.
I asked for an update from David Bellino, producer of "The Guest List." The team is shopping the project to various distributors. Whether the final documentary is a feature-length film or a mini series depends on which company they agree a deal with.
...I just realized the 16th year anniversary is in two days...I am so very sorry for the loss of beautiful lives and the people who were injured and traumatized...their tragedy has helped to shape my life in how i conduct myself and am aware of myself in different surroundings whether its a home, entertainment venue, etc...
Never forget.
"When you help someone up a hill, you get that much closer to the top yourself."
-Anonymous
Thinking of the fallen and their loved ones on tonight's 16th anniversary. We still remember.
I am late as always, but remembering them today and Scott V is still a prick.
I feel badly that I did forget the anniversary, but I know that it is such a sad one for so many people.
The reason a dog has so many friends is because he wags his tail instead of his tongue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ky5ZpL-F_0&t=4s
this video has many inconsistencies
Thanks, bustakita. I left a few truth bombs in the comments. "Betty Crocker" claims she was there because the doors were chained shut! If I knew you were coming, I'da baked a cake.
Thank you for your truth bombs in those comments. Just read through them and was getting hot under the collar.
"When you help someone up a hill, you get that much closer to the top yourself."
-Anonymous
grrr I had to leave my comments as well, some people...think it's funny to say anything especially the one that wrote the comment they should have played Let Them Burn and that chick saying she was there, that the doors were chained, perhaps recommend to them they need to read Killer Show and Out of the Ashes.
...so fellow death hags...I have an interesting story to share that's related and unrelated to the SNF...Thursday March 21, 2019 my 17yo daughter and I attended the Universoul Circus...first thing is when we get there its an enormous crowd...and she and I BOTH don't do crowds so we were kinda nervous...but it passed...so we are in row E close enough to the action but far enough away...we get in our seats and it starts...and the first act happens and in the middle of the Main stage...guess what there is? FIRE!!!! A big fire!!! It was a part of the act but I was still freaked out a bit (if you like, you can PM me for a link to my live video where I actually mention the fire 50-11 times) but then I'm good. So about 5 mins later, my daughter turns to me and says "Mommy, you know I peeped your game." I say "huh?" She says "i see we have two exits right to each side of us, and we aren't up too high..." I'm speechless. Then she says "you have talked to me and showed me the SNF video and I know it is a thing of yours and everything and you already didn't like fire before you found out about that sad event. Yes and I know you planned this all strategically so you and I are good and safe. I hate that you told me about SNF cuz it makes me very sad, but you helped really made me aware of how stuff can go." I sat there speechless for a minute or two.
Not actually related to the SNF but somewhat so I thought I would share.
You want to hit really close to home look up The Hartford Circus Fire, Bustakita, that will make you go oh crap...
Exit strategy....know your exit strategy!
"When you help someone up a hill, you get that much closer to the top yourself."
-Anonymous
Hi everyone. Nice to be back after a FAD misunderstanding that's had me banned since last August. Hope everyone's well. Dionyzus is my hero; he made it all happen.
And with regular trips to Rhode Island, I've got some tales to tell. But I guess I have to do taxes first. Blah......
Welcome back Bill! Gotta do my taxes soon too..
i was wondering what happened...glad to have you back!!!!
OAN: i went to the concert last night it was 4 hours i loved it...my son went up and rapped with favorite rapper (if you wanna see, you can PM me for the viddy)...i took notice of all my close exits including by the stage...I was in front row and lemme just say I was hella nervous...but I took that and I did it...and my son was proud...I mentioned in an earlier post my 17yo daughter was taught bout SNF and my son knows about SNF he is 22 and he stays on point too!!!!
Last edited by bustakita; 03-29-2019 at 10:33 AM.
...btw concert was excellent...I took notice of all my exits and was on it...a fight broke out but was handled immediately...and at the end of the concert, my son was called up on stage and rapped with Ghostface Killah...lol we was safe but had fun...
You've done some nice parenting, IMHO, Bustakita. You can still see live music; you just pay attention and do it right. That seems to be the message conveyed to your kids.
On another topic: Have you, Grand ID-er Lt. Frank, or has anyone else here ever spotted--in any of the footage--a big, tall guy in a black leather jacket with a racoon cap? That would be Michael Stefani, 45 at the time, who came to the show with his best friend, Kevin Washburn (D). He--probably while looking for Washburn--got Brandon Fravala out of the front of the pile on a last full-effort pull that had Fravala flying out (minus his boots). It was quite late in the game. Fravala told me the fire engine had just arrived and that they were starting to get the hoses ready when he got out in the nick of time.
Fravala has shared a lot with me, and here are a few things: 1.) He purchased a Great White CD before the show. He put it in his back jeans pocket and it survived with Brandon. He played it soon afterwards, and it's still in the CD case in his truck now. 2.) Brandon says he still has very realistic nightmares--more often than he'd like. I asked him if he ever dreams a version of the fire where he doesn't get out, and he said, "I usually wake up sweaty before that point. It is very frightening. Then I rush out of bed and check the house to make sure everything is okay." 3.) I asked Brandon what about the fire he still turned over in his head; not all the obvious bad things he saw (he saw plenty), but something that he might keep going back to. Brandon: "The fact that I was told that a couple of the people [in the pile-up] I was talking to while I was stuck was already dead. I never found out who they were. They were a little behind me. Like above me to my left side."
(BTW...yes, Fravala's witness statement says he was pulled out by a West Warwick cop. He says now, "at first a WW cop tried pulling me out but couldn't do it.")
...thanks Billoween!!!
on another topic its been hard for me to id people because some video is blurry.
i will take another look...
Junior Death Hag
Anybody have any clue on what Scott Vieira is up to now? I know people aren't gonna care but I'm just wondering if after years later he does feel anything. As I said, I briefly met his daughter as she is the girlfriend of the daughter of my mother's co-worker. I only met her twice so no way would I be able to ask her about anything.
God I hope she doesn't come here. Yeah I know that her father REALLY acted atrociously but I don't know if they have a relationship or not. Or if she wants to relive her mother's death which probably happened when she was in high school.
Howdy A-D.
Yeah, hopefully the children of the deceased only search within the boundaries of what they think they can handle. Nice you've got empathy for them, though. The daughter of Scott and Kelly (D) Vieira--all grown-up now--is frequently at the Memorial, leaving flowers for her mother. And she has a tattoo of her mom on her leg.
If you read Scott Vieira's RISP interview check this out: he says "no idea" - "don't know" - "don't remember" - "don't recall" - "not sure" and "can't say" a whopping 54 times.
Also--this is 9 days after the fire--he says this of Brian Butler: "They had a film crew there, I guess. I don't know what it was all about. I still don't know why he was there."
Well once again I'm not sure what kind of relationship she has with her father and I don't feel comfortable asking since I only met her twice. I did ask her about the tattoo on her leg and that is how I found out. Kind of ashamed to say that is what sparked my interest back in the fire. When it originally happened I was going through some extreme emotional issues myself (Most likely due to puberty. I was in the 5th Grade) so I didn't pay attention to it back then.
Honestly I never thought I would run into a deceased victim's family member. I know we live in a small state but it is still VERY rare I run into anybody that I knew from the past or someone that is famous (like Jaala on MasterChef Junior who is from my hometown)
I'm not alone in treasuring John Barylick's Killer Show--right? It's still the real primer on the fire. However ... I hope any reprint will do the following:
1.) Clean up the DeMaio/Choquette confusion. Dina DeMaio's own big brother, Vincent, agrees she got misidentified. (He was in uniform when I talked with him at the 15th-year anniversary. He works nights for a local security outfit, checking on the well-being of some area companies.)
2.) Fix the diagram of the Station to show 11 east/west atrium windows--not 9. Also show the lower "escape" panels to be in windows 4 and 8 (going l-to-r). (Panel 4 was the one kicked out by Brian Butler.)
3.) Identify and interview Robert Luxton, the man rescued by Harry "Need a medic!" Panicera.
4.) Remove the assumption that the sweatered-arm (seen in Joe Cristina's photo of Jeff Rader) belonged to Matthew Pickett. (He was in denim jacket.)
5.) Include the real reason that Michael O'Connor (who was just about to buy the club) left at 10:35 pm. His Grand Jury testimony included this explanation:
"I thought I [saw Great White take the stage] but I didn't...The band Trip I thought was Great White and that's why I left. I--I assumed it was Great White. I didn't think they were that great and I said, well, I'm going to get out of here--which is I guess a blessing."
...good stories you shared, billoween and amazee...
that Robert interview would be so awesome...and wow someone's spidey senses were tingling...it is amazing in hindsight how people recall what their thoughts were and ended up saving themselves in so many ways...i wish everyone's spidey senses were tingling that night...and it amazes me how many people's spidey senses were tingling that night and they dismissed them...the human mind is definitely a connundrum...
Amazee...wow what a story you told us...how poignant for real yo...
I made a list of errors from Killer Show, but I can't find it. The two things I remember offhand are a trivial one: Mixing up the two courthouses, and an important one:
Stating that Kevin Anderson survived transport away from the site and died at a hospital. That fact needs supporting evidence. It could be that the 'official story' has been wrong all these years and the friend who recounted it to a reporter was correct. Who knows?
I just got a copy of killer show had it on kindle, and some how, it went missing off my kindle, I finally have a book copy and will reread it at some point. Thanks for carrying on here guys, when the original researchers and such left.
Right on RL--those items definitely need more clarity in any imagined Barylick reprint.
Pks--bet your re-read will surprise you with all the stuff you'd forgotten.
And bustakita--here's a survivor I met who did listen to his own spidey-sense:
Hung out with Steve Tavares at the 16th anniversary some weeks ago. First at the Memorial itself; then at The Cowesett Inn across the street. (He's a pasta-maker in East Greenwich.) He attended the Great White show with his friend, Scott Dawson, and there they met Scott's younger brother, Erick, who was with his girlfriend, Amanda Decesare. They were in back of and to the right of the soundboard.
Steve's spidey-sense went off first, and he urged them all to leave immediately. They grabbed each others jackets and went around the ticket booth (avoiding, it turns out, the first pinch point at the ticket counter) and then through the bar door into the corridor. But by then the squeeze was really on.
Steve: "From me here [at the Cowesett bar] to [the liquor bottles]--that's how far I was from the outside. I thought I was dead. I thought that was it. But I reached way out and someone (?) outside reached way in."
And, after Steve got pulled out, he says it created an extra space for his friends to follow him. Once he caught his breath outside, he turned around and saw "stacked up heads on fire." He teared up telling me this. But he said he still feels really good about the fact that he could help his friends all get out, and that seemed to me to have given him a smoother mental "recovery" than other survivors I've met.
Steve also told me that he still has the brown leather jacket he wore that night. It isn't really wearable anymore. He says it's scuffed, torn, and smokey. Worse, it has fingernail marks over the back from everyone behind him clawing to get out. Damn.
I bet I will to billoween, I have so many books to read LOL, wow Steve's story is chilling and the claw marks on the back of the jacket, dang.
Hi all.
I've become convinced--while trying to keep an open mind--that it is Kathy Sullivan who runs down the wheelchair ramp all aflame. (She was part of the Feeney-Mitchell-Baker-Gruttadauria gang.)
I know there'd been speculation here about the "runner" being Cathy Sagesta. Her account, though, seems to be all about being stuck in the doorway and and being hosed down and getting pulled out, finally, by a fireman.
But Rick Sanetti mentions a Kathy who "came somehow out that front door ... I don't know how she got out that front door but she did. She was completely on fire. I remember her hair was like ... stactic-ey in the way it was on fire."
He says he immediately ripped off his gray and white Nautica sweatshirt (which he's wearing at the main bar in the pre-show footage) and threw it over her head because he really wanted to extinguish her head first. Then he got her down on the ground, he says, and "put her out" with his arms and hands: "I didn't have anything else to put her out with." (Sanetti received burns to his arms, hands and stomach.)
Sanetti passes her on to Sean O'Donnell (so he can keep working the bar windows to maybe find his niece, Bridgett). O'Donnell, too, calls her "Kathy" and says, "her head was injured and her hands were burnt off." He gets her away and finds her ice and a blanket.
All this is consistent with Sullivan's injuries. We know she ended up in critical condition at Mass General. Her sweat glands were destroyed and her plans to become a veterinarian had to be scrapped due to the burns to her hands. She returned to work at the Bristol County Veterinary Hospital, but went from the position of veterinary technician to head of inventory management.
Yeah, the "runner" does seem to present as male, initially. Possibly due to height (but Kathy wasn't petite), and maybe because the wailing male voice almost seems to come from the "runner" but, I believe, actually comes out of the poor guy smoldering on the asphalt near the hose.
Kathy Sullivan is told later that she was pulled out of the front pile by a man named "Scott." And she could well have been loosened some by patron Christopher Scott. But it was so hot at that point I think it was more likely a full-suited firefighter. Like Scott Baughn. a West Warwick fireman working the front doors.
A possible scenario? Or am I reaching?
i AM NOT SURE WHY I AM DRAWN TO THE SNF "BEFORE THE FIRE" VIDEO ON YOUTUBE THAT IS SET TO AN UPBEAT TUNE OF THE DALLAS SOAP OPERA OPENING THEME...BUT I DO HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS WHICH I AM NOT SURE IF THEY WERE ANSWERED IN THIS THREAD OR THE FIRST SNF THREAD BUUUUT I WILL SEE IF ANYONE CAN ANSWER...
BUT WAS THE GUY/GIRL SMILING AT 0:56 IDENTIFIED...OR THE GUY AT 1:03...OR THE GUY THAT YOU CATCH AT A GLIMPSE AT 1:05/1:06 IN RIGHT HAND CORNER...OR THE GIRL IN THE RIGHT AT 1:09...OR THE OTHER GIRL AT 1:10/1:11 IN SAME RIGHT HAND CORNER...OR GUY AT 1:19/1:20 WITH GLASSES...AND DID THEY SURVIVE? THIS HAS BEEN PLAGGING MY BRAIN AS I LOVE THIS VIDEO AND AM HAPPY/SAD AT PEOPLE HAVING A GOOD TIME AND KNOWING WHAT COMES ONLY MINUTES LATER...SOME I CAN ACTUALLY IDENTIFY AS I AGREE WITH PREVIOUS IDENTIFICATIONS BASED ON WHAT I HAVE SEEN/HAVE SAW...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wWktCkulV0
There was a debate earlier in the thread about the person at 1:05-1:06 giving the thumbs up. Someone else thought it was Kevin Washburn. I thought it was Tina "Blackie" Ayer. That person is also shown at 1:00-1:01. As the camera approaches, she or he has very long, dark (black for "Blackie?") hair that goes well below the shoulders. The camera angle does not show how far the hair continues. The resolution is poor, but it looks like there is an indent in the top of the hair from one of those U-shaped headbands. It's common for women to control their long hair with those devices, but not for men. Men either tie up long hair into a ponytail or let it freely fall.