burn ohio, burn

Buckeye traffic will be reporting all roads closed
but we will all be able to see that
or at least we will be able to see the thick billowing smoke
Governor Bob Taft
tied
to the tallest tree in Wolf Run State Park
just on the edge of the state will watch
as rings of napalm
bathe the state
from columbus on out

it was a little over a month ago
when Ohio put the nail in the coffin
of a john f. kerry presidency
which wouldna been so bad had his opponent not been
Gee Dubya Bush

and while I'm used to political atrocities
it's the rock n roll
tragedies that I cannot abide

and it was two days ago
in the buckeye state
that dimebag darrell abbott
and four others were killed
when nathan gale started shooting into the stage at the alrosa villa

the crowd rushed the stage
jaded
thinking it was part of the show
before everything got far too real

some would say that this follows Ol Dirty Bastard's example
in being one of the least surprising death scenarios in the music world
ODB would collapse in the studio
and if there was anyone who was likely to be shot to death
it was Dimebag Darrell
the cowboy from hell

but neither were destined to make it to forty

that doesn't matter to me though
and of course i see it
and of course i'm gonna make the same bad jokes
but just as "Return to the 36 Chambers" was one of those first
important albums to me

I remember being 13, 1996
with green hair and black clothes
in the back G-Dogg's dad's car
on our way to Rosemont, Illinois
to what was then the Horizon and now called the Allstate Arena
to get dropped off at what would be my first concert

Deftones
White Zombie
Pantera

Deftones opened up and a scant Chino Moreno, fresh off "The Crow: City of Angels" and still aping hiphop with their debut album Adrenaline, striking the first chords of commercially viable rap-metal, crowd surfing on almost every song.

Then White Zombie, sporting a lackluster remix set (for "Supersexy Swingin Sounds") and the most elaborate stage show I've seen to this day featuring enough incendiary devices to rival a day in Fallujag, dead day-glo clowns hanging from the rafters, gogo cages, japanese b-movie porn projected on screens everywhere, and everything else you'd come to expect from White Zombie

and then Pantera came on. Perhaps it should be mentioned that this was also the occasion of my first contact high. Their stage show consisted of three projections: their logo, a marijuana leaf, and the snake from the cover of "A Great Southern Trendkill" that some pimply Rosemont kid would alternate between and, occasionally, spin. That's all they needed as they continued to rock out, and rock more than most of the crowd could handle, leaving well before the hour-and-a-half mark and the beginning of their third set of encores

it's been a couple of years now since i've even thought about listening to a whole pantera album. I vaguelly remember some cat none of my roommates or i knew tossing on "Far Beyond Driven" at some party at the Farragut place. Either way, I feel the loss. Just like I did last year when we lost Barry White and Dave Blood, who I rarely listen to; and Dee Dee, Joe Strummer and Johnny Cash who I constantly do.

and i'm sick of hearing about ohio
sick of the Cleveland Indians and Daytona 500
i blame ohio
for being bland
and creating bland men who do loud things to get attention like
Nathan Gale and Drew Carey
burn it down
burn it down now
and make a lovely parking lot for
michigan
kentucky
west virginia
indiana
and pennsylvania

rest in peace dimebag

and now the obligatory quote from the obligatory song
(Cemetary Gates, third chorus)

The way we were,
The chance to save my soul...
And my concern is now in vain.
Believe the word,
I will unlock my door...
And pass the cemetery... gates