People,

I was going to write about how funny it is for me to be travelling to Florida to play a cover gig tomorrow, but that will have to wait.

The story of my morning is Dimebag Darrell, formerly of Pantera, being shot to death onstage in Ohio. What. The. Fuck?

Apparently, some guy came into the club, jumped up on stage, assassinated Darrell and then shot other members of the band.

I mean, not that I'm a huge Pantera fan, but I always respected Darrell. He was a brilliant guitarist, pretty funny, gave me the tip to drink pedialyte on tour to restore fluids after a night of heavy drinking and wrote a cool column I used to practice to in Guitar for the Practicing Musician. (Yes, I used to read and practice to Guitar for the Practicing Musician).

But more than that I unabashedly love heavy metal. I also unabashedly hate senseless violence, and for the two to go together...well, I take it kind of personally. I mean, the whole purpose of metal is for the disenfranchised to come together and get off on this outsider music. It's about inclusiveness of the excluded, and that's what I've always loved about it. It's crap like this that ruins things for everyone.

I don't know, I have no point. This sucks.