go oBefore you go any further, I’d suggest you bring yourself up to speed with what happened in Columbus, Ohio this past Wednesday night.

Now, I’m not one to typically comment on major losses in the entertainment industry, save my praise for the late Johnny Cash last year in lieu of MTV’s petty disregard for him.

But Dime… Dime hits close to home, for some reason. Part of that unidentifiable reason may be the fact that if you were a fan and knew anything about the man, he seemed like family to you. And to hear that he was cut down without the slightest hint of provocation is downright heartbreaking.

To put it bluntly, this entire thing makes no sense. It’s all so damn surreal, it seems like a horribly bad episode of Law & Order. Sadly enough, odds are that this scenario will be “ripped from the headlines” and projected onto the small screen.

And in truth, that probable homage would give this incident more coverage than mainstream music media has bothered to grant the situation. I mean, it received major news coverage, no doubt. CNN, MSNBC, all the major outlets carried the story. But you’d think that major music outlets, i.e., MTV, VH1, and radio would pay more attention to this. Y’know, since it’s relative to the industry.

But per usual, said outlets have given this situation nothing more than a small blurb on their websites or between-program news briefs. Even most rock radio stations didn’t carry the story for more than a few hours.

I remember back in 2002 when Layne Staley died, and his passing received a modicum of coverage. One week after his body was discovered, Lisa Lopes was killed in a car crash, and MTV treated her like Princess Diana.

Y’wanna know why? I’m gonna throw political correctness by the wayside and say it’s ‘cause Dime and Layne were slaves to the white man!

Oh, wrong prejudicial preference. Sorry. It’s really ‘cause they’re of the hard rock/metal genre. See, ‘cause rock in general is considered passé by MTV and VH1 (unless you’re in one of those horrendously overrated indie college bands like Modest Mouse, Franz Ferdinand or Bard’s Ballsack). I wish these fucking narrow-minded twits would call a spade a spade, and a loss a loss.

And believe me… Dime is a loss. The guy was a fucking phenomenal guitarist. I had the privilege of seeing him play with Pantera once in New Haven, and they were amazing. Dime was especially impressive. I’m something of a guitar aficionado (which means I love guitar-based music, but am not good enough to play myself), and I can just tell when a guy is playing with everything he has. I’ve seen it with Joe Perry, Zakk Wylde, Eric Clapton, Steve Vai, and yes. I saw it with Dime, too. The guy was so innovative, and really helped to put a new spin on the world of thrash, which was waning at the time.

That’s one reason why Far Beyond Driven debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts in 1994. These guys built their following the old-fashioned way: working their asses off from dusk ‘til dawn in front of live audiences. C’mon, you really think most rock stations would play Pantera at any point in time? Trust me, it’s a very rare thing. That’s why the band was so special to a lot of people. They were the workingman’s metal band when Metallica and Megadeth were going down more commercially gainful roads, musically speaking.

I never had the pleasure to see Dime and Vinnie play in Damageplan. I missed the opportunity by a hair’s inch on December 4th of this year, when they tackled the Webster Theatre in Hartford. Unfortunately, I could not make it. I just figured that they’d be around again in no time.

And to me, it’s sad to know that such a return is never going to happen. And I’m not the only one feeling it. The hard rock community has banded together, forsaken all feuds and beefs with one another in Dime’s name. Zakk Wylde, Ozzy Osbourne, Lars Ulrich, Dave Mustaine, Scott Ian, Rob Zombie, Jerry Cantrell, even Dime’s former bandmate turned apparent rival Phil Anselmo has offered up a tribute whilst still grieving.

That speaks highly of the individual, to me. Here was a guy who seemed to get along with practically everyone he met. That’s what makes this senseless death even worse. Dime did nothing to hurt anyone. He never did anything to deserve this. Neither did the three other innocents who were gunned down by a flat-out psychopath.

No one deserves to die because their band broke up. It’s that simple. And make no mistake about it… Dime may have been a long-haired, tattooed, cursin’, cussin’, dirty ol’ boozehound of a metalhead. But this is still a tragedy.

I’d say something touching like, “keep shredding, Dime,” or, “it’s gonna be real quiet without ya, Dime.” But I didn’t know the man. So instead, I’m gonna fix myself a couple of black-toothed grins in honor of the man.

Goodnight, and have a pleasant tomorrow.