NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Singer making documentary on nightclub fire

PROVIDENCE, R.I.

The lead singer for the band whose pyrotechnics display sparked the Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed 100 people in 2003 said he’s making a documentary that will give him a chance to apologize and tell his side of the story.

The plan has angered some who lost loved ones or survived the fire, including a woman who says she was asked to participate in the project and “adamantly refused.”

Jack Russell of Great White told Portland, Ore., radio station 105.9 The Brew last week that the fire was rock ’n’ roll’s version of 9/11. He said he is still horrified by what happened that night, when Great White’s pyrotechnics set fire to flammable foam inside The Station nightclub in West Warwick. Among the dead was Great White guitarist Ty Longley, a Brookfield native. More than 200 people were injured.

Russell said he feels “survivors’ guilt.”

“Why did I get to live and so many other people didn’t? I feel guilty for people coming to see me play and losing their lives. It’s really hard to deal with it,” Russell said.

He said his lawyer at the time told him not to say he was sorry because it would imply guilt. Russell was not charged in the blaze. His tour manager, who set off the pyrotechnics without a permit, and the brothers who owned the club struck plea deals, with one of the brothers and the tour manager spending time in prison. Russell and the other members of the band later settled a lawsuit for $1 million.

“It’s not like I had anything personally to do. It was just a horrible accident,” Russell told the station. “There was a lot of weird things that had to come into play to make that happen.”

Russell’s comments angered Jody King, whose brother, Tracy, was a bouncer at the club and was killed. King said Russell walked away from his responsibilities after the fire.

“I think it’s ruining all the positive strides that we’re now making to heal here in Rhode Island,” he said Thursday. “If he wants to help, stay away; shut your mouth.”

Associated Press