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Dimebag Darrell's induction into the Hollywood RockWalk and Black Tooth Bash
The Guitar Center
Los Angeles, CA
House of Blues
Hollywood, CA

by Sunset Vampyre

Photos by: Sunset Vampyre, Victor The Snake Mannn

On this beautifully warm, sunny, typical-for-L.A. day, a crowd had gathered. A huge crowd. Outside the Guitar Center, Black-clad mourners had gathered together to pay their respects to one of rocks greatest fallen heroes, Darrell "Dimebag" Abbott.
The scene that met your eyes on arrival was one of amazement - a platform had been set up outside and was chock-full of T.V. cameras from all the big music/news channels (e.g. VH1, TMZ), and just below them, were photographers from all the mags that had featured Pantera so many times over the years - Metal Hammer, Metal Edge, Spin, and even Englands Kerrang! magazine.
Although I was on the list courtesy of Crypt magazine, my friend Victor ( Snakemannn.com) was waiting for me with a V.I.P pass, so i was able to get straight to work snapping pictures and drinking up the atmosphere. We walked past the grand piano that had been set up on the rock walk ready for Zakk Wylde, through the security check, and into the guitar center itself which had been set up to accommodate the hordes of photographers who had come here to snap Metals biggest stars - and they were there in abundance.
Heading out the back into the car park at 11.00a.m. (an hour before the ceremony was due to start) the first person I met was John 5 of Rob Zombie signing laminates for the auction that was to take place later that day. I'm a HUGE fan of Johns (as he will testify!) and he noticed I was wearing a guitar pic of his around my neck, and subsequently grabbed it to show the people he was with (this took me by complete surprise because I'd forgotten I'd put it on.)
This also gave me a sense of Deja-Vu, because at NAMM in January John repeatedly asked me to "turn around" - and after staring at him blankly for a number of seconds, he pointed at my chest, at which stage I remembered that I was wearing a J5 t-shirt!
Also outside was Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, who proudly showed me his brand-new (that morning!) Dimebag tattoo on his leg - so new, in fact, that it was still wet. That leg must have hurt like hell.....
As more and more musicians began arriving, it became fun to watch the vehicles they began to turn up in - Vinnie Paul (Dimebags brother) arrived in a Volvo, followed by Scott Ian of Anthrax in a small black Lexus SUV, then came Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains) in a bigger, Cadillac SUV - and finally (as the vehicles got bigger and bigger) Zakk Wylde turned up in his massive black pick-up truck!
The "Dummy" award of the day went to Jim Ladd, d.j. for KLOS 95.5FM (this is the guy that Tom Petty wrote the song, "The Last D.J." about!) who parked his car straight when everybody else parked at an angle, thus taking up two parking spaces (hey, this is L.A. - you can't get away with that here!) - and after getting harangued by a small group of us he gave in and parked it properly - nice one, Jim!
Back inside the guitar center, photo's were being taken, and Dimebags wife Rita was in cheery mood, looking fabulous. There was an exhibition set up of Dimebags guitars and stageclothes, which evoked a great sense of loss.
Then, everybody gathered outside for the tributes, memories and final induction of Dimebag into the Rock Walk Hall of Fame, to take his rightful place amongst other musical greats, including his own hero, Ace Frehley.
A deafening interruption to the proceedings happened when a guy fainted,and the ambulance
that arrived left its siren on so long that they were ordered to turn it off by the Police! (And I thought Heavy Metal was loud!)
Finally silence descended. So, too, a palpable sadness. One after another, the stories began.
Kerry King from Slayer recounted a touching tale of Dimebags generosity. One night, at a show, a dad and his 10 year old son spotted Dimebag and went over to talk to him. The boy, so excited to meet his hero, exclaimed excitedly, "You're the reason I'm learning to play the guitar!"
"That's great", Dime said. "What guitar do you have?" "Oh, I don't have one yet - I'm getting one for Christmas" the little boy said. Dime looked at his father and said "Hey man! It's only July - you can't make him wait 'til Christmas, he needs it now!" To which the man quietly replied, "I'm a single dad, and I'm out of work - its going to take me that long to save up the money".
This comment had a profound effect on Dimebag. As he watched them walk away, he pointed out the boy and his dad to his manager and asked him to bring them around the back to an office. He then sent him out with the instruction to go to the nearest guitar shop and buy the coolest guitar there. The coolest guitar was also the most expensive guitar in the shop - but Dimebag didn't care. In the privacy of the office, he handed the guitar to the boy and said, "Here, Son - Christmas has come early this year". Only Four people knew about this - Dimebag, the boy, his dad, and the manager. Dimebag also signed it, and gave the boy a whole lot of extra stuff to go with it. But that's how Dimebag liked to do things. Quietly, privately, without bragging about it.
This story touched everybody - you could have heard a pin drop in the silence. Then Kerry lightened the atmosphere by recounting another tale:
"So, Slayer are on the Ozzfest tour in 1999, and we're in Dallas. I came out of my dressing room and went into Pantera's dressing room - by that, I mean Vince and Dime's. They're in there, and their dressing room is bigger then mine, and they're not even on the tour! I don't know how that happened!!!"

But that's not all, boils and ghouls. Part 2 of our feature begins here...and our exlcusive photos of this amazing event are there as well!