This weekend I showed homage to Dimebag with a Cherry Blast. I received a lot of compliments and friend requests from it. I'd like to send out a big thank you to all those folks, and to my new friends - I'm glad to have ya aboard!
I also received a ton of msgs from people with stories who knew him, dated him, worked for him, was friends of friends, etc. If I didn't reply to these it's just because I didn't put up the blast for a pissing contest. I'm glad we all have stories and connections, but regardless - he is a guitar hero and a legend and that's all I'm concerned with.
From my angle, I grew up in Texoma (North Texas, Southern Oklahoma). When I was 14, the hottest band from Dallas to OKC was Pantera. They were young guys but had Dime and Vin, and blew people away. I was just starting to play guitar and be in bands, so I went to a club in Denison Texas and snuck in to see them.
Dime really made a huge impact on me instantly. He played loud, with a lot of style, had a crazy 15 minute solo, and just looked cool. Pantera was a lot more glam back then, but still, the metal was all that mattered to me. After the show I'd say hi to him and he'd be cool to me. I got the impression he knew I was a younger bro and was being cool to me because so. I also noticed how Pantera would come out and watch the opening band and show respect to them by rocking out.
Through the years, this all just escalated and I went to countless Pantera shows, before and after they got famous. So now that I'm 34, you could easily say that Dime was a hero for half of my life.
The last time I saw Darrell was at a show in Dallas, the "B.F.D" annual event, and he was with Damageplan. Because my best friend was playing drums for PUddle of Mudd at the time, I got to kick it backstage with some buddies. So, that translates to me hanging out in Damageplan's dressing room, watching Darrell from sidestage, and all that good shit. It was totally cool, and just a really special night for me.
After all that fun we went to the Clubhouse, Dime and Vin's strip club and a fine establishment at that, and partied more. At closing time around 4 a.m. I spoke my last words EVER to Darrell and said "You're my hero". He said "Cool, man..thanks". Then we all took a shot of Blacktooth, sang Hank Williams Jr with the club's sound system, and split.
It was about 3 months after that when we lost him. I'm honored and touched that I had this very special occasion I mentioned above as my last Dime show. As my buddy told me recently, "Dude, that was the best night of my life." I totally agreed with him.
I feel like it was a gift from God to me to get to spend that last bit of Dime Time. What can I say, I looked up to him for so long and then had this incredibly great evening just prior to his passing. I can't see it any other way.
Dimebag is my hero, always will be, whether he's onstage or in the heavens. I'll grind THAT axe for a long time.
