Alrosa Will Reopen

The Alrosa Villa club, where Damageplan guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott and three others were murdered December 8th, will reopen with two shows in January following a benefit for the victims.

Owner Rick Cautela told The Columbus Dispatch he is “still numb” from the tragedy, but that support from fans and musicians inspired him to reopen the club.

“This has been my life for 31 years,” he said. “I’m ready to do this with them if they want to do it with me. … If they don’t, I understand. I’ll walk away and close the doors.”

A previously announced January 14th benefit show is to be the first event at the Columbus, Ohio, club since Nathan Gale shot and killed Abbott and three others before being gunned down by a police officer. Two more shows are already booked, Cautela said.

He has replaced the club’s sound system (Gale was hiding between a tall speaker and monitor board holding a gun to a hostage’s head when he was shot) and carpeting, and said he plans to upgrade security. However, he expressed doubt that any security measures could have stopped Gale – an ex-Marine who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was obsessed with Abbott’s former band, Pantera, according to friends and family.

“I don’t think it would have made any difference if we’d have had 30 security guards,” Cautela said. “I mean, would it have been better if [Gale] had come in through the front door and been patted down, or we’d used a wand on him and found his gun then? He was on a mission.”