(Saturday post! Thanks to all who chipped into the Tip Jar this week to trigger this post today instead of Tuesday! You’re making me write more, faster! -ctan)
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I’ll be the first to admit (now) that a lot of the drama in my life is my own fault. What happened that night, though, I think goes beyond what I can take blame for–unless maybe I can blame myself merely for existing.
Which isn’t to say I didn’t try to blame myself somehow. Yeah, okay, whatever, I know, just tell the story. Here’s what happened.
The show was going really well: that much I remember. I liked the acoustics of the place. The crowd was into it. An energetic but not violent bunch.
We were in the encore by then. Almost done. Almost at the end of the song. Colin had dumped a bottle of water over my head. Maybe that helped. Who knows.
Ziggy had come over to my side. We were sharing his mic, almost at the lip of the stage. I had one foot on the wedge monitor there. There was some other stuff around the sides and back of the monitor, like usual. Cables and whatever, and a round black thing that I thought was part of the stage, like some kind of strut support that wasn’t in use right now. It was around the size of a soup can, with a hole in the top, like you could insert a tent pole into it or something.
We were leaning over it. We were fucking leaning over it, right at the moment it went off.
They say burning titanium flakes are safe for indoor use. You know what? Not when you get shot in the face with them.
Maybe I’m being over dramatic. I didn’t get shot directly in the face. No, the neck of the guitar and my left hand took the brunt of it, so a much smaller amount of sparks got into my eye. That’s probably why I still have my eyesight now.
Ziggy got it mostly on the arm. Unfortunately, that set his sleeve on fire. I’ve seen the video of it, since I couldn’t see anything at the time. He tried to get the shirt off, but he waited until the end of the line he was singing to let go of the mic. I know. We’re crazy. And I tried to play to the end of the song. Actually, I did play to the end of the song, so at that point no one knew how bad off I was.
They got the clue when after that last chord I gave the “cut” sign in Louis’s general direction. I took a bow and dropped to my knees. I was in too much pain to think. Cut cut cut, was all had in my head. The lights went black and I put my hands over my eyes, because closing them wasn’t enough.
Okay. What I’ll say about getting burned in the eye is that it hurts exactly as much as you imagine it would.
There are lots of things that when you see them in movies, you think, that’s gotta hurt, but when they happen to you they don’t actually feel like what you imagine. The crazy thought that went through my head as I sat there on my knees with my hands over my eyes, though, was, holy shit, that feels exactly like you think it would.
The screaming in the video is not me. It’s Courtney, who jumped out of the security pit and was the first one to get to me.
That kid is okay, you know that?
I’ll tell you about the hospital later. That’s about all I can take right now.
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25 Comments
I seeeeeee criminal charges in the future of Megaton. All of them. In the slammer. And civil court for damages.
What a bunch of fucking assholes.
Courtney’s a good kid, yeah.
It’s dawning on me that she actually likes me.
Wow, didn’t see that coming. How will I concentrate and get homework done (including essays for Cisco class) while worrying until Tuesday?
Aww. Carynne says do your homework and let her do the worrying.
Given the fire at the Station in 2003, Daron and Ziggy are lucky bastards.
No kidding. (And yes, it’s an explicit reference to The Station. Same kind of gerbs. As well as the Metallica incident in Montreal.)
The Metallica incident was the first thing I thought of, and then The Station. What a horrific thing to have happen both in the story and in reality. I understand the visual appeal of pyrotechnic effects, but the risk seems so high for performers, too high.
Fortunately gerbs aren’t as bad as the magnesium flame jet that James Hetfield would get hit with a couple of years later. There was the Michael Jackson incident, too, where his hair caught fire while filming the Pepsi commercial in 1984.
I was not expecting that level of stupidity/maliciousness from Megaton (of jerks).
I like it. “Megaton of Jerks.”
OMG how could you do this to us?? Having to wait until Tuesday to hear the rest??? D:
What do you mean, the rest? There are like 200 more chapters to go! This isn’t remotely a cliffhanger.
What do you mean 200 chapters!?? This story is endless. It can’t end. It keeps us all living. It’s like ” The young and restless. We love the story as it moves us from day to day.vuml
Grin. It’s up to 350 chapters now. 🙂
loved it ,why do I feel that megaton was responsible for this…this is some bad stuff,eyes are nothing to mess with.
Even if they didn’t intend it, they’re very definitely responsible for it. Idiots.
What the fucking fuck? I dont understand… what was on the stage? How’d it go off? This sounds really painful… and wow. Im glad the boys are too hurt.
Of course I meant *arent* too hurt!
There is an indoor pyrotechnic often used onstage by metal bands (and others) called a gerb. It’s the very first thing that goes off in this video: http://youtu.be/KMBQaH-2Jys
Oh wow, that looks violent. Poor boys 🙁
Yeah, burning titanium flakes may be considered safe for “close proximity” but as Daron says, not when they hit you in the face.
I just bought Rolling Stone’s 100 guitar player issue, and for a split second wondered if Daron
would be in there. I take my stories seriously 😉
Did they leave me out? Bastards.
PLEASE tell me that someone’s got insurance on Daron’s hands. Please. Because there’s gonna be a world of trouble if they start cancelling performances.
I don’t know about his hands, but I know Digger’s got one hell of a life insurance policy on him…