We didn’t cover Dimebash 2010, a simultaneous tribute to Dimebag and benefit for the Ronnie James Dio Stand up and Shout Cancer Fund. Why, you ask? I don’t have a good answer. It was on literally every other metal site in the world, we don’t flatter ourselves that you read MetalSucks exclusively, and while I can’t speak for Vince or any of my other peers here at MS, I personally didn’t have anything even remotely interesting to say about it. A bunch of really cool people got up and jammed on some classics. It was for a great cause. It looks like it was a lot of fun. Go to Metal Insider if you still haven’t seen any footage from the event.

One thing which really might have pushed the event over the top from really cool to HOLY SHIT AWESOME, though, would have been an appearance by Phil Anselmo. Of course, Anselmo and Dime were on bad terms when Dime was murdered, and Dime’s family — specifically, Vinnie Paul and Rita Haney — have not made amends with Anselmo since, and have even speculated that some violent statements Anselmo made in the press prior to Dime’s shooting may have inspired the murderer. So when rumors started circulating that Anselmo was actually gonna be at Dimebash, well, that was a pretty big deal.

Anselmo didn’t appear at the event, though — but he was, Haney has now revealed, supposed to. You can watch the below video interview to get the full scoop, but the gist of it is that she no longer feels that Anselmo bears any responsibility for Dime’s murder, and while the situation is still sensitive, she seems to have finally come to peace with Anselmo. Perhaps more interesting — and sadder — still: Vinnie Paul still hasn’t.

-AR

[via Metal Insider]

After the horrific murder of his brother, no one would have faulted Pantera/Damageplan drummer Vinnie Paul for dropping off the face of the Earth. But instead, the man chose to soldier on, starting his own record company, Big Vin Records, and resuming his drumming duties for boozy groove metallers Hellyeah. The former has signed Type O Negative side project Seventh Void and released the successful Dimebag Darrell tribute DVD Dimevision; the latter’s toured the globe in support of their debut album, with plans to record and tour again in the near future. A relentlessly positive guy who sounds a little like the metal version of King of the Hill’s Boomhauer, Vinnie seems content with the past and satisfied with the present (upon hearing that I was conducting the interview from Massachusetts after I shut my tape recorder off, he gave his thoughts on the Boston Bruins’ then-upcoming playoff game with Montreal Canadiens and stated that his dream Superbowl would be between the Cowboys and the Patriots, if it were possible). In his inteview with MetalSucks, he gives his thoughts on the upcoming 20th anniversary of Cowboys from Hell, running a record label, and the future of Hellyeah.

Click to read more…

“If Phil Anselmo hadn’t quit Pantera, Darrell wouldn’t have been playing in that shithole where that guy could get to him.”

Well duh, Einstein. Had that or any one of a million other things been different, Dimebag wouldn’t have been shot. This kind of shit-talking, taken from an interview in the March 2007 issue of Guitar World, is the kind of unnecessary bashing sure to add fire to the flames, not to mention that she comes off like an idiot. If I’d left for work one minute earlier today perhaps I would’ve been hit by a car. If Kip hadn’t left the house that day maybe he wouldn’t have broken his shoulder. We can all make ourselves crazy with a million “what if”s, but it won’t do any good because they’re all true and we can’t change them.

Anselmo, for all his past problems, for the most part has made his amends with Dimebag personally, in his music, and in the media. So Rita, why start this kind of public shit-slinging? A million factors could have been different about that night, and had any one of them been different things wouldn’t have ended the way they did. Why chose the one that’s the most convenient and controversial? We all understand the colossal loss and pain you feel, but that’s one step too far. Fuck you, Rita.

-VN

Against my better judgement, I’ve been watching L.A. Ink these past few weeks because someone tipped me off that Dimebag’s “widow,” Rita Haney, Sebastian Bach, and Scott Ian would all be getting tats on the show. And while I appreciate the work Kat Von D does* and the opportunity to hear more Dime tidbits from Haney (cheesy though it is, I loved hearing that the first thing he asked her every morning is “What did you dream?”), I’m having a hard time getting around the fact that Kat is, for lack of a more polite term, an idiot – I mean, if anyone ever asks me to “hang ten on the couch,” I’d have no choice but to kick them in the shin.

What do you fine folks think?

Rita Haney Gets a Dimebag Tat
[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/DDtanNo_JH8" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Baz Gets an Angel Down Tat
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/ia3t98FX2pA" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Scott Ian gets an AC/DC Tat
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/eBQv61EWuvI" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

*Although I still think Paul Booth’s shit looks cooler – it’s more bad assed, and more three dimensional.