You won't hear "Desert Moon" at Great White's charity concert in Omaha tonight.
The California rock band may never finish the song interrupted by fire at their Feb. 20 show at The Station nightclub in West Warwick.
"I don't think I could ever sing that song again," says the band's founder and lead singer, Jack Russell, in his first local interview since the days after the fire. "It's hard enough as it is, was hard enough to go back on stage. It just wouldn't feel right to play that song. That would be too weird."
For some, the thought of Great White back on stage is too weird. Local reaction after the concerts were announced in April was mixed.
Russell, in a 20-minute telephone conversation from the West Coast this week, acknowledges that some people won't understand why the band is touring again, six months after their West Warwick show ended in the deadliest fire in Rhode Island history. One hundred people died, including Great White guitarist Ty Longley.
Proceeds from the band's 41-show summer concert series are going to The Station Family Fund, a nonprofit organization to benefit the fire's victims.
"We lost a hundred friends that night," Russell says. "There are 56 kids who lost at least one parent. The only thing that we can do to help people is to play music.
"Some people are not going to understand it, they're not going to agree with it. But it's the only thing we can do to help [the victims] put food on their tables."
WITH A BLAST of sparkling pyrotechnics, Great White opened its concert at The Station with "Desert Moon," a 1991 song about nighttime romance "under a cactus tree."
The band claimed later that club ownership had OK'd the pyro. Those owners, Jeffrey and Michael Derderian, have said that they never knew that the band would use the fireworks. The sparklers ignited flammable packing foam the Derderians used to soundproof the club. The flames spread in seconds, consuming the building in minutes.
Nobody has been charged yet with a crime, but a statewide grand jury is investigating possible charges. The band, the club, the state and local governments and corporations that promoted the show face civil liability lawsuits.
Russell says he cannot speak about the details of the West Warwick show, or the criminal investigation, except to say he has faith that the attorney general's office "will do the right thing."
Jack Russell is 42, a native of Montebello, Calif., according to his biography on the band's Web page. He is divorced, with one son. He likes scuba diving and shark fishing. His band, Great White, has been making rock music records for 21 years.
Great White first came to Rhode Island in 1984, Russell recalls. They played the Providence Civic Center in March that year on a tour with headliner Judas Priest, one of that era's most popular heavy-metal acts.
Russell's five-member band has had many personnel changes over its career: its Web site credits a dozen musicians who have played with the group but are no longer with it.
AFTER THE FEBRUARY fire, Great White soon started to talk about playing some benefit shows, Russell says. "We've been thinking about it almost since the night of the tragedy."
He's sure it's the right thing to do. "I did a lot of praying, and I had a lot of conversations -- with friends, pastors, counselors -- in deciding to undertake this tour." Those people helped him see that his voice, "is the gift God gave me, a gift I should use."
The band had trouble finding a Rhode Island charity to accept the proceeds and get the money directly to the victims. Efforts to distribute the money through the Feinstein Foundation, and then through The Station Nightclub Fire Relief Fund, under the umbrella of the Rhode Island Foundation, fell through.
Organizers of The Station Family Fund, a volunteer organization run by Station fire survivors, read a news account of the band's troubles in establishing a relationship with a charity, says Victoria Potvin, a Station survivor and the fund's president. "That article is what prompted us to contact Great White."
The band's first two benefit shows, July 22 and 23 in Colorado, raised just under $8,000 for the fund, she says. The money arrived July 25. Tonight's Nebraska show is the first of three this weekend for the band. The others are in Iowa and Missouri.
Money in the fund will go toward the "basic needs" of fire victims, such as rent, groceries, car payments and insurance.
Russell can't be sure how much money his band can raise this summer.
"I could guess, anywhere from around 10 grand or more in a weekend," he says. "The thing for me is not just the money that we're raising from the shows, it's the awareness we're raising of the fund. It's a great cause; it's the right thing for us to do."
THE CONCERT SERIES opened in Sterling, Colo., in the Logan County Exhibit Center. The Associated Press reported a crowd of about 900 people for the 70-minute show. The band paused for 100 seconds of silence in memory of the 100 people who died in the fire.
Russell says the reaction was "overwhelming."
"I was in tears at one part," he says. "Most of our fans are our age and they have kids. It was wonderful to see them turn out for a good cause."
The band is not scheduled to come to Rhode Island. Announced performance dates bring it as close as Virginia.
Russell and guitar player Mark Kendall are the only current band members who were at The Station. Bass player Dave Filice and drummer Eric Powers have been replaced by Scott Pounds and Derrick Pontier. Guitarist Jordan Martin has replaced Longley.
It felt strange to get back on a stage, Russell says. "I didn't know how I was going to react. I didn't know how I was going to act on stage until I got out there."
The people who pay to see a rock show expect to be entertained; they expect high energy from the band. To work up that energy in the aftermath of The Station disaster, the band turned to its music, which is "a celebration of life," Russell says.
"We want to give you 100 percent of our show. We're not being disrespectful in wanting to do that. I don't think it would be right to go out there and put on a show and be all bummed out. It's a fine line to walk, a fine line."
After not singing for months after the fire, he couldn't help enjoy himself at the band's first benefit concert.
"I'm not going to lie and say I didn't like it -- it was therapeutic," he says. "It was great, but really, I think the only reason it was so is because of the reason we're doing it. The only reason I'm doing these shows is the family fund. There is no other reason to do them.
"My whole life has changed. Nothing will ever be the same again. Everybody is devastated -- it's not like my pain is any greater than anyone else's. We all have our feelings and memories from that night that will never leave us."
Russell expects his relationship with the fund will continue after the current tour. "I don't see us stopping giving to this charity -- ever," he says. "It gives me a reason to get out of bed. It's the most important thing that Great White has ever done."
He says he hasn't written any music about the fire. He hasn't written any music at all since that night. "I'm not thinking that far ahead," he says. "I can't see beyond this. I don't know if there is a future beyond this."
What does Jack Russell want to say to Rhode Island?
"We're doing what we can. I realize some people don't understand or agree with it. But those people at the club were part of our family, too."
Mark Arsenault's email address is marsenau@projo.com
