Like anyone who has enjoyed success in any one of the several industries he has already excelled in (including metal, movies, radio and reality TV), Dee Snider says he is often asked to lend his celebrity to various events and fundraisers.
While many in such positions run such invitations by managers—who, in turn, crunch the scenario into a formula that loosely divides the performer's time by the potential for a PR windfall—Snider says he prefers to crunch his own numbers.
After being approached to participate in the Station Family Fund Relief Concert occurring this Monday, Feb. 25 in Rhode Island, then seeking out some of the victims five years after the tragic fire, the Twisted frontman says he detected some fuzzy math at best.
"Obviously, my hat's off to anyone who has helped raise a penny for any of the Station victims and their families," he says, "but once I realized the severity of the situation, it instantly occurred that $10,000, $20,000—it's virtually meaningless when you're talking about people who have been in burn units at a cost of $70,000 per day."
Realizing that he had lost Dee the pragmatist; event organizer/Tesla drummer Troy Luccketta then appealed to Dee's humanistic side, concluding, as Snider recalls, that "somebody has to do something for those people, don't they?"
"He was right, of course," Snider says. "And when I agreed, he said, 'Well then, it's settled. You have the biggest mouth and the most reach. Take the ball, Dee, and run with it.'"
The first place Dee says he ran was South to plead his case to newfound friend John Rich of Big & Rich fame. The two are current cast members on CMT's reality series Gone Country. That netted him Dierks Bentley, Randy Owen, Kellie Pickler, Gretchen Wilson and Whiskey Falls for the show, where they'll join Boston's Tom Scholz, Tesla, Stryper and Twisted Sister.
"If there's one point I want to get across, it's that the Station fire wasn't a metal problem," he explains. "It could happen at a country show, a rap show, a damn polka show—any rat-trap venue with poorly lit and/or not enough exits where the maximum room capacities are not enforced."
Never one to rest on his laurels, Snider says that despite the Rich contributions, he has and will continue to call "anyone and everyone" he thinks will contribute to the event in any way, including his friends at VH1.
"If they [VH1] come, I know that others will come aboard because it will be the cause du jour and everyone gets to look like a hero," he adds. "And you know what? I don't care. As long as they can help raise money."
Your friendly, neighborhood Nightcrawler would be remiss not to mention that the Valley's own local Staind notable, Aaron Lewis (who, incidentally, returns to the Mohegan Sun Cabaret Feb. 20-24 for a series of shows he will record for an impending DVD release), will also lend his considerable talents to the cause.
"And that's the perfect counter-example to what I just said," observes Snider. "Aaron Lewis signed on to this out-of-the-box, before I was even involved. So obviously, there's a man doing it for all the right reasons."
Not to be outdone, "Lord" Russell Brooks of Aloha Steamtrain infamy will pull triple duty at the Noho Academy of Music this Sunday, Feb. 24, emceeing as Ed Sullivan between performances as Don Ho and Barry Manilow. For more info on that, kindly point your browser to www.northamptonartscouncil.org.
Send correspondence to Nightcrawler, P.O. Box 427, Somers, CT 06071; fax to (860) 698-9373 or email Garycarra@aol.com.
