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c h a P t e r 3 rock impreSarios “it’s a Place where good bands go to die,” quipped Steven Scarpetti years before the fire. Scarpetti, a promotions executive at radio station WHJY, was referring to The Station’s prestige among third-rate concert venues, but he could as well have been talking about the club’s potential for actual tragedy. When the Derderian brothers bought The Station from Howard Julian in March of 2000, they knew little about operating a rock club. But they would soon learn on the job that cutting corners on payroll, stuffing patrons into the club, and stiffing local bands were all part of the economic equation for small-time promoters. The closing date for their purchase from Julian was to be March 22, 2000; however, several acts were already booked to appear that month. The first such gig would be W.A.S.P., an ’80s heavy-metal band famous for its raunchy lyrics and violent themes. It was anticipated that the W.A.S.P. performance on March 8, 2000, would be “run on the Derderians’ license” with all proceeds going to Julian, and all expenses for the performance borne by Julian. This would be a dry run, of sorts, for the new owners. Jeff Derderian worked with W.A.S.P.’s road manager to prepare for the show. The lead singer for W.A.S.P., who calls himself Blackie Lawless (born: Steven Edward Duren), embodies heavy-metal shock-schlock. Lawless’s stagecraft with a previous group, Sister, included lighting his boots on fire and eating live worms. With W.A.S.P., he graduated to throwing raw meat into the audience and positioning girls on torture racks. (It’s a safe bet that the band’s debut single from 1982, “Animal (Fuck Like A Beast),” never made it onto Tipper Gore’s iPod.) “Blackie,” in studded, cut-out leathers, would posture onstage sporting raven-dyed shoulder-length hair and heavy eyeliner, sometimes mounting a demonic-looking metal sculpture that doubled as a microphone stand. W.A.S.P.’s road manager in the spring of 2000 was Dan Biechele, who r o c k i m p r e s a r i o s 13 would later manage Great White’s 2003 tour. In addition to handling all business with each venue, Biechele set up and operated pyrotechnics for W.A.S.P.’s show, the highlight of which was an electrically triggered sparkler known as a “gerb,” attached to Lawless’s codpiece. At the show’s climax, Biechele flipped a switch, causing Lawless’s crotch to erupt, showering pyrotechnic sparks over The Station’s stage and front-row patrons. If it had not dawned on the Derderians earlier, they had to realize at that seminal moment that they were not purchasing a cultural mecca. The Derderian brothers bore such physical similarity to each other that some patrons of The Station claimed not to be able to tell them apart. Both were short, with hair and clothes running more to L. L. Bean than HarleyDavidson , the preferred logo of their club’s clientele. Less similar, however, were their respective balance sheets. According to their accountant’s statements at the time of the Derderians’ club purchase, Jeff Derderian had a net worth of only $199,000, while his older brother, Mike, was doing much better at $1.39 million. Together, they agreed to pay Howard Julian $130,000 for his club ($60,000 in a note held by Julian) and signed an “as-is” lease with Raymond Villanova’s realty company to rent the Station building for $3,500 a month. Jeff’s day job was reporting for WHDH, a Boston TV station. Having cut his journalistic teeth as news director for Rhode Island College’s radio station in the 1980s, the younger Derderian advanced to working on-camera for WLNE Channel 6 in Providence, where he appeared on “You Paid for It,” a recurring feature dedicated to uncovering wasteful public spending. Jeff’s regular appearances on WLNE made him “world famous in Rhode Island,” as they say. He later moved to WHDH in Boston, where, as is common in the industry, he simply read on-air stories written for him by the station’s producers. One of Jeff Derderian’s stories for WHDH was a piece entitled “In Case of Emergency.” It opened with the reporter lying on a bed in a “smoke-filled room,” and featured...

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