Country Music People December 2018 | Page 4

cmp DECEMBER 2018 Volume 49 Number 12 Issue 586 News Walt Trott in Nashville Duncan Warwick in London California Bar Shooting: 12 Dead Editor Duncan Warwick Contributors David Allan, Janet Aspley, Donnie Ayers, Craig Baguley, Larry Delaney, Don Cusic, Julie Flaskett, Kelly Gregory, Michael Hingston, Tony Ives, Spencer Leigh, John Lomax III, , Roland Purdy, Adrian Peel, Paul Riley, Alex Rossi, Wayne Smart, Chris Smith, Tom Travis, Walt Trott, Dave Watkins, Jack Watkins New release consultant: Steve Tidbury Assistant editor / Special projects coordinator Kelly Gregory Photographers Patricia Presley, Barry Dixon, Billie McAleer Printed by Zenith Media www.zenith-media.co.uk Distributor Seymour International Press Distributors Ltd. 2 East Poultry Avenue London EC1A 9PT Telephone [phone] Fax [phone] Country Music People is published the last Thursday of each month by KICKIN’ CUTS LIMITED 24 Darley Close, Wittering, Peterborough PE8 6EQ, UK Telephone [phone] - 783689 [email protected] www.cmpcountry.com ©2018 Kickin’ Cuts Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means without the prior written permission of the Publisher. The Publisher accepts no responsibility for statement of fact or opinion expressed by contributors. The views of the contributors are not necessarily those of Country Music People or its editor. 4 cmp - DECEMBER 2018 A man in black shot the Borderline Bar & Grill’s security guard, then proceeded inside this Thousand Oaks, Calif., club, killing another 10 persons and a Ventura County deputy sheriff answering the distress call, Nov. 7. Later I.D.’d as Ian David Long, 28, a former Marine, the troubled killer also took his own life, after injuring another 23 people. This Instagram message attested to his cryptic feelings: “I hope people call me insane...(laughing emojis)... wouldn’t that just be a big ball of irony? Yeah, I’m insane, but the only thing you people do after these shootings is ‘hopes and prayers’... or ‘keep you in my thoughts’.... every time... and wonder why these keep happening...” Borderline is regarded as Ventura County’s largest country music venue and is noted for its line-dancing. The Wednesday night shooting occurred on the weekly College Country night. It was little more than a year following the infamous shootout at the I-91 outdoor Harvest Country Music Festival in Las Vegas, site of the largest mass shooting in the U.S. One of the Borderline fatalities had survived that Route 91 massacre. Country artist Michael Ray, who had played the Vegas festival, told a Chicago reporter upon hearing of the Borderline killings, “It took me right back waking up on my bus in the middle of the night after Route 91 happened...we were on our way back home. My phone started buzzing on the table by my bed...when I finally picked up, it was my buddy and the first thing he said was ‘Are you OK?’ He told me what happened and was still happening and my heart broke. So today, it breaks again for all the families of those young kids, as they’re trying to piece together why their loved one just went out to have a good time, and then this!” Ray recalled he was starting the day in Chicago with a cup of coffee when he heard of the Borderline tragedy: “That’s our family. That’s where the country music family starts, those fans. They’re there having country music be part of their life, whether it’s listening to the music, seeing a band, or taking line dancing lessons. These were college kids. They are the future of our country. They aren’t even that much younger than me. They’re unwinding, having some wholesome fun...Those are our people, so this shakes us to our core.”