By Sandra Gonzales, Joe Rodriguez, Jim Harrington
Bay Area News Group
Posted: 08/20/2010 08:19:34 AM PDT
Updated: 08/21/2010 08:07:27 AM PDT
For a few moments, it almost seemed like part of the show. As the crowd enjoyed a midsummer concert on a balmy Thursday evening at Saratoga's serene Mountain Winery, a man suddenly leapt from the shingle-tiled roof above the stage, landing a few feet from the lead singer.
But just as quickly, concertgoers realized what had happened was horrifyingly real. And the image of the dead crumpled body on the stage haunted concertgoers Friday as questions swirled and answers emerged: The suicide victim was a troubled San Jose man with a violent past, out on bail after threatening to kill his girlfriend and himself.
Concert promoters insisted there was no need to tighten security for the many upcoming shows at the upscale performance venue, despite indications that the man had climbed onto the roof from the back. But shaken band members of The Swell Season said they would not play Mountain Winery again, although they promised to return to the Bay Area for a benefit concert for suicide prevention.
Witnesses, meanwhile, continued to text, tweet and talk about the disturbing events that ended the concert and left many distraught.
"It was spooky, you're at this concert with beautiful music," said Will Hector, who was at the concert Thursday night. "It felt pretty intimate and powerful and then this completely invasive thing happens. I'm not sure I can go back to the Mountain Winery. It's too hard. The image of that man on the stage was too
Advertisement
horrific."
The death of Michael Edward Pickels, perhaps, was foreshadowed by an earlier violent incident.
During a New Year's Day argument with his girlfriend, Pickels pointed a loaded shotgun at her and declared he was going to kill both of them, according to authorities.
Pickels, 32, was out on $150,000 bail at the time of his death, and scheduled to be in court on Oct. 5 on charges of assault with a firearm, domestic violence and false imprisonment.
Thursday night, however, he was attending The Swell Season concert with a friend when he left the audience about 10 p.m., leaving behind some "personal items," according to Sgt. Rick Sung, a Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department spokesman.
The friend "didn't think too much of it," Sung said.
Soon after, Pickels appeared out of nowhere on the roof. Glen Hansard, lead singer of The Swell Season, had just finished a song and was bantering with the crowd, poking fun at a guitar player in his band when witnesses say the man suddenly jumped off the roof near the lighting rig. He landed near Hansard.
No one else was physically injured.
Kyle Rivers, who attended the concert with his wife, said at first he thought the man on the roof was part of the act.
"And then he took off running and jumped, did a couple of flips and landed on the stage," Rivers said. "It was pretty traumatic."
Witnesses said that after the man hit the stage, Hansard put down his guitar and walked over to his body while several others, including doctors in attendance, tried to revive him. Sung said the doctors, EMTs and firefighters worked on the man for about 30 minutes. A doctor who was attending the concert pronounced him dead.
Hector said he was surprised that the venue was not more adequately prepared to handle emergencies on site. He said concertgoers were told to stay at the venue so that they would not clog up the two-lane, winding road and block incoming medical personnel.
Sung
said the girlfriend told investigators that during the New Year's Day argument over "personal matters" at a house in South San Jose, Pickels tied her hands and legs. The girlfriend pleaded with him to spare her life, promising that she wouldn't tell anyone. Eventually, he agreed to let her go.
Sung said the girlfriend went to a friend's house in Campbell and called the sheriff's office.
Deputies went to the first house on Lost Ranch Road. Contacted by phone, Pickels told deputies he wasn't coming out, but after 90 minutes of negotiation, he surrendered, Sung said.
Friday, The Swell Season mentioned the possibility of returning to the Bay Area to raise money for suicide-prevention programs. The band was planning to play as scheduled Friday night at a sold-out show at the Oregon Zoo in the Portland area.
"We are just in shock and grief and full of bewilderment," said Howard Greynolds, the band's manager. "Clearly, next year, we are going to come back to the area and do a show for a suicide prevention or something, if it turns out to be a suicide. Maybe at the Warfield or someplace -- I don't think we'd want to go back to the Mountain Winery."
He said that "no one should have to witness" what happened Thursday night at the Mountain Winery. "That's the kind of venue that people bring their kids to. There were 10- and 11-year-old kids there in the third and fourth rows."
Live Nation, the concert promotion company overseeing Thursday's concert, said it is working with the sheriff's office.
"The company is looking to determine how the concert attendee accessed the roof as part of the investigation," according to Live Nation spokesman Chris Plunkett. "The company believes it has ample security in place at every event."
That means that all the shows will go on. And there are plenty scheduled at the Mountain Winery in the upcoming days and every night through Aug. 29. No refunds are being offered to ticket-holders who, in light of the incident, do not wish to attend an upcoming concert.
Friday, some concertgoers attending the Hippiefest at the venue shrugged off the incident while others felt a sense of dread.
"It's no big deal, just some nut case who jumped off the edge," said Gary Crist of San Bruno as he climbed the steep hill to the venue.
"It's kind of eerie," said Lilliana Martinez, who was there Friday with friends. "It does make me feel kind of weird."
Bay Area News Group writer Kristen Marschall and Mercury News staff writers Mark Gomez, Sean Webby and Dennis Akizuki contributed to this report.
No comments:
Post a Comment