KILLER SHOW Author John Barylick to Visit Providence Public Library Sunday, February 10

KILLER SHOW Author John Barylick to Visit Providence Public Library Sunday, February 10

Providence Public Library welcomes Rhode Island author John Barylick for a talk on his book Killer Show. The program is free and open to the public. Book sales and book signing to follow.

About the book and author

On February 20, 2003, in the few minutes it takes to play a hard-rock standard, the fate of 462 unsuspecting nightclub patrons was determined with awful certainty. That night, the fourth-deadliest club fire in U.S. history occurred at a roadhouse in West Warwick, Rhode Island, called “The Station.” The blaze was ignited when pyrotechnics set off by Great White, an 80’s heavy-metal band, lit flammable polyurethane “egg-crate” foam sound insulation on the club’s walls. In less than five minutes, 96 people were burned alive and 200 more were injured, many catastrophically. The final death toll topped out, three months later, at the eerily unlikely round number of 100.

The story of the fire, its causes and its legal and human-tragedy aftermath, is one of human lives put at risk by petty economic decisions – by a band, club owners, promoters, building inspectors and product manufacturers. Any one of those decisions could have potentially avoided the tragedy. Together, however, they formed a fatal critical mass.

In “Killer Show,” John Barylick sifts an abundance of clear, convincing, and frightening evidence in what is perhaps the definitive account of the Station nightclub fire. And he demonstrates that the greatest tragedy here was that it didn’t need to happen. -- Boston Globe

John Barylick is an attorney who represented victims in numerous wrongful death and personal injury cases arising from the Station nightclub fire. His work was instrumental in amassing 176 million dollars in settlements from persons and corporations responsible for the fire. Mr. Barylick is a frequent lecturer at medical and legal seminars and is the recipient of the 2006 Rhode Island Trial Lawyers Association Award for Professionalism.

Parking is available at the Providence Hilton Parking Garage, $3/3 hours. Bring your ticket with you for validation.