Ronnie James Dio

May he rest in peace. 
There's nothing like driving 300 miles by yourself with a brutal hangover only to find out that a musical legend who helped define the sound and iconography of the music you love has passed away.
More importantly than his huge voice and incredible legacy, according to all accounts he was a genuinely solid and kind human being and we just can't afford to lose many more of those.

Some celebratory memories:
1. The fates work in strange ways.  I was putting together a mix CD for the drive I mentioned earlier, and the live version of "Children of the Sea" just jumped off the screen and onto the playlist even though the majority of the other tunes were non-metal (Joe Walsh, Dead Kennedys).   I'll admit that I was an Ozzy era-purist for the longest time as far as Sabbath is concerned.  Even though "Mob Rules" was carefully spray painted in areas where the older kids drank (a subliminal clue), and eventually my friends and I too.  I didn't give the Dio stuff a proper chance until 2005 when I bought a copy of Mob Rules at the world-renowned Jerry's Records and spent the rest of that summer drinking wine on my porch on Forward Avenue with it as the soundtrack.  "The Sign of the Southern Cross" is one of the best Sabbath jams from any era.  It's majesty made even more stark by the grinding title track right afterwards; a killer one-two punch.  It took a little longer for Heaven and Hell to sink in, but once it did...I haven't really stopped playing that stuff since.  But Dio made an impression on me way, way earlier than that with "The Last in Line" video.  A whole post could be written about the video and its interesting story and monumental production values.  The song blew my adolescent mind so much that I was moved to buy the first of many dubbed tapes from my friend Mark's fledgling tape dubbing enterprise.  I'll never forget this thing...he painstakingly drew and then colored the ornate Dio logo on the cover.  Mark's deal was 2 albums on a 90 minute cassette for 3 dollars.  He even had lists!  My first selection was Dio's The Last in Line with Motley's Shout at the Devil on the flipside.
Man, do I wish I still had that thing!  I can see that logo plain as day in my mind.  The point of this is even though I stubbornly overlooked RJD's work with Sabbath for far too long, I freakin' loved Holy Diver and The Last in Line.   I tuned out around Sacred Heart, because I was starting to get into heavier stuff at the time.

2. Even in his late 60's the man still had an astonishing ability to sing his songs at such an incredibly high level.  I was fortunate enough to see Heaven and Hell, with Judas Priest and Motorhead in 2008, and I was just stunned at how great Dio sounded and how commanding and sincere his stage presence was.  You could tell he cared about his songs and his fans and that those concerns wouldn't allow him to give a half-assed, phoned-in performance like many of his contemporaries.
And it's not like his vocals are easy to pull off.  They had to be so demanding for a man his age after so many years on the road and in the studio, yet there he was nailing "The Sign of the Southern Cross."
Look, when I see pictures or video of the Rolling Stones these days I seriously get fucking embarrassed.
The guys in Heaven and Hell are nearly as old, but still capable of crushing and inspired performances.  We raved about how great Tony Iommi played and how great RJD's vocals were at the show for weeks, man.   Also, The Devil You Know is a decent album (it gets bogged down in the middle).  The riffs are killer, Dio sounded great.  This band still could go, which is one reason his passing is so sad.

3. I picked up Rainbow Rising last summer after years of recommendations and I haven't been able to get into it just yet.  I don't think that's RJD's fault, though, as Ritchie Blackmore's playing and songwriting gets a little too overwrought for my ears sometimes (sorry Dave!)  Again it's a testament to Dio's legacy and longevity that there are eras of his career still to be discovered and celebrated even by a long-term fan such as myself.
You will be missed.


More soon....including thoughts on the very strange, very cool new Darkthrone album.

"I notice that most of you suck at appreciating Never Say Die!"

 cover by HipGnosis

My niece Ryann Marie was born in the afternoon on Monday, April 26th!  April 26th is an important day to my family and her being born on that particular date was pretty damn special.  Ryann and her mom are healthy and happy; so my mind has been happily focused on things other than wrestling, metal and Scorsese flicks for the past week or so.
This past Thursday was National Poem in Your Pocket Day and I spent the afternoon handing out free poems to people downtown.  It was awesome!  Most people were pretty stoked to get a poem, and some even told me it made their day.  As a fan of poetry, it was great to see so many people still excited and moved by it.
Alie went to Pennsylvania, yesterday, to spend time with her family and left me all alone last night with my beer, records and DVDs.
I go to this record store a lot to buy vinyl and, they do something really dangerous and yet cool: they email their dedicated vinyl costumers whenever they obtain large, new collections.  They even add descriptions like "this batch is heavy on 70's weirdness, free jazz, rare blues."  I love it.
Amongst my recent finds was a $3 copy of Black Sabbath's Never Say Die!  What a strange record!
I used to shun this album, even though the original Sabbath line-up is, and always will be, one of my all-time favorite bands.  Man, was I stubborn and clueless.  In fact, the title of this post comes from the old Relapse board where an exasperated poster finally lashed out at everyone in one of those threads where people are ranking their favorite Sabbath albums (a staple of metal message boards) and either ranking Never Say Die! behind records like Headless Cross or leaving it out completely.  I was firmly in the 'leave it out completely' crowd.  He was right, I was wrong.  The line has always stuck with me, though.  This record definitely has more going on within it than its predecessor, Technical Ecstasy.  The title track is a like last gasp.  Like a twitch from a dead body, or one last desperate haymaker from an over-matched boxer with wobbly legs.  Making it even weirder is the strained sense of optimism in the lyrics and delivery.  Ozzy had already been fired once, he sounds tired, yet here he is with a neon bright hook/warcry about not surrendering.  Sabbath aren't really known for hooks, but "Never Say Die" is definitely one exception.  "A Hard Road" also has a nice, deliriously hefty hook.
"Johnny Blade" is one of my favorite and most underrated Sabbath songs.  The creepy organ at the beginning reminds me of some of the music in Tenebre, then it mutates into these strangely mechanical and relentless metallic grooves with washes of synth.  But what I really love are Ozzy's vocals.  Holy shit are they DRAMATIC!!! So emotionally over the top in the best possible way!  Songs like this are why I used to write "O-Z-Z-Y" on my fingers when I was a kid, and also why I go into "Old man yells at cloud" style fits of disappointed rage these days when I think about his stupid family, piece of shit MTV show and overall devolution into a cartoon with balls big enough to sue the people whose musical genius made him what he is (Geezer and Tony).
He wrings this awesome drama out of  his vocals on"Johnny Blade", particularly the choruses, because I believe that maybe John Michael Osbourne actually wrote these lyrics and they are, at least partially, autobiographical.  He knows it's nothing but a matter of time before he gets kicked out of Sabbath again and he acknowledges how lonely and scared he truly is by this eventuality.  I think he knew he would probably just drink himself to death and that's exactly what he was doing when Don Arden's daughter rescued him a year or so later.  That fear pours out through these vocals: WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU JOHNNY BLADE??
Continuing on the personal theme, I read somewhere that the title of "Junior's Eyes" was inspired by something Ozzy's father says.  The jaggedly inspired psyche swoops, solos and flourishes on "Junior's Eyes" are played brilliantly yet so unlike most of Iommi's other work with Sabbath.
Despite some great moments from Ozzy, the true star of Never Say Die is, indeed, Tony Iommi. The weird thing about that is, I don't think this album contains one single legendary Iommi riff.  It might be the only Sabbath album that doesn't have at least one, but in the words of Marc S. Tucker writing for Perfect Sound Forever:

Iommi entered an unusual short period, shown best in "Johnny Blade," where he's a solo mini-group, playing highly engaged dubbed counterpoints alongside and above his own base, not only on guitar but keyboards as well.

Tucker also mentions what he terms Iommi's "distinctly unorthodox compositional skill" and his "understanding of esoteric levels of play."
I agree wholeheartedly.  It is hard to put in words how strangely constructed this album and these songs truly are. "Distinctly unorthodox" is about the best we can do.

Even the great Lester Bangs had trouble writing about Sabbath to his usual level of brilliance, even though he loved them.  I don't feel as bad.  According to Jim Derogatis's excellent Let it Blurt, Lester used to put on Master of Reality and start drinking Labatt Blue until he passed out. Who hasn't?

After I played Never Say Die, I had the urge to listen to "The Wizard" so I started spinning the first album and I realized I'd come full circle.
As I always say: Sabbath will pull you through.

More on Sabbath soon.  I also watched a few old Undertaker matches that I wanted to comment on and I'll do that soon as well. 
I have to go handout Free Comic Books.