"BLUE" JIMMY: SLEAZY ROCK JOURNALIST
BLIND DOG OZZY: NEUROTIC CHIHUAHUA
"BLUE" JIMMY: We just saw the final California performance of the legendary BLACK SABBATH last Sept. 24, at the 2016 OZZFEST at the San Manuel Aphitheater in San Bernardino, CA. Tomorrow night is their final performance ever at the Genting Arena in (appropriately) their home town of Birmingham, England. They say it's THE END for them. In fact, the name of this final tour is called THE END tour. Because of issues with Tony Iommi's health after a struggle with lymphoma, they say this is it!
BLIND DOG OZZY: No way!!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Seeing them up there onstage for the final time and seeing a video of them on the big screen from the 70's when they were young and evil and high and dangerous, I got tears in my eyes. It suddenly hit me that this band had composed the soundtrack for a huge chunk of my life.
BLIND DOG OZZY: And attendant hearing damage!!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: I discovered the band known as BLACK SABBATH one Summer vacation in the early 70's when my big brother David told me not to touch his new "Stereo" radio/record player or his "Stereo" albums. "Stereo" was an important designation back then. Before "Stereo," everything was known as "Hi-Fi." To this day, I don't know what the f**k either of those things mean but I knew that "Stereo" was like, better than "Hi-Fi."
BLIND DOG OZZY: ???
"BLUE" JIMMY: When my big brother told me not to touch his player or his albums, I took that to mean to not touch them when he could catch me touching them. It somehow didn't register that I wasn't actually supposed to touch them at all. So there were the first three BLACK SABBATH albums that my brother had borrowed from a friend: "Black Sabbath" "Paranoid" and "Master Of Reality." I had already heard some great, classic hard rock albums by bands like CREAM, IRON BUTTERFLY, JIMI HENDRIX, GRAND FUNK RAILROAD and DEEP PURPLE but these were different ... these were f**king scary!!! I picked them up and they smelled like patchouli incense and strawberry oil and they all had those little cut marks all over the back of them that suggested they had been used to chop up buds of weed and roll joints during many a stoned and decadent listening session.
BLIND DOG OZZY: Nice!
"BLUE" JIMMY: When I put them on the turntable, my ears were stunned to hear impossibly heavy, loud, Apocalyptic Rock music that rattled and vibrated my insides in a way that most people will describe in a manner similar with their first encounter with pornography. It was so wrong ... but why do I like it so much?
BLIND DOG OZZY: Carpe Diem!!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: I was addicted and BLACK SABBATH became my personal cult with their musical and lyrical themes which were part Book Of Revelation, part Dante's Inferno and part Process Church in an era of Cold War doom played by a bunch of stoner hippie f**ks who looked like they had recently been kicked out of the Manson Family!
BLIND DOG OZZY: Basically, good lads! ...
"BLUE" JIMMY: BLACK SABBATH IS: Tony Iommi; Blues and Jazz-influenced left-handed guitarist who plays with plastic tips on his right middle and ring fingers due to the tips being chopped off in an industrial accident. Some say this handicap contributed to the development of his ultra-heavy sound. But it was really his use of downtuning, his frenzied, high register runs and his evil-sounding, atonal riffs that made his music sound like you were at Alestair Crowley's funeral on a dark, rainy night. Whatever the case, most people agree that Iommi invented Heavy Metal guitar. Terence "Geezer" Butler; bassist and in the early SABBATH days, was their main lyricist, relying on the occult, science fiction and horror for the words to much of their songs. He is also supposedly, one of the first electric bassists to use a wah pedal. If you've ever been to a SABBATH show, it was his bass lines that you felt vibrating your balls all the way up in the cheap seats. Bill Ward; Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich influenced drummer who has been in and out of the original lineup in a truly Spinal Tapish manner due to health, weight and substance abuse problems. But in his heyday, he was one of Metal's great drummers who could bang out a drum solo with the best (e.g. "Rat Salad"). He was reportedly set on fire twice by band members as a prank which resulted in serious burns and was once covered in gold paint by them which caused his body to nearly "suffocate" and he had to recover in the hospital ...
BLIND DOG OZZY: ... It's always the fat kid that gets picked on!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Then we come to one John Michael "OZZY" Osbourne; singer, songwriter, actor, raconteur and multi-media personality ...
BLIND DOG OZZY: ... What kind of stupid, f**ked up name is OZZY?
"BLUE" JIMMY: OZZY, as an entity, is as recognizable as Coca Cola, Apple, Mc Donald's and Nike in popular culture. Simply type "OZZY" into any search engine and you will get only one result, his. Despite this renown, it is sometimes easy to forget he is the lead singer in the heaviest Metal band of all time! Never one to rely on distorted screaming or studio effects, his clear, air raid siren of a voice will haunt my consciousness forever ...
BLIND DOG OZZY: "Oh no, no, please God help me! "... ("Black Sabbath").
"BLUE" JIMMY: So there it is. They say this is THE END and I have to take them at their word. But what an incredible, heavy ride it has been. BLACK SABBATH as a band, has outlasted Psychedelic Rock, Disco, Punk, New Wave, Alternative, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, Glam Metal, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal and everything in between. Through it all, they have never "gone commercial" or changed their crushingly heavy sound. And in a music world full of bands with "Black" in their name, none were blacker than BLACK SABBATH. To quote the immortal Nigel Tufnel of SPINAL TAP, "It's like, how much more black can this be? And the answer is none. None more black."
BLIND DOG OZZY: THE END!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Sake's Alive!
BLIND DOG OZZY: Wow! Wow!
bluejames61@hotmail.com
"BLUE" JIMMY: We just saw the final California performance of the legendary BLACK SABBATH last Sept. 24, at the 2016 OZZFEST at the San Manuel Aphitheater in San Bernardino, CA. Tomorrow night is their final performance ever at the Genting Arena in (appropriately) their home town of Birmingham, England. They say it's THE END for them. In fact, the name of this final tour is called THE END tour. Because of issues with Tony Iommi's health after a struggle with lymphoma, they say this is it!
BLIND DOG OZZY: No way!!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Seeing them up there onstage for the final time and seeing a video of them on the big screen from the 70's when they were young and evil and high and dangerous, I got tears in my eyes. It suddenly hit me that this band had composed the soundtrack for a huge chunk of my life.
BLIND DOG OZZY: And attendant hearing damage!!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: I discovered the band known as BLACK SABBATH one Summer vacation in the early 70's when my big brother David told me not to touch his new "Stereo" radio/record player or his "Stereo" albums. "Stereo" was an important designation back then. Before "Stereo," everything was known as "Hi-Fi." To this day, I don't know what the f**k either of those things mean but I knew that "Stereo" was like, better than "Hi-Fi."
BLIND DOG OZZY: ???
"BLUE" JIMMY: When my big brother told me not to touch his player or his albums, I took that to mean to not touch them when he could catch me touching them. It somehow didn't register that I wasn't actually supposed to touch them at all. So there were the first three BLACK SABBATH albums that my brother had borrowed from a friend: "Black Sabbath" "Paranoid" and "Master Of Reality." I had already heard some great, classic hard rock albums by bands like CREAM, IRON BUTTERFLY, JIMI HENDRIX, GRAND FUNK RAILROAD and DEEP PURPLE but these were different ... these were f**king scary!!! I picked them up and they smelled like patchouli incense and strawberry oil and they all had those little cut marks all over the back of them that suggested they had been used to chop up buds of weed and roll joints during many a stoned and decadent listening session.
BLIND DOG OZZY: Nice!
"BLUE" JIMMY: When I put them on the turntable, my ears were stunned to hear impossibly heavy, loud, Apocalyptic Rock music that rattled and vibrated my insides in a way that most people will describe in a manner similar with their first encounter with pornography. It was so wrong ... but why do I like it so much?
BLIND DOG OZZY: Carpe Diem!!!
"BLUE" JIMMY: I was addicted and BLACK SABBATH became my personal cult with their musical and lyrical themes which were part Book Of Revelation, part Dante's Inferno and part Process Church in an era of Cold War doom played by a bunch of stoner hippie f**ks who looked like they had recently been kicked out of the Manson Family!
BLIND DOG OZZY: Basically, good lads! ...
"BLUE" JIMMY: BLACK SABBATH IS: Tony Iommi; Blues and Jazz-influenced left-handed guitarist who plays with plastic tips on his right middle and ring fingers due to the tips being chopped off in an industrial accident. Some say this handicap contributed to the development of his ultra-heavy sound. But it was really his use of downtuning, his frenzied, high register runs and his evil-sounding, atonal riffs that made his music sound like you were at Alestair Crowley's funeral on a dark, rainy night. Whatever the case, most people agree that Iommi invented Heavy Metal guitar. Terence "Geezer" Butler; bassist and in the early SABBATH days, was their main lyricist, relying on the occult, science fiction and horror for the words to much of their songs. He is also supposedly, one of the first electric bassists to use a wah pedal. If you've ever been to a SABBATH show, it was his bass lines that you felt vibrating your balls all the way up in the cheap seats. Bill Ward; Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich influenced drummer who has been in and out of the original lineup in a truly Spinal Tapish manner due to health, weight and substance abuse problems. But in his heyday, he was one of Metal's great drummers who could bang out a drum solo with the best (e.g. "Rat Salad"). He was reportedly set on fire twice by band members as a prank which resulted in serious burns and was once covered in gold paint by them which caused his body to nearly "suffocate" and he had to recover in the hospital ...
BLIND DOG OZZY: ... It's always the fat kid that gets picked on!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Then we come to one John Michael "OZZY" Osbourne; singer, songwriter, actor, raconteur and multi-media personality ...
BLIND DOG OZZY: ... What kind of stupid, f**ked up name is OZZY?
"BLUE" JIMMY: OZZY, as an entity, is as recognizable as Coca Cola, Apple, Mc Donald's and Nike in popular culture. Simply type "OZZY" into any search engine and you will get only one result, his. Despite this renown, it is sometimes easy to forget he is the lead singer in the heaviest Metal band of all time! Never one to rely on distorted screaming or studio effects, his clear, air raid siren of a voice will haunt my consciousness forever ...
BLIND DOG OZZY: "Oh no, no, please God help me! "... ("Black Sabbath").
"BLUE" JIMMY: So there it is. They say this is THE END and I have to take them at their word. But what an incredible, heavy ride it has been. BLACK SABBATH as a band, has outlasted Psychedelic Rock, Disco, Punk, New Wave, Alternative, the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, Glam Metal, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Black Metal and everything in between. Through it all, they have never "gone commercial" or changed their crushingly heavy sound. And in a music world full of bands with "Black" in their name, none were blacker than BLACK SABBATH. To quote the immortal Nigel Tufnel of SPINAL TAP, "It's like, how much more black can this be? And the answer is none. None more black."
BLIND DOG OZZY: THE END!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Sake's Alive!
BLIND DOG OZZY: Wow! Wow!
bluejames61@hotmail.com
