Fans gather in Los Angeles to remember heavy metal legend Ronnie James Dio

Fans gather in Los Angeles to remember heavy metal legend Ronnie James Dio

Derrik J. Lang
Associated Press
May 31, 2010

LOS ANGELES - The mammoth service for fiery frontman Ronnie James Dio was more akin to a spirited rock concert than a dreary funeral.

With chants of "Dio, Dio, Dio," headbangers were loud and proud Sunday as they paid tribute to the late metal legend, who died from stomach cancer May 16 at age 67.

More than 1,200 fans commemorated Dio inside Forest Lawn Memorial Park's Hall of Liberty. Hundreds more gathered in the scorching heat outside the auditorium to watch monitors of the proceedings, which featured performances from some of Dio's rocker friends, including Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple, Geoff Tate of Queensryche and Paul Shortino of Quiet Riot.

"He touched all of us with his music and his message and his magic," said David Feinstein, Dio's cousin and Elf bandmate. "I know that Ronnie truly loved all of you. He had a great appreciation for your loyalty. I'm talking about all you out there, all the fans."

Those gathered remembered the feisty vocalist from such bands as Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath and the self-titled Dio as a passionate performer who was gracious on and off stage.

Many recalled Dio's continued support over the years of Children of the Night, the teenage prostitution rehabilitation organization where his wife, Wendy, serves as chairman.

Dio revealed last summer that he was suffering from stomach cancer shortly after wrapping up a tour in Atlantic City, N.J., with the latest incarnation of Black Sabbath under the name Heaven and Hell.

Dio's son, Dan Padavona, cautioned the memorial crowd to be screened regularly by a doctor and take care of themselves, something he said his father did not do.

"I beg you not to make the same mistake my dad made," said Padavona. "For dad, the show always had to go on. He ignored the warning signs for years, and all along the cancer was growing and mutating from something that was probably easily defeatable into a monster which even Dio couldn't slay."

A few members of the Westboro Baptist Church demonstrated outside of the park's gates as hundreds of fans arrived to remember Dio, who made the "devil horns" hand gesture he learned from his Italian grandmother a heavy metal signature.

Members of the fundamentalist church said they opposed Dio because they believed he worshipped Satan.

Several musician friends of Dio celebrated the rocker by performing tunes that featured Dio's signature howl.

Scott Warren of Heaven and Hell began the memorial with an arrangement of Dio's "This is Your Life" on piano. John Payne of Asia crooned Black Sabbath's "Heaven and Hell." Joey Belladonna of Anthrax wailed Rainbow's "Man On The Silver Mountain."

"He had that magic," remembered Willie Fyfe, Dio's longtime personal assistant. "He always called it magic. Once he had a crowd in his hands, that's where they stayed until it was time to go, then he'd give them back, and walk off and do his thing. Bless him. He's still doing that now, and the guy is in a coffin."

Heavy metal fans have got to be about the most loyal that there are. Imagine if any one of the people who have albums on the Top 30 right now... will their fans go to a memorial services decades from now when they die...? I somehow doubt it.

It's like one of thew things i've read when Slipknot's bassist died last week. Yeah, they were popular but they've only been around since the mid-90's. Hardly a comparison to Dio.

Reminds me of when people were comparing Micheal Jackson to Elvis.

alland wrote:Heavy metal fans have got to be about the most loyal that there are. Imagine if any one of the people who have albums on the Top 30 right now... will their fans go to a memorial services decades from now when they die...? I somehow doubt it.

Shudder at the thought of a Britney memorial service.

The_Amber_Spyglass wrote:Shudder at the thought of a Britney memorial service.

Or if somebody blew up the Backstreet Boys.

I totally agree about the loyalty from the metal fans. But I would say a lot of that is because of the loyalty from the metal bands to the fans. Just look at an Iron Maiden tour for example. Here we are in 2010 and despite not being "popular" (on radio) since about 1986, they still manage to go around the world and play hundreds of shows a year to sell-out crowds. I mean, that takes a hell of a lot of effort on their part. And I'm almost certain that the fans realize that and give back, by continuing to show up to the concerts. I mean, contrast that to a lot of popstars of today who do like twenty concerts and then take three years off... It's like they don't give a flying - and I would imagine most of them don't. I mean hell, I had tickets to Britney in 2004 - but then she blew out her knee... Okay, stuff happens. But what still p*sses me off to this day is that the show was never made up. They could have rescheduled things six months or a year later, but they didn't. Instead Britney went on a three-year "hiatus" (freak-out) and lost most of what she'd acheived. And then others (Miley) came along and kicked her a$$ into obscurity. That showed me that Britney really didn't care.

That's not to say that I think Britney (to use the same example) is irrelevant now. She's not. I agree that most of what comes from the entertainment world today is media hype - but sometimes the hype is deserved. I say Britney fits that category. Whatever someone may think of her now, she earned what she achieved. And the same can most certainly be said about Michael Jackson. Yeah, when he died the media world went overboard. But IMO, he deserved every tribute, accolade and remembrance that he got - and then some. The man was a legend any way you slice it.

As for Ronnie James Dio, I feel the same. No matter how many tributes are done for him, it won't be enough. The man was a God. Whether me or anyone else liked the music is irrelevant. His impact on music as a whole (and IMO to videos) is immense. I have nothing but respect for his legacy.

You should rent, if you can, the last Iron Maiden dvd.

Flight 666
50,000 miles traveled, 5 continents, 23 concerts, 45 days!

Here's the Wikipedia account of it. Impressive. It's pretty good to watch, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Maiden:_Flight_666

Yeah, all these young stars are blowing their careers with dope and drugs. Britney is a good example. Then you have her sister who got knocked up. She's not even close as sexy as she was.

I have the Flight 666 DVD. Besides the music, since I'm somewhat of a airplane buff, it's fun watching it from that point-of-view too. I mean I have Flight Simulator X and one of the planes is an Airbus 321, which is kind of like a 757 that the band flies. And the shots from the cockpit on the DVD are just priceless - 'Okay Bruce, don't fook up the landing! Unlike FSX, you only get one shot!' And then there's the concert itself. What can I say? It's pure gold. I also have the Heaven & Hell DVD. And Judas Priest. They go well with my Britney and Miley stuff.

That's cool! I have that dvd myself... along with the Rock In Rio and Live After Death dvd's.

Bruce is a serious pilot and has been for years.

I have FS9. I played that thing from 2005 till last year when i got burned out with it. It's fun learning. Once i learned how to do an ILS landing with a big jet, it was all good after that.

Yep, Heaven and Hell's and the Priest dvd from Tokyo from a couple years ago along with the old Memphis show from 1982. Classic sh!t.

TexasBlue wrote:That's cool! I have that dvd myself... along with the Rock In Rio and Live After Death dvd's.

Bruce is a serious pilot and has been for years.

I have FS9. I played that thing from 2005 till last year when i got burned out with it. It's fun learning. Once i learned how to do an ILS landing with a big jet, it was all good after that.

Yep, Heaven and Hell's and the Priest dvd from Tokyo from a couple years ago along with the old Memphis show from 1982. Classic sh!t.

Bruce is an interesting guy. I don't know if he's still into it, but years ago he was really into fencing and probably could have done it professionally if it weren't for his music career. He also write a movie screenplay, "The Chemical Wedding" about Aleister Crowley back in 2008. Maiden does the sdtk. and he has a couple of cameos in it, although he's hardly recognizable:


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0974536/

Maiden had a song in 1984 called Flash of the Blade which was about the old duels back in the day. Yeah, he's a huge fan.