I was drifting off into dreamland when the phone rang, shattering the silence. A quick glance at the digital alarm clock showed it was almost 2 AM
I closed my eyes and decided to ignore the ringing.
Then, I heard a quick squeak from the other bedroom, followed by footsteps heading to the kitchen. The ringing stopped. My mother’s voice mumbled something I couldn’t hear and then footsteps approached my door…. She knocked, and with a tired voice from the darkness said:
“It’s for you. It’s Gene Simmons…”.
Dammit. I was angry. Who did he think he was? I got up, marched to the kitchen with determined steps, and grabbed the handset. “Yes?” I snapped.
“Hello, Daniela, this is Gene Simmons…”, said the very professional voice on the other end. I wasn’t in the mood for diplomacy, so I blurted out:
“You were supposed to call three hours ago, I didn’t expect this call. You’ll have to wait a few minutes, I need to get my taperecorder…”
I didn’t wait for an answer. I just put the handset back where I found it and went back to get my stuff. I didn’t even care if he’d still be there when I came back. But he was and I finally got my interview. At frikkin’ two AM, when the whole house was sleeping.
A Kiss-loving friend of mine almost dropped dead when I told her what had happened. “You can’t be serious! You let Gene Simmons wait on the phone?! Are you NUTS?”
It didn’t even occur to me at the time that it was rude or that you shouldn’t handle a rockstar that way. As usual, I was driven by emotions and just pissed off that night. It was the third attempt for an interview with Gene.
Kiss had just released “Hot In The Shade” and Brita Jungberg from the record company PolyGram had offered me an interview with Gene. She said he would call me on a Tuesday at 8 PM Swedish time. I was well prepared and waited by the phone, excited to get a good interview with one of the greatest names in hard rock.
I waited. And waited…. And waited. He never called. No big deal, anything can happen, I was sure there was a good reason why didn’t. I called Brita the next day and told her that Gene hadn’t called, so she set up a new time for me.
Once again, I sat there in the kitchen, trying to keep the parakeets quiet, bored to death but I couldn’t imagine that he wouldn’t call again. But the phone was as dead that evening as it had been the first time.
I was getting pretty annoyed, cause my time is just as valuable as anybody else’s. I thought it showed a lack of respect to act that way. I didn’t feel like doing that darn interview cause I had lost the enthusiasm for it, but I decided to call Brita one last time and see what the hell was going on. She wasn’t sure but she thought it had something to do with bad weather and problems with the phone lines or something. Oh well. Whatever.
That evening, I sat staring at the phone for the third time, and it didn’t ring. I was absolutely furious when I went to bed that night. I cursed Gene Simmons and fuckin’ goddamn shitty Kiss, mumbling all kinds of things, with black smoke coming out of my ears. That’s how I fell asleep that night. Until my mother woke me up after answering the phone at 2 AM. And there he was – mister “fuckin’ goddamn shitty” Simmons.
Most people don’t get waked by the Demon himself in the middle of the night on a Wednesday.
But the interview turned out well. And it made a memory – at least until the next time I met him and he asked me (and a bunch of other blondes I’m sure) if I wanted to be the mother of his unborn child. Hilarious. Well, at least he’s got a sense of humor! :D
Nothing symbolises rock’n’roll like an electric GUITAR.
What would rock be without its guitar heroes, the axemen and axewomen who can speak through their strings – translate their inner musical visions through their fingertips??
My first guitarhero was YNGWIE MALMSTEEN. I loved, loved loved everything he did, from the early Alcatrazz-stuff, to his first Rising Force instrumental album and to my favorite “Trilogy” and up to “Odyssey” which was a fantastic album in my opinion. He had Joe Lynn Turner singing on it for gods sake, how could you go wrong?! :)
In a way, it was thanks Yngwie that I got my first job at the newspaper Kvällsposten back in 1988. He was coming to Olympen, Lund, to do a show with the Odyssey-lineup and I wrote to Kvällsposten several times, begging them to bring me along if they were going to interview Yngwie. I wanted to see a music journalist in action cause I wanted to be one one day. So to me it was a great idea to kind of do both – meet Yngwie and watch a reporter in action, all at the same time.
I didn’t get to meet Yngwie on THAT visit to Lund, but the next time he played – I was there to interview him – for Kvällsposten. :) By then, they had given me the job as their rock-reporter because they saw, judging from my letters, that I could write and that I knew my music…!
[One of my absolute favorites… Black Star.]
I thought he was a musical genious.
I mean – he was WILD on stage! He was like a super-model, striking 30 different poses in one minute, yet he would continue playing that guitar like nobody’s business, it was breathtaking. How could you do all that running and posing and headbanging and still play like a modern Paganini and make it look like a piece of cake??? Yngwie is the ultimate guitar hero in my book.
[From one of my first meetings with Yngwie – at Olympen, Lund 1989. He wouldn’t let the photographer take any pics before he got a Rolex on his wrist! He had a whole BOX of Rolexes that he wanted help choosing from! As far as I know, this photo was never published, I got it from the photographer as a gift because it hadn’t been used. :)]
My next guitar hero was PAUL GILBERT. I wish I could say that I “discovered” him through Racer X but I didn’t. I got the Racer X-albums later but it was the first Mr Big-album that blew me away.
I get all excited just THINKING about it! :)) Paul was – no, Paul IS fantastic! What I loved about him, and still do, is his very personal style. He can show off but he always does it tastefully, and he always has an element of entertainment in everything he does. I adore his goofy sense of humor.
It was always fun and interesting seeing him in a new video, or live shows or something – cause he always had those crazy pants, suits, shirts, and and guitars! I remember the one with the fringes – and he was talking about it in an interview – or maybe in one of his first instruction-videos. He was laughing while explaining why he liked the fringes – and suddenly it made perfect sense. It looked cool and it kept his hands dry!
[My copy of Guitars That Rule The World – with Paul Gilbert’s signature on it]
I collected EVERYTHING there was with Paul Gilbert. I loved his Jimi Hendrix-solo album cause he has such a cool singing voice too. But one of my favorite things was a silly little tune that he played on a CD called “Guitars That Rule The World“, released by Guitar World back in 1992. It had other great players on it: Yngwie, Nuno Bettencourt, Reb Beach, Zakk Wylde (although I’m not a Zakk-fan) and Richie Kotzen to name a few.
Paul’s contribution was this very goofy, fun melody that to me is 100% HIM. Anything goes! It was called “I Understand Completely” (even the title is very…. Paul)
Found these on Youtube – the actual tune and Paul explaining how the song came about.
I travelled all over the place to see Mr Big, and of course, it was for one reason – mainly – and that was Paul Gilbert. I was backstage with the guys a few times and I was shocked because back in those days, there was one “prop” that you would always see backstage with EVERY band that came through town: Groupies.
There were barely any groupies backstage with Mr Big, just very few that kind of “had to” be there for the image of the band or whatever. The only one who gave a flying fuck about them was Billy who politely talked to one chick that was dressed in a white leather cowgirl outfit. Paul didn’t give a rats ass, he was eating cereal out of the box. Eric Martin didn’t care either. Don’t even remember where Pat was.
These guys were 100% musicians, not interested in the groupie-thing. Eventhough Paul wrote the kind of self-explanatory song “A little too loose” about his “side step” with a chick in Oklahoma city, he just seemed so nerdy that he wouldn’t know what to DO with those chicks. He was a rock star – yet he wasn’t. He was a musician, all the way, and I admired him even more after that.
I believe in telling people if they do something that I like – cause we could all use more positive feedback in life, in general. So…. I wrote to Paul when he was out on the road (back in those days, without internet, you had to buy a music mag, check the dates and venues, and then try to send it to the venue that seemed closest, where they would actually receive the mail).
One day, when I got home from work, there was a letter for me. From some hotel in England? It was from Paul!! I was really touched- he took time to reply, it was the sweetest thing. I’ve had that in a frame ever since. That – and his guitar pick. :)
Saw Mr Big everywhere and Billy Sheehan was the one who ended up talking to me every time, cause Paul was a kind of in his own little world most of the time – which was okay by me, I loved his musicianship, he could be whoever he wanted to be offstage.
Then there were no more guitar heroes for a while. Except for a short Steve Vai-period during the “The audience is listening“-time. I loved his crazy Ibanez-guitars, the one with the hysterical, insane neon colors and the HANDLE! :)
Then…. I went to NYC back in December, which was a dramatic story just that – might tell it again someday but not now… I had tickets for Toronto too but since my friend Kevin couldn’t go and my other friend Shawn had to cancel in the last minute too, I figured what the heck, I’ll skip Canada and just concentrate on the Madison Square Garden-gig.
I just wanted to see my hero ROB HALFORD. That was the purpose of even going to the show. My plan was to just see a few songs with Ozzy and then leave. I’ve seen Ozzy a bunch of times through the years. He is a living legend, NOTHING he’s ever done has ever been BAD. I love all his albums and all that, but I was tired after the ordeal even GETTING to New York that day when LaGuardia was closed and I had to get there from Nashville and Washington D.C by car….!
So I was a wreck when I finally got to the show. Of course, Halford gave me my energy back, I was HIGH after his gig, I mean, what can I say…. The man rules.
The plan was to check out a few songs with Ozzy and go back to the hotel to get some sleep. But……. Change of plans!!
Zakk Wylde was out of the band, which I think was about time, cause Ozzy needed something new and fresh. And he sure found it.
GUS G is the new, modern guitar hero. I was blown away and time just flew. Tired? Oh yeah, I just forgot that I was. I didn’t miss a thing of Ozzy’s show at Madison Square Garden, and certainly not one single note of Gus’ playing or antics on stage. Holy crap.
Suddenly, Ozzy’s show wasn’t the “same old, same old” anymore. It was new, refreshed, ALIVE, interesting. And it’s because of a 30-year old Greek guy with a “hair-fan” and his ESP’s…!
I haven’t really been a “fan” of anything for a few years, but I felt like an enthusiastic kid again. You get kind of jaded after a while – I mean, I still love my old heroes but it’s hard to get me into the new stuff because nobody quite sticks out anymore. I grew up with larger-than-life rockstars. Those are pretty much extinct. Gus G has brought it back to rock’n’roll.
What I love about that guy is his ENTHUSIASM, his true love for what he does – you just can’t miss that.
The guy really lives for his guitar. I enjoy the OzTV-video blog episodes, so I subscribed to them. Almost in EVERY video, you see Gus sitting around somewhere playing his guitar. Before the show. During the show. After the show. In his sleep?? :-D
It’s his best friend, it’s a part of him. And unlike other hyped guitarplayers – he is not mainly about image, he is all about being 100% musician / guitar hero. Guys look up to him. Girls want to do him. The ultimate guitar god.
He plays with passion.
You see him on stage playing, and it’s with such intensity that it’s as if he’s making love to his guitar. Classy, beautiful, aggressive, technical, heavy, his fingers are so fast that you’d swear you’re watching them with a motion-blur!
I like this guy because he is genuine. There’s nothing fake about him. It makes me curious to find out what lies behind his sincere, pure passion for guitarplaying.
That show in NYC had me go to London with very short notice, to see his band Firewind. I wouldn’t care if he was playing with fucking JUSTIN BIEBER – I would want to go and see him play! [one of my videos from the London-gig]
I wrote him just to ask about the London show and he wrote back almost right away. Very few people in his position do that. They are busy or lazy or both, and fans are gonna be there anyway, so why bother?
It’s refreshing with a musician that doesn’t have attitude-problems and who plays like he’s best pals with GOD. Or that other dude… downstairs! :)
My perception of this guy is very positive and a big Gus-fan from Canda, a cop who is absolutely nuts about Firewind and Gus, has the most fantastic things to say about Gus as a person. Actually, when I look around the web, the same thing keeps coming back in comments from fans: “He’s such a nice guy”.
He’s unbe-fuckin’-lievable on stage, plays like he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his super-talent – and … he is nice to people. What’s not to like about the dude? :)
I’ll be all over Europe this summer to enjoy Ozzy-shows. Gus G has already placed himself in the history-books as Ozzy’s guitar wiz, yet he doesn’t quite seem to get it yet. :) Watch this clip:
“People think I’m somebody famous….” :-D
The guitar symbolises everything that we love about rock – passion, love, hate, anger, strength – power!!
The Beatles was the first band I really, really idolized. I knew everything about them. I had all their records, I read every book there was about them… Well, the story is too long and I need some sleep tonight.
But this autograph brings back another memory.
Beatles-producer George Martin came to Malmo back in 1993 to conduct the Malmo Symphony Orchestra for a Beatles-evening at the city concert call.
Of course, I had to go. I mean, it wasn’t a regular concert like the ones I was used to – this was a dress up-fancy sort of thing, but I like to do something different every now and then.
When he walked out on stage, I could not BELIEVE that I was actually breathing the same air as a Beatles-legend. He was the fifth Beatle for crying out loud! So elegant, so cool. :)
I loved the music, it was beautiful to hear the classic Beatles songs performed by a symphony orchestra, conducted by George Martin himself.
Then came the intermisson. Everybody left the concert hall to grab a drink, go to the WC, smoke a cigarette or whatever people do. But I stayed in the hall, because I had noticed that there was a door right next to the stage, and it wasn’t completely closed.
I have no idea what got into me, but I started walking towards that door. There was no security, nothing. I guess they didn’t think there would be any hysterical fans at a serious concert like that, so why bother.
When I got to the black door, I heard people talking in there. I stuck my nose in very slowly, very discreetly… and saw George Martin with his back turned, talking to someone.
In that moment I just thought it’s now or never, so I opened the door, as if I was supposed to be there, and figured that if nobody threw me out within the next five seconds, the coast was clear. Nobody did.
The person George was talking to noticed me and subtly nodded to make him aware of my presence.
George Martin turned around and saw me standing there (oh, there’s a Beatles-song – I Saw Her Standing There).
He was the sort of person who is just so… larger than life. His white hair and very polite, articulate british way was enough to make me speechless.
He smiled and waved as to show me to come in.
I tried to look confident as I handed over the program of the evening and asked if he could sign it for me. He did while he was trying to make conversation. Don’t ask me what he said or what I said (Oh, there’s another Beatles song! She said, she said) cause I have no idea.
After that,it’s all just a blur, I don’t remember anything. It was just unbelievable to me. This man…had been working with John, Paul, George and Ringo… He was a part of their music, he was a living legend and he was standing right in front of me! That was overwhelming.
I still can’t believe I just walked in like that, but I’m glad I did. Sometimes you’ve just got to take your chances and not think too much.
It’s an amazing feeling and I feel so privileged for having met the man who was a part of creating and changing music history. Maybe I should have used that time more wisely, but I guess I was only human for dropping my jaw.
I just celebrated my “alternative” Valentine’s Day. Filled up the tub with red “Jelly baff” which turns water to little jelly beads, that creates a really cool tickling feeling when the water moves. It comes in different colors and of course, I figured red was an appropriate color.
Got in the tub and poured myself a glass of red MOTORHEAD Shiraz-wine… in a red glass. That’s all the Valentine’s “reds” I needed. Lemmy’s wine tastes great and I love the cool bottle! I’ve been stashing up cool rock’n’roll wines lately. I found some of them here in Sweden, such as the ELVIS-wines. Some had to be ordered (but it was a quick delivery, I got it three days later) and some was already in the store.
A few weeks ago, I ordered the limited edition RANDY RHOADS wine and didn’t think much of it. Until I remembered one small detail….customs.
I emailed the Swedish customs and asked about the laws regarding private import of wine. They told me that I was not allowed to order any kind of alcohol from the United States unless it was through an approved agent. It was okay to bring it into the country yourself, if you have it in your checked-in bag, but it wasn’t allowed to have it shipped to Sweden.
So I stopped the shipment and had them send it to my friend Blackie in Nashville. I’ll be going there sooner or later this year anyway, I’ll just pick it up next time I go.
I want the KISS-wines too. Some of them are expensive as hell, others more reasonable prices. So many cool collectibles. I wouldn’t want to drink it, I just want it for the bottle! The Lemmy wine is okay, cause I bought a box of 6 bottles and I can always get more if I want. But the Randy Rhoads-wine is one of those things that I just want to keep.
And there’s just tons of cool stuff out there. MARILYN MANSON’S Absinthe “Mansinthe”, VINCE NEIL’s wines and tequilas, all kinds of other interesting brands – Mick Fleetwood, Cliff Richard, Foghat, Rolling Stones….. You name it.
I would love to start collecting all this stuff, but it’s difficult because of customs and all the rules. It’s not something I can just buy on eBay. It’s more of a project, but not impossible. Guess I can have it sent to my friends in the States and then bring it home, a little at a time. :)
I was going to post links to all those wines in case anyone was interested in buying or finding out more, but why not just Google it! :))
I’m going to have another glass of Motorhead Shiraz and go to bed. What could be better for dozing off than a good, red rock’n’roll wine!
It was rather cloudy but not too cold. I couldn’t really afford the trip over, cause I was pretty much broke, which I usually am a few days before I get my salary (in Sweden, it’s normally on the 25th each month), but I had to go.
The hotel wasn’t far from the dock, so I walked there, passing Nyhavn with all the coffeehouses, there were plenty of people out that day. I felt really small when I walked through the hotel entrance, it was one of those fancy first class hotels where everything was huge and you really feel like you don’t belong there.
I had told Tony when I would be at the hotel, approximately, so I sat in one of the two chairs right across from the elevator. Back in those days, there were no cellphones. Most of us didn’t have one anyway.
Tony Iommi and Geoff Nicholls walked out of one of the elevators and Tony smiled behind his sunglasses. “Hello! Are you waiting for Tony? I think he’ll be down in a minute. Nice to see you! Will you be at the show tonight?”
Sure enough, Tony (Martin) did come down shortly thereafter.
So we went out for a stroll. He needed to find an exchange office and a new leather jacket. I knew Copenhagen very well, so my job was to be his guide. He changed some money, went to a few leather/fur shops but couldn’t find anything that he liked. We just kept walking down “Stroget”, which is like this pedestrian street in the heart of Copenhagen. We passed Tony Iommi and Geoff Nicholls a few times going in the opposite direction, waving and smiling.
When we got to HMV he wanted to go and check if they had the latest Black Sabbath albums, but he didn’t want to be recognized. So he put on his sunglasses. Errrmmmm… NOBODY walks around with sunglasses on a cloudy October afternoon here in Scandinavia. So I told him he might blend in better if he ditched the sunglasses. He did. :-) They had the latest album, which was “Forbidden” at the time, and he was pleased to see that.
I went to check if they had his solo-album, “Back Where I Belong” but they didn’t. He said that not even he had a copy of it. When he first recorded it, he got a few promo-copies from the record company, which he gave to friends and fans, thinking he would get more later.
But when he re-joined Sabbath, the solo-album was suspended by the record company so it was only released in very few copies and never reprinted. A rarity, in other words. I found it shortly thereafter, but not even Tony himself had it, unless he found it later, I don’t know.
He wanted to find a place to get something to eat, and we walked away from the main pedestrian street and into one of the smaller streets where he spotted an Italian restaurant in this old-fashioned building. The restaurant was down in the cellar and so we went inside.
I suddenly realized that I had no money and discreetly made a quick inventory of the contents in my wallet. I could maybe afford the cheapest pasta and the absolutely cheapest wine they had. So I ordered that.
When I got my wine I took a sip and it tasted horrible! It was like vinegar, definitely one of those “you get what you pay for”-kind of wines. If you were trying to get a cheap buzz, it would do, but if you actually wanted to enjoy your wine, it was NOT what you would want to order. Tony immediately noticed my expression, I suppose I wasn’t good at hiding my spontaneous reaction. He asked if the wine was okay. I just said that suuuure, it was no problem, but I failed to convince him
Next thing I know, he’s waving for the waitress and I hear him go: – The lady doesn’t like her wine. Do you have anything else?
I thought to myself “nooo!” because I knew that there was nothing on that list that I could afford. But of course I didn’t want to say that. I said that water would be better, so if they could bring me a glass of ice-water, it was all good. Phew, got out of THAT embarrassing situation quickly.
We were talking and enjoying the food, was really nice. At some point, I don’t remember what had been said before that, but I think he asked me what some of my favorite Sabbath-songs were and i mentioned a few from Eternal Idol. He started singing the first lines of the title track “Eternal Idol”:
No one said it had to be this way Why are we the victims of their final word
Dying world is killing us so slowly I believe no god may save us now
I could have sworn I had died and gone to heaven. There I was, in an Italian restaurant with one of my absolute favorite vocalists of all time, and he was singing for me. My god, that’s one of those things that you just don’t experience every day.
I don’t know how long we were sitting there, but it was a very relaxed and nice dinner that I can remember as clearly as if it happened yesterday. When the waitress brought the bill, I took out my wallet and Tony looked at me with this wondering expression on his face.
– Put that away, I’ll take care of this! he said.
That never even crossed my mind. In Sweden, we are so used to that everyone pays for their own food/drinks, unless it’s a date, and I wouldn’t exactly consider this a date. We were just hungry after all the walking.
I showed him the way back to the hotel and said I would see them all later. I had my backstage passes, tickets and everything, so I was all set.
I saw a bunch of shows on that tour, a little here and there. The one in Stockholm was interesting because I remember calling in sick that day – from the hotel! Thank god they couldn’t see where you were calling from back in 1995. So there I was in my fancy hotel room at Sheraton in Stockholm, calling the office saying I had the flu. I don’t like lying but people just don’t understand this obsession for music. I don’t expect them to either, so I just do what I need to do.
Skid Row and Black Sabbath were playing two days in a row, which was perfect cause I knew both bands. The Skids were good friends of mine, and they wanted to meet Sabbath. So I introduced them to eachother down in the bar later that evening, after the Skids had finished their show at Gino’s. I think it was Scotti, Rachel and Snake saying hi to Bobby Rondinelli, Geoff Nicholls and one more of the Sabbath guys that I honestly can’t remember anymore. If it was one of the Tony’s or Neil Murray, I wouldn’t know.
Neil (Murray) was the one who kept me company that first day in Stockholm. He came downstairs pretty early in the afternoon. Tony (Martin) was meeting with someone he knew in Stockholm so I knew I wouldn’t be seeing him that day. But Neil joined me and talked for a while. I really liked him. Such a kind, quiet, and nice man. To this day, I still try to get together with him when he visits Sweden. The last time was last year I think, when he was here with the Queen-musical. Kept texting back and forth all day to try set up a when and where and he finally found me in the lobby of the concert arena. I’m so glad to see him every time. Definitely one of those people I like very much.
So yeah that was one of the Black Sabbath shows. The other one was in London, it was bizarre. We went to the backstage door, when suddenly – ANOTHER very familiar face showed up in that narrow alley! Bill Wyman from Rolling Stones walked out the backdoor of the club next door. How’s that for a surprise. :)
This was the last show on the Black Sabbath 1995 European tour, and they all went home to their families srtaight after the show. The only one that had a hotel to go to was Bobby Rondinelli, so me and my two friends helped him carry his drums to his room. Then we all sat down in the bar chatting until late. But I never got to say anything to Tony that evening.
I left Sweden in 1996 to go live in Albany, New York and this is when the internet first started making an entrance in people’s homes. The family I was staying with had a PC with an 11-modem that took forever to get online, but it was perfect for emailing. There weren’t that many graphics on the internet back in those days anyway. And there were no social network sites such as MySpace and Facebook and all those things. The only “social network” you had was through discussion groups that you joined, and then you got regular e-mails with the latest additions from us members.
And there were guestbooks. That was the closest you would get to a chatroom.
So anyway, I was in touch with Tony through e-mail during 1996 and with the help of a few guys who were also big fans of his, we set up a Tony Martin page where fans could communicate and ask him questions. He didn’t want to post directly cause that would disclose his email-address, which he wasn’t comfortable with, so he sent his answers to his fans through me.
That year I was the link between Tony Martin and his fans. He was no longer in Black Sabbath by the way, kicked out for the second time. Now he was focusing on his solo-stuff. I LOVED what he did with Misha Calvin for instance. One of the best CD’s in my collection!!
Fantastic vocals…:
Tony was the best singer in the business back in those days, I used to listen to this Misha Calvin-CD over and over again in the car for months!
Fast forwarding to 1997. I came back to Sweden in June that year and the first thing I did was go buy a new Mac. It was a cool BLACK Mac with a 36-modem with was super-fast for those days. :) My friend Ozzie tought me how to use html-editor Dreamweaver, how to scan pics and how to upload a website.
I started experimenting with my own page, which has kind of gone classic by now. So many people AND artists have visited it since it was launched. I think it’s butt ugly and embarrassing today, but I can’t take it down beause the provider that hosted the page, doesn’t exist anymore. So – I can’t access those files and delete them. Guess I just have to live with them.
However I put a lot of time and effort on Tony’s page. That was his way of promoting his solo-career and he sent a bunch of exclusive material, private photos that nobody had ever seen, an extensive bio, music…
For the premiere of the opening of his page, he sent a cassette from his sessions with Italian super-guitarist Aldo Giuntini and it kicked ass! My job was to review it, so that the fans could get an idea of what he was doing and of course get them curious to get his solo-material. He called a few times to discuss the page, I even have one of the messages he left on the answering machine saved somewhere. I’m saving everything, I just wish I knew where the hell I keep all this stuff! :))
It went well, the page was up there, fans loved it. But… Two stubborn people with very particular ideas of what they want to do, didn’t work out that well in the long run. Tony and I got pissed off at eachother – I got mad at him for something I don’t even remember anymore, he thought whatever he thought about me (still have the very sarcastic letter that he sent, here somewhere, but I’m not posting that, feels like a private dispute that isn’t for the public eye anyway). And that was the end of it.
I couldn’t even listen to his music for a long time after that. I was probably to blame for not being more flexible but these things teach you a lot. I’m not the same person that I was back then. You grow older and wiser, and those things would never have happened today.
I enjoyed the time I was in touch with Tony, it’s great reading all the mails that were sent back and forth during 1996, because it was between two friends. He would talk about everyday things – his kids, his wife, his life, and for a while I even forgot that he was the same guy whose voice I could listen to for hours. I certainly never thought of him as a Black Sabbath-member during that time. After a while you just forget those things, and the person becomes “just a person”, which is what we all really are.
I’m not mad anymore because I don’t remember the details of that fight anyway. And to this day I think his voice was a gift from God. What a voice! And what a waste of talent to not hear as much about his career anymore. I can only hope that he finds his way back to the masses. He deserves it.
Lemmy’s wine tastes great and I love the cool bottle! I’ve been stashing up cool rock’n’roll wines lately. I found some of them here in Sweden, such as the ELVIS-wines. Some had to be ordered (but it was a quick delivery, I got it three days later) and some was already in the store.
IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR 