Anniversary of Ronnie James Dio’s Death

I was a little late jumping on the Dio train as I didn’t really know who he was until about 1984 when I first the song “The Last in Line”. Well, let me tell you that when I first heard I was completely blown away and had to listen to about 10 times in a row. The intro alone is worth listening to 10 times in a row. About a year later he released “Sacred Heart” and his tour stopped at the Worcester Centrum on Halloween. My favorite radio station WBCN in Boston aired the whole concert live on the radio. So I did my trick or treating early enough to get back in time to hear the show. There I was just sitting in my room all by myself pretending I was at the show as the DJ’s described the stage props and how the audience was reacting. I remember them painting a picture of this big dragon that came out and how fans were crawling the walls of the arena. I hadn’t been to a real ‘Rock show’ yet, but in my head, that was my first.

So Ronnie James Padavona aka Ronnie James Dio (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010) lost a battle to stomach cancer one year ago today. I sense that if he could throw in his own two cents today that he’d say what a fortunate guy he was to be able to play with such guitar greats as Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Iommi, Vivian Campbell and Craig Goldy. I’m sure they’d all say they were just as fortunate to play with him too. From everything I’ve ever heard about the guy he sounded like a real sweetheart and genuine person. You’d think that after the way I went off about ‘The Last in Line’ that I’d put that video up here. Well, when I finally got past that one, I heard “Mystery” and listened to that one about 20 times in a row and to this day it has been my favorite Dio song.