Last night I was backstage at Ozzfest. Yep. It's true. Mr. D. Randall Blythe lead shouter of the massive metal band Lamb of God is, of all things, a Zen practitioner and fan of my books. Not only did he get me and my friends Bret and Ronny backstage, he dedicated their song Redneck to li'l ol' me right there in front of a city's worth of metal heads spread out across the hills of San Bernardino. Here's a video of the song:
We were on board that very bus you see in the video. Though the hot babes must have been elsewhere at the time. I did not see Ozzy, by the way, though I did spot Sharon Osbourne and Jake E. Lee.
I've never been backstage at a big-ass rock'n'roll concert before. That was pretty interesting. The organizers handle things very efficiently at Ozzfest. Set lengths and start times are strictly observed. It's fairly hectic before the show begins. This may nave been one of the reasons I never pushed all that hard to be a rock star. I mean, in the Eighties I gave it a shot. But even at the low level Dimentia 13 achieved, I could see that it was a damned hard way of life. I have a lot of respect for people like Randy who can handle it. I don't think I could have.
After the show the bands and road crews had a big ol' barbeque with more roasting meat than I'd ever seen. Luckily Randy was kind enough to provide a Bocca Burger for me. Those guys were chowing on nothing but sausages, buffalo wings, beer and Jagermeister. Not even buns for the sausages or chips to go with the wings. Like an Atkins Diet get-together gone mad.
There was sort of a biker party atmosphere happening, although you got the impression it was a little less dangerous than a real biker bash. Even scary looking musicians are kind of wimpy at heart. Still, had I not been invited into that group, I would have steered well clear of it. I talked for a while with Frank Novenic of Hatebreed. Frank's from Cleveland and was actually impressed to meet an ex-member of Zero Defex. It's not too often that happens! I guess we made some kind of a mark, like a piss stain on a wall. We both knew the late Dave Araca of The Guns (the Cleveland band, not the LA one). Frank has a tattoo from Dave as have a whole lot of people I know.
Randy is an intelligent, straight-up and kind of bookish guy in person. I'm gonna try and work out an interview or conversation with him later for a Suicide Girls piece.
Funniest comment of the evening. We're talking to this girl Melissa who is running away from a man she calls Leatherface. At one point someone about 15 feet away trips over a bunch of bottles and emerges unscathed, though the altercation makes a hell of a noise. Melissa turns to us and says, "I'm stoned. Did that just happen?"
At some point I'm gonna write this all up. But for now just an interrim report to chew on.
