Dio fans force action over ignored cancer

Ronnie James Dio fans have helped bring attention to the ignored form of cancer that killed the iconic singer.

Cash raised by the Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund was instrumental in forcing the US government into action over gastric cancer, says widow Wendy Dio – and the resulting research could benefit hundreds of thousands of people.

The charity was launched soon after the singer’s death in 2010. Since then, Dio fans have contributed $600,000.

Wendy tells Blairing Out: “We gave the hospital Ronnie was at $117,000 and they put it to gastric cancers. Before that there were no government funds for gastric cancer research.


“With our seed money they were able to go to the government and say, ‘We’ve got funding for this.’ The government gave them a grant of $11 million. That was amazing.”

Wendy says she cried when she heard Dio’s bandmate Tony Iommi had also been diagnosed with cancer. She says: “We didn’t talk about it – he lives in England, I live here. But I sent him lots of encouragement, letters and things.”

Meanwhile, Sharon Osbourne has revealed she underwent a double mastectomy after her own cancer scare.

She’d fought colon cancer several years ago, and recently discovered she was carrying a gene which increased her chances of contracting the disease in her breasts. She made the decision to have them removed.

The wife and manager of Black Sabbath singer Ozzy tells Hello: “As soon as I found out I had the gene I thought, ‘The odds are not in my favour.’

“I’ve had cancer before and I didn’t want to live under that cloud. I decided to just take everything off. For me it was a no-brainer. I don’t even think of my breasts in a nostalgic way – I just wanted to be able to live my life without that fear all the time.”

source: classicrockmagazine.com

Newsbites: Dio planned retirement call

Ronnie James Dio would have decided whether to retire yesterday had he not died of cancer in 2010, says bandmate Geezer Butler. Speaking on what would have been the singer’s 70th birthday, the bassist said: “Ronnie should have been celebrating and probably would have been if he’d had his health checked regularly. I once asked him if he’s ever thought about retiring. He said he would make that decision on his 70th birthday. That is why today is so poignant. I think I know what his decision would have been.”

The new Thin Lizzy album will not follow Phil Lynott’s last music footsteps, says guitarist Damon Johnson. He reports: “Towards the original end they made Thunder and Lightning. That album was so heavy – it seemed Phil wanted to go down a heavy metal route for a while. That’s not what the new album will be. There are some big, fat classic riffs. We all know it’s going to be under the microscope. We know there will be pundits who criticise it, but pundits aren’t necessarily fans.” Of frontman Ricky Warwick Johnson says: “The guy is a class songwriter, and that’s what Scott Gorham and Brian Downey needed to make another Thin Lizzy record.” [Gibson]

Troubled comedy actor Charlie Sheen made fun of Guns n’Roses frontman Axl Rose when he unveiled guitarist Slash’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame yesterday. Sheen said: “It’s quite fitting the Slash is getting a star on the very street Axl will one day be sleeping on. This star is going to be stepped on more than the coke we did in the eighties.” [Rolling Stone]

Iron Maiden guitarist Adrian Smith is considering the release of an instrumental album he recorded a few years ago. Smith says: “It’s still in the can, as they say, but that was interesting. A lot of fun to do. I like so many different types of music. I’m probably going to do something with it in the future.” [BraveWords]

Green Day will launch two documentaries to coincide with their upcoming three-part album releases. The first movie covers the making of discs Uno, Dos and Tre, which appear in September, November and January respectively. The second film features the band’s early days. Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong says: “It’s not going to be the sitting down, headshot of going, ‘We started out blah blah blah.’ We wanted to get into lifestyles of rock’n'roll, and letting the story tell itself rather than be revisionist.”

Serj Tankian doesn’t believe some of the anti-consumerist material on new solo album Harakiri was created on his iPad. “If you’re looking for irony you can find it anywhere,” he says. “Utilising an iPad to write a song is no different from using acoustic guitar or piano. As a songwriter you always want to change and progress. While I’m not endorsing the Apple corporation in any way, it is a useful tool. Consumerism is part of our life – there’s blind consumerism and then there’s consumer awareness. They are very different things.” [Noisecreep]

Stone Gossard’s attitude to Pearl Jam‘s live setlists has changed over the years. The guitarist explains: “When we started out I wold have been one of those people that thought, ‘Let’s just play the hits – why play anything other?’ But as you get more songs we work them in. It’s given us so much more room because the fans now expect something different each night. Even if you fuck something up, the fact that you’re trying songs you haven’t played before… it’s good to have that challenge.” [MusicRadar]

Radiohead paid tribute to tragic drum tech Scott Johnson, who died when the band’s stage collapsed in Canada last month. At the end of their concert in Nimes, the first since the accident which is still under investigation, they performed their track Reckoner as a third encore. Frontman Thom Yorke dedicated it to “our friend Scott” and a picture of Johnson was displayed on video screens.

Courtney Love‘s former assistant Jessica LaBrie has filed a lawsuit against the Hole singer in Los Angeles. The PA says Love tried to make her forge legal documents and hire a computer hacker, then withheld wages because she refused to “commit fraudulent, unlawful and unethical acts”. LaBrie says she had to quit after 13 months because she was not receiving her salary. [TMZ]

source: classicrockmagazine.com