We lost a great one today.
via Houston Chronicle:
Ronnie James Dio has passed away.
Now, I don't care if you never listened to metal at all (your loss, if you didn't) but even so, you have to appreciate how great this physically-tiny little man's voice really was.
"The Sign of the Southern Cross" with Heaven & Hell (basically the same as the 1981 Mob Rules lineup of Black Sabbath) live in 2008. Just two years ago. He would have been 65 at the time.
Also realize: the \m/ metal-horns gesture? Did you ever wonder about the source of that? It was him. He always accredited it to the sign his old Italian grandmother used to make against the Evil Eye.
For a little extra tribute, here's a snippet from one of my many stalled WIPs. Good Omens. Working title: "Wrong Way Up (A Comedy of Redemption)," a bit I wrote like two years ago. In which Crowley is accidentally Redeemed as a full-status holy angel and hates every minute of it. Aziraphale tries and fails to shield him from the most traumatic effects of the change.
( I promise this excerpt is relevant )Fair winds and smooth sailing, Mr. Dio. Hail and farewell.