2002-03-14 - 0:34

You ain't loud enough

I'm in somewhat of a bind. Essentially, it relates to Sergei Bubka and Ozzy Osbourne. You remember how Bubka used to break his own world record in the pole vault by only a tiny margin, so he could repeatedly get the U.S.S.R.'s bonus payment for breaking the world record?

Well, I've seen Ozzy four times now and this is the fourth time that he has asked me to "go crazier than [I've] ever gone in [my] fucking life." So each time, I do try to go crazier . . . but not too much crazier, 'cause he might ask me to outdo that standard in the future.

I mean, you don't want to lie to a guy like Ozzy. Look at him up there. How can you hear him ask you to go crazier than you've ever gone in your fucking life and then go pretty crazy, but not as crazy as that one time in the spring of '99? You can't break his heart like that. Because he will know. He's Ozzy--he knows these things.

So, it's a fine line that I have to walk, marginally outdoing my craziness personal best; but leaving room for future improvement. That's a hard enough task; but consider how complicated it is to make such a judgement in the midst of your own greatest craziness. Sure, I expect to be physically beaten up at these shows; and yeah, I did sell my soul for rock 'n' roll; but I didn't know there'd be so much precise thinking required. It's truly a hard ol' life that I lead.

So, yes, you probably can tell that I had a fantastic time seeing Ozzy tonight with Aaron. Colin should have also been in the crowd somewhere; but he had to work late, so he came separately. I managed to get quite close to the stage. I wasn't as close as I ended up for Sabbath last summer; but I was still close enough that Ozzy splashed a little water on me from his bucket.

Of course, Ozzy and the band were excellent. Every other time that I have seen Ozzy, it was with Black Sabbath; so it was a treat to hear his solo material live for the first time.

The crowd was also great. It seemed that there were no knuckleheads around me for a change. Everyone was being very cool; and I had fun getting in the mix. I'd say that I worked as hard as anybody during "Suicide Solution" and "Crazy Train," I was moving for most of the night, and I stayed strong through the encore. A few times, I ended up with enough space to really hop and bop and headband and act silly. And that's all that I'm looking for.

It's all about the silliness.

J.

P.S. "I still can't fucking hear you!"