Rip Ronnie James Dio
 

Okay, I don't know if anyone already mentioned it on the forum, but here it is. Never was the biggest fan of Metal, but still, it affects me. I'll always remember my sister and I singing along to heaven and hell in the room, or that part of School of Rock where he sings with "young JB".RIP Dio.

Ronnie James Dio dies :(
 

There were rumours last night that he died but they turned out to be false and then today he finally gave in to stomach cancer. His wife posted a statement on his official site http://www.ronniejamesdio.com

Dio was my musical idol as much as any member of Fleetwood Mac. The man was the voice of hard rock and, having met him twice, was one of the nicest, most humble and most accommodating men I've ever met. The world is a lesser place without him.

I was convinced he'd beat the cancer. Before today I couldn't imagine a world without Dio rocking, touring and releasing albums. :(

I don't know if there are any other fans here but I thought I'd post this anyway.

You just beat me to it. I just posted a similar thread.

The guy was my hero :(

Your post is better, so I'd like to remove the thread i started, but I don't know how ! I'm gonna find a way.

It was very disheartening to hear of his grave condition last night (I've been completely out of the loop, apparently). This is sad- he was a true class act.

My condolences go out to Dio's family. He was one of my favorite metal vocalists.

May the Man on the Silver Mountain continue to rock for all of eternity!

Goodbye baby. Rest in Peace. I always loved his album covers, hence my avatar.

Love, Viv

:distress:


My brother is a really big fan and met him several times. He said he was great with fans and an all-around nice, normal guy. RIP.

So sad to have one of metal's greatest voices silenced. :distress:

RIP

i saw him twice in high school, they were stellar shows~

RIP ronnie~

Rip Rjd...
 

A great man with an even greater heart & voice.

I send my devil-horns to you!

Peace!!!

I loved Dio's mighty voice. I feel fortunate - I caught the second to last stop on Heaven & Hell's tour last August. Who knew that would be the last tour. :(
Dio's performance that night was amazing, as always. So sad. A bit of magic has left the earth today...
RIP Ronnie

The metal community has suffered two massive losses too close together, with Pete Steele last month and now Dio. That's enough for a while. Please.

Throwin' the horns for ya, dude.

Sigh.

Gahh, I had no idea! This is just horrible :distress: What an amazing singer, and one of the greatest artists ever in my book :distress:

:distress: Amazing voice.

Rock in peace, Ronnie :(

Sad news. May he rest...

I've been listening to his albums all day. So many great songs with great bands and that great voice that never left him.

Me too. He's pretty much the definition of a legend.

If any of you guys are interested, Blabbermouth has been posting statements and messages from folks - from Ozzy to KISS to Henry Rollins to King Diamond and like, 5 million more. Some of them are really touching.

Westboro Baptist Plans to Protest Dio's Memorial
 

Apparently, Westboro Baptist Church - the fine examples of humanity that brought you the Matt Shepard funeral protest, protesting at soldiers' funerals because God is punishing us for the "sin of homosexuality," and the attempted border-crossing to Canada to picket at the funeral of that one dude who got his head cut off on a Greyhound bus, among others - have decided they need to protest at Dio's public memorial service this Sunday.

Why? Well, see for yourself. Reasons include various "idolatries" such as throwing the horns in public and "glorifying atheism."

Well, imagine that. :rolleyes: I think I'm gonna have a heart attack and die from not surprise. These people make me sick. They have no sense of human decency.

Wendy Dio, Ronnie's wife and manager, responds with class and grace, much as I am sure Dio himself would have:

"Ronnie hates prejudice and violence! We need to turn the other cheek on these people that only know how to hate someone they didn't know. We only know how to love someone we know!"

In conclusion: Hey, Fred Phelps & Company? Get bent.

Wendy Dio has so much more class and dignity than those hate-mongers.

Their 'brief' is so full of factual errors that it should qualify as a work of fiction.

I actually had to read their statement twice because the grammar was just so bad.

I have never disliked a group of people I've never met before as much as these people. I'd like to say this is them sinking to a new low but they've been as low as they could go for years. This is just another texture to their vile hate.

That's infuriating. Bless her for having so much class and dignity. What that Phelps clan does themselves is what is evil. What they are against is not evil at all. What a waste of space they are.

More news on the Westboro relig-a-tards!
 

As previously reported, there will be a Public Memorial Service for RONNIE JAMES DIO (DIO, BLACK SABBATH, HEAVEN & HELL, RAINBOW, ELF) on Sunday, May 30th at 2:00 PM PT at The Hall Of Liberty located at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles, CA.

Word has since come down that the the independent Westboro Baptist Church intends to picket the service "to remind you who worship that old Serpent, Satan, that your time is very short. You know 67 year old, Satan-worshiping (or at least one of their enablers) Ronnie James Dio (of showing his devil horns to the world each time he goes in public) Black Sabbath fame is dead, right? We'll be there! Just because the chances of any of God's elect being amongst this group of heavy metal sycophants is slim to none does not mean they should not get some good words."

Following is a list of Dio's "sins" according to the organization:

-- "He hates his neighbor(s) starting with Ozzy Osbourne, and continuing down to his pornography star niece Gen Padova!"

-- "He hates God. Pay especial attention to the fact that he changed his original sir name from Padova to Dio, which means God in Italian."

-- "Ronnie the simpleton enabled, and encouraged Sorceries: everything he was about including the little finger horn thing (he got this from his mother which is an incantation to ward off the 'evil eye') to the drugs, bloody raw meat and his fellowship with those pentagon necklace wearing freakish band members."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

I cannot wait for those relig-a-tards to come face-to-face with metal heads - I hope the media have their HD camera's at hand for the ASSBEATING the Westboro f*tards are going to receive.

\m/

ZOMG the Westboro folks are trying to get publicity? No offense, but welcome to 1998.

While it WOULD be incredibly amusing to see some CNN footage of some hesher slap-fighting with Phelps' daughter or something, Dio's service & the metal community as a whole will be better off if we respond only peacefully.

Unless someone wants to let Varg out of jail in order to attend the festivities with a sharp object (or 7). I'd maybe pay to see that. ;)

ETA: WAIT! As soon as I hit publish, I remembered - they actually let him out last year, didn't they? (insert ominous music here)

Yes, they are up to their usual shenanigans, and not a person on the planet is surprised. I can still point out how goofy they are, though.

Yep...
 

Varg has already been paroled...Check out the new Burzum album which was released very recently.

I wonder...Would he burn down their church???...Hmmm...

Btw, there are some church groups in my area who happen to have the same mentality as Westboro. As recent as 2007 I even worked for a company, which at the time I did not know, who were in an ideal manner such as Westboro - They even tried to sway me " to see my wrongs, repent, blahblahblah". They entertained me moreso with their "hatred" of everything "that they were against".

Ahhh, a good ol' fashioned Norwegian black metal bonfire, yo! It'll be just like old times! :laugh:

I haven't listened to a Burzum album in ages. Count Grishnackh's got the issues, y0u dig.

I worked for an uber-Christian guy once. His wife told me to never tell him I'm atheist so I didn't get fired. I was also constantly entertained by the random preaching and lunacy. Good times, good times.

Nahh...
 

he's reformed (Gone are the spiked battle-axes...replaced with, uh....Calicos???)