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FEATURE
Ronnie James Dio Memorial Service: May 30, 2010
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M.J.
The DIO Years
The 1980s were a time when Dio’s career exploded and the measure of success he attained gave him more of an opportunity to foster the talent of other musicians. Craig Goldy, as the next speaker, offered his gratitude and thoughts on Dio the mentor. Dio plucked him off the street and gave him opportunities that he could have only dreamed of prior to that.
crowd3
With more success (and typical of the 80s in general) so came big stage productions as Eddie Trunk commented while footage from those days splashed across the screen for “Rainbow in the Dark” and also from the Sacred Heart tour where Dio was shown fighting a dragon on stage. Eddie ushered in the next musical tribute featuring the newly re-hired Anthrax vocalist Joey Belladonna. Joey gave an effectively tight rendition of “Man on the Silver Mountain” with acoustic guitar support from an unnamed musician (unfortunately, I didn’t recognize him).

Former AC/DC and DIO drummer Simon Wright spoke after footage from the Lock Up the Wolves tour was shown. “He was a friend. He was like a father to me.” He articulated his thoughts and feelings about times spent with Ronnie through this period and in later days when Ronnie was in the hospital displaying the feistier side of his personality. Simon told of a story of when Ronnie had lost his appetite and did not want to eat. Simon implored him to eat but Ronnie shot back, “I don’t have to eat. I don’t have to do anything you say. I can jump out of that window if I want to.” Simon replied, “Ron, that’s not gonna work; we’re on the ground floor.” [The audience laughed heartily] Ronnie cracked a smile and told Simon to “F*** off!” Simon then led the crowd, with fists in the air, chanting “DIO! DIO! DIO!”, before exiting the stage.
crowd4
Eddie Trunk once again imparted more personal stories and then welcomed “Big Scott” to the stage. He delivered more stories in kind; ones that connected more lines together in this amazing portrait of Dio. He had spent fourteen years with the metal god. His parting words of consolation struck a chord with the crowd. “You are all his children.”

Paul Shortino (Rough Cutt & Quiet Riot) was another musician that the Dios took under their wings. As he prepared himself to sing a tribute to Ronnie he had to pause several times to choke back the tears and regain composure. The pain was real and still very raw. In broken speech he was able to say, “…And I’m really gonna miss him. Just like you all are. He’s a hard person not to love. We love you Ronnie.” As he led up to the introduction of his take on the Beatles “In My Life” he lamented the loss of John Lennon along with Ronnie, “Cuz when we lost John Lennon, we lost a great talent just like we lost Ronnie James Dio. A great talent and great human being.” [now visibly sobbing] “This going out to you Ron - if I can get through it.”

That performance was simply stunning; cutting to the bone with genuine heartbreak.

Eddie Trunk asked everyone to give it up to Paul for an amazing performance and then began to tell of a time he asked Ronnie who his favorite singer was. Ronnie, with no hesitation stated, “Glenn Hughes.” With no further ado, Glenn entered onto the stage sharing a few memories before singing one of Ronnie’s favorite songs, “Coast to Coast”.
The Heaven and Hell Years
Eddie Trunk discussed the eventual reunion of Tony Iommi and Ronnie James Dio in their Black Sabbath line up from the early 80s and about the band name change. This segued into footage from the Heaven and Hell appearance at Radio City Music Hall in 2007. Ronnie had been sick at the time but as always with Ronnie, the show must go on. He delivered one helluva performance that has been immortalized on CD and DVD.

Scott Warren glowingly talked about the love story of Wendy and Ronnie. How desperately in love they were with each other. What a romance they had. Kindred spirits. He too, led the crowd in chants of “DIO! DIO! DIO!”.

Changing the direction of the day a bit Eddie Trunk dusted off the inspiring ode to Dio (cameo appearance!) that Jack Black imprinted on the movie “The Pick of Destiny”. The audience ate it up, cheering and hooting while reciting lines from the movie. Eddie also read a few lines that Jack wrote praising his idol. Funny and bittersweet. More footage was played and this time it was of Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead) and Ronnie goofing around. Good times for sure.

Geoff Tate (Queensr˙che) commanded all of our attention with a gut wrenching turn on Leonard Cohen’s hymn “Hallelujah”. If Ronnie was looking down from heaven he would have seen many a fan drying their eyes in rapturous joy when it was over.

Works of Charity
Before Dr. Lois Lee took the stage to talk about the “Children of the Night” program, Eddie Trunk cued up video of Ronnie talking about how he and Wendy became involved with the organization. Dr. Lee told of their first meeting and how Ronnie became so impassioned to get involved after meeting the children at a restaurant; then seeing them return to inhospitable streets. Ronnie immediately worked to get a 24 bed capacity home for the children and to this day it is still the only shelter of its kind in the US. In a testament to his humanness she keenly observed, “He left an indelible mark in our hearts, mind and souls.”

Shortly after making “Children of the Night” a reality he helped assemble many hard rock and metal musicians together to record a song he wrote with Jimmy Bain and Vivian Campbell. That song, “Hear ‘n Aid”, went on to raise over one million dollars in a year’s time. Much of this was retold through short interview sessions that were videotaped during the making of the record.

Eddie soon introduced Ronnie’s physician, Dr. Sandeep Kapoor who spoke at length about Ronnie’s fight with cancer and the efforts that he and other physicians put forth in trying to cure Ronnie. Even though they waged a valiant battle, he conceded, "I wish I could have done more, but it was so late, the cancer was so strong."

Manager Adam Parsons reflected on his own memories with Wendy and Ronnie before announcing that two benefit concerts were in the planning stages. These concerts would be fundraisers for the new 'Stand Up And Shout' Cancer Fund established in Ronnie’s memory. Los Angeles and London were the two cities chosen to host these concerts. He added that more information would be available soon via: http://www.ronniejamesdio.com

As the end of the memorial service was drawing near, Adam invited Wendy to the podium. Wendy, even in her grief, with determination on her face to show her love to the attendees said tearfully, “All I have to say today is thank you all for coming and for being part of Ronnie’s life. Thank you.”

The last musical tribute of the day was Glenn Hughes singing “Catch the Rainbow” with Craig Goldy on guitar and Scott Warren on keyboards. A tour de force - stopping many fans in their tracks as they were leaving the lawn area to get in the quickly forming line to enter the Hall of Liberty.

Eddie gave props to Glenn and then added his own final words to close the ceremony, “Ronnie was someone who cared and gave back the same incredible respect he was given. It’s something I will never forget. Simply the best.” Then he led the crowd in one last chant of: “DIO! DIO! DIO!”

Sometime later after paying my respects I made my way back to my car. In that calm and serene place as dusk slowly descended, all I could hear was that final chant of “DIO! DIO! DIO!”; ringing in my ears as I maneuvered my car toward the exit and into the ensuing darkness on my long journey back home.

Sail away Ronnie. Sail away my friend. Sail away on ships of wonder.
“Dio and Wendy saved me.”
"Thank you very much, Wendy.
It's an honor."
“He was a friend.
He was like a father to me.”  
“…And I’m really gonna miss him.
Just like you all are.
He’s a hard person not to love.
We love you Ronnie.”
“He left an indelible mark in our hearts, mind and souls.”
"I wish I could have done more,
but it was so late,
the cancer was so strong."
“All I have to say today
is thank you all for coming and
for being part of Ronnie’s life.
Thank you.”
"We have to never forget Ronnie."
CRAIG GOLDY
ADAM PARSONS
WENDY DIO
DR. SANDEEP KAPOOR
DR. LOIS LEE
GEOFF TATE
GLENN HUGHES
PAUL SHORTINO
SIMON WRIGHT
JOEY BELLADONNA
Much of the time I had been standing or moving around to take pictures or even to cool off under the shade of the trees, but when the next musical tribute came, I was sitting in a chair on the lawn directly in front of the big screen. John Payne of Asia delivered one of the, if not the best homage to Ronnie in his acoustic version of “Heaven and Hell”. Yes, for a few moments, the rest of the world fell away as I sat entranced with eyes welling with emotion.
May 31, 2010
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Report and photos: M.J.
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