Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining me in studio, the one and only Willie b
legendary rock DJ in Colorado morning show host on KBPI,
which absolutely rocks the Rockies one O seven nine, and
Willy B is he is the best person in this
whole building and the most generous person in this whole building.
You know what, I actually I want to do a
(00:22):
quick thing before we talk about Ozzie, because I just
I know it's only the middle of the year, but
just a little put some thoughts in people's heads about
cars for Christmas.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It starts for us in two weeks.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Starts okay, so for listeners who might be new to me, Nudi,
you can you just tell.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Us a little about cars for Christmas.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Cars for Christmas is a program I've done now for
twenty three years.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I gift cars at Christmas.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
It's you know, it's nothing more than it's funny, because
the people tell you it's it's freedom, its independent it's
the ability to go get groceries by themselves, not rely
on family friends for a ride. It's really a sense
of freedom they haven't been able to obtain for various reasons.
And it's really just to me, it's one of the biggest,
most immediate come ups you can present to somebody because
(01:10):
if they're struggling, trying to find a job in today's environment,
trying to take care of bills, or get kids to
and from or family things that we all do and
take for granted, if you don't have a car, it
becomes an immense challenge.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
And we start in August. We're fixing these cars.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I've got cars donated from the Oi Group, great dealerships they've.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Been this year.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I think I'm gonna probably give more Mini Coopers than
ever because I've got it several of those. But we start,
we start turning wrenches on cars August, the first weekend
in August or the first week Wednesday, whichever happens first.
We turn wrenches started into August. We don't stop till
the end of January, and we gift. Last year, we
gifted thirty seven cars.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So just so folks understand, So people donate cars to
Willie and the Cars for Christmas project.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
He and his friends.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Fixed up anything that needs to be fixed up themselves
with their own hands and spending their own money on
their parts. Although you are welcome to donate as well
to contribute to the cost of that what's the website.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
So it's I'm rebuilding the website as we speak, so
maybe down today. I'm planning on having it back up
this weekend because we air on a national TV show
this weekend for the first time. So ice pretty cool.
It's a Williebfoundation dot org. It's my five o'h one
C three. Every penny that goes into that goes back
into the cars.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Now, you probably are aware of how.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Much an oil change costs nowadays, and how much an
alternator or a serpentine ballot or a starter or suspension opponents.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
They cost an immense amount.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
One of the biggest increases in price that we've had
over the last five years is automotive parts.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
It's insane.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
They've increased about eighty eighty five percent just on what
a alternator costs you and what different parts costs you
from nuts. So to get these cars repaired is man,
It's I spend easily a thousand, two thousand dollars minimal
just getting the normal parts they need, tires, batteries, breaks
per car.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Per car, a lot of it being your own personal money.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah. Now, fortunately we've been doing some fundraising, so yeah,
I normally try to fundraise and you know, try to
raise you know, twenty to thirty grand to spend on parts.
I go through that by November, and then after that
it's you know, it's me and whatever I can do.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
To rally and for the rest of the parts.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So folks, Willy be Foundation as you said. As Willy said,
the site might be down for a day or two.
But if you want to donate a car, and again
it's five o' one C three, so you can write
this stuff off. You can donate money, you can donate
a car, and then Willy takes nominations, talk about this
process for a.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Same website willbefoundation dot org. You'll be able to nominate somebody.
It is simple. You can nominate yourself, so don't feel
like somebody has to nominate you. You can nominate a
family member, a friend, yourself, and you simply describe your
scenario and we do a little bit of vetting. I'll
talk to you several times throughout the process. But if
your message, if your story strikes the cord, we set
(04:09):
it aside and we go through several thousand, sat thousands
of these every year.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Last year I think it was over three thousand. Wow.
So a lot of entries.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
You know, for forty cars, I've given away more than
that before and years. It's just how I'm able to
get cars and finance them or procure them or whatever.
So if I can get more cars, we get more away.
But we were really busy, man. From August through January,
wednesdays and weekends we start wrenching, and normally sometime in
(04:40):
the September beginning of October, we take two days during
the week and donate it our time. And this is
the time away from family. This is hard wrenching, you guys.
We leave dirty filled, the sweaty. It's normally throughout the
winter months where it's cold. We got a propane heater
in this five or six of us guys working and
wrenching from three in the afternoon until nine o'clock at night.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Well, all, I hope you can contribute either cash or
a car. And then also if you know somebody who
could really benefit it was doing life the right way, right,
like taking three bus rides to get to work and
got kids at home and is trying to do everything right.
But his life or her life would be transformed with
(05:23):
a car. Those are the people will He's looking for
So get in touch. Will he be foundation if you
forget any of that, just get in touch with me
and I'll send Jill.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
And your listener has been great, man, they'd been awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
So let's talk about Ozzy Osbourne because not only are
you like the heavy metal DJ in in the Rocky Mountains,
but you've talked to him, you've met him, and I
don't know anybody else who've met him, So just tell
us some things.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
So for those that don't know, think about all the
influences he's had. He you know, he formed Black Savage.
For those that don't know Ozzy, he got in trouble
as a kid. He put a note up in a
music store in Birmingham, England said Ozzie.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Zig needs a gig.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
The people that answered that little note, that called him
were the future members of Black Sabbath. So that was
nineteen sixty eight. Some wild stories about Ozzi. Everybody knows
that he went through, you know, just years of drug abuse.
Everybody's aware that been nineteen seventy nine, Black Sabbath fired him.
He spent four months after that. I actually spoke with
(06:32):
him one time during an interview about that moment, he's like, well,
I spent four months in a hotel room and all's
like he doesn't recall any of it. He spent four
months drunk and on drugs, and it was Sharon that
saved him. Now a lot of people don't even know
Sharon's side of these quazs.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
You know Sharon.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
This is another interesting story. Black Sabbath when they first formed,
were a big hit. Fairly early people caught loved what
they were doing. Black Sabbath didn't want to hire a manager,
a guy named Don Arkin or Arden.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
He wanted to be their manager. Sharon was his daughter.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
They turned down every management company up until Don showed
up and Ozzy met her when they went to his
office and said, we need to hire this guy as
our manager so he could see Sharon more so was
that was how funny is that of Ozzie. He didn't
want a manager until he saw Sharon, which was Don
Arkin's daughter. That's how he That's why he teamed Black
(07:28):
Sabbage with Don at the time they became, you know,
a powerful force in Rocket Road for several years thereafter,
and so Sharon had saved him. Another story about Sharon. Yeah,
one time Ozzy was in a hotel and he was
on a bender. And funny story, Ozzie would always get dressed.
He would get hammered on alcohol or drugs. She was
tired of it. She stole all his clothes. I said,
(07:50):
I'm gonna keep it from going out, and the only
way to do it is steal your clothes. She stole
his pants, she stole his underwear, she stole all his shirts.
And that way he wouldn't leave the hotel room. You
know what Ozzie did, He put on one of her
dresses and he went out in one of her dresses
and bought himself some whiskey.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
And brought it, brought it back to the hotel room.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
But he really.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
He was a man that you look at all the
years that he's been doing that, and you look at
all the years he turned his life around and was
such a positive influence on everybody. Everybody is influenced by
Black Sabbath or Ozzy.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Through the years. He was the MTV era for gen xers.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, you know, closed my Eyes Forever for the for
MTV Kids was like.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
A monumental video.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
You know, Yeah, that's that's me, you know, right, that's
my years. Yeah, So I don't want to overstretch this
analogy too much, but you know, some people talk about
Rush Limbaugh as a guy without whom the industry of
talk radio basically wouldn't exist. How do you think about
(08:52):
Ozzy in terms of his role in kind of the
creation of the entire genre of heavy metal.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
So before Black Sabbath formed, listen to this Ozzi's musical influence.
The hardest thing he could find was the Beatles at
the time, and he was inspired by the Beatles.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Of all things, but he wanted to do it different.
He wanted to do it harder.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
He had a different message that he wanted to get
through Black Sabbage For people that don't know they're given
the nod for creating what's now considered be metal music.
You know, it's a whole genre of music. It's right
to express yourself. This different than the traditional country means
or rat means or anything like that. But Ozzie was
the very first and his what do you vision his
(09:40):
sight on what his message wanted to be needed to
be for that time, it exploded and that was the
birth of a whole new generation of music, and so
many people were influenced and move by that over the years.
You can't even put a thumbprint on the number of people.
And I'm not just talking about Black Sabbage, but Ozzi
is a solo artist. The pop culture side from the
(10:00):
Osbourne's it was really a first reality show. You could
not watch that show and not love the rock and
roll metal grandfather who was just an ordinary guy who
complained with a dog, took a dump in the kitchen,
you know, who was seen in pajamas all the time.
You know that that was the grandfather of metal that
we all learned to love.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Often the frontman, the singer in a band is the
one who gets really famous. With Black Sabbath, would you
say that Ozzie really was the driving force and the
vision and all that more than the I'm sure the
other guy's pretty creative and god.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Too, But Peter Butler and Tony Iomi, all those guys
they followed Ozzy. They were never the same when they
fired Ozzie in nineteen seventy nine, Yeah, they were never
much After that. Ozzie went on to do his solo
stuff and we all know the story, and Ozzie, you know,
teams up and had a massive solo career. One of
the few artists in the world has ever been inducted
(10:58):
into Hall of Fame for both the band and his
solo career.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
So as Black.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Sabbath deducted a Hall of Fame and as a solo artist,
he was I'm gonna have to look up who did that?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Who else could have done it? Stevie Nicks, There's just
a small maybe some of the Eagles maybe something like that.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So hey, when this of course by you?
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Now, when did you personally get into heavy metal music
and was it the first music you really loved or
did you grow.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Up No, I grew up on So I grew up
in Kentucky.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
There wasn't really a rock station per se when I
when I grew up, I grew up in Winchester, Kentucky.
So the only rock station that we had played things
like The Doors and Jimmy Hendrix, which was kind of
a lazy classic rock for me.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
I really got into rock.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Like I was a big fan of Metallica early on Pantera.
Early on. I came out here looking for a rock
career because I'd done some adult contemporary stuff in Florida.
Got hired to switch a station in Florida and turned
it to an alternative rock format.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
He didn't want to do that.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
So I left Florida and here I found my home
in rock.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I was really like ninety ninety two ninety three is
when you do you? Have you been at VPI the
whole time or were you somewhere else?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I was so before. I worked at a at a
what is called a CHR station when I was a
kid growing up in my hometown. Then I went to
Charlotte and worked as at an alternative rock station. I
flipped that station to something called the End. They liked
that format. I got hired to do the same thing
in Florida. When I got to Florida, he didn't want
(12:34):
to switch it. After three months he said, no, we're
doing good in ratings. All of a sudden, I don't
want switch it. Well, I still wanted to pursue that
that that limb, if you will, that that sort of
crusade for me to get to be in rock. So
when I got hired by J Corp. They moved me
out here to work on kaz Y, which was one
O six seven, which eventually merged into one oh seven
(12:56):
nine KVPI or kV JP.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
J cor three parent companies before iHeart, but it's the
same company we're now effectively. So you've been at in Colorado,
you've been at one station the whole time and the
whole time.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And how old were you when you started twenty twenty two?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Twenty two when you started in Colorado? Yeah? Wow?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Did you think you'd do this this long? Did you
think you'd be Willie b Did you think all this?
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Man, not at all.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
I never thought it was a springboard into this or
you know, I've interviewed Ozzie a couple of times, you know,
to sit there and talk to somebody like that, Yeah,
there's things you only dream of. I shared a picture
on my Instagram yesterday. Is the first picture in my
phone that I carry on me on my person, and
the first picture.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Is me and Ozzie. Can I see it? You got it?
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Yeah, show it to me, the very first photo out
of fifty five thousand photos.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I'm out of head.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
So where was the first time you talked with it? Where?
And when was the first time you talked with him
in person?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
The first time I interviewed him was in two thousand
and seven, and that was right at the height.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Of the Osborne Get that? Yeah, right? At the height
of you know, as you know all the things he
was doing.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
And you know what, man, he was very It was
wild because you heard rumors of Ozzie growing up. You
know that he just flies off to the rails sometimes.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
It was kind of like that.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
My interview lasted about twenty minutes with him, and you know,
ten twelve minutes he'd be, you know, have all the
clarity and cog the sharpness you would expect him. One
minute he'd be like, well, I'm to think about they're gonna.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Duck and uh, you know, I gotta pick up trucks.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
And he would just go up with some tangent and
then come back full circle. So he was he was
always you know, he suffer from him just dyslexie. A
lot of people don't know that's why you had always
had trouble spelling and wasn't necessarily a good students and
so forth.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
And it affected his life too in varying ways. But yeah, man,
the guy was always so humble, always so down to earth,
and I think that's why he resonnated on the TV show.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
So he was just one of us.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
They had an amazing signature voice that nobody could duplicate.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Yeah, you know, sure, I gotta say. I mean I'm
not I'm not much of a metal guy. I like
a little and I don't know that you'd even really
call Crazy Train a metal song.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
It's not now, not now, yeah, definitely not now. Maybe then?
How many youth groups play that backwards?
Speaker 1 (15:23):
But that is That's one of my favorite rock songs,
and I just love that song. I got a bunch
of listeners texting in about Ozzie, how how charitable he
was and how much money he raised for charity.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
How it's funny because I joked a second ago about
how many youth groups played songs backwards from Black Sabbath
or Ozzie. My youth leader was named Billy, and you
would play Ozzy songs backwards, and he was like, good
Satanic listen to this and never in the life in
my life. I wish I could go back in time
and be like, would you believe that this man is
going to donate one hundred and ninety million dollars to
(15:58):
charity on his farewell game? Going to the Farewell show,
he donated more than a concert after nine to eleven
bro that raised one hundred and twenty nine million dollars.
He raised one hundred and ninety million dollars for children's
hospitals and for Parkinson's disease to fight that in his
farewell show. I mean, he's amazing his contributing. He's a
(16:19):
crazy animal lover. I think everybody knows the bat story. Yeah, right,
the bad story for Ozzy. He thought it was a
fake rubber bat. He thought somebody had thrown a toy
up on stage, so he didn't know it's a real bat.
He just grabs it and does he bites the head
off of it because he thought it was a toy bat.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Did he tell you that? Yeah, you asked him that question. Yeah.
And there's the story about do you know about the doves?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
When he signed his first record label he signed his
first deal, everybody knew about the bat right at that time.
It was already done. It was water on the bridge
at the time. Ozzy got really hammered before he went
into the record label deal. He was going to sign
his deal, and his idea was to at least the doves.
When he signed the record label deal, and his dad,
in true Ozzie fashion, because he was drunk and on drugs,
(17:06):
he bit the dove and he's like, now you're working
with the mad man. Oh yeah, yeh, diary, because I know,
I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
We're up against the wall.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Ozzie had an infitti of love for Denver, Colorado.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Do you know why? Why? If you're a true Ozzie fan,
you'll know why.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Denver, Colorado always held a special place in Ozzie's heart
and he always recognized Denver, Colorado as a special city.
The reason being in nineteen seventy one, in a hotel
room in Denver, Colorado, that's where Ozzie found his first love.
And he readily admits this his first love cocaine. The
first time he ever did it was in a hotel
(17:48):
room in Denver, Colorado in nineteen seventy one, And he says,
they asked him, how do you so sure about the
first time?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
He said, when you? When you is the worse.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
He said, when you find your first love, you never
forget where you met her at And it was at
a hotel in Denver, Colorado.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
She see that's a rather twisted story, but a very
very Auzzy story. I am up against the wall, but
I want to ask you one last question.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Give me a sort of a quick answer.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Okay, if you could interview Ozzy one more time, what's
a question you would like to ask him?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Now? Oh my god, how would Ozzie like to be remembered?
I think how would you like your story told? Because
there's so many there's so many tentacles to his story,
so many chapters in it. People always give a shortened
version of his story. So in his words, I would
(18:42):
like to know how his story would like to be told,
because he deserves that.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Willie b Morning show.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Host on KBP I one who seven nine Rocks the Rockies.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Listener text, I love Willie.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
His show on KBPI is awesome, very interesting dude.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Indeed, he is a very interesting dude.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Thanks for making time for us, will thank you for
that's awesome
Joining me in studio, the one and only Willie b
legendary rock DJ in Colorado morning show host on KBPI,
which absolutely rocks the Rockies one O seven nine, and
Willy B is he is the best person in this
whole building and the most generous person in this whole building.
You know what, I actually I want to do a
(00:22):
quick thing before we talk about Ozzie, because I just
I know it's only the middle of the year, but
just a little put some thoughts in people's heads about
cars for Christmas.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
It starts for us in two weeks.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Starts okay, so for listeners who might be new to me, Nudi,
you can you just tell.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Us a little about cars for Christmas.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Cars for Christmas is a program I've done now for
twenty three years.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
I gift cars at Christmas.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
It's you know, it's nothing more than it's funny, because
the people tell you it's it's freedom, its independent it's
the ability to go get groceries by themselves, not rely
on family friends for a ride. It's really a sense
of freedom they haven't been able to obtain for various reasons.
And it's really just to me, it's one of the biggest,
most immediate come ups you can present to somebody because
(01:10):
if they're struggling, trying to find a job in today's environment,
trying to take care of bills, or get kids to
and from or family things that we all do and
take for granted, if you don't have a car, it
becomes an immense challenge.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
And we start in August. We're fixing these cars.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
I've got cars donated from the Oi Group, great dealerships they've.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Been this year.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
I think I'm gonna probably give more Mini Coopers than
ever because I've got it several of those. But we start,
we start turning wrenches on cars August, the first weekend
in August or the first week Wednesday, whichever happens first.
We turn wrenches started into August. We don't stop till
the end of January, and we gift. Last year, we
gifted thirty seven cars.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
So just so folks understand, So people donate cars to
Willie and the Cars for Christmas project.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
He and his friends.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Fixed up anything that needs to be fixed up themselves
with their own hands and spending their own money on
their parts. Although you are welcome to donate as well
to contribute to the cost of that what's the website.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
So it's I'm rebuilding the website as we speak, so
maybe down today. I'm planning on having it back up
this weekend because we air on a national TV show
this weekend for the first time. So ice pretty cool.
It's a Williebfoundation dot org. It's my five o'h one
C three. Every penny that goes into that goes back
into the cars.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Now, you probably are aware of how.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Much an oil change costs nowadays, and how much an
alternator or a serpentine ballot or a starter or suspension opponents.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
They cost an immense amount.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
One of the biggest increases in price that we've had
over the last five years is automotive parts.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
It's insane.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
They've increased about eighty eighty five percent just on what
a alternator costs you and what different parts costs you
from nuts. So to get these cars repaired is man,
It's I spend easily a thousand, two thousand dollars minimal
just getting the normal parts they need, tires, batteries, breaks
per car.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Per car, a lot of it being your own personal money.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yeah. Now, fortunately we've been doing some fundraising, so yeah,
I normally try to fundraise and you know, try to
raise you know, twenty to thirty grand to spend on parts.
I go through that by November, and then after that
it's you know, it's me and whatever I can do.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
To rally and for the rest of the parts.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
So folks, Willy be Foundation as you said. As Willy said,
the site might be down for a day or two.
But if you want to donate a car, and again
it's five o' one C three, so you can write
this stuff off. You can donate money, you can donate
a car, and then Willy takes nominations, talk about this
process for a.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Same website willbefoundation dot org. You'll be able to nominate somebody.
It is simple. You can nominate yourself, so don't feel
like somebody has to nominate you. You can nominate a
family member, a friend, yourself, and you simply describe your
scenario and we do a little bit of vetting. I'll
talk to you several times throughout the process. But if
your message, if your story strikes the cord, we set
(04:09):
it aside and we go through several thousand, sat thousands
of these every year.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Last year I think it was over three thousand. Wow.
So a lot of entries.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
You know, for forty cars, I've given away more than
that before and years. It's just how I'm able to
get cars and finance them or procure them or whatever.
So if I can get more cars, we get more away.
But we were really busy, man. From August through January,
wednesdays and weekends we start wrenching, and normally sometime in
(04:40):
the September beginning of October, we take two days during
the week and donate it our time. And this is
the time away from family. This is hard wrenching, you guys.
We leave dirty filled, the sweaty. It's normally throughout the
winter months where it's cold. We got a propane heater
in this five or six of us guys working and
wrenching from three in the afternoon until nine o'clock at night.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Well, all, I hope you can contribute either cash or
a car. And then also if you know somebody who
could really benefit it was doing life the right way, right,
like taking three bus rides to get to work and
got kids at home and is trying to do everything right.
But his life or her life would be transformed with
(05:23):
a car. Those are the people will He's looking for
So get in touch. Will he be foundation if you
forget any of that, just get in touch with me
and I'll send Jill.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
And your listener has been great, man, they'd been awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
So let's talk about Ozzy Osbourne because not only are
you like the heavy metal DJ in in the Rocky Mountains,
but you've talked to him, you've met him, and I
don't know anybody else who've met him, So just tell
us some things.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
It's amazing.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
So for those that don't know, think about all the
influences he's had. He you know, he formed Black Savage.
For those that don't know Ozzy, he got in trouble
as a kid. He put a note up in a
music store in Birmingham, England said Ozzie.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Zig needs a gig.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
The people that answered that little note, that called him
were the future members of Black Sabbath. So that was
nineteen sixty eight. Some wild stories about Ozzi. Everybody knows
that he went through, you know, just years of drug abuse.
Everybody's aware that been nineteen seventy nine, Black Sabbath fired him.
He spent four months after that. I actually spoke with
(06:32):
him one time during an interview about that moment, he's like, well,
I spent four months in a hotel room and all's
like he doesn't recall any of it. He spent four
months drunk and on drugs, and it was Sharon that
saved him. Now a lot of people don't even know
Sharon's side of these quazs.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
You know Sharon.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
This is another interesting story. Black Sabbath when they first formed,
were a big hit. Fairly early people caught loved what
they were doing. Black Sabbath didn't want to hire a manager,
a guy named Don Arkin or Arden.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
He wanted to be their manager. Sharon was his daughter.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
They turned down every management company up until Don showed
up and Ozzy met her when they went to his
office and said, we need to hire this guy as
our manager so he could see Sharon more so was
that was how funny is that of Ozzie. He didn't
want a manager until he saw Sharon, which was Don
Arkin's daughter. That's how he That's why he teamed Black
(07:28):
Sabbage with Don at the time they became, you know,
a powerful force in Rocket Road for several years thereafter,
and so Sharon had saved him. Another story about Sharon. Yeah,
one time Ozzy was in a hotel and he was
on a bender. And funny story, Ozzie would always get dressed.
He would get hammered on alcohol or drugs. She was
tired of it. She stole all his clothes. I said,
(07:50):
I'm gonna keep it from going out, and the only
way to do it is steal your clothes. She stole
his pants, she stole his underwear, she stole all his shirts.
And that way he wouldn't leave the hotel room. You
know what Ozzie did, He put on one of her
dresses and he went out in one of her dresses
and bought himself some whiskey.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
And brought it, brought it back to the hotel room.
Speaker 1 (08:07):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
But he really.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
He was a man that you look at all the
years that he's been doing that, and you look at
all the years he turned his life around and was
such a positive influence on everybody. Everybody is influenced by
Black Sabbath or Ozzy.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Through the years. He was the MTV era for gen xers.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Yeah, you know, closed my Eyes Forever for the for
MTV Kids was like.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
A monumental video.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
You know, Yeah, that's that's me, you know, right, that's
my years. Yeah, So I don't want to overstretch this
analogy too much, but you know, some people talk about
Rush Limbaugh as a guy without whom the industry of
talk radio basically wouldn't exist. How do you think about
(08:52):
Ozzy in terms of his role in kind of the
creation of the entire genre of heavy metal.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
So before Black Sabbath formed, listen to this Ozzi's musical influence.
The hardest thing he could find was the Beatles at
the time, and he was inspired by the Beatles.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Of all things, but he wanted to do it different.
He wanted to do it harder.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
He had a different message that he wanted to get
through Black Sabbage For people that don't know they're given
the nod for creating what's now considered be metal music.
You know, it's a whole genre of music. It's right
to express yourself. This different than the traditional country means
or rat means or anything like that. But Ozzie was
the very first and his what do you vision his
(09:40):
sight on what his message wanted to be needed to
be for that time, it exploded and that was the
birth of a whole new generation of music, and so
many people were influenced and move by that over the years.
You can't even put a thumbprint on the number of people.
And I'm not just talking about Black Sabbage, but Ozzi
is a solo artist. The pop culture side from the
(10:00):
Osbourne's it was really a first reality show. You could
not watch that show and not love the rock and
roll metal grandfather who was just an ordinary guy who
complained with a dog, took a dump in the kitchen,
you know, who was seen in pajamas all the time.
You know that that was the grandfather of metal that
we all learned to love.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Often the frontman, the singer in a band is the
one who gets really famous. With Black Sabbath, would you
say that Ozzie really was the driving force and the
vision and all that more than the I'm sure the
other guy's pretty creative and god.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Too, But Peter Butler and Tony Iomi, all those guys
they followed Ozzy. They were never the same when they
fired Ozzie in nineteen seventy nine, Yeah, they were never
much After that. Ozzie went on to do his solo
stuff and we all know the story, and Ozzie, you know,
teams up and had a massive solo career. One of
the few artists in the world has ever been inducted
(10:58):
into Hall of Fame for both the band and his
solo career.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
So as Black.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Sabbath deducted a Hall of Fame and as a solo artist,
he was I'm gonna have to look up who did that?
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Who else could have done it? Stevie Nicks, There's just
a small maybe some of the Eagles maybe something like that.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
So hey, when this of course by you?
Speaker 1 (11:20):
Now, when did you personally get into heavy metal music
and was it the first music you really loved or
did you grow.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Up No, I grew up on So I grew up
in Kentucky.
Speaker 3 (11:29):
There wasn't really a rock station per se when I
when I grew up, I grew up in Winchester, Kentucky.
So the only rock station that we had played things
like The Doors and Jimmy Hendrix, which was kind of
a lazy classic rock for me.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
I really got into rock.
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Like I was a big fan of Metallica early on Pantera.
Early on. I came out here looking for a rock
career because I'd done some adult contemporary stuff in Florida.
Got hired to switch a station in Florida and turned
it to an alternative rock format.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
He didn't want to do that.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
So I left Florida and here I found my home
in rock.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
I was really like ninety ninety two ninety three is
when you do you? Have you been at VPI the
whole time or were you somewhere else?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I was so before. I worked at a at a
what is called a CHR station when I was a
kid growing up in my hometown. Then I went to
Charlotte and worked as at an alternative rock station. I
flipped that station to something called the End. They liked
that format. I got hired to do the same thing
in Florida. When I got to Florida, he didn't want
(12:34):
to switch it. After three months he said, no, we're
doing good in ratings. All of a sudden, I don't
want switch it. Well, I still wanted to pursue that
that that limb, if you will, that that sort of
crusade for me to get to be in rock. So
when I got hired by J Corp. They moved me
out here to work on kaz Y, which was one
O six seven, which eventually merged into one oh seven
(12:56):
nine KVPI or kV JP.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
J cor three parent companies before iHeart, but it's the
same company we're now effectively. So you've been at in Colorado,
you've been at one station the whole time and the
whole time.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
And how old were you when you started twenty twenty two?
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Twenty two when you started in Colorado? Yeah? Wow?
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Did you think you'd do this this long? Did you
think you'd be Willie b Did you think all this?
Speaker 3 (13:24):
Oh?
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Man, not at all.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
I never thought it was a springboard into this or
you know, I've interviewed Ozzie a couple of times, you know,
to sit there and talk to somebody like that, Yeah,
there's things you only dream of. I shared a picture
on my Instagram yesterday. Is the first picture in my
phone that I carry on me on my person, and
the first picture.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Is me and Ozzie. Can I see it? You got it?
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Yeah, show it to me, the very first photo out
of fifty five thousand photos.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
I'm out of head.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
So where was the first time you talked with it? Where?
And when was the first time you talked with him
in person?
Speaker 3 (13:56):
The first time I interviewed him was in two thousand
and seven, and that was right at the height.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Of the Osborne Get that? Yeah, right? At the height
of you know, as you know all the things he
was doing.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
And you know what, man, he was very It was
wild because you heard rumors of Ozzie growing up. You
know that he just flies off to the rails sometimes.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
It was kind of like that.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
My interview lasted about twenty minutes with him, and you know,
ten twelve minutes he'd be, you know, have all the
clarity and cog the sharpness you would expect him. One
minute he'd be like, well, I'm to think about they're gonna.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Duck and uh, you know, I gotta pick up trucks.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
And he would just go up with some tangent and
then come back full circle. So he was he was
always you know, he suffer from him just dyslexie. A
lot of people don't know that's why you had always
had trouble spelling and wasn't necessarily a good students and
so forth.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
And it affected his life too in varying ways. But yeah, man,
the guy was always so humble, always so down to earth,
and I think that's why he resonnated on the TV show.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
So he was just one of us.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
They had an amazing signature voice that nobody could duplicate.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Yeah, you know, sure, I gotta say. I mean I'm
not I'm not much of a metal guy. I like
a little and I don't know that you'd even really
call Crazy Train a metal song.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
It's not now, not now, yeah, definitely not now. Maybe then?
How many youth groups play that backwards?
Speaker 1 (15:23):
But that is That's one of my favorite rock songs,
and I just love that song. I got a bunch
of listeners texting in about Ozzie, how how charitable he
was and how much money he raised for charity.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
How it's funny because I joked a second ago about
how many youth groups played songs backwards from Black Sabbath
or Ozzie. My youth leader was named Billy, and you
would play Ozzy songs backwards, and he was like, good
Satanic listen to this and never in the life in
my life. I wish I could go back in time
and be like, would you believe that this man is
going to donate one hundred and ninety million dollars to
(15:58):
charity on his farewell game? Going to the Farewell show,
he donated more than a concert after nine to eleven
bro that raised one hundred and twenty nine million dollars.
He raised one hundred and ninety million dollars for children's
hospitals and for Parkinson's disease to fight that in his
farewell show. I mean, he's amazing his contributing. He's a
(16:19):
crazy animal lover. I think everybody knows the bat story. Yeah, right,
the bad story for Ozzy. He thought it was a
fake rubber bat. He thought somebody had thrown a toy
up on stage, so he didn't know it's a real bat.
He just grabs it and does he bites the head
off of it because he thought it was a toy bat.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Did he tell you that? Yeah, you asked him that question. Yeah.
And there's the story about do you know about the doves?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
When he signed his first record label he signed his
first deal, everybody knew about the bat right at that time.
It was already done. It was water on the bridge
at the time. Ozzy got really hammered before he went
into the record label deal. He was going to sign
his deal, and his idea was to at least the doves.
When he signed the record label deal, and his dad,
in true Ozzie fashion, because he was drunk and on drugs,
(17:06):
he bit the dove and he's like, now you're working
with the mad man. Oh yeah, yeh, diary, because I know,
I'm sure.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
We're up against the wall.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
Ozzie had an infitti of love for Denver, Colorado.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Do you know why? Why? If you're a true Ozzie fan,
you'll know why.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Denver, Colorado always held a special place in Ozzie's heart
and he always recognized Denver, Colorado as a special city.
The reason being in nineteen seventy one, in a hotel
room in Denver, Colorado, that's where Ozzie found his first love.
And he readily admits this his first love cocaine. The
first time he ever did it was in a hotel
(17:48):
room in Denver, Colorado in nineteen seventy one, And he says,
they asked him, how do you so sure about the
first time?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
He said, when you? When you is the worse.
Speaker 3 (17:58):
He said, when you find your first love, you never
forget where you met her at And it was at
a hotel in Denver, Colorado.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Oh my god.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
She see that's a rather twisted story, but a very
very Auzzy story. I am up against the wall, but
I want to ask you one last question.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
Give me a sort of a quick answer.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Okay, if you could interview Ozzy one more time, what's
a question you would like to ask him?
Speaker 3 (18:19):
Now? Oh my god, how would Ozzie like to be remembered?
I think how would you like your story told? Because
there's so many there's so many tentacles to his story,
so many chapters in it. People always give a shortened
version of his story. So in his words, I would
(18:42):
like to know how his story would like to be told,
because he deserves that.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Willie b Morning show.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
Host on KBP I one who seven nine Rocks the Rockies.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Listener text, I love Willie.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
His show on KBPI is awesome, very interesting dude.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
Indeed, he is a very interesting dude.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Thanks for making time for us, will thank you for
that's awesome
The Ross Kaminsky Show News
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