2010-05-17

Sing me a song, you're a singer...

When I was around 11 or 12, back in them days before iPods...or even compact discs...I had a little tabletop radio alarm clock next to my bed. My older brother had neglected to bring this along with him to college, as the clock itself no longer worked. Being something of a reject myself, I had a soft spot for the things that didn't operate the way they were supposed to, but were more than adequate in other respects. So I took it into my room, plugged it in, and listened to it.

When you are one of "those" kids - the ones that can't seem to do anything right - you spend most of your time bewildered and awkward and hurting. Appearances and documentation to the contrary, you are quite certain that you were left on a doorstep by some nebulous other family, because the things that come so easily to everyone else evade you altogether. You find comfort and companionship wherever you can. I became intimately acquainted with my similarly faulty clock radio, particularly in the wee small hours of the morning. I would invariably wake up in the middle of the night, terrified of what waited for me at school in just a few hours. But the radio would soothe me.

On Sunday nights, "The Dr. Demento Show" would air on WCOZ. I'd listen for as long as I was able to stay awake, immensely comforted by the fact that there were other people out there who liked the same "weird" stuff that I did. There MUST have been, or this show wouldn't be on, right?

'COZ in those days played "album oriented rock." Blue Oyster Cult, The Who, some Black Sabbath now and again. So between the likes of Weird Al Yankovic and Ronnie James Dio I was getting quite an education. And a shot of hope in the arm, night after night, as I'd try and shake off waking hours of being told I was hopeless.

Ronnie James Dio passed away yesterday. A diminutive figure, not exactly handsome, he possessed a huge set of pipes, and - by all accounts - a heart to match. He was kind, he was charitable, he had a sense of humor about himself. And he was wicked fun to watch.

Me, I am 100% a fan of anyone who made growing up a little bit easier for someone else. Dio was that for many people I know, and countless more I don't. We're all flying our freak flags at half staff today. RIP, RJD.

lisamcc at 1:41 p.m.

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