JOSE's Blog
My Ronnie James Dio tribute...
1/5/11
Over the years I’ve been honored to meet so many of my metal heroes, but the first time I walked into Ronnie James Dio’s “energy cloud” I instantly felt I was in the presence of one of the most positive and genuinely god like metallic figures of our lifetime. Since that first meeting at Sirius/XM about 10 years ago, we’ve shared some great on/off air moments and we found out we had a lot in common when it came to our herbal beliefs (haha!), football and passion for heavy music! When my oldest daughter Mya Maria was born in 2003 and the day we got home I bundled her up on the couch, put in CD1 from Ronnie James Dio’s “Stand Up And Shout Anthology” and we sat there for the first time as father and child listening to over 3 hours of my favorite singer and the golden voice of my favorite music heavy metal. I marked that down in her book of firsts and always remind her and talk about it all the time on the radio! But if I had to choose one particular memory that stands out the most… happens to be his last public interview. It came right after he won the vocalist of the year award at the Revolver Golden Gods Awards on April 7th, 2010. I was in the middle of interviewing Corey Taylor (Slipknot/Stone Sour) when I noticed Ronnie and Wendy making their way out of the venue. I quickly interrupted Corey and asked if he would help me interview Ronnie for Revolver TV & Sirius XM, and he gladly accepted. So I run over to Ronnie and Wendy and congratulated/greeted them and politely asked for a quick interview. Always the gentlemen and ULTIMATE supporter of the metal scene he told me “for you Jose, of course.” We made our way to our filming spot and in order to save time I just gave Ronnie my microphone and we got going with our exclusive. Right away I felt a weakness in his energy cloud, a disturbance in the force as Yoda would say. I could hear his voice raspy and weaker than his normal smooth powerfully gentle voice. It was so cool to see he and Corey admiring each others vocals skills. That was the very first time Corey met Ronnie and to have that documented like we do is priceless stuff. I brought up his illness and how much of an inspiration he is to millions helping those stricken with the same disease learn the importance of early testing. As he was talking to us I knew this could very well be my last time hangin’ in Ronnie’s cloud. So after Corey said something in response, I basically brought a weird halt to interview and embraced Ronnie, held him, told him that I love him and I also said thank you for all the years of heavy metal torch bearing. While still embraced Ronnie whispered “I love you too Jose and thank YOU for everything you do for metal.” It must have been a really gay moment on camera (hahaha!) and probably awkward to all those watching backstage at the Nokia in Los Angeles, but I needed to have that moment, it had to be then, and I couldn’t wait. I tried to segue into a smooth outro and we wrapped up the interview. I did put a nice period to the end by having the entire backstage area clap for Ronnie James Dio. That was a really intense moment and that brought the energy levels back up to where it was. Wendy, Ronnie and his small crew descended down the freight elevator to private parking. That was Ronnie’s last public appearance and he peacefully passed a little more than a month later… I feel like he blessed me that night in April like I’ve never been blessed before. It’s like he gave me a piece of his energy cloud that I first experienced 10 years prior and I carry it with me now everywhere I go and in everything I do. That night Ronnie James Dio spiritually and instantly solidified my life choice of spreading the gospel of heavy metal music for the world to throw their horns up to. Thank you Ronnie for leading us here…
Peace in a celebrated cloud of music...
Jose Mangin
Sirius XM Program Director / On-Air Talent & host of MTV2’s Headbangers Ball
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