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0VGazetterij|i|i|«i ■ '■**fii#~.’--ir'mmtIBy ELENA JARVIS TGIF EditorThe last thing you want to do when you’re out on the road and have some free time is to stay atthe hotel,” says Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler,So where do a group of rock V roll stars go when they do get that rare day off? And who do they get to drive them around?During the group’s recent sellout show at the City Auditorium, as usual, this band choose to hirethey’re already waiting,”Dio, the gentlest, most down-to-Earth member of the band, despite his spectacular singing andstage presence.“Yeah,” said drummer Vinniebrother of drummerCarmine Appiee of Rod Stewart’s band “But maybe they’re waiting to get Bob Seger tickets,”It seems they had been mightily impressed by crowds at another recent concert It turned out, said Appice with a laugh, that the bigv-some drivers for the performance Quite contrary to the norm, they wound up with a newspaper reporter as a chauffeur. Yours truly.Due to an airline schedule foul-up, myself, Paul Idleman and Jean Homberger — mere hem holders in the grand scale of rock royalty — were sent to Denver topick up the band and entourage.The person in charge of productionhubbub was over who was going to get Seger tickets first.the luccace andband are checked into their hotel, the question of where to eat is brought up. Bassist Terrence “Geezer” Butler — who later admits how badly he hates his longstanding nickname — is a strictan to the point of ob-’s”and that is how we got the job. For $25 for a day and a half of driving we were just luckv. IAppropriately, for the band who brought us “Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath,” “We Sold Our Souls for Rock ’n’ Roll” and their latest, “Heaven and Hell,” the group arrived on Flight 666Included in the entourage was tour manager Hugh Price, road manager Paul Clark and the five band members; at least one girlfriend in tow and another who was going back home to pick up her clothes. W' 0Two of the station wagons (those long, black limousines don’t have much in the way of trunk space), were for the band and the third was used for the spillover suitcases and trunks. Black Sabbathdoesn’t travel light •On the way back to ColoradoSprings it was clear our passengers were avftTTndian food lovers and that we were definitely being paid (the not-so-royal sum of $25), to listen and not to ask questions.Alas, tour manager Price “demanded” that the band be taken directly to their hotel — theBroadmoor — instead of indulging in a side trip to Boulder for some Indian fare. A circumstance that had most of the band members up in arms as they discussed methods by which to dispose of Mr. Price.ice, who best of all and Dio, who hates vegetables, being an avid meat eater.The group settles on an Italian restaurant, which turns out to be entirely over-rated, but which gets the job done. Afterward, the musicians stopped off at a local magic shop where Butler bought several stink bombs and where the band was soon asked for autographsWe then stop at a service station where Dio, a gentleman despite all that heavy metal implies, gets out and pumps the gas.“What band were you in before Black Sabbath,” asks the driver, not a Sabbath fan in any sense of the word. *§“I was in a group called Elf and then in (Ritchie Blackmore’s)half-IRainbow,he replied, addibefore that5:30 p.m. the f at the Broad-Upon arrival in Springs, band and bags were swung by the City Auditorium where hordes of loyal fans had already begun lining up.Colorado...anpumped gas.”* At aband is droppedmoor amid much talk of going golfing and whom is going to slee with whom. It turns out, thoug they try hard to project the op-ite image, that all the mem-rs are heterosexual. Dio and Butler, in fact, are quite happilymarried.Eight p.m. rolls around and so do the drivers, who wait outside the Broadmoor for their charges. We drive to the concert, the band gets out, fans run after them and the concert is on.Not being a heavy metal follower, this chauffeur was quite impressed by the light show and the high energy of the act. Dio is“It’s only 3 p.m., I can’t believe the main focus, with his disarmtEast where Butler has vowed to wear his cowboy bools — he has a closet full, he says — and to ride the El Toro bull As It is, the bullis closed for the night and we repair to the Emporium for somerock n roll.Actually, Butler would rather concentrate on the Asteroid game at which he beats the devil out of this driver for five straight gamesIn the course of the evening, it’s revealed that Butler has a youngson, often takes his wife out on the road with him and has been with Black Sabbath for 12 years♦ t“I was only in one band that,” he says with a chuckle“That was back in(Emziand) and we used to have toour names everylime weplayed, otherwise we wouldn’t gethired by anybody When asked how he survived the noise of a Black Sabbath concert the musician, who heretofore didn’t seemed to havehearing, merely s»iA “One of off-stage While all are—r where, apparently,lt; ithe groupplay upon each otherice ortablea hard time trousers tofinding com work in. Dio isaseems to be theA trip to several of the shops were playing “Heaven and Hell on their stereoa fa# buys cowboy boots Butler bought for his son), and a lot of young autograph seekers in*bbath T-shirts.This driver was wearing a Bruce Springsteen shirt and still got followed around by a knot of the faithful, who in the light of dayoften resemble the “heavies in “Nfght of the Living Dead ” Geoff Nicholls, Black Sabbath's part-time keyboardist, was in tow. too. and — besides women — hisfavorite thing is to shop forpawnWhile Butler spends more than an hour and a half looking for aleathefJppiHClark ahead for thenearest hock shops Nothing comes of the visits, except the fact that Dio hates the Roiling Stones new album andbockb* Paul Mlem**ike somebodysocksBlack Sabbath takas tour of Colorado SpringsStanding, Dio, Appice; sitting, Butler and lommiingly strong vocals, though all themusicians are notable showmen.Between encores — the band did several — Dio spots this driver and asks earnestly if everything’s all right. Such is the nature of rock ’n’ roll that it’s not unusual for women to get hassled mightilyat one of these affairs. Taking time to make sure everything’s in order, he rushes back on stage.Earlier that evening (at about 7 p.m. and likely in the middle of a nap), a musician who used to work with Dio in New York called and asked if he could pet in to see theThe singer immediately sets anthe caller and a frien-guest passesWhat can you say?incredibly nice guy.After the sold out concert, the band Is taken back to moor where everyone opts to hit the sack early, except Butler. Instead, we so to the StumbleFrom there, it’s back to the Broadmoor and the next day, off to the airport Such is the life of a rock star. As their driver, I twist to that ola new —- theperformance, it seems, is “lifeelse is shopping or eatvento 16,a copy of “Heaven and
Newspaper Details
Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph
Colorado Springs, Colorado, US
Fri, Nov 14, 1980
Page 45
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 14 Mar 2022
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