On vacation but still made time to talk to us today because Rick Lewis from The Fox is the man. Rick, Are you as shocked as we are, even though none of us should be shocked about this?
Yeah, you know, I was surprised when I heard the news, Mandy, because you know, we just watched him perform what two weeks ago, and yeah, obviously he was struggling, did the whole show from a wheelchair, and he seemed pretty weak and feeble. But the fact that he did that two weeks ago, yeah, I'm shocked that he passed away today. Man, we lost a total icon in the rock world, the godfather of hard rock, the godfather of heavy metal. And yeah,
I have stunned. You know, I'm starting to wonder too if maybe that show was a little too much for him. You know, I know we had to travel for it, he had to rehearse for Yeah, he got through it. But man, I got.
An interesting text message from a listener earlier who said, you know, he was in Switzerland seeking treatment for his Parkinson's but Switzerland also has assistant suicide. And I'm not saying that's what happened, but it was an interesting thought because Parkinson's is a terrible debilitating disease, and the fact that he was able to do that show, I think in his advanced condition, was pretty remarkable. And to your point, it had you have taken it out of him.
Yeah, and I wonder, I mean, looking back now, we could we could pretty much say that he knew the end was near. I don't know if you heard the the raw audio of him singing, Mama, I'm coming home, yeah show, but I got a chance to hear that. In fact, we played it on my radio show on the Fox in the morning, and it was it was kind of hard to listen to because he was trying real hard not to cry.
It was really emotional.
Voice was trembling, he got choked up, and it's like he was saying goodbye, Mama, I'm coming home. Very very powerful. Your listeners out there can probably find it somewhere on the internet, and I don't think they'll ever be another Ozzy Osbourne. He was one of a kind.
He was one of a kind and talk about doing things on your own terms. We talked about this a little bit earlier in the show. This is a guy who did it his own way for his entire career and now it seems that he planned his daughter. Kelly was quoted as saying Kelly or Amy was quoted as saying that this final show was really his funeral and that that's how they kind of all looked at it. It was like the last chance to come out and celebrate Ozzy. But even in death, the man goes out
the way he wants to. I got to tell you him a little bit jealous, right, it's not they to just live with reckless abandon the way he has and to have so many different phases of his life.
Yeah, that's a good way to put it. He did it his way and he was true to his authentic self. He never changed and all the way to the end at fifty five years, close to sixty years of being Ozzy Osbourne. And you know, a lot of people were surprised he made it to seventy six years old. And then in some ways people were looking at him like, man, nothing can kill this guy, right, nothing's going to be
able to kill Ozzy Osbourne. Well it's it's eventually, you know, the Parkinson's as you said, it's such a devastating disease, and yep, I'm sure that was a big part of what took him out.
You know, we should all be so lucky as to have the career that he's had. You know, I was talking to a rod Rick because a Rod's young, so he doesn't remember like we do. When Ozzy was like this pariah and if you went to church and you listened to Ozzie, there was gonna be problems, right because he worshiped the devil and he bit a head off
a bat and did all this crazy stuff. But when you think about the rest of his life, where he's been basically like everybody's rock and roll grandpa for the past fifteen years, right since since the Osbourne's came out. What an evolution.
Yeah, look at him, the artists he influenced, and just look at the lineup at that back to the beginning show a couple of weeks ago, was a who's who of rock and rollers and they all played for free reportedly and raised two hundred million dollars for charity. What a way to go out. You are absolutely right. If you're going to come to the end of your life and you can have one last performance and raise two hundred million bucks for charity, man, you did it right.
You absolutely did.
Rick.
Why don't you go and enjoy your vacation for a little bit. You go on vacation for one day and look what happens.
I know, man, I'm actually in Michigan right now with the family. I'm just about to jump on the plane. But I'm getting calls and requests for the last hour and a half to appear on various podcasts. Yeah, I bet, and radio shows, and hey, that's what you do.
Maybe, you know, yep, got to strike while the iron's hot. If they want to talk to you, you're going to talk to them back, especially with something it feels as big as this. Now here's my question. What do you think the funeral is going to be like for Ozzy Osbourne?
You know you said something interesting just a minute ago that really was like his funeral. Yeah that we witnessed it. Yeah, many people witnessed. I can't imagine it could be any bigger or better than that. And all those same artists that you saw at that concert will be in attendance, and man, it blows me away. Like I said, he was one of those guys that you never thought was going to die. Yep, and now you know, you kill him.
Keith Richards is sitting at his home right now, going, oh crap, Ozzie's gone. They're coming for me next. You know, they're just these rock icons that are never going to die, just like Rick Lewis on the Fox and a woven part of the Denver Colorado fabric. So you too, sir, are going to live forever. This is my prediction.
I'm planning on it.
Thank you and a right man, go on the vacation. I'll talk to you later. Rick, thanks for making time. Appreciate you.
I love that guy.
Talk about a guy that's just as nice off the air as he is on the air. You know, we don't really work with any dill holes here, ah Rod, And trust me, in other radio groups that I've worked in, there's always a dill hole.
Oh we've all heard stories, Yeah, none of them have come from here. Now.
This is just a lovely group of on air people that are just the same off the air as they are on the air.