Farewell to the King of Metal

Yesterday was a weird day. I woke up late and stumbled out to the coffeemaker and set it to start making some wake-up juice. I'm pretty grouchy before I get at least one cuppa, so that's usually where I go first. While I waited for my coffee to finish brewing I went into the office and turned on my electronic appendage. I then slumped in my chair and waited for my computer to boot up, as the enticing smell of a light roast from some country I'll never visit wafted into the room grabbing me by the nose and leading me back to the kitchen. When I got back to my computer, tweet deck was up and as I sipped my coffee I began to crawl through my time line.
Then I saw it; Ronnie James Dio, the man responsible for pushing the Heavy Metal genre to fantastically epic heights, (and of course lets not forget the 'devil horns' that Dio gave to ALL metal heads everywhere) was dead! I couldn't, nor would I believe it. I knew that he had been having health problems of late, but c'mon, he's fucking DIO! He can't die; I could'a sworn he made a deal with the Grim Reaper or something. So in my denial (the 1st stage of the grieving process mind you) I began searching for some kind of confirmation.
To my extreme delight I began to find pages telling me that the reports of Dio's death were greatly exaggerated. An undeniable wave of relief washed over me, and as I finished my first cup of coffee I thought to my self "Good! It's to bloody early to deal with a death of that magnitude, well at least too early in my day."
Well by the time I got back to my computer with my second cup, my time-line on tweetdeck had progressed and EVERYONE was saying that 'Yes Dio had died.' Again denial jumped to the forefront of my mind and took control of my internet searches. Again all of the postings from official sources were saying that I shouldn't listen to the rumors. "Ok, Twitter," I thought "this is getting a little ridiculous!"
Unfortunately about five minutes later I got all kinds of official confirmation on the demise of this pioneering Heavy Metal Legend. There is no way to describe the torrent of profanity that came from within me, but my cats who up until this point had been napping lazily in the office, gave me an irritated look and ran off for quieter spots of rest.
Needless to say, I am still upset about the passing of this god of metal, and this is just days after the passing of legendary artist Frank Frazetta (http://jimmypalmiotti.blogspot.com/2010/05/frank-frazetta-rip.html), a favorite cover artist of Heavy Metal bands world wide, and some one who had helped to shape the comics industry of which I am so very fond of. Sorry getting off track....
Now I want to make something clear, I am not a hardcore Dio fan, and I hadn't followed his career religiously. I am very familiar with him and his music, as any metal head worth his salt should be, but I was not what you'd call a constant listener. My tastes just tend toward the newer, heavier, double-kick-ier technical death metal.
Where am I going with this? In your face actually. What irritates me is the fact that when somebody of note dies, like Dio or Frazetta, people come out of the woodwork claiming that they have always been fans, or that "they were my favorite". Look, you know deep down in the pit of your empty little soul that you are FULL OF SHIT! There I said it. You can get upset or up in arms about it, but the truth will always remain no matter what you claim or do to try and hide it.
Now if you didn't get offended by what I just said you are one of those wonderful people that is honest and sincere with your love of said legends. You are of the number who actually followed, enjoyed, helped spread the legend of, these people that you now miss like a part of your own soul. My grieving heart goes out to all of you. You know who you are, and what Dio and his music meant to you.
This is, however, not to say that people cannot be sincere about their "love", it just seems awfully convenient. I can also guarantee that a Dio Discography was on lots of download lists yesterday, and will more than likely be there for a while. Which ties into what I am saying.
It is terribly unfortunate that people popularize someone after their death. Why can't they be popular and talked about when they are alive? Why do we suddenly latch on to a famous someone when they die? Maybe I'm still too upset to think straight, but from now on when I get an opportunity to tell someone (that I respect for their work), that I am a fan and that they rock, I'm going to (one of the reasons I love twitter). Because they may not be there tomorrow, hell you might not be here tomorrow.
So today I am listening to ALL of Dio's albums. Some of which I haven't heard since I was a kid, and I will reflect of all of the things he gave to my most favorite of Music genres.
A six hundred and sixty-six HORN SALUTE to the man, the myth, the Metal god Ronnie James Dio!

Welcome....

I have decided to start a blog because twitter doesn't have enough space for me to fully articulate, elaborate and .... (looking for another '-ate' sound) percolate my ideas fully.
This first post will be a short one, because I have way too much school work to do, to be blogging of all things.
I am a LIFELONG comic fan that has been reading them since before I could actually read the words within. As a matter of fact it was my comics that helped me learn to read. After that I had an insatiable appetite for a good story, whether it be from a comic, a novel, a movie, or a video game.
I have been playing video games for almost as long as I've been reading comics. Comics is ahead by about 2 years give or take.
I am currently going to school through the Art Institute of Pittsburgh Online for Video Game Art Design, and having a blast.
So you can follow me on twitter, but chances are that if you are here you came from my twitter page. At any rate my twtitter page is www.twitter.com/deathmetalhero.
And if you a have a taste for DEATH METAL you can check out my Blip.fm page at http://blip.fm/DeathMetalHero.
That's all I have time for now.
Later,
DMH