Tag: music

Ozzy Osbourne: An Appreciation

Posted on by Eric
Photo by Ross Halfin

Ozzy Osbourne was the beating heart of heavy metal. Period, full stop. Every single person who plays or listens to this music frankly owes him – unpayable debt, unshakeable gratitude, undying affection. He was 76 years old, and timeless. No performer anywhere ever loved his fans more, or connected with them more deeply, or they with him. It must be a measure of that metric the degree to which the cavalcade of heartfelt thanks, condolences, and remembrances, from friends and fans alike, that, since word first spread of his passing Tuesday, has issued forth from all corners of the internet and only slightly greater news ecosphere like a raging river overtaking a beaver dam, has consistently moved me, at times damned near wrecked me, and, in the end, almost literally forced my notoriously reticent hand to add something to the conversation. Continue reading “Ozzy Osbourne: An Appreciation” →

Post No. 125: Alone in the Dark

Posted on by Eric

You-and-I-Horizontal-III

Every 25th post, darkadaptedeye takes a planned break from normal business to plumb the shallow depths of its author’s psyche and/or overtly explore the locked attic of memories it only ever really dabbles in otherwise. You might think of it as a pit stop, or maybe a soft reboot. In “Danse Macabre”, Stephen King termed his own such digression “An Annoying Autobiographical Pause”, which I choose to think was kind of charming. Please know I take seriously the challenge of making patent self-indulgence interesting – actual results be damned – and I appreciate you being game. We’ll return to our irregularly scheduled programming shortly…

There is a point to this: what we see, what we hear…what we experience, and how we feel while doing so. It is a vital and inescapable part of being alive. Not only wouldn’t I have it any other way, such an “other way” simply isn’t an option, or at least not for me. The second weekend in November, as you are no doubt well aware, terrorist gunmen inflicted horrible casualties on a coordinated group of targets in Paris, France, including a packed concert by raucous American desert rock institution the Eagles of Death Metal. Due to the time difference, the eastern part of the United States received the news in the wee hours of Saturday morning. I was stunned, as I’m sure were we all, and took the moment, while devouring whatever breaking information on the shootings I could find, to spin EoDM’s new album, Zipper Down, for what was, shamefully, the first full time since a friend had gifted it to me the previous month. It made for a weird but poignant DIY elegy. Continue reading “Post No. 125: Alone in the Dark” →