08.20.07
Two Ozzfest Deaths in New Jersey
(from antiMUSIC) Some fans got carried away with their fun and died at Thursday’s Ozzfest date in New Jersey. One man was resuscitated in his car in the AFTERNOON after reportedly ingesting “a lethal amount of cocaine, marijuana, and alcohol.” The other guy had a heart attack, was probably pretty young, and was probably pretty fucked up, too. What makes me kinda chuckle is the fact that anybody believes you can overdose on marijuana. Really? It’s a tired argument, but a very solid one – hold up statistics comparing marijuana-related deaths with alcohol- or tobacco-related deaths. You will find that the latter two, alcohol and tobacco, virtually eclipse marijuana in terms of lethality. You can say anything else that you want to about marijuana (and get a commissioned team of frontier scientists to prove that you’re right), but it is not lethal. And I should have more sympathy for these guys, but why? Wake-up call to fans: ABUSE WISELY (oxymoron)! Authorities, just keep doing what you’re doing. As long as nobody’s got guns and knives, we’re good to go. It is the duty of the concert-goer alone not to be a jackass and take any kind of drug at a gnarly, sweaty, super-hot concert that would ultimately lead to their death. ‘S all I’m saying.
07.28.07
Warped Tour Founder: Free Ozzfest Tix a Ploy
(from antiMUSIC’s Day in Rock) Reflecting a sentiment that I expressed a couple of days ago in a blog post about free Ozzfest tickets, Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman, in an interview with The Kansas City Star, claims that Sharon Osbourne cooked up the free ticket scheme because “it allowed Ozzy Osbourne to get one more check out of [Ozzfest]“, citing faltering turnouts in recent years. This goes against the Osbournes’ somewhat courageous ideal of giving the tickets away as a form of rebellion against the rising price point on the ticket market. Because somebody else thinks it, that doesn’t make it true, but coming from the founder of another large festival, I’d call those words pretty credible.
07.26.07
Free Dallas Ozzfest Tickets On Sale Tomorrow 7/26
(from the official Ozzfest website) Starting at 10:00 AM tomorrow, tickets will be available online for the Ozzfest summer metal festival stop in Dallas on August 2, among others. This is the first year that the festival has been put on for free, thanks to hefty sponsor contributions, but I still bet on dwindling attendance. Ozzfest was the genesis of rock concerts for me; I walked into the show a boy and emerged a demon. My first Ozzfest was back in 2001, and it was halfway decent then. Due either to a waning interest in bad music or a waxing interest in Vans Warped Tour, the festival’s barreled downhill lately. In 2005 Sharon Osbourne encouraged an onstage egg assault from the audience against Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson along with repeatedly cutting power to the band’s set. These childish antics were intended as Dickinson’s revenge for his “remarks about reality TV”, the singer said in an August 26, 2006 interview with The U.K.’s The Sun Online. Whatever the case, there should be a bunch of stoners waking up unusually early tomorrow to sit faithfully in front of their computers, waiting for the 10:00 mark to hit. I’d sleep in, pick up the tickets at your leisure. The internet isn’t going anywhere, and neither, I suspect, are those tickets. We shall see.
