Chit-Chat Check-In #125 Transcript

Hello, this is your Captain speaking.

Ozzy. He will be missed. For many obvious reasons. Mostly, I think, probably as a reflection of how benevolent he was, and oddly graceful in the face of his affliction with Parkinson’s, but just a person in the public eye that was not seemingly at all afraid of being odd, and himself. Growing up I wasn’t a huge Black Sabbath fan because there was some conflict there in a young person’s mind, at that time, between punk rock and everything else. And of course I’m happy I grew out of that type of mindset.

I will say that, learning this song, I was reminded of some of the reasons I might’ve dismissed them more than I should have back in the day. There’s a ham-handedness and clumsiness to some of the lyrical content, the way that some of the ideas are expressed, that to me, especially at the time, I thought was somewhat childish. And now I realize that it’s incredibly poignant, and criticizing it in terms of literary value is like criticizing the manner in which someone is yelling “Fire” in a room filling up with smoke. There’s something very genuine and righteous about the anger in this song, “War Pigs,” and that’s to be saluted.

Another thing I would like to salute about Ozzy and add my voice to in tribute is, how can you go out any better than that? And how dignified his struggle with Parkinson’s was, I think, was helpful, probably, for a lot of people with Parkinson’s, which includes my sister. And she has given me permission to share this picture of her at the Muhammad Ali facility where she’s been fortunate enough to experience a lot of relief and receive guidance as to how to better manage the symptoms and unpleasantness of Parkinson’s. So she just wanted to spread the word that there are things maybe people don’t know about that can help. I think she’s doing some very new things and it’s given her a new lease on life, as they say, and it’s been very helpful, so we’re all extremely happy to see that.

Anyway, this is a post to honor Ozzy, honor my sister, remind people, or shed some light or spread the word a little bit about some of the resources available for people suffering from Parkinson’s, and hopefully someday there will be a cure.

Carry on. And long live Ozzy. Long live Debbie.