Ozzy

Now, to sound like an old man, I used to walk a mile or so everyday to school. Though not uphill. We lived in an okay neighborhood, not the best, not the worst, and my grandma would walk me to school every day. The kids picked on me mercilessly for this. Fortunately another kid moved into the neighborhood, my best friend at the time, and we walked together.

Sometimes my Dad walked me home on his splits from the  local restaurant he worked a block away. He loved music and would always be listening to his walkman the duration of our walk. So loud, he would, I could hear what he heard. I remember going with him to the record store to get "The Ultimate Sin", I remember seeing the video and being terrified. He listened to it quite often. For whatever, reason I remember  this one walk and hearing "Shot in the Dark" like a photograph.

This album has come up several times in conversation for me recently.

When I was a teen, my Dad's friend/co-chef let him borrow a bunch of CDs. Things he didn't have, he liked, but didn't own: Zappa, Black Sabbath... He in turn let me borrow them. I really enjoyed Black Sabbath. I made a cassette and listened to it often, and, especially "Iron Man", I learned that song and a few others on my guitar. It was around the holidays, and I jokingly said one day on a car ride that Black Sabbath should make a Christmas album. I don't know why.

To this day, when I think of Black Sabbath...I think of Christmas.

Happy holidays.