← Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Arizona
Holmberg's Morning Sickness - Arizona
07-23-25 - News Broke After The Show Yesterday That Ozzy Osbourne Had Died So We Recall Our Interactions w/Him And The Best/Lost Interview We Did w/Him
00:36:54
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- [00:00]
Brett Vesely
You're listening to the HMS Podcast, brought to you by MMP Guns.com, your most trusted online marketplace for firearms, ammunition and accessories.
- [00:08]
John Holmberg
It's John Holberg here seeing clear as a bell, thanks to my friends at the Schwartz Laser Eye Center. The amount of times I've had people tell me that they hate that they can't see right anymore is ridiculous. And in the year 2025, it's essentially like complaining about how long it takes you to ride your horse to the mercantile. We have advanced to a time where your sight can be corrected. Everyone has a different situation. And that's where Dr. Jay Schwartz and his team and their expertise comes into play. Get those eyes fixed now. Give them a Visit online schwarz laser.com or call them 480-483-EYES, the official Eye center of your D backs and sons, the Schwartz Laser Eye Center.
- [00:40]
Brett Vesely
Are your utility bills sky high this summer? Well, your old AC unit could be the reason. Older units work harder and cost you more. Patrick Riley wants to help you cool down with the Unchilled Bills contest. From now through July 30th, enter at Patrick Riley services.com forward/ Unchillbills. That's Patrick Riley services.com forward/ unchillbills. They're picking one winner in June and one in July to receive a brand new high efficiency York H vac system installed for free. Stop sweating high bills. Enter now and chill out with Patrick Riley. Patrick Riley. One call does it all.
- [01:11]
John Holmberg
Hey, everybody, it's John Holmberg from the Morning Sickness talking to Shane Orlando from Orlando Auto Body. Now, Shane, I take great pride in saying I stand with someone when I tell a listener to go to their shop. I know why. You tell me what's different for a KUPD listener to go to Orlando Auto Body than anywhere else. Well, first of all, we've been in the valley here for over 34 years. We do a quality job. We work for you, not the insurance companies. So we can work together to make sure your listeners are getting the customer service they deserve. If your car's been wrecked and you need that thing fixed the right way, get on over there now. Orlandoautobody.com you thought that was funny? You were laughing like a hyena when he said it. What the hell is wrong with you? I, Brady, go yourself. That's the prince of darkness telling our friend Brady. All right, Brady, go yourself. That was a pretty neat moment with us and Ozzy Osbourne when I asked him if he would tell the entire city to go F itself and he said no. And I'm like, well, how about Brady? And didn't. Didn't drop a beat. All right, that's pretty awesome. So that's our memory of Ozzy on this show around 2010. There it is. Ozzy Oswald. Everybody knows. Hi there, everybody. It's 5:45. This is the Morning Sickness. My name's John, there's Brady, there's Brett, and Big Dick Toledo hangs around here as well. We all know by now, of course, nobody's breaking news to you at this point that Ozzy passed away yesterday. So it is, it's a strange thing to start the very first show of the morning sickness on the 23rd of July, 2025. It's the very first show where a living Ozzy Osbourne is not part of our lives as a famous person. In fact, As I turned 53 on Friday, it dawned on me yesterday that he has been famous for all of those years. There has never been a day in my life without Ozzy Osbourne being a relevant factor to music at all.
- [03:08]
Big Dick Toledo
And what I was lucky to be alive three times.
- [03:13]
John Holmberg
Lucky to be alive since he was, since for 53 years, I'd say, but I mean literally started Black sabbath at age 19. And my entire life has had a, an Ozzy Osborne in it that people knew who he was at one, one place or another. Not necessarily great heights at certain points and, and lows at others. But he was always a figure in the world. So him passing away was somewhat of a strange thing. I remember well yesterday. Let me recount the KUPD studios, the what happened yesterday. I will try to recreate this as best I can and I'll give you the players and who's involved now. I was sitting in my office down the hall, which is probably, I don't know, 100ft away from the studio. Our hallways are concrete industrial type kind of buildings. So it's, it's echoey in the hall. It's not a wildly long hall from my office. Going the other way from the studio are the studios of kslx, Katie, KB in there, down a hall a little bit. So I'm in there typing away, writing something for commercial and stuff. And it's probably closing in at 11, maybe a little after 11. And I'm not kidding. And give me time with this. This is, this is what I hear.
- [04:30]
Brett Vesely
Flintstone showed up.
- [04:31]
John Holmberg
Wait for it. A guy is running, but he's not making any headway. Like all I hear are feet just pounding into the ground and then a flash of a troll like hobbit figure goes by my door.
- [04:49]
Brett Vesely
It's like a train going by.
- [04:50]
John Holmberg
Or. No, it wasn't. It was the opposite. Like Z train from the boys. It was the. The most noise and the least movement I've ever seen on a person. Finally, he goes past my door. And it's. You have to understand, this person is. If you were to see him in the wild, you'd think, oh, possibly a hobbit. It's David Moore who runs kslx. And he ran at breakneck speeds down the hall to go tell Larry that Ozzy had passed. Who? Larry's in the studio and on the air at the time. Ozzy's dead. Larry's like, yeah, I know. I got a phone. And then he kind of. It's pacing in the hall, like, who to tell next. It became this weird thing of like, I want to be the one who breaks the news to everybody. And I'm like, well, that's weird. That's just a weird thing to want to do in the day and age of phones. There's like. He ran.
- [05:39]
Big Dick Toledo
Who's that running at?
- [05:40]
John Holmberg
Yeah, it was like Wallace. It wouldn't. It didn't. It didn't register to me that people still have that desire to be. Lets you know, I know the bad news. No one else knows. And it was like, oh, my God. So I. I start laughing immediately. I'm like, well, that was ridiculous. And I'm like, all right, well, that's sad. Ozzy's gone. If that's true, Walks by my office, Ozzy's dead. I'm like, I heard you. He keeps going. He's like. He was, you know, he was Paul Revere of horrible things. And then he goes back to his shire and is not heard from again for a while. And then he was in. Oh, then he came back and went into the digital department and started hands in his head saying, well, we got to get this on the Internet. We got to get this on our web page. And what? I'm like, calm down. It's a new age. Everybody's got a phone. You're probably midway to last to know. And I'm like, I get it, though. He's doing his job as best he can. Larry calls me in and he says, john, come in here. You wanna. Do you wanna go on the air with me? And I'm like, sure, if you want me to. And he goes, yeah, yeah, I want you to. I'm like, okay. So Larry goes on the air. I'm sitting in Brady's chair, and Larry's like, it's just. I'm so surprised. Ozzy, I've got terrible, terrible news. Ozzy Osbourne's passed away. It's just dreadful. I mean, it's just a horrible. I'm so surprised. I can't. It doesn't, doesn't add up to me that this is a thing. And it's. I'm just so shocked. Just so shocked. I'm like, you know, and I kind of said my piece, which I'll get to in a little bit. And Larry's like, I know, but it's just so. I mean, I can't believe it. I cannot believe I. I just, I'm taken aback by the whole thing. We'll play Ozzy all day. This, that I' Good work. Get off. And Larry goes, man, we finally get to use these. And he goes on the computer and he has these drops that say, you know, it's our big voice guy going, rest in peace, Prince of Darkness. He, he, he did. He had already. And I said, well, when did you do that? 2020. Like, you weren't surprised by this at all. You've been waiting for it for five years.
- [07:39]
Brett Vesely
Grim Reaper.
- [07:41]
John Holmberg
Then I started to wonder, how many of these do you have? Like, who else have you done? Like, me, Brady, Brett, who else is in there? Big Red Radio celebrates the loss of Brady Bogan. Where's the thing? F off. He's gay. What did you want to say to him? Ozzy. Hi, Brady. Go F yourself. Yeah, I just. It was, it was the strangest. Like, I haven't been around a radio on air death that needs to be announced for a while. You know, we've had a few, like, oh, my God, you know, we did it when OJ died. Oh, my God, OJ's dead. I just remember saying, oh, my God. I got it on the phone. But I wasn't like, running down the. It was so weird, like, the reaction. And then you realize of all the.
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Big Dick Toledo
Ones to be surprised about, right?
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John Holmberg
But, but it was a big deal to the world of rock music.
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Big Dick Toledo
But, man, two weeks ago, you know, it was eerie that. How life was beautiful that way.
- [08:34]
John Holmberg
I think it's beautiful. I think it's the most unbelievable thing that can happen to you. If we all should have a. A farewell concert where everyone we've influenced and everyone who has been influenced that we have also been touched by going back and forth together in one space, having a concert, doing what you all love. And I mean, there wasn't a person at that show in England, the final Black Sabbath show that Wasn't there for Ozzy.
- [08:58]
Big Dick Toledo
Right.
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John Holmberg
They knew this. They didn't know he was gonna die, I think. But I mean that. And then you get to bao to the audience and say goodbye and then go to sleep. That's awesome. To me, this is the. This is one of the best deaths I've ever seen in the history of. Of anything. Is that. Yeah. He got to three weeks ago. Got to go up. My buddy Brian Rendell. Text me. He goes, I got to see Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys a couple weeks before he died. And he goes, it was pathetic. They wheeled him to the piano, he sat there, he hammered out a couple of songs, and he sat there until someone could come get him. And he goes. And it was like. You couldn't even, like, look at the crowd and wave or anything. He goes, it was pathetic. You'd have hoped he'd have been doing more things for himself at the end of his life rather than getting wheeled around and placed on stage, but he probably wanted to. Yeah, but this place went into a crazed, like, we gotta let the world know. And I'm like, everybody calm down. And it was kind of like a. Oh, it's a gut punch. Ozzy's finally gone. But it was. It's a thing. And then. Then my phone started ringing with people who wanted. I got a text from the guys at KTAR to start, and they said, we have. Would you like to come on and talk? And I'm like, I. Ozzy was a guest on the show a few times. I'm never gonna claim to know him. I think that's irresponsible. Somebody's passing is to sit back and go, ah, it was a guest on my show. You know who I'm doing a guest on my show several times. Man, we just got to be buddies. No, you didn't. Ozzy did this in a thousand different towns in a thousand different ways, and he couldn't have been more cordial and nice about it. But he was a guest and I was a host, so I'm not gonna go play pretend on ktar. You weren't close? No.
- [10:37]
Brett Vesely
Ozzy never called you at home?
- [10:38]
John Holmberg
No. That we were. No, he never called anybody. Are you sure?
- [10:42]
Brett Vesely
That's not what I heard.
- [10:43]
Big Dick Toledo
Didn't he tell you to go to country music?
- [10:45]
John Holmberg
Well, no. Sharon. Look, two things. Sharon said that if it wasn't for me, Ozzy would never stop drinking. And two, he wants his ashes scattered over the Pratt brothers Christmas village. That was the two things he told me that are indisputable truths. No, of course not. But Ozzy was awesome to us on the air. He did interviews, but KTR asked me. They said, we also have Alice Cooper. And I said, oh, I'm not going on if you've got Alice Cooper. I wouldn't even come close to try to pretend I have the experiences that he has. They're actually. We got a lot in common. Yeah. They're actually probably friends. Like, you know, I'm just a guy who does a show that plays his music. I mean, everybody can do that. And I said, I know there's a genre. So I got a television station that called, and I told him. I said, I'm not interested in making this at all about kupd or you do your thing. There's no local connection. I didn't know him. I thought he was great like everybody else. I'm just a fan. Right. So I did go on the KTAR thing because Bruce was like, we didn't get Alice, and we're not asking for you to pretend to have known him. Just like, if you've got a story. And I did Toledo and I had an interview with Ozzy the very first time I did get to meet him. We got to go out to interview Ozzy Osborne at the. Glendale. Was it Glendale? It was Glendale Arena. Right. Was that the shed? I thought we went all the way out to Glendale. Either way, we went out there. Toledo awesome at what he does. And then I show up and we had a whole thing where Toledo was playing the part of. At the end he was going to do inside the Rockstar studio, where we ask ridiculously strange questions. And then, you know, like, I forget was vomiting flowers or pissing sky. Like, what would you. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Play on words. Double entendre stuff. And then just weird things. And Ozzy played along beyond belief and everything else. And I remember at the end of it, we wrap up, we turn the recorder off. I look at. I look at Toledo, and I'm like, that was. It was the greatest 45 minutes of my entire career in radio. That was. This is the best interview I can ever do.
- [12:56]
Big Dick Toledo
It's with a legend.
- [12:58]
John Holmberg
Look, it was I. This is the P. On the couch.
- [13:00]
Brady Bogan
With his hand on my knee.
- [13:01]
John Holmberg
And talking to Toledo is like, he was. And, you know, and I remember it. I don't know if you remember the first thing. When he shook my hand, I thought he was. I thought he was a doddering, shaky old man. And this is 20 years ago, probably. I don't remember what it was. 2007, it says, so pretty darn close shaking hand and he goes, are we ready? Oh, again he goes, what you want to talk about string theory? I'm like oh, this guy is, he's, he's playing a part. There's a little bit of theater in this. There's not, it's not any kind of shaped up, wasn't shaken, plops down on the couch and is ready to go. Quick witted like speedy, fast, played along funny Holmberg's morning sickness Morning sickness All.
- [13:45]
Shane Orlando
Right, HMS Podcast, time again to let you know where to go for some great comedy in the Valley this week. Eastsiders the Tempe Improv has two very funny guys in Mike Vecchione and comedian CP Downtown at Stand Up Live, you've got the always entertaining John de La Cruz, AKA Nurse John. And up north at Desert Ridge features comedy vet and friend of the show Steve Byrne. For the complete lineups and for tickets, go to standuplive.com, desertridgeimprov.com and tempeimprov.com It's.
- [14:15]
Brett Vesely
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- [14:48]
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- [15:46]
John Holmberg
Holmberg's morning sickness. So I just. I remember telling Toledo, as we're in that room and everybody cleared out, I'm like, can it get better than that? And then Toledo goes back to the studio to edit it, and it sounds like this.
- [16:01]
Brett Vesely
Charlie Brown's teacher.
- [16:05]
John Holmberg
It's some of the greatest. It might be the whole damn interview. We sat with Ozzy just going, this is the greatest moment.
- [16:15]
Big Dick Toledo
He was on the moon.
- [16:16]
John Holmberg
This. Yeah, yeah. Houston, we have a problem. This was the energy.
- [16:22]
Brady Bogan
Four minutes.
- [16:23]
John Holmberg
Yeah, this was. And we were in the room for 15, getting prepped. We're sitting there for five more with other people coming in and that. And Toledo goes. This was our crowning moment. This is the. By the way, this. On the other end of this, the best interview I've ever done. It was amazing. Toledo pops in at the end. This is the greatest thing we could have ever done. That was. That was our first dance with Ozzy, man. So for me to say, ah. Then he called me to ask me if I should switch to country music. Don't. So I was proud of myself once again for saying, ah. Let Ozzy's death be your. Your news story. It isn't about, like, whether or not. And, again, if I was great friends with him, maybe I'd go on. But at the same time, it's like, what is it? You know? You guys are just gonna run the package and say, yeah, he. What am I gonna go on? He was a jerk, and he wasn't, like, the only good part of that. So I'm just kind of like, no, I was the only one that showed decorum in the world of kupd.
- [17:28]
Brady Bogan
Didn't grandstand on the fact that he told your buddy to go f himself?
- [17:32]
John Holmberg
No, I didn't even know. I don't remember that until you reminded me.
- [17:35]
Big Dick Toledo
That's the first I've heard. No, I probably.
- [17:37]
John Holmberg
Look, bottom line is, anybody who goes on and pretends to be best friends with a guy who died and had no connection to him at all outside of him being just a guest on a show, and then to go on and lie. I mean, what kind of weird nut bag puts out a package from his house and sends it to all the news channels just littered with lies. Because that's what Dave Pratt did yesterday. And it's. It's. It is. He called me buddy and he gave me. He told me country music. I was switching from rock to country, and he called to tell nobody knew that he was going to do that. I work with people who worked at that station when he made the switch from rock to country. And by the way, he was an afternoon guy at a station called the Zone, and no one in America cared, and he acted. And here's the fun part. When Eddie Van Halen died, he told the same story. Eddie Van Halen called me at home and he's like, hey, it's Eddie. And I knew who it was immediately. I said, I think you should. You know what, Dave, Amal, do whatever you need to do. If country music where you want to go, you go. And it affected Eddie. And then evidently, hey, I gotta go. Eddie Ozzy's calling through. He just found out about my big radio rock and roll to country transition. Lied, made the whole thing about himself, and then had the nerve at the end of the thing to say, and he's such a tool. This guy's such a tool. And I'm so upset that Ozzie's gone and that thing's living. But he says he was friends. Paul McCartney had. He loved Arizona. He had a house. Paul McCartney had a house in Tucson. Ozzy loved Arizona. When he was in town, he would stay at Paul's house. He didn't have money. He couldn't get a room, couldn't. He'd stayed out of Paul's house in Tucson because they were British friends. That's him. That's what he said. That's what the Brits do. That's what this dumb mother made it about. And then. And then he said, and my friend Colin looks things up. And he goes, that's funny, because I don't know what Dave's talking about. Ozzy has a very famous article where he finally got to meet his idol, Paul McCartney in 2001. All of its lies.
- [19:37]
Big Dick Toledo
They're buddies.
- [19:37]
John Holmberg
The man does nothing but lie for his own. It was pathetic.
- [19:43]
Big Dick Toledo
Well, it makes sense is the further away you're from it, the more.
- [19:47]
John Holmberg
The more you lie.
- [19:48]
Big Dick Toledo
Exaggeration.
- [19:49]
John Holmberg
Is that right? Because I remember a lot.
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Big Dick Toledo
It's just like stories, you know, embellishments.
- [19:52]
John Holmberg
Are different than just flat out saying, I used to have a unicorn. I used to ride around on it when I was a kid. That's pretty long time ago. That's a pretty long time ago. So if you're saying that I have a story from when I was five and I'm allowed to throw in unicorns now, I guess I will. I'm not gonna. Because it's a wild lie. I used to be friends with the. Remember George Clooney guy, he's a buddy of mine. I. I chatted with him once. We rode around in a G wagon and we took a trip to Albuquerque, and then we climbed Sandia Peaks, did that Amalama Coast. And I told him, I said, hey, we should have flown. We should be up in the air. And he goes, that gives me a good idea. And then on the way back, he wrote a movie because of me. You're not. You're not eulogizing anybody. You're just announcing you're a piece of. Ozzy's wife called me and said that Ozzy wanted me to scatter his ashes. You know, I stand inside stage there at the final Black Sabbath show, invited. No, you weren't. You weren't involved in any of it.
- [20:47]
Brady Bogan
None of us were.
- [20:48]
John Holmberg
It just. It. Ozzy's death just absolutely affirms. Reaffirms what a piece of Dave Bratt is. Can't even let the man's death be about the man, for Christ's sake. But Ozzy's gone. And again, it reminded me a lot of when Ralphie died. I got the call sitting in the other room, still at work, and just got off the air. And I got the call from the guys who own the comedy club here in town. It was Joel. And he goes, hey, buddy, got bad news. Like, what is it? Ralphie's gone. And I'm like, oh, where did his heart stop? And I was just wondering what. You know, what it was. It was news I knew I was getting. I was gonna get kept waiting kind of, but not like out loud, but once. Once the call came, I knew. I knew, okay, it's gonna happen. You knew this was coming. You just didn't know it was today. And so that was kind of the thing with Ozzy yesterday. I'm like, oh, Ozzy's gone. Well, I. I personally think. And I'll go, man, you can't. It can't get better than the way he went out.
- [21:53]
Big Dick Toledo
Oh, I know.
- [21:53]
John Holmberg
I mean, it's just I. I try to find a sad thing about this outside of his. Obviously his family is going to go through not having him around anymore. We're all going through not having him around anymore. But I'm telling you, man, give me that death. 10 times in a row out of. Out of 10, John, you get to do one final farewell where every person on this show comes in and gets to do a bit. Comedians, rock stars, everybody who was ever on the show comes by and go, hey, we loved what you did. We loved what you did, man. And you got to just. You got to be in a room of mutual admiration where everybody sat and you got to go to your own funeral and you got to play, you know, music at it and you got to be the star of it. And everyone there was like, God, you're the best. Thank you for being part of my life.
- [22:40]
Big Dick Toledo
Then you walk off to Superstition Mountain. That's it.
- [22:42]
John Holmberg
It literally just drift off into the desert. That's what people mean when they say you walk off into the sunset. I mean, you can't have. People are sad and whatever. You cannot have a better passing than what Ozzie had. It wasn't sad to me at all. It was glorious. What would have been sad is if they would have lingered on and they tried again in a few months and he was really bad. Or that you find out Ozzy can't walk. Or you find out that Ozzy's, you know, you know, gone. Like, mentally can't do it. You know, he wasn't 100%. He wasn't 100% good. It was July 5th. Yeah. So, yeah, he wasn't there. I watched yesterday, just out of curiosity, a couple of the live stream clips of the show. And he struggled with my mom coming home, but he did it. And that song took on a whole new meaning. Watching that now, like you watch, he did his five people were talking about.
- [23:30]
Big Dick Toledo
Their, you know, crying, sobbing. They knew forming.
- [23:34]
John Holmberg
Everybody knew. We all were watching this and we knew this no more tours 93 thing. And all of a sudden that's. This is it. This is it. Yeah. And, you know, the next time we really get a good piece of information about him will hopefully be health wise. Otherwise, I think he's gone. I think this is. He's no longer part of us, man.
- [23:53]
Brady Bogan
TV accident. We thought it was the end.
- [23:54]
John Holmberg
He's had plenty of them that close calls. But this, it was amazing. So a tip of the cap to the Prince of Darkness because, man, he got to talk about living a life and then just closing her off with an exclamation point and saying, thanks, folks. See you next time. It was awesome. I can still hear the pitter pat of David's bare feet in the hallway, running as fast as he can as if this was, you know, Paul Revere. Like, I mean, it would have. I would have said something like, it was like, Hamas got Ozzy. I'd be like, oh, my God. Then I would have run down the hall and told her, did you hear Dazzy's gone And it was Hamas. They paraglided into his house. And like, that would have been the. But Ozzy passing away. I'm like, that's beautiful. Just flat out beautiful.
- [24:39]
Brady Bogan
Echoing from like. Because we have like a circular hall.
- [24:42]
John Holmberg
Oh, you hear him running too. I forgot you were here. There's nobody coming. The hall's not that long. I just heard feet pounding into the earth. I'm like, what is coming? What is running at us?
- [24:54]
Brady Bogan
Checking doorways.
- [24:56]
John Holmberg
But then. And I'm like, where is this madman that's running in the hall? And then he zoomed by my office. I'm like, there it went. It's David.
- [25:06]
Big Dick Toledo
Ozzy's dead. And your toilet's broke.
- [25:07]
John Holmberg
Ozzy's dead. Ozzy's dead. I'm like, I heard you. And also foams. While you were pitter pattering, my phone buzzed. I got it three pages in. Dude, you're gonna have a heart attack. Calm down, Bilbo Baggins. Get back to your office and calm down. You're turning beet red. You look like a mater. You guys have to do something about it. We know he ain't going anywhere. He gonna be dead in five minutes when I get down the hall to talk to Larry and everything's this, you're okay. We don't need two people to die today. Just because. I don't think you've ever run before practices before Chester. Yeah, we've had some. This. You know, I do think though, this is the biggest. Sure. This is by far the biggest in our 25 years. This is the biggest of the rock deaths. Cornell was a pretty big one. But I would. I mean, Brett, you've been here longer than me. It's like, this is.
- [26:02]
Brett Vesely
No, this is the king.
- [26:04]
John Holmberg
He's the guy who did it. Like, he influenced all the music you're. You're going to hear today. You ask anybody in that band, like, influences. Black Sabatharazi aren't in the top five of what they mentioned. They forgot. That's it. Because they're. They. They invented metal. They invented heavy metal, period. I mean, I say the Beatles had a couple songs. You're like, that's a thing. What are you doing there? A little grungy, a little metal, a little thrash. But these guys, you know, Ozzy and the boys in Black Sabbath most definitely did. And it's. Everything you hear will be influenced by Black Sabbath. It's no question about it. We just played live. I remember talking to Ed Koaltra. I don't even know if Kolchaki. I can't even say, yeah, it's something Polish. Yeah. And that was at the Zone. He couldn't stop cussing, so he couldn't air the interview because they were a lot stingier back then with like, don't do that. So he had to tape everything first. And we can't have that many beeps in there. We can't have that many beeps. And I'm like. And one of the things he said was, you'd be surprised that one of my main vocal influences is Ozzy Osbourne. I'm like, you don't think of Ozzy as a vocalist. And he told me, no More Tears is beautiful and it's sung beautifully. And you start listening to it again, you're like, it really is like. It's just Ozzy. So you think of it as. You don't think of him as being a great vocalist, but he really was. He could sing in his own weird and so unique the way Slash's guitar has its own sound. There's nobody that, you know, you can sit and say, oh, that guy sounds a little like Chris Cornell, or that guy sounds like this guy. Nobody sounds like Ozzy, and Ozzy doesn't sound like anybody. Zach Wilde tries every once in a while to sound a little Ozzy ish, but you can tell the difference and he could do it himself. So it is definitely a punch to the guts of rock and roll. However.
- [27:53]
Brady Bogan
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- [28:23]
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- [28:53]
John Holmberg
Homburg's morning sickness.
- [28:58]
Big Dick Toledo
And it's amazing how many people started, I mean, that are a fan of Ozzy that just found him in the Osbournes. When that show came out, people didn't even listen to the music. He became an icon.
- [29:10]
John Holmberg
Well, Gatos yesterday at KTAR made a great point when he said he invented heavy metal and the Kardashians. That's true. Because in 1998, 99, when that show came out, nothing close had ever been done like that. Nobody had ever followed a famous family.
- [29:25]
Brady Bogan
Around like that, lived in their house.
- [29:26]
John Holmberg
You think it's all blended in with all the other ones. That was like the first time. You're like this famous family, let these people in there and, you know, masters into Pat Boone's yard. You can't make this stuff up.
- [29:39]
Brady Bogan
F you, Pat Boone.
- [29:40]
John Holmberg
Yeah, they loved each other, they were best friends. But he's hucking a ham into his neighbor's yard and, you know. And again, the only takeaway I ever had from meeting him was he knows this is a show.
- [29:52]
Brady Bogan
Oh, yeah.
- [29:53]
John Holmberg
Like we're seeing Ozzy on stage as the Prince of Darkness. And now he's playing the part of. I get it. I get what you guys think of me. And don't think I'm not going to wink and nod this thing. And I think he knew all that. I think there was a. Also a self recognition that I'm not altogether here all the time. Like my brain does stuff that other people's brains don't do. So I might as well just deflect.
- [30:16]
Brady Bogan
And talk about that phantom punch our boxing trainer Ray had. Ozzy had something like that where he'd check out.
- [30:22]
John Holmberg
He. I don't know that he was.
- [30:23]
Big Dick Toledo
Sometimes I don't think.
- [30:24]
John Holmberg
I don't think that's true. I think he checked out. I don't think he ever checked out. I think he knew that his brain was doing stuff that wasn't normal. And he played into it as a, like, as a deflection.
- [30:35]
Big Dick Toledo
It wouldn't piss people off. Ah, it's just Ozzy.
- [30:37]
John Holmberg
It's Ozzy. Yeah, but it was that thing. Well, I know what's going on. You want to talk about string theory. And I'm like, ah. And he told me the first sentence he ever said to me. You want to talk about the most complicated astrophysics of all Time or do you just want to sit and chat about music? And I'm like, you, you mother, you've been playing us. You're not a doddering old idiot who needs Sharon to wipe him. You've got this under control. And Sharon took care of the But I think half of it. I wandered around acting like he was stupid. So Sharon did everything. I don't know where anything is. And we can't be Sharon work the remote control. Watch this. The will come in and turn it. I think there was a little theatrics to go along with the idea that he's like, yeah, I'm not 100 here. I got stuff going on in my head that's way over there. I, I, he was an interesting, one of the most interesting human beings to be alive. And I love the fact that there are old people that are still afraid of him who are hearing, you know, their trusted news. They're trusted news people on television going, america's morning is the Prince of Darkness pass? It's like, this was a, this was, this was, this was something in the last night. David Muir. I mean, I watched all the news and I'm like laughing. I'm like, jesus.
- [31:56]
Brady Bogan
And they led the news with it.
- [31:57]
John Holmberg
Jake Tapper, America first on Fox. Chris Cuomo. The Prince of Darkness has passed. You remember in the 80s, this prince of Darkness was a like a legitimate threat to the beneficial. You know, all the things that music can give you.
- [32:12]
Brady Bogan
And each one of them leads with the bat story.
- [32:13]
John Holmberg
Every, every parent was like, I don't want you listening. He is a direct link to Satan. And then of course, Ozzie being Ozzy's like, oh, they think I'm a direct link to Satan. Call me the Prince of Darkness. I'm his son. And then he started to play up into that. It was, he was a marketing madman. And it was in but watching that and just thinking old people are like, what the weird. Happy about his life. They broke records, they. I watched old religious guys when I was a kid. That's how by the way, thanks, Jesus. That's how I know about Ozzy Osbourne. I was probably 8 years old. I didn't know I knew the music. I could hear it, but I didn't really know Ozzy as a character or as a person.
- [32:56]
Brady Bogan
That was like Blizzard of Oz time probably.
- [32:58]
John Holmberg
I don't remember when it was I was actually younger then. I was probably six. And I remember watching a TV show I got a kick out of even when I was a little kid. I got a kick out of evangelists. They just seemed so energetic and crazy. And I remember watching me at records, and he'd play a little bit of it, and I think he might have been a local or an Indiana guy, but he's a fat dude, and he just. He just look up at the camera and look down while the music was playing, and he'd pick it up, and he'd shatter it. More demons. You feel it? Then he put another. This must be stopped. He is an upside down. That's where I learned that Dio upside down said devil. Like, if you turn it around, like, this dude's teaching me also. Oh, yeah. Dio's logo, if you turn it over, it says devil.
- [33:41]
Brett Vesely
Never heard that.
- [33:42]
Big Dick Toledo
Never heard.
- [33:42]
John Holmberg
An old weirdo taught me that. I had loads of these guys. It was great. Oh, backmasking. It was way past that. The back masking was demonic. This was direct links to Satan. And all I did, it was like, well, now I want to listen to that. Yeah. All I want to do is hear. Can I dodge it? Is this something? This dude introduced me to Ozzy Osbourne as the scariest, most horrific thing. And even as a little kid, I'm like, it's just music, isn't it? Okay, I didn't know that was a thing. Yeah, there's Dio's logo. So you've never met Richard. I was. Everyone with a dad had. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dad pointed those out. You've never done the Dio devil thing back.
- [34:20]
Brett Vesely
Oh, man, I thought everybody knew that.
- [34:23]
John Holmberg
How were we teaching these guys this? Brady makes sense. I understand Brady not knowing that, but.
- [34:30]
Big Dick Toledo
It wasn't spinning too much.
- [34:31]
John Holmberg
It doesn't matter if he was spinning or not. This was like. Girls knew about this. This was a big deal because it.
- [34:38]
Big Dick Toledo
Was like, oh, well, you know, it wasn't backwards or anything, but kiss and those kind of things, but never service.
- [34:45]
John Holmberg
Yeah, I mean, that was a bad one. And now here we are in 2025. TV's favorite dad passed away yesterday. It's crazy.
- [34:54]
Big Dick Toledo
Anyway, I didn't realize, you know, you have Kelly and Jack and Amy and Lewis and. No Lewis. John is an adopted son. Elliot Kingsley and a daughter, Jessica, Starshine wife, were all from his first marriage.
- [35:12]
Brett Vesely
I think Lewis was the kid on the. On the Diary of a Madman.
- [35:15]
John Holmberg
Yeah, I think he was on one of the album covers. I was gonna say the same thing. I just didn't know which one it was. Yeah, I don't know if it was I. You'd know them better than me. I don't remember names of that. But yeah, Lewis was there and Amy didn't want anything to do with the show at home.
- [35:27]
Brady Bogan
So you barely saw her on the show. She would walk in and picture and out.
- [35:31]
John Holmberg
Didn't Sharon have a couple of kids prior to Ozzy as well? I don't know. I think she went ahead, so that might be mentioned. I don't know who's. I don't know who belongs to who. Yeah, I know Jack and Kelly are.
- [35:42]
Big Dick Toledo
Well, they said that last one. The.
- [35:43]
John Holmberg
Yeah.
- [35:46]
Brett Vesely
There'S your upside down cross and.
- [35:47]
John Holmberg
The upside down cross, which, by the way, this was another clip that. That fat weirdo did that when he was talking.
- [35:54]
Big Dick Toledo
I thought, that's Benny Hill in a wig.
- [35:56]
John Holmberg
He showed a clip. He showed a clip of Ozzy's concert and Ozzy had crosses up on the stage. And Ozzy again knew that this guy was watching. We went to his show, we sent in operatives and he. And he. Ozzy is polishing one of the crosses, keeping it like upright and nice. And then just does like this welcome. All because he had found out these evangelists were there. He didn't. They didn't do his normal routine of devil worship and turning crosses over. Weak. The power of God and everything else in the end of the show until the end. And then he turns the crosses over and he starts like spewing all this stuff. Ah, Satan took over the whole night and all your kids. This dude made me want to know Ozzy Osbourne forever. And luckily I got a little quick hit in there. My friend Marty has a brother who passed away years ago and they were very close because of music. They were like. And Marty is the guitar player in my silly. The band that we have. And he called yesterday. He's like, I don't want to do any rehearsing or anything like that. He goes, ozzy passing away has put me in a bad spot because it reminds me of all the fun my brother and I used to have with music. And now it's making me think of my brother who's no longer with us. And I'm like, ah, this is the power of. Of that. Is that true power. It was the connection between two people that were family. But that was the one thing he's like, you know, every day goes by and he doesn't have to stop everything he's doing. And he did. And it affected people. Like people were affected. Like people got drunk and made terribly stupid texts to other people and said silly things. And, you know, you got to give it a grain of salt. Like, all right. Ozzy affected people. You realize how much he was part of people's lives, and I'm not that way. I don't have those. Oh, my whole. When I. When someone I don't even really know, I'm just. That's right. That's right. Fast times at Ridgemont High ended. Mike Damone was busted for scalping Ozzy Osbourne tickets and now works at the 7 11. That's how Mike Damone's character arc ended in fast times at Ridgemont High. Ozzy was part of that and was well, well known enough in 1981 to make it hilarious that Mike Damone was showing, was shoving tickets to people for five or six bucks. It's great. I mean, it's just a life well lived. I just. I think it's a trip. So we'll play some Aussie stuff this morning for sure. Just to get it out of our system. It's unique, and we should let you know. I don't know if people want to. If you want to say something. I don't know if anybody's met it. My buddy Marty finished that story. Said one of my favorite memories was going backstage and getting to meet him with my brother. And he said it was the best day of my brother's life because Ozzy was like, his guy. And he's like, so those are those things that some people yesterday had that moment, like, I got to meet Ozzy Osbourne, and it was. It is the highlight of my life. And in fact, I say this without. And you and I are the only ones who know.
- [38:45]
Brady Bogan
Randall.
- [38:46]
John Holmberg
Was Randall with us. I don't remember that. Yeah. All the whole. Every day that we've done this show and whatever that is, my favorite day.
- [38:54]
Brady Bogan
Comes up all the time, and people.
- [38:56]
John Holmberg
Say, who's your best interview? And I'm like, it's a tricky one because nobody's ever heard it. It wasn't an interview so much as it was just a couple guys chatting.
- [39:03]
Brett Vesely
It's your fishing story.
- [39:06]
John Holmberg
It's my Pratt. Because I can't prove it. I never put pictures. I can prove that we have horrible audio.
- [39:12]
Big Dick Toledo
Just a little taste.
- [39:13]
John Holmberg
Yeah. Well, let me find it again and see if we can get it in there. I. I literally. That is. That is the highlight of this.
- [39:21]
Brady Bogan
It's in the rewind existence.
- [39:22]
John Holmberg
Yeah. Here's the greatest interview I've ever done. Thanks, Toledo. Great work. And I remember in that room with you going, are you sure it's working? And you're like, yeah, the levels work. And I'm like, are you sure that. Because it's. I think it was a TAZ scam. And you never trust. You never trust a component with the word scam written on it.
- [39:46]
Brett Vesely
But, yeah, it's typical KUPD stuff, though.
- [39:49]
John Holmberg
It is totally. You know, it could not be more kupd, the WKRP of radio. And I would love to try. I remember also, considering I've saved it.
- [40:04]
Brady Bogan
All these years, I've never deleted it.
- [40:07]
John Holmberg
This was, oddly enough, tomorrow will be. That was on July 24, 2007. So it was right in the center of it. And right here he's telling me, dave Fred's my best friend.
- [40:21]
Brett Vesely
Oh, that's.
- [40:22]
John Holmberg
I'm gonna call him later today, and we're gonna be best friends some more.
- [40:28]
Brady Bogan
For Dave Pratt.
- [40:29]
John Holmberg
I gotta cut this interview short. I've gotta go babysit. My God.
- [40:33]
Shane Orlando
Kids.
- [40:33]
John Holmberg
Dave Pratt's children. I wanted to kill you. I wanted to kill you. You didn't have headphones on, and you just were like, dude, it works. Don't worry about it. I'm like, are you sure?
- [40:47]
Brady Bogan
No, the headphones had the audio.
- [40:49]
John Holmberg
It didn't work. Whatever we did. I just remember looking. I. For some reason, I remember one of.
- [40:53]
Big Dick Toledo
The guys we were working with. It wouldn't have happened on his watch.
- [40:56]
John Holmberg
Well, that's true. Ye gone. It would have been. Yeah, it was. It's tough. It's a tough one, but it's funny. It's funnier this way. And it is like Brett said, it's so. It's so us.
- [41:07]
Brett Vesely
It's typical.
- [41:09]
John Holmberg
God is my witness, I thought Toledo could hit record play. But give us your wake up song. I have a feeling you know which way you're going to go. 585-9800. A good one. We'll scream it together. It's 98 KUP, wake up. Arizona's most powerful, powerful rock radio station. P Day.