Met Ozzy Once

It was almost inevitable if you grew up in the Nashville of old that you would end up rubbing shoulders with certain celebrities. One of the luminaries I crossed paths with was the gone-too-soon Ozzy Osbourne, who left us earlier today but not without leaving behind a legacy of memorable music and occasional controversial antics. I had occasion to speak with him twice at two different locations on the same night, though he seemed almost catatonic sitting alone with his retinue watching him with a non-alcoholic beverage at Sherlock Holmes English pub on Elliston Place during Ozzfest Nashville, and later that same night at South Street Crabshack and next door at Bound'ry. He had listened to my conversation with the English Jewish bartender at the pub earlier in the evening, and knew me by name and cared enough to warn me off a music producer's extremely famous singer wife. I didn't realize when I said "hi" to him early in the evening that he even knew what city or perhaps not even what country he was in, as his eyes seemed glazed and he mumbled back something indecipherable, but later that night he called me by name and instructed me not to "mess with" Mutt Lange's spouse who I had shared a table with at South Street. Ozzy was a talent who enjoyed "interesting times". He will be missed, but his music will keep him with us in a way as long as there are ears to hear it.