Craig Rosen of the Los Angeles Times reports:
More than 15 years after the death of heavy metal icon Ronnie James Dio, his widow and friends are continuing the fight against cancer on his behalf.
On Thursday, Wendy Dio and her friends and supporters will hold the annual Bowl for Ronnie celebrity tournament at Pinz Bowling Center in Studio City.
..It’s one of the two events held annually that raise awareness and money for the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund.
According to Wendy Dio, the organization has raised about $2.5 million over the years, with funds going to the cancer research work of the T.J. Martell Foundation for Cancer, AIDS and Leukemia Research; the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and the UCLA School of Dentistry’s early cancer detection program, where Dr. David Wong is working on a way to detect stomach cancer from saliva samples…
…“When Ronnie passed away, a lot of people wanted to give money for cancer [research and awareness],” she says, seated at the bar in the castle-like Encino home she once shared with her late husband. “I’m very against big corporations taking a bunch of money, because where does it go? Iron Maiden gave us $10,000, so I thought why don’t we form our own cancer fund? We know if everybody gives a penny, it’s going to go straight to where we want it to go to, which is research and education…”
…That event, along with this year’s bowling party and all the other Stand Up and Shout fundraisers, features TV/radio personality Eddie Trunk as the host. The voice of Sirius/XM’s Trunk Nation developed a friendship with Dio over the years and dozens of interviews. “When he passed, it was devastating to me like so many others,” he says. When Wendy Dio told him she was putting together a fund to help those battling cancer, Trunk vowed he’d do anything he could to help.
...Trunk’s family has also battled cancer, but his story has a happy ending. Due to screening and early detection, Trunk’s father was treated for early-stage colon cancer and survived. “As a result of that and that I have a direct family history, I get screened every three years with colonoscopies and that is something I talk about on the radio — the importance of screenings,” he says.
He’s also thankful to Wendy Dio for holding these events in Ronnie’s honor. “It’s great what she’s doing with the charity and it’s great that it celebrates Ronnie,” Trunk says. “The other thing that’s really nice about these events is that there’s a family of Dio friends and fans and it brings everyone together. We all have Ronnie stories, and it sounds really hokey, but it really truly does bring him back during those times, because we all really celebrate him and reconnect with him at these events.”
Lest anyone think the bowling event is just a party, Trunk — who also bowls in the tournament — says some of the participants take the competition very seriously.
One of his teammates is guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, who happened to be a guest on Trunk’s radio show the day we spoke to him.
“Tom’s a good friend and he anchors my team every year,” Trunk says. “He’s like, ‘This year, we got to bring in some pros. We got to get some ringers. We got to win this year.’ So, he gets all worked up about it,” Trunk adds. “Me, I’m just happy if I break 100.”
Read more at Los Angeles Times.
One Response
To be brutally honest, Ronnie should have cut ALL business ties when their marriage dissolved. That’s all I’m going to add…