Ronnie James, Just Walk Away
Saturday, February 13, 2010 We have had the good fortune of having traffic directed our way by a number of different sources, but one of the first blogs to embrace us and provide a link to our much less popular site was Kevin Bronson's Buzzbands. He was more supportive than a lot of the national metal blogs, and to this day, his indie rock blog is consistently one of our best referrers. We just learned that he recently reached out to Ronnie James Dio and we fully join in his appeal. Dio, you are in the midst of a battle that matters. Ignore the bad advice of your lawyers and walk away from this one. Here's Mr. Bronson's letter:
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Dio,
First, Ronnie, I heard you’ve been undergoing treatment for stomach cancer. Let me wish you the best in this battle, and that you bounce back quickly so you can tour in support of that “Heaven and Hell” DVD.
Secondly, and the reason for this short note, is I’d like to ask you a favor, aging blogger to veteran rocker: Could you please ask your legal squad to lay off the guys in the Hawthorne pop band Dios? I heard your lawyer sent just them a note taking issue with their band name — it’s the same thing that happened back in 2004 when they changed their name from Dios to Dios Malos, or Dios (Malos), or however they rendered it. All the indie kids in town know them as Dios; heck, they played Coachella as Dios. So they’re going back to the Dios name for this new album, and I say good for them. Besides, you Google “Dio” and your sites come up; you Google “Dios” and theirs do.
My simple point is, nobody is going to confuse Dio with Dios. If you think your fans are going to be befuddled, you’re not giving them much credit. Same goes for Dios’ fans.
Dios didn’t have the resources to fight your cease-and-desist letter in 2004, and I’m guessing they don’t now. In fact, I’m not sure they’ve made enough money in seven or so years as a band to cover a blogger’s bar tab.
So a simple suggestion: Live and let live, yes? And rock on.
Best
Bronson
Reader Comments (2)
Hate to say this, but in all honesty, I bet it DOES create confusion with some of Dio's fans.
If the addition of an "S" does not resolve that confusion, those fans have more to worry about than band names. They should know their Dio is Italian, not Spanish. Now if Dio plays Spaceland, I'll switch sides.