Hey, this is kinda cool. 

It's not every day that you're riding the Skytrain to work and see that Ozzy Osbourne has tweeted a photo of an old Georgia Straight cover to his five-million-plus followers.

Back in the summer of '82, newly hired by Straight mainman Dan McLeod to cover the burgeoning heavy-metal scene, I'd interviewed the Prince of Darkness, and McLeod had the werewithal to stick the Ozzman's grimacing face on the cover, with the callout: "I Hope People Go a Bit Crazier in Vancouver".

The interview took place less than three months after the death of guitarist Randy Rhoads in that bizarre plane crash, and I recall that Ozzy still sounded upset about it. I asked him how well his current guitarist, Brad Gillis, was filling Rhoads's shoes.

"Well, he’s a different style guitar player on stage," replied Ozzy, "but he plays all the licks. I mean, to get somebody as good as Randy, I’ve given up trying to look. Because after the death of Randy, I was very bitter for a long while, and to anybody who came along and auditioned I said: 'Go, I don’t want to know'. I was trying to find the same kind of player, and you can’t. Randy was a one-of. Let’s face it, you can’t get anyone to beat Randy because he was the best.

"But Brad’s near enough," Ozzy added. "I mean, you’ve got to give people a chance, and it’s a pretty big hole to fill in. I don’t think many people could ever stand where Randy stood, and you’ve got to give anybody who tries to stand in credit for what they’re doing."

Thanks for the TBT, Ozzy. It's good to know you've got 37-year-old copies of the Straight lying around your mansion!