The Brady Bunch Meets Heavy Metal at the Celebrity Bowl For Ronnie Fundraiser

Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath

I don’t know about you, but whenever I think of Heavy Metal, I think of The Brady Bunch. Why not? One group is decked out in leather and studs, and the other….Hmmm, OK, maybe not so much.

What does the Brady Bunch have to do with Metal? I don’t really know, but at last night’s celebrity Bowl For Ronnie event, Susan Olsen, better known as Cindy Brady was in attendance. Exactly why I couldn’t tell you, but as a fan of the show it was quite a moment–not only for myself, but for all the assembled media. Even with people like Dave Grohl, Geezer Butler, Eddie Trunk and Rudy Sarzo there, Susan seemed to be the center of attention.

The event took place at Pinz bowling alley on Ventura Blvd and I’ve never seen so many media people packed into such a small space. You would have thought that Black Sabbath in it’s entirety was in the building, but Geezer Butler is a huge draw both for me and for everyone else there. I can only imagine the crush if all four members were present.

Interview times were very brief, and doled out mostly to radio and T.V. people, but I did manage to get a few short questions in here and there. First up, I asked Eddie Trunk if and when he was ever going to bring That Metal Show back. “We have people asking us about that all the time, we’re just looking for a good network to host it. We have the content, we have the hosts, the music, we practically have the set.  All we need is a network to show it.”

Geezer Butler was hustled through the gauntlet as I expected but I did manage to get in a few questions regarding the cover of Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, an album that I have a particular interest in, but that’s another story.

After much of the media hubbub had died down, I spotted Susan Olsen just casually hanging out near the door. If you’ve read my articles before, you know that T.V. people and Metal aren’t my usual topics of interest, but Susan was really sweet. The only connection I could deduce was a “Zoso” emblem hanging from her kneck. I won’t get into the whole “Led Zeppelin ARE NOT a Heavy Metal band” argument, but I was intrigued enough to ask about it.

“I was in an elevator with Jimmy Page once, but I was too young to know who he was. I really love Led Zeppelin, and I’m a huge Jimmy Page fan.” Who would have thought that cute little Cindy Brady was a hard-rocking Led Zeppelin fan? I guess we come in all sorts of flavors, don’t we? We chatted about the restoration of the Brady Bunch house, which I live perilously close to, and Led Zeppelin. “Physical Graffiti is my favorite album,” she stated.

Why?

“Because there were two discs.” I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the band was already starting to dry up creatively at that point, and had to cobble together unreleased tracks from the third album to fill in those two discs. Why shatter cute little Cindy Brady’s dreams?

Maybe next year, I’ll be smart and have David Konow with me, so he can help me identify more of the Metal Godz. He did a wonderful pre-write for this event.

For more information about this great cause, go to the Stand up and Shout website.