When Ozzy rawked WPB
A lot of weird things have happened in city politics over the years in West Palm Beach.
But this is still one of the weirdest: The day in February 2010 when then-Mayor Lois Frankel gave a key to the city to Ozzy Osbourne.
No, we don’t know exactly why. But it rocked.
The Black Sabbath singer, reality TV star and the man who put the Ozz in Ozzfest was visiting Palm Beach County to sign copies of his autobiography, “I Am Ozzy.” There was also speculation that he was being rewarded for bringing in area tourist dollars through his concerts.
Still weird.
Anyway, Frankel handed over the key and said how much she liked his wife, Sharon. Ozzy mumbled a few things. He posed for pictures and held up the key like it was an electric guitar. Or maybe that was the head of a bat — he did seem to be biting
the key in one photo.
Plenty of fans, possibly spending tourist dollars and boosting the economy, showed up. They thrust out their hands in the heavy metal dude version of the V for Victory sign. They wore Sabbath T-shirts, brought albums to sign and hoisted placards that read “West Palm loves you” and “I’m with Ozzy.”
As staff writer Jonathan Tully reported: “Hundreds cheered and chanted “Ozzy! Ozzy! Ozzy!” as the rocker retreated to his SUV.”
By the way, Frankel was in pretty good company that year when it came to giving awards to Osbourne. He also got the “literary achievement” award at the Guys Choice Awards in California, according to Wikipedia. The presenter? Sir Ben Kingsley.