The Fifth Annual BOWL FOR RONNIE Celebrity Bowling Party, benefiting the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund, was held on Thursday, November 7, 2019 at PINZ Bowling Center in Studio City, California. Once again sold out in advance, the event raised more than $50,000 for the music-based cancer charity.
Over 300 rockers, bowling enthusiasts, DIO fans and Dio Cancer Fund supporters made up the capacity crowd at the event hosted by broadcast personality Eddie Trunk, who is heard on SiriusXM’s Volume channel and whose TV series TrunkFest airs on AXS-TV. Also joining the festivities this year was the number one bowler in the world-Professional Bowling Association world champion Jason Belmonte, who bowled a ceremonial strike to open the celebrity competition and show the crowd “how it’s done.”
This year’s attendees included Steven Adler (Guns N’ Roses, Adler’s Appetite), Dennis Atlas (Rock the Vault), Ira Black (Lizzy Borden, I Am Morbid), Dewey Bragg (Kill Devil Hill), Phil Buckman (Fuel, Petty Cash), Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath), Gilby Clarke (Guns N’ Roses), Jason Cornwell and Jimmy Burkard of Westbound, Fred Coury (Cinderella), Art Cruz (Lamb of God), Greg D’Angelo (White Lion, Anthrax), Phil Demmel (Vio-lence, Machine Head), Jeff Dewbray, Logan Nikolic and Patrick Stone of Budderside, Jeff Duncan (Armored Saint, DC4), Matt and Shawn Duncan of DC4, Bjorn Englen (Dio), Marc Ferrari (Keel, Cold Sweat), David “Rock” Feinstein (Elf, The Rods), Damon Fox (The Cult), Granny 4 Barrel, Marc Malsegna, Jared Pease and Chase Potter of the bandGranny 4 Barrel, Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), Rita Haney, Sonia Harley, Terry Ilous (XYZ, Great White), Richie Kotzen (Winery Dogs), Frank Kramer (KLOS), actor/musician Sean McNabb (Lynch Mob), Dave “Chili” Moreno (Westbound, Puddle of Mudd), Todd Morse (Offspring, Petty Cash), Ronny Munroe (TSO, Metal Church), Sadie Nardini (Sadie and the Tribe), Rob “Blasko” Nicholson (Ozzy Osbourne), Ronald Osbourne, Cat Burglar and Slayer MacCheeze of Mac Sabbath, Kelle Rhoads and Kathy Rhoads D’Argenzio, Rowan Robertson (Dio, DC4), Gonzo and Phil Sandoval (Armored Saint), Rudy Sarzo (Dio, Quiet Riot), Brett Scallions (Fuel), Pete Shoulder and Daniel Spree of Silverthorne, Steve Smyth (One Machine, Testament), Ernie Snair (The Loveless), Michael Spencer (Flotsam & Jetsam), Rufus Taylor (The Darkness), Brian Tichy (Whitesnake), Marq Torien (Bullet Boys), Joey Vera (Armored Saint, Fates Warning), Scott Warren (Dio), Chas West (Westbound, Bonham), Brent Woods (Sebastian Bach), Chuck Wright (Quiet Riot), Roy Z (Westbound, Halford), August Zadra (Dennis DeYoung), actors Star Fields (Sons of Anarchy), Al Coronel (The Last Ship), Frankie Loyal (Mayans MC), James St. Vincent (Being, The Depths) and Susan Olsen, best known as Cindy Brady on the Brady Bunch, Sirius XM Liquid Metal host Jose Mangin and comedy stars Jeff Ross and Whitney Cummings. DJ Will, as he does every year, rocked the VIP pre-party music.
Also attending was eBay auction winner Dan Hayes of Stamford, CT, who was the winning bidder to play on Eddie Trunk’s celebrity team that comprised Steven Adler, Geezer Butler, Dave Grohl and Brent Woods. The winning bidder of the KLOS-FM Radio eBay auction James Helgager joined their team that included Frank Kramer of the Frosty, Heidi and Frank morning show, David “Rock” Feinstein, Blasko, “Biggest Legal Eagle Metal Fan” Sweet James Bergener and comedy’s Roastmaster General Jeff Ross.
The celebrity competition was the scene of fierce competition, ending with both of last year’s top teams–captained by Eddie Trunk and Marc Ferrari respectively–defeated by a team led by Phil Buckman (Fuel, Petty Cash).
“I want to dedicate our win to my friend, the late, great Dean Schachtel. Without him, I never would have been a part of the Dio family,” says Phil Buckman. “We had a great time, surrounded by a bunch of great people, for an amazing cause.” The Dean Schachtel Award, named for the late Dio Cancer Fund board member, has been awarded each year to the individual bowler with the highest overall score. This year, it went to Chris Dritz of Capital Mortgage Services with an overall score of 216, which he assured Jason Belmonte is at the low end for him!
The Dio Cancer Fund presented Dr. David Wong, whose research team at the UCLA School of Dentistry is closing in on a simple, non-invasive saliva swab test for early cancer detection, with a check for an additional $25,000 toward their research. Dr. Wong thanked the Dio Cancer Fund for its support since 2016 that has financed the specific research of postdoctoral fellow Dr. Karolina Urbanowicz to pioneer research in the development of salivary biomarkers for gastric cancer detection and led to a number of groundbreaking outcomes. Their Saliva Liquid Biopsy Test for Early Cancer Detection received regulatory approval on March 22, 2019, and the financial support from the Dio Cancer Fund assisted his project in receiving additional funding from the National Institutes for Health to study biological markers in saliva to attempt to develop a tool for detecting stomach cancer and the NIH Common Fund Award to study the mechanism of early detection of stomach cancer in saliva. Dr. Urbanowicz is the recipient of the prestigious Debbie’s Dream Foundation Award for Gastric Cancer Research by the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).
The BOWL FOR RONNIE is an evening of fun, food, a raffle drawing for prizes and memorabilia. and, of course, bowling with rockers and celebrities with open bowling prior to the celebrity competition and a VIP pre-party for lane sponsors, celebrities and their guests.
The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund will host a 10th Memorial Awards Gala on February 20, 2020 at The Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles. Visit http://diocancerfund.org/events/10th_Memorial_Awards_Gala.asp for updates and ticket information.
The Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund was founded in memory of the legendary rock singer Ronnie James Dio, who lost his life to gastric cancer in 2010. A privately funded 501(c)(3) charity organization dedicated to cancer prevention, research and education, the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund has already raised over $2 million in its short history. Monies raised have been committed to the cancer research work of the T. J. Martell Foundation for Cancer, AIDS and Leukemia Research, the gastric cancer research unit of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where Ronnie was treated for gastric cancer during the last six months of his life, and other cancer research projects. Since 2016, the Dio Cancer Fund has also committed funds to support the research of Dr. David Wong and his team at the UCLA School of Dentistry in developing a simple, non-invasive saliva test for the early detection of cancer, which is in keeping with the Fund’s mission of cancer prevention, research and education.
(Photo by Craig Newman)
