Dio and The Pole

Since I've been chatting about Dio lately and how classic he is, paired with how kind of funny he is, I dug up this old story on Dio from an article that came out last year. This is from an Austin360 story on rock club The Back Room in Austin, Texas that closed doors last year after 33 years in the business. Bands, managers, bartenders, etc, were telling their best Back Room memories and one guy had this to say about Dio. I think the story shows how totally cool he is:

As told by Mark Olivarez, former Back Room manager: "Dio performed here around 1990, when the stage was still in the corner. He hated that stage. He hated the shape, position and an infamous pole on the stage-left triangle corner. After the show, he didn't mince words to me about the conditions of the performing environment. Fast-forward a couple years later, and Dio announced another tour. The agent called and said Dio distinctly remembered our room and he'd rather not deal with that . . . pole. I said, "He won't have to deal with that pole, because we've moved the stage." Of course, I neglected the small detail of an all-new pole that was in the front and center of our beautiful new stage. Dio stayed in his room until minutes before the show. I met him at the back door and handed him his wireless mike. He smiled, walked up the stage and stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed the black-painted pole. He turned around and looked at me, laughed and winked. Then in the most Dio-like metal wail, he screamed 'Pooooooooooooooole!' and launched into 'Holy Diver.'"