CAN THOUSANDS OF OZZY FANS BE WRONG? WELL, YES |
What does it
feel like to be famous? In our celebrity-driven culture, the aura of fame is a ticket to another world few of us experience. We are all familiar with the common trappings: chauffeured limousines; adoring crowds; massive media attention, etc. But what if the general public suddenly thought you were someone famous? How would you handle it? MY YEAR AS OZZY is one man's story of how he dealt with being mistaken for a rock star whose career had enjoyed a sudden resurgence. Not since Beatlemania have we witnessed the kind of media over-exposure that Ozzy and the Osbourne family enjoyed in 2002 and 2003. Carried along on this wave of media frenzy was one Don Wrege, a man who once attempted a career in show business in Los Angeles in the '80s and got as far as MTV, but had long since left this dream behind. A decade later, his dream came true in the most bizarre way. And he took notes. All it took was a couple of joke photos to find their way to the Web and Wrege:
...and more. MY YEAR AS OZZY is your ticket on a crazy train. Ride along on this drunken trip that jumps the rails from real to the surreal as Wrege explores the bizarre world of professional celebrity impersonators discovering that in the end, sometimes almost real is real enough. |
ABOUT
THE BOOK MY YEAR AS OZZY A Celebrity Look-alike Experiences Fame from the Inside Out By Don Wrege Published by Mediawhore Press Publication date: 2008 ISBN: 0615242804 $14.95 US |
Willie Nelson, Rodney Dangerfield, Neil Diamond, Jack Nicholson and Ozzy Osbourne walk into a bar. It sounds like the first line of a bad joke but for me it was the start of the strangest year of my life.
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About the Author Don Wrege is a Boulder, Colorado-based multimedia producer with a record of professional success in media design and production management spanning three decades. Ranging from the beginnings of multimedia to the emergence of the Internet and interactive television, his clients have included: Pepsi, Whole Foods, Lands' End, FranklinCovey, Columbia Pictures, Warner Bros. Records, Mattel, Jackson Browne and ABC Television. An ASCAP writer/publisher in his spare time, Wrege composes and records irritating parody songs for Denver's Peter Boyles Show and other Clear Channel radio personalities. |
A Small Sampling of the Madness iN "My Year as Ozzy" | |
Appearing
in the VH1 Video Music Awards Program
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Don is introduced
onstage to the Las Vegas House of Blues crowd as Ozzy and the crowd
buys it.
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Appearing
on The Jenny Jones Show (eventually twice)
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Mooning
The OzzFest in Denver
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Appearing
as "Ozzy" at the 2003 Kentucky Derby (From Chapter 11) "Getting the crowd excited is one thing," the National Guardsman said, "But when you mooned them we decided that you represented a security risk." |
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And much, much more. |