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If you’re gonna be in Los Angeles this weekend, you’ll be able to pay your respects to Ronnie James Dio.

A public memorial is being held on Sunday, May 30th at Griffith Park which is located at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive in L.A. It starts at 2 p.m. at the Hall of Liberty (via Spin).

The legendary metal singer recently passed away at the age of 67 due to complications from stomach cancer. His website recently posted a message that this memorial “will be a celebration of the life and music of Ronnie James Dio and is open to all of his friends and fans from around the world.”

Wendy Dio, the singer’s widow, has also asked for fans to make a donation to the Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund in honor of his memory. Donations can be sent in care of Niji Entertainment Group, 12400 Ventura Blvd. #624, Studio City, CA 91604.

Recently there’s been a bit of controversy surrounding this memorial when it was reported that the Westboro Baptist Church (those miserable fucks who protest funerals with “God Hates Fags” signs) will be protesting at the gathering. They claim that Dio used his “God-given platform…to teach rebellion against God, in the form of glorifying atheism, promoting the devil-horn hand sign & other such idolatries.”

Now I’m thinking it’s not a good idea to protest at a memorial that may have hundreds upon hundreds of metalheads present because somebody is going to get murdered. But Wendy Dio released a statement regarding these assholes (via Blabbermouth).

“Ronnie hates prejudice and violence! We need to turn the other cheek on these people that only know how to hate someone they didn’t know. We only know how to love someone we know!”

So if you’re at the memorial service and you see these awful dregs of society, just bring a ghetto blaster and blow them away with some of Dio’s music instead. That’ll send ‘em scurrying like the fucking cockroaches that they are.

Tags: Ronnie James Dio, Wendy Dio, Westboro Baptist Church