BOC: new info

[John A Swartz]

>My opinion?  Well, I think Eric has been singing a long time, perhaps more
than 30 years, so cut the guy some slack!!!!  He is, at least to me, a
good person and he STILL enjoys rocking.....


I don't see anyone giving Eric a hard time about his voice - I think
people are genuinely concerned, and since they don't know the real story
(and no one who knows seems to want to jump in and inform us) they ask
questions based on their perceptions.  This topic has come up on other
BOC online forums and someone always feels the need to jump to Eric's
defense.  As I see it, NO ONE is attacking Eric - but, like other fans,
I can see and hear the differences, and I wonder what's up.  I'm concerned
for Eric's personal well-being and for his ability to continue to front
one of my favorite bands.  Sure, he's been singing a long time and I do
hope he still enjoys it - I also hope that he has no problems which will
prevent him from continuing to front BOC in the future.  I think that
most online fans would share that opinion - but it seems like every time
someone brings it up, they are accused of giving Eric a hard time - but
it's got nothing to do with that.  Now, maybe if someone came out and
said, "Gee, what the hell has happened to Eric Bloom?  I heard him last
night and he SUCKED!", then I could understand defending him.  But,
people are just asking if his voice is o.k. -- think about it - it's
nice to know these fans care.  So, in what I hope will be my final thoughts
on this topic (at least for now), we need to cut eachother a little
slack too.  I think we can all appreciate that Eric has been singing for
over 30 years, sometimes very aggressively, and is pretty spry for a guy
over 50 years old, but that time has taken some toll on him -- still, we
all would hope that we haven't heard the last from E. Bloom...

John