Being "in the loop" as a Professional Writer about Music (PWAM), I'm privy to all sorts of things You Common Folks (YCF) never see or even hear about.

For example, I just got word that, on September 14 and 15, an eminent West Coast auction house will be selling loads of memorabilia from the estate of Ronnie James Dio, whose work as vocalist/songwriter for Rainbow, Black Sabbath/Heaven and Hell and his own Dio is so distinctively heavy that scientists added a new element to the Periodic Table.

It's called "Dio" and it's really heavy.

Anyhoo, you're probably gaping in astonishment at news of the auction, and you're probably bitter that you had to hear it from me, and it also wouldn't surprise me if you are wearing, as you read this, a T-shirt depicting the cover of Dio's 1990 album "Lock Up the Wolves" because you wear that shirt a lot.

Some thoughts:

1. What does "Lock Up the Wolves" even mean?

2. One of the Dio auction items, expected to fetch $2,000 to $4,000, is his pair of moon-and-stars patchwork jeans, which he sported exclusively on tour with Rainbow. This would work well with my moon-and-stars patchwork blazer, which I wear only during gum surgery.

3. Also up for bidding: An animatronic dragon's head stage prop, which the rocker didn't use himself but instead bought after Dash Croft wore it in the Seals & Croft video for their song "Hummingbird." You'll probably remember the part of the video where, as the soft-rockers croon the cloud-sailing "don't fly awaaaay" vocal coda, the dragon eats the hummingbird and all the children in the video start to weep (one had nightmares well into her college years).

4. Another noteworthy Dio auction item is a personalized Black Sabbath hooded velour robe from the 1981 "Mob Rules" tour and "was worn regularly back stage." The auction program doesn't specifally say Dio wore the robe backstage, and in fact I'm thinking it was Paul Newman, who was traveling with the band at the time.

5. I don't see it listed, but I'd put in a bid for Dio's hair.

6. I wish more rockers would have auctions. I could buy Dio's hair and a ZZ Top beard and drape them across my lap as I sat on the couch, eating Cheetos so the crumbs tumble into the rock dudes' hair.

7. One of Bryan Ferry's sons — Crispin or maybe Peregrine? — did jail time over his staunch pro-fox-hunting activism. I'm sure Bryan could afford the bail and legal fees, but a charity auction might be fun; winner gets to set Dio's wolves free and hunt them down with Crispin and assorted members of Roxy Music.