Archive for the ‘Animal Rights’ Category
May 27th, 2009
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Author: With her bold style, high-pitched voice, multicolored mop-top, and MacGyver-like ability to make mesmerizing bras out of things like electronic parts and bubble wrap, Missing Persons frontwoman Dale Bozzio planted herself firmly in the spotlight in the 1980s.
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With her bold style, high-pitched voice, multicolored mop-top, and MacGyver-like ability to make mesmerizing bras out of things like electronic parts, bubble wrap, and Plexiglas gardening equipment, Missing Persons frontwoman Dale Bozzio planted herself firmly in the spotlight in the 1980s.
Slideshow: Crazy cat house uncovered UPDATE: Dale Bozzio sentenced to jail |
Even as a teen in Medford, Bozzio (née Dale Consalvi) commanded attention. Her picture was posted on the bulletin board of her namesake father's furniture store, Dale's Barn, in the '70s, remembers Boston-based media consultant and Phoenix Special Projects Manager David Bieber. "The store owner told me that she was his daughter," says Bieber, "and she wanted to be a model."
Later on in that decade, the petite, brassy bombshell did find modeling work when she posed for Playboy (she was a bunny at the Boston Playboy Club in Park Square) and Hustler. Around that time, Frank Zappa discovered Consalvi in LA. He invited her to sing on his operatic Joe's Garage albums and in 1979 she married Zappa's drummer, Terry Bozzio. The couple then teamed up with Zappa guitarist Warren Cuccurullo to form the visually outlandish new-wave band Missing Persons, which went on to record a string of hits, including "Destination Unknown," "Walking in LA," and "Words."
Today, at age 54, Bozzio is facing up to a year in a Carroll County, New Hampshire, jail after being convicted on one of 13 animal-cruelty charges stemming from a case of severe neglect that left 14 felines dead.
Whatever happened to . . . ?
The peculiar, shocking story unfolded far from the LA new-wave scene. Around 2000, following a divorce from her second husband, Bozzio and her two sons moved to a farmhouse in the village of Chocorua, New Hampshire. There, according to her mother, 85-year-old Hazel Antonelli of Newton, Bozzio would leave the back window open so feral forest cats could come in and out of the house for food, water, and warmth. (Neither Bozzio nor her lawyer, Dennis O'Connor of North Conway, New Hampshire, returned calls seeking comment on this story.)
Antonelli describes her daughter as a kindhearted, lifelong animal lover who couldn't say no to a sick or hungry animal. "[Dale] found a cat in the snow, brought her in the house, fed her, and gave her the medicine that she needed," recalls her mother. "And she survived — a wonderful, beautiful cat and one of many, many, many. She tried to take care of them, and I think it just got maybe a little much for her. I don't know."
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Posted in Animal Cruelty, Animal Rescue League of Boston, Animal Rights, Boston, Cats, Culture and Lifestyle, Dale Bozzio, David Bieber, Dennis O'Connor, Frank Zappa, Humane Society of the United States, Julie Kramer, Michael Vick, Missing Persons, News, Pets, Robert Varney, Special Interest Groups, Tony Savarino, cruelty to animals, feral cats
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Two months after being convicted of animal cruelty, new-wave pop icon Dale Bozzio feels trapped in her own personal witch trial.
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"The whole thing is like a freakin' set up to get me in the goddamn Ossipee [New Hampshire] jail," she said in an exclusive Phoenix interview, and went on to outline a small-town conspiracy involving crooked cops and lying witnesses who looked down on her as "an outsider."
Just days earlier, on Thursday, May 21, Bozzio — sporting a suit and short, gray hair — appeared a faded, somber version of her colorful former self while awaiting sentencing in the Ossipee courthouse.
It was a heart-rending day for the 54-year-old Missing Persons frontwoman, who was barred by the judge from keeping pets and sentenced to 90 days in jail, with 60 days deferred for two years.
Bozzio must also complete 250 hours of community service and pay a $2700 euthanization bill for the 12 cats found in "horrific" conditions in her Ossipee home last fall.
Her lawyer, Dennis O'Connor, argued that the tragedy resulted from negligence, not bad intentions.
"An artist like Dale lives in a different world," he said. "The little details of life that some of us, myself included, try to take care of, those end up on the back burner for artists like Dale."
He claimed that friends could attest to Bozzio's caring nature, including Tommy Tutone's "867-5309/Jenny" singer Tommy Heath, who called her "compassionate, honest, a loving parent, and a champion of animal rights" in a statement read to the court.
O'Connor then passed out copies of the April 24 Boston Phoenix article "Dale Bozzio's Life Is So Strange" to the judge and county prosecutor to "express concern about it" and all the media attention — though there were just two reporters (including me) in the courtroom.
Bozzio's attorney dismissed the idea that his client could be an animal hoarder, as suggested in the Phoenix piece, and Judge Robert Varney deemed a mental evaluation unnecessary.
The defendant's last-chance address to the judge suggested that the cat tragedy had taken its toll on Bozzio's nerves. She passionately recounted her lifelong history of "saving animals," including burying roadkill, rescuing cats while on tour, and removing a bumblebee from her kitchen that very morning. But she said she was willing to go to jail to take responsibility.
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