Criss Oliva's 13th Anniversary

[Cleveland Metal]

October 17th of this year marks the 13th year of the passing of Christopher Michael Oliva of Savatage in 93.

Maybe a moment of thought and apprecation for what he brought us in his time here is appropriate.

Definitely one the tastier players to grace metal, and also a very down to earth and awesome dude that always had a moment to talk to a fan. I just consider myself very lucky to have shared some moments with him and see the real Criss...

Blessed be... You're missed still, and we always will...

[Jack The Riffer]

Rest in Peace Criss, you are sorely missed.

[Wayniac]

R.i.p !

[mab8485]

RIP \m/

[horns666]

Criss RULED!!

[Bigfknbang]

Rip Criss!

[VitaminG]

Criss RULED!!

+1

RIP

[STLKINGV]

Great post Cleveland Metal!!!! Your right, Criss Oliva always had time to chat with you at a gig..... I remember sitting at the table listening to the radio when they came on with the news..... They played "Sleep" from EOT after that....

Tragic.....

R.I.P~ Criss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHPp28wKkIs

A~

[semagic]

rest in peace...

[Cleveland Metal]

Yeah, I ws crushed hearing the news. I had just seen Criss a few months before it happened and spoke briefly with him at a show. Wish I would have been able to talk with him more, but I just always thought he'd be back around.

They basically finished that tour, and Criss was home enjoying downtime with his wife Dawn when he was killed.

I so fell in love with that band. Jon's vocals, felt very connected with me, a nice evil sneer in it that just touched me. And of course, Criss's playing just was a part of me for such a long assed time. It's pretty evident in my style.

We recently did a nice 60 minute Savatage Tribute with my band 5 or so weeks ago, and while boning up on my leads etc, I noticed I'd somhow forgotten just how much I loved that material.

Playing it live has always been very moving for me and in the midst of the shows I've always found myself wanting to "do right by Criss" and I work that much harder, feeling somehow that a little bit of Criss was living on through us bringing his music to our shows and to people that hadn't known it, or greatly appreciated us doing it... Very emotionally uplifting for me. Very uplifting.

Miss that dude...

[toejam]

RIP Criss