NORTH ADAMS, MA -- Believer, the internationally-acclaimed Ozzy Osbourne/Black Sabbath tribute band, is scheduled to perform at the newly renovated Mountain View club on the North Adams/Clarksburg border on Saturday night. Longtime Adams resident Michael "Mickey" Mikutowicz continues to lead the group as Ozzy, supported by a stellar band of musicians also steeped in the music of Osbourne.

Hardly a local band, guitarist Paul Auger travels from Cranston, Rhode Island while the rhythm section of bassist David Chirico and drummer Bryn Mutch live in Storrs, Conn. In the mad travel schedule of the world's top look and sound-alike band for the "Prince Of Darkness," a once-a-year date is nearly all the band has been able to arrange for local fans.

"It's just the way our touring schedule works out. We perform all over and, since home is throughout New England for band members, we have to plan a Berkshires show as if it were any where else in the country," Mikutowicz said.

He has also enthusiastically taught snow boarding at Jiminy Peak for many years.

"It is one of my three loves, if you count music and my family in there," he said.

Dressed almost the same as any other instructor at the resort, the singer adorns his uniform parka with the colorful name tag "Mickey Ozzy."

Standing with other snow board instructors in their makeshift grotto at the base of the mountain, snow boarding students frequently ask him if his name is Mickey or Ozzy. He has a raft of witty responses. He seldom goes into character without significant provocation, even from fellow instructors. He treats it as his own little secret.

When he does reach into his character on the Jiminy slopes, the result is nothing less than hilarious. "I have to be careful. I get requests to 'snow board with Ozzy.' I've done it before, but it's actually a little distracting to me and my own snow boarding technique. Ozzy is not what one would call 'the great communicator' or any real kind of an athlete and in teaching anything you need excellent communications, minimal distractions and a good eye on safety," he said.

"But make no mistake, I can take Ozzy out at any time. And would be very, very funny on a snow board," he said with the grin that he shares all too closely with the original Osbourne.

Last winter, the band performed at a local show designed to support several local bands.

"Some of the young guys in the bands who played that night were sons of musicians who performed regionally since the late 1960s," Mikutowicz said. "It was a great show for them. We had fun, too."

John "Ozzy" Osbourne has kept himself in the news, which has certainly enhanced the attraction for Believer. Osbourne married his former manager's daughter, fought to break his contract with his new father-in-law, bit the head off a live dove at a major record company headquarters, recorded and sold millions of recordings as a group (Black Sabbath) and a solo artist, created the popular annual music festival OzzFest, starred in a hit "reality" television show where cameras followed his home life, nearly died in an accident involving an ATV and, most recently, was subject of death reports in the media on Jan. 20.

The reports arose after Ozzy and his wife Sharon missed a scheduled appearance on last Thursday's (Jan. 13) "The Tonight Show" -- and Arnold Schwarzenegger had to fill in for them at the last minute. The appearance was rescheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 26, but the recent passing of Johnny Carson and predicted remembrance may have changed those plans.

"Ozzy has had a colorful career," Mikutowicz said. "He has given me quite a palate of personality to work from as I recreate his character in Believer."

If you can't wait until Saturday to see what this band is about, go to www.believerusa.com on the Internet.

1/29 Believer (Ozzy tribute band), Mountain View, North Adams

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