Beacon Journal writer Malcolm X Abram reports that Akron, Ohio's Tim "Ripper" Owens (DIO DISCIPLES, ex-JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN) announced plans this week for his new restaurant and live music venue (please say it loud like one of those deep-voiced, overexcited radio announcers): Ripper Owens Rock House, which will open in May.

The old Ripper Owens Tap House on Waterloo Road is dead (though there is still a restaurant there that Owens calls “great”); long live the Rock House. Owens, 45, and his former business partner, Randy Arehart, split amicably as Arehart wanted to spend more time with his family. Owens’ new partner is local businessman Micah Posten, who owns and operates Impact Landscaping, and the two plan to make the Rock House, 2727 Manchester Road, bigger and better.

The headbanging grandpa said he learned a lot in the two years at the Tap House and quite a bit more from his new partner. Owens promises the Rock House will have some of the best live sound in Akron and the stage will be “as big as we can make it... looking at around 23 by 14 [feet] with a nice drum riser as well. It should really be nice. This will be the perfect place for a show.”

In the past year, the Tap House played host to many of Owens’ rock buddies, including SEBASTIAN BACH who hung out during the Super Bowl, and QUEENSRŸCHE singer Geoff Tate, and he plans to continue calling on his buddies.

“We are a restaurant during the week that just happens to rock out on the weekends,” he said by email. “I would like to have a national act once a month; I plan on playing there a lot as well!”

Read more here.