San Diego Union Tribune has issued the following report from George Varga:

Next week, four lucky OZZY OSBOURNE fans will celebrate their victory in the all-expenses paid “Win Thanksgiving Dinner With Ozzy!” contest that was recently promoted on his website.

In addition to receiving tickets for his Tuesday concert at the San Diego Sports Arena, the winners will visit the heavy-metal legend at his family's new home in an exclusive gated community in Los Angeles. After feasting on turkey dinner - no cracks about how (or by whom) the bird might be beheaded, please - they'll get to sample Osbourne's “famous Yorkshire pudding.”

What may be missing is a warm greeting from rock's fabled Prince of Darkness, since no one bothered to inform him of the contest.

“I don't even know what you're talking about,” Osbourne said, when asked about his pudding preparations.

He let out a knowing laugh that sounded warm and friendly, not evil or menacing.

“Sometimes, I open my door, and people say: 'Hi, Ozzy. We're the winners!' And I go: 'Winners? Winners of what?' ”

In the past, such confusion may very likely have stemmed from Osbourne's notorious abuse of drugs and alcohol. As anyone can attest who saw him attempt to prepare breakfast in the 1988 Penelope Spheeris film documentary “The Decline of Western Civilization, Part II: The Metal Years,” just trying to pour a glass of orange juice seemed like a daunting challenge for him at the time.

Even by rock's brain-shriveling standards of debauched self-abuse, Osbourne repeatedly set a new standard. But no more.

Clean and sober for the past two years, he sounded like a new man during a phone interview last week from a concert tour stop in Montana.

His speech, which was often slurred almost beyond comprehension, is now relatively clear. His thoughts, which used to seem addled on even his best days, are mostly lucid. His latest album, the rock-solid “Black Rain,” is the first of his career that he recorded and wrote all the songs for without any chemical or alcoholic intake.

“I don't drink or use drugs today. I don't even smoke cigarettes,” said the 59-year-old singer. “I reckon nicotine is the hardest to give up; I've been in rehab with junkies who can get off of the smack, but they can't put the cigarettes down.

“Somebody asked me, 'What would you have done if you couldn't have done the new album without alcohol or drugs?' I suppose then it would be time for me to call it quits. But this person on my recovery program team said: 'Ozzy's got a lot more years in him. It's not a sin to ask for help.' ”

Accordingly, his first radio hit in years is titled 'I Don't Wanna Stop' (sample lyric: I'm like a junkie without an addiction). And his once infamously batty behavior - which ranged from biting the head off a pigeon during a meeting at his record company to getting arrested in Texas for urinating on the Alamo (while wearing a dress he took from his wife) - is also now apparently a thing of the past.

What hasn't changed is his love for his second wife and manager of 25 years, Sharon; their three children, Jack, Kelly and Aimee; and his two kids from his first marriage, Jessica and Louis.

“I love my wife more than anything. I wouldn't be in the position I'm in without her,” said Osbourne, who later in the interview noted: “My wife is the best person in the world not to argue with. Because once she gets going, it's like 'Whoa!' ”

Also unchanged is his frequent use of a word that sounds a lot like “trucking” and his passion for the hard-rocking music he makes as a solo artist and on periodic reunion tours with Black Sabbath, his pioneering heavy-metal band.

The contrast between the clear-eyed Osbourne of today and the stumbling, mumbling drug-and-drink casualty of the past is remarkable. But the clear-eyed and newly pragmatic singer is quick to note that his recovery is a work in progress.

“Even if I don't drink, the disease of addiction is still going on; everyday I have my (12-step recovery) book in front of me,” he noted.

Osbourne's new lease on life was largely inspired by his wife's battle against colon cancer a few years ago. Now that he's straight, he no longer wants to be a walking punch line.

“Even straight people aren't happy all the time. Even straight people have a bad day or an argument,” Osbourne observed.

“But what I am geting sick and tired of is, well, I've been sober for a couple of years now and I want people to take me seriously. Because I used to be a piece of (sounds-like-'trucking') flesh and drool on the floor. And now that I've got my (sounds-like-'trucking') head out of the bottle and the bag and whatever (stuff) I was doing, I want people to take me seriously.

“I have a therapist, and he says: 'Look, do the math. How many years were you geting loaded?' I answer: 'Most of my life.' Then he asks: 'How long have you been clean?' People don't change because they got clean; you have to work at it.”

Osbourne is now at work on a Broadway musical, his first. It's based on the life of Rasputin, an enigmatic Siberian mystic who was often referred to as “the Mad Monk” and lived a life as debauched as that of a rock star.

In the past, such a life of debauchery mirrored Osbourne's own. Today, he is embarked on a new chapter that could just change his future legacy for the better.

“I want to be remembered as a working-class hero, not for biting the head off a (sounds-like-'trucking') bird, or whatever it was,” Osbourne said.

Read the full story at San Diego Union Tribune.