Three members of TOOL, drummer Danny Carey, bassist Justin Chancellor and guitarist Adam Jones, will bowl on the same team as Alice in Chains guitarist and singer Jerry Cantrell and bassist Mike Inez at this year's Bowl For Ronnie, and one spot on that team is up for grabs. The last place on the lane is being auctioned on eBay until Monday, November 2, with all net proceeds going to the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund.
Bowl For Ronnie is the cancer fund's annual celebrity bowling night. The 2026 edition is on Thursday, November 12, at PINZ Bowling Center on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, California, with radio and TV host Eddie Trunk as host. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for open bowling and a VIP pre-party for lane sponsors, celebrities and guests, before the rock stars and other celebrities bowl for trophies, according to Blabbermouth.
The cause: the Dio Cancer Fund
The fund was set up in memory of Ronnie James Dio, the singer of Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hell, who died of stomach cancer on May 16, 2010, at the age of 67. He is also the singer most associated with popularizing the "devil horns" hand sign in metal. His widow, Wendy Dio, started the fund after his death.
Dio, "Rainbow In The Dark" (official music video, via Rhino)
It is a privately funded 501(c)(3) public charity, now in its 16th year, and has raised more than $2 million so far. The money has gone to the T.J. Martell Foundation for Cancer, AIDS and Leukemia Research, to the gastric cancer research unit at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where Dio was treated, and other research projects. Since 2016 it has supported Dr. David Wong and his team at the UCLA School of Dentistry, who are developing a simple saliva test for early cancer detection.
Bowl For Ronnie is one of the fund's biggest nights. The 2025 edition raised more than $85,000 in one night and 100% of the net proceeds go to the fund.
Who is bowling with TOOL and Alice in Chains
TOOL formed in Los Angeles in 1990 and has won four Grammy Awards, three of them for Best Metal Performance. Their 2019 album Fear Inoculum went to No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Carey and Jones have been in the band since the start, and Chancellor joined in 1995. Alice in Chains formed in Seattle in 1987, with Cantrell in the original line-up, and Inez has played bass for the band since 1993. Their 1992 album Dirt is the band's best-selling record.
The TOOL team is trying to win the title for its side. Last year's first-place team, Yachtley Crew, is on the road this year and cannot defend its trophy, so the TOOL and Alice in Chains line-up has its eye on it.
The main rival is host Eddie Trunk's own team, with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, guitarist and singer Lita Ford, Brent Woods of the Gene Simmons Band and Jason Allen from Reno, Nevada, who won an earlier eBay auction for a place on that lane.
More than 40 other names are on the list so far, including Simon Wright (Dio, AC/DC), Jeff Pilson (Foreigner), Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs), Michael Sweet (Stryper), Brian Tichy (Whitesnake), Robert Sarzo (Hurricane), Neil Turbin (Anthrax), Rob "Blasko" Nicholson, the bassist in Ozzy Osbourne's band, and Danny Koker of the History Channel series Counting Cars. The organizers say more celebrities will be announced.
How you can bowl, bid or donate
The quickest way to get on a lane with TOOL is the auction. The eBay listing, run by the fund, had reached $3,550 after 20 bids on October 27. It ends on Monday, November 2, at about 7 p.m. Pacific time. The winner joins the team on November 12, travel is not included, and the listing says no under-18s.
How You Can Help the Cause
Thursday, November 12, PINZ Bowling Center, Studio City, California.
Teams and companies can sponsor a lane for $3,000. That covers a private lane for six bowlers, the sponsor's logo on the lane and the screens, six VIP passes with access to the artist lounge, two drink tickets per bowler, Bowl For Ronnie t-shirts, pizza and shoe rental. Spectator tickets are $75 and include pizza, but the Eventbrite page shows the event as sold out on October 29.
If you cannot be in Los Angeles, you can still add to the total. The fund takes donations of any size through the Dio Cancer Fund donate page, and more about its work is on diocancerfund.org.
Celebrity bowling has been popular with our readers this year, from Nick Jonas bowling a 204 in Ohio to his bowling alley tour stop in New York. Bowl For Ronnie puts that same fun to work for cancer research, and for one fan, it comes with a TOOL drummer on the next lane.
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