Manson retreated. "I went upstairs and didn't come down for three months," he said. "I spent time reading and writing and putting all of my thoughts together. ... Sometimes people mistake my viewpoint as fatalistic or pessimistic and hopeless, (but) the one thing that they miss is that I wouldn't bother creating music if I didn't have a small gleam of hope." Manson has done considerable research on Columbine. He cites everything from the latest results of the investigation to conspiracy theories outlined in the book "You Are Being Lied To." "The way the national news media dove on it and made it into something worse than it even started out being annoyed and disgusted me," he said. "And it didn't surprise me at all. For them to blame me was sadly ironic. ... The media takes violence, makes it into entertainment, and the killer becomes the star." Manson's latest album, "Holy Wood (In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death)," was written and recorded as a direct response to his critics. "People would have expected or preferred it if I would have toned things down and made a more pleasant record," he said. "Instead, I went the other way and made something that dealt with everything they didn't want me to deal with - guns, God and government." There are several references to Columbine, notably in the single "The Nobodies": "Some children died the other day/You should see the ratings." "The song doesn't have any profanity in it," he said, "but I was asked by MTV to remove the word "dead' from the chorus, "When we're dead, they'll know who we are.' I think that's really odd. It's not an offensive word. That's not even a sentiment I created - it's an obvious viewpoint. That's the dangerous area we're treading with art." As music and film are called into question for exerting a bad influence on young people, Manson is one of their most impassioned defenders. "It seems absurd to blame entertainment for the way people behave," he said. "That would be like blaming the guy who invented the video camera for pornography. It's the job of artists to express the feelings around them in their own special way. And hopefully what they create is something that people will relate to, that will change their lives in some way." However, he admits he isn't eligible for any humility awards. "I would be willing at any time to sit down with these people, even as far up as Joseph Lieberman, and discuss and stand behind anything that I do, and the rest of entertainment. I guarantee that I know more about the Bible than any of them, and I guarantee that they would lose the debate. That's an open invitation." Manson initially planned to forgo Ozzfest's Denver date, citing an unspecified prior commitment. However, his agenda was altered to accommodate the stop. When CPR began its protests, Manson's camp issued a statement saying the singer promised to "balance (his) songs with a wholesome Bible reading, (so that) fans will not only hear (his) so-called "violent' point of view, but also examine the virtues of wonderful "Christian' stories of disease, murder, adultery, suicide and child sacrifice." "I was being facetious to say that I could find more offensive material in the Bible than in my own lyrics," Manson said. "I will make it a point to read some of those verses that are dark and overlooked. But I'm not going to make the show into a Sunday school lesson, I can assure you of that. "Once I come to Denver and play, they're going to realize I am a lot of things they think I am. I'm going to provide them with a performance that some of them might find unsavory. But in comparison to my surroundings and the way we've grown as a society, I don't think I'm any more offensive than Elvis or Jerry Lee Lewis in their time. "No one is going to get hurt, hopefully. And everyone will realize that this is not going to be the last time someone like me comes to town. They need to learn to deal with it, to stop saying, "You can't go see this show,' because that's just going to make more people come." Manson sums up with tongue firmly in cheek: "And they need to stop calling me about secretly paying them for all the good publicity they're giving me."