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August 21, 2006

Audio Diary #15 Online!

Bill has sent in the the 15th edition of his Audio Diary series. This new edition, totaling 15:44 in length is available right now. It was recorded on Saturday August 12th, but due to some technical problems was not placed online until today (Aug 21st). Here's some of the highlights of what Bill has to say in this edition:

There's plenty more to hear as well, so make sure to check it all out. Here's the link to the audio diary:

http://www.billward.com/sounds/diary081206.m4a

(Right click and select "Save As" or "Save Link As" and save the file to your hard drive, don't just click this)

You need one of any number of free audio players (Winamp, iTunes, or Musicmatch Jukebox) to play this file. Don't forget about Bill's Podcast for the diaries, you can get more info on that here.

You can discuss the audio diary in this thread on Bill's forums here on billward.com. A short note, if you have Windows Media player, you may have to rename the file extension from m4a to mp4 to get the file to play right in that player.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 2:48 PM

August 11, 2006

Arthur Lee - Love/ My Condolences

My condolences to Arthur Lee's family, and my thanks to Arthur for all his music. My most vivid memory as a teenager was rehearsing "My Little Red Book" for the local community centre gig and the Friday night gigs (pre-Sabbath) and later (with Sabbath) in Frisco at Fillmore West or Winterland (I'm not sure which venue.) I was honoured to be a part of helping Love's drummer (at that time, 1970) fix his snare drum, being high as we were in those days, it was a challenging project. Becoming successful, Love continued to play on. Fond memories.

Arthur Lee - certainly original; influential - yes; different - yes; and so soulful. Thank you again, Arthur. You are remembered fondly, and your music will live in my heart forever.

Bill Ward

Posted by Joe Siegler at 11:37 AM

Bill previews Aug 12th Rock 50 Episode

OK, we have a lot of stuff going on for our August 12th radio show. We're playing some of the bands from the "Sounds of The Underground" tour, playing here on August 12th in Southern California at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City. Cannibal Corpse, Gwar, Through The Eyes of the Dead, Trivium, and of course, In Flames will be featured.

The "Gigantour" kicks off September 6th at the Idaho Center in Nampa, ID, so we're playing bands from that upcoming tour also. Megadeth, Lamb of God, Arch Enemy, Overkill and more. All the bands mentioned so far from both tours are balls out, extreme rock - very incredible.

Other bands on the radio show will be Scar Symmetry, Stone Sour, A Life Once Lost and Unearth. Check us out if your taste is Metal and radical Hardcore.

Also, a short memorial tribute to the legendary Arthur Lee of Love fame will be played after the first hour of the show. Arthur died in Memphis on Thursday, August 3, 2006.

Posted by Joe Siegler at 11:33 AM

August 3, 2006

Iran Changing Western Words

So the news today has reported that Iran is replacing Western names with alternative names. Words like "pizza" are not to be used. "Elastic bread" ­ much more hip.

In a bigger picture, if this is the beginning of a new Iranian trend/principle to separate itself from Western ideas, culture and words, then perhaps Iran being so offended by the West wouldn¹t mind separating itself from the following also: the light bulb, cars, aircraft, TV, radio, the computer, Western technology, Western medicine, Coke and Pepsi, the refrigerator, Levi¹s, CD players, DVDs, CDs, the internet, missile technology, the microphone (for speeches), the amplifier and sound system, the bulldozer, cement, the gun, the machine gun, canned food, film (movies), and electricity. Or is it just the words that offend.

This letter is in no way intended to be a sarcasm or criticism towards the Iranian people as a whole. It is realized that, in all countries, there are healthy and sick individuals throughout.

--Bill Ward

Posted by Joe Siegler at 10:54 AM