In addition to Bill’s note posted today about the new “Classic” formatted Rock 50 episodes, we have some ‘backwards’ Rock 50 items, too. Available now on the Rock 50 page are playlist archives. We’ve posted all the songs/bands played on the January & February episodes from 2006.

Going forward we’ll be posting track listings for those episodes shortly after they air as well. Enjoy!

Beginning in April, Bill will co-host two “Rock 50” shows every four months. The additional show will focus on classic metal and hard rock artists, with the first program airing on Saturday, April 29th. Bill’s regular show featuring his favorite hard-core bands will continue to run each month – check the Rock 50 page for upcoming dates.

Bill has passed along a letter about the additional shows for you..

Hi Everyone!

I’m very happy that Mike Stark, our host for the “Rock 50” show, has been able to give me the opportunity to present three classic rock shows per year, along with our hard-core shows. The hard-core shows have been going really well, and I am fully enjoying researching newer bands, as well as playing the established giants of metal today. I’ve been able to build a lot of new relationships with many of the bands we play, and I’ll continue to look forward to meeting and playing the music of the bands to come. As much as I love the newer music, I have been missing playing hard rock and classic metal, and over the past year I’ve phased out mixing new metal with classic metal.

I felt both combinations somehow choked, or diminished the energy during a two-hour period. I feel much more focused when playing hard-core only, and vice versa when playing a total classic rock, metal show. I think by playing separate shows there will be less push and pull, and I think the end product of the shows will be stronger and more definitive.

As I do with the hard-core bands, I want to do more “classic metal” interviews (something I’ve wanted to do for awhile). I like the interviews to be direct from the guts, so I hope for good in-depth interviews.

I guess our first classic metal show is April 29th – check us out. For those of you out there that don1t like the new stuff, but love the older bands, then definitely check out this show, we1ll rock from start to finish.

Finally, calling all hard-core fans, check out the show March 22nd – Dimmu Borgir, the re-released “Stormblast” CD – need I say more.

H! everybody,

It’s Bill. I wanted to check in with some info about the February 11th radio show. In January, we played excerpts from the new In Flames CD, street date U.S.A. 2/7/06. On the February show, we’re continuing with the In Flames interview and will be playing full-length tracks off their new CD.

I also played Vermin last month, and as of today, 2/1/06, I may play another Vermin track on the next show. Again, we have great bands for the February line-up: Soilwork, Fear My Thoughts, In Flames, Darkest Hour, Detonation, Water Down, Deftones, Chimaria and Fear Factory. Check the show out if you can. It’s mostly hardcore, in your face metal. Sometimes, I play classic metal, and I’ll throw in a few curves for the ride like Dylan or Pavarotti.

Got go to.

Stay strong. Stay strange.

–Bill

Click here to visit an auction where you can win a personally signed pair of drumsticks by Bill Ward. Here’s what is written about them in the auction:

YOU ARE BIDDING ON A PAIR OF DRUM STICKS SIGNED BY BLACK SABBATH’S BILL WARD EXCLUSIVELY FOR CLASSIC ROCK REVISITED’S AUCTION.

THESE ARE STICKS MADE FOR BILL WARD BY DRUMSTICK COMPANY VIC FIRTH. WARD WROTE A “CLASSIC ROCK REVISITED AUCTION. SABS, ROCK n’ SHINE 12/12/05 ONE OF A PAIR” ON EACH STICK.

This item is being offered to you from Classic Rock Revisited. Classic Rock Revisited is an online magazine dedicated to Classic Rock Music www.classicrockrevisited.com We use eBay EXCLUSIVELY for our auctions. All items we auction are donated to us directly from the artist or thier record company to support Classic Rock Revisited. Thank you for taking time to check out our listing!

Hurry – this auction ends Jan-28-06 16:55:34 PST

Bill Ward will appear on fellow Black Sabbath member Tony Iommi’s new radio show this coming Sunday. You’ll definitely want to tune in to check this out, here are the details:

Planet Rock Radio
Sunday, December 18th
7:00 PM ­ 9:00 PM (GMT)/ 2:00 PM ­ 4:00 PM (EST)
Listen online at www.planetrock.com
Also available in the UK on DAB Digital Radio, Sky Channel 861, ntl channel 880, or Telewest channel 924

Bill has sent in the the latest in his Audio Diary series (the 11th). This new edition, totaling 25:10 in length is available right now. Here’s some of what Bill had to say in this edition.

* – Black Sabbath & UK Hall of Fame, and some events in his life surrounding it.

* – Some of the other artists he ran into and the lack of “rock star bullshit”.

* – His Diabetes & More on Vegan Food Issues.

* – Problems getting Beans & Toast from the rudest woman in England.

* – Some thoughts on this Christmas season.

Here’s the link to the audio diary:

https://www.billward.com/sounds/diary121205.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.

Bill Ward will be on VH1 in the US this coming Saturday with Black Sabbath as part of VH1’s coverage of the UK Hall of Fame.

The ceremony will air on VH1 this Saturday, November 26th at 10/9C PM with an immediate rerun right after the first showing. Further repeat showings will be on VH1 Classic starting on November 27th at 8/7C PM as well as on VH1 itself. Please check your local listings to confirm the date/times from your provider.

If you want to see more information from VH1 about this program, check out their page for the program.

Newsflash for this Saturday’s Rock 50 radio show by Bill Ward…

The final 30 Minutes of Saturday¹s ³ROCK² 50² show are going to be dedicated to UK Music Hall of Fame Ceremony Bill will breakaway from the usual hardcore format during the final 30 minutes of this Saturday¹s ³Rock 50² show to highlight the UK Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Tune in while Bill shares his thoughts on the event and pays tribute to his fellow nominees, including Pink Floyd, The Who, The Kinks and Jimi Hendrix.

For more info about Rock 50 and Bill Ward, check out the Rock 50 page here.

Bill has sent along a few words about next week’s induction of Black Sabbath into the UK Music Hall of Fame..

‘Wow, I¹m shocked,’ was my first reaction. Then, ‘This feels pretty good. What a nice surprise, Black Sabbath being honoured in the U.K.’

Yes, I think that¹s a really cool thing to happen for us. Thanks U.K. Hall of Fame. –Bill Ward/Black Sabbath

Bill has more online to say about the Hall of Fame next week in his latest edition of his online diary. Make sure to check that out.

Bill has sent in the the latest in his Audio Diary series (the tenth). This new edition, totaling 20:22 in length is a little shorter than some of the others he’s done, but this one has a lot of really good information in it. Here’s the bullet poiints…

* – Details about the special Christmas episode of his Rock 50 radio show

* – A few thoughts on the induction of Black Sabbath into the UK Hall of Fame

* – Jack Bruce & Cream

* – A huge update on the status of Bill’s long awaited third solo album, “Beyond Aston”. Bill uses the phrase “light at the end of the tunnel” in his update, so you definitely do not want to miss this.

Bill refers to a few things in this diary, and I wanted to make sure that everyone knew how to reach them.

1) You can download the song “The Dark Half Hour” from the sounds page here on this site. The Dark Half Hour is a song from Beyond Aston that Bill has made available as a free, legal download from his website.

2) Straws. While the free download of Straws was withdrawn awhile ago, you can still obtain it by donating to one of several charities that Bill has teamed up with. You can get more information on the Straws charities here.

3) Rock 50. Here is the page with further information about the Rock 50 show.

Here’s the link to the audio diary:

https://www.billward.com/sounds/diary110705.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.