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Cut to the Drummer: Bill Ward/Black Sabbath (UPDATED)

FEBRUARY 2, 2009
Portrait of Bill Ward from Black Sabbath | 16" x 20" | Acrylic and other stuff on Canvas
Cut to the Drummer Exhibition, Music Show and Auction this week!
I was asked by Sandra Dionisi along with a few other Drawgers who will probably be posting soon also to participate in this amazing exhibition.  From the website:  “Cut to the Drummer is 50 portraits of 50 drummers by 50 artists. Who will be featured? The talented. The notorious. The influential. The drummers. From Jazz great Tony Williams to Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham. From Neil Peart of Rush, to Travis Barker of Blink 182. Who are the artists? You’ve seen their work in every major publication in Western culture. In magazines. Newspapers. Broadway posters. Books. Postage stamps. Product packaging. T-shirts. They are the aesthetic leaders of our times.
"Cut to the Drummer is an Art show and Drumming Event in support of F.U.M.S. for the MS Society of Canada Scholarship Program. It is the fourth public art show mounted byThe Bepo + Mimi Project, a Toronto-based organization that promotes the value of illustration as an art form. It is supported by Joint Design Advocacy, a Canadian group that facilitates and supports great design thinking in Canada."
 
Bill Ward thumbnail
Bill Ward final sketch
I am a HUGE Black Sabbath fan and grew up listening to all those early albums…okay…ALL the albums that Sabbath has made over the years.  I think Bill Ward doesn’t get the attention he deserves.  I mean, yes, he is the drummer of Black Sabbath, one of the first if not THE first metal band but the credit usually goes to Ozzy and Tony for their sound.  It is the combination of the part that make the whole.  If you really listen to the songs and listen to Ward’s drumming you will hear not only a wonderfully heavy and solid thumping, but he has a way of inserting these magnificent fills throughout the piece.  The one example that jumps out at me is his work in the song ‘Snowblind’.  Listen carefully when the vocals come in.  Along with keeping the beat without a hitch, he adds these wonderful, what I call a ‘skipping snare’.  (Not being a drummer, there may be an official word for it.)  Whenever I listen to that song, I always focus on that.
I hope the show goes off without a hitch and wish I could be up there for the opening.
 
detail
Courtesy Warner Bros. Records
1970, Paris: Backstage footage and an excellent performance of their song, Paranoid.  They were so full of energy...the band was very new and they were out there to kick ass!
Thought I'd add more great film!  Iron Man!
Black Sabbath doing the song Black Sabbath.  "Official' video.

...and probably the craziest concert I've seen.  100,000 people and they were all in Ozzy's hands.  Children of the Grave 1974
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