Black Sabbath Updates Through February 2012

Black Sabbath at album / tour press conference on November 11, 2011.
Photo Copyright © Kevin Winter / Getty Images.

There has been a lot going on with the band Black Sabbath, involving both past and present members. Some of the news has been good, some has been quite unfortunate.

Cancer has hit founding member, guitarist Tony Iommi. Reunion tour dates for 2012 have been cancelled or changed to "Ozzy and Friends" events. There was a contractual disagreement between band and founding member, drummer Bill Ward.

On to the good news. Deluxe album reissues (import only for North America) are coming on March 19th from the band Dio, which featured former Sabbath lead vocalist, the late Ronnie James Dio. Former lead singer Tony Martin has apparently got his Tony Martin era Black Sabbath music playing band, Tony Martin’s Headless Cross, gearing up to tour.

To get all the details on these happenings and more, you should visit the fan site run by Joe Siegler. It's called Black Sabbath Online, and I post links to his updates on a fairly regular basis, because he makes sure he gets the story straight. If you want unbiased, factual and accurate information on Black Sabbath, and the group's family tree, you go to Joe.

To read up on the things I've listed above in particular, this is the link to the Black Sabbath Online archive for February 2012.

Today's Tune: "Crazy Train" By Ozzy Osbourne - Featuring Yuto Miyazawa

Crazy Train amusement park ride. Photo by cherri at AllThingsBerry.com .

I have to be honest. For the first time since starting the 'Today's Tune' feature, I was having a lot of trouble coming up with the right song and reasoning for choosing it. Usually sorting through birthdays, deaths and historical events leads to picking out a track that can somehow be linked together with something. That wasn't working very well this time, and it was driving me crazy.

Eventually, I decided that if I'm going to be losing my mind anyway, I might as well climb aboard the "Crazy Train", and have some fun while taking a ride with Ozzy Osbourne. This particular video of that metal hit features a 9 year old Japanese guitarist - Yuto Miyazawa. Apparently Ozzy's going with a youth movement, while searching for a permanent replacement for Zakk Wylde. By the way, it would have been nice if Ozzy could have refrained from using the F word while the kid was on stage with him, but that didn't happen. At least I've warned you that it's coming. Like you really needed a warning about that, huh?

Ozzy Osbourne feat. Yuto Miyazawa - "Crazy Train" at BlizzCon 2009