"But soon, the world had its evil way"

It's late Friday but it's still Friday. So, today calls for a traditio, does it not? Given the late hour, while I have a lot on my mind and in my heart, I don't have many words to share.

L to R: Geezer Butler (bass), Bill Ward (drums), Tony Iommi (guitar), Ozzy Osbourne (vocals)

Last weekend there was a quite an event in Birmingham, England. Called "Back to the Beginning," this event culminated with the orignial line-up of Black Sabbath playing live together for the last time. Four working class guys from Birmingham formed Black Sabbath in the late 1960s: Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward. It is no exaggeration to say that Black Sabbath invented heavy metal and heavily influenced goth rock and a lot of post punk bands. With its influence stretching across a number of genres, Black Sabbath is a seminal band.

Sabbath's "War Pigs," in my opinion, remans the best anti-war song ever written. With its beyond memorable opening lines: "Generals gathered in their masses/Just like witches at black Masses." The first quarter of the twenty-first has been a time of ceaseless war.

After a quarter century of war, there seems no end in sight. We seem quite confortable with bellicose butchery. Or, as is more likely case, it's that the "news," such as it is, as defined by comedian Bill Burr: "Here's a bunch of shit that happened that you can't fix." At least for me, that's where music comes in.

"Back to the Beginning" was a day long festival. It was an event. I remember in the early '80s laying on the floor of my friend's room listening to Black Sabbath albums. In this regard, their album Master of Reality stands out in my mind. I can't say that I'm a heavy metal devotee- though I do like a lot of metal bands past and present.

Black Sabbath, though largely viewed as either creators and/or pioneers of heavy metal, transcend this genre. A lot of early English post-punk, which emanated from the same working class roots in industrial cities as Sabbath's Birmingham- I think particularly here of Joy Division- no doubt took some inspiration from Black Sabbath.

Our traditio is the Black Sabbath's bluesy ballad "Changes," which was released on their 1972 album Vol. 4. The music was written by Iommi and the lyrics by Butler. Our traditio, however, is an intense cover by the late soul singer Charles Bradley. I find Bradley's cover deeply moving. Yungblud did a quite decent cover of this song at "Back to the Beginning."