'Black Sabbath Day' Given Backing By Birmingham Culture Chief

According to the Birminham Mail,\r\nBirmingham, England’s culture chief has thrown his support behind a \r\nsuggested "Black Sabbath Day" in the city to celebrate the heavy metal \r\nlegends’ contribution to music.
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\r\nCouncil cabinet member for leisure, sport and culture Martin Mullaney\r\nhas backed a series of recommendations in the "Destination Birmingham" \r\nreport on the city’s music industry and heritage published earlier this \r\nweek.
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\r\nCoun Mullaney (Lib Dem, Moseley and Kings Heath) said, "I am fully behind a celebration for BLACK SABBATH and we will be talking about that."
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\r\nCouncil member Philip Parkin brought up the idea of a "Black Sabbath Day" in a report titled "Destination Birmingham," saying, "BLACK SABBATH’s reunion and their agreement to headline Download\r\nfestival in June is an opportunity we should not miss. Early \r\ndiscussions are taking place about how best the city should celebrate \r\nthis and the council should be supporting any celebrations . . . we need\r\nto celebrate the fact these people come from Birmingham and there could\r\nbe various ways we could do it."
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\r\nThe original lineup of BLACK SABBATH — bassist Geezer Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi, singer Ozzy Osbourne and drummer Bill Ward — reunited in November to record its first album in 33 years, to be followed by a world tour.
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\r\nThose plans were thrown into question last month when Iommi was diagnosed with lymphoma, a form of cancer.
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\r\nBut the band has continued to work on the new album, moving the project to London from Los Angeles so that Iommi could be close to his doctors.
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\r\nLast week, Ward\r\nissued a statement that he would not participate in the reunited band’s\r\nnew album and tour unless he was given a fair contract.
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\r\nSABBATH is still scheduled to appear at this June’s Download festival in the U.K., although a planned headlining slot at April’s Coachella festival in California was scrapped and other tour plans have yet to be confirmed.
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