Retirement from the stage
On January 1st Bill ceased activities behind a drumkit on the public stage, the announcement of which drew almost as much interest as his original departure from ‘Yes’. The extra time available was promptly spent on activities at Summerfold and Winterfold and the release of his Autobiography in March. The book was met with a gratifying amount of goodwill and a small deluge of good reviews, to the surprise of both Bill and his publisher. Spring releases were the ‘Winterfold Collection 1978-1986’ and the ‘Summerfold Collection 1987-2008’, both greatest hits collections from across the two labels.
By the end of a summer week in Croatia helping out at the Groznjan International Percussion Summer Course, interest in the book had prompted the booking of a dozen non-drumming lectures at UK Universities, Colleges and libraries loosely titled “The Creative Artist in a Commercial World” for November. Fall releases were the first and only Moraz-Bruford live album, ‘In Tokyo’, and Bill’s last album of fresh performances encapsulated on ‘Skin and Wire’ with Colin Riley and PianoCircus.
Next up for 2010 is the January re-release of Bill’s Network of Sparks CD with multi-percussionist Pete Lockett, and the refurbishment of this website. It would seem that retirement from the stage doesn’t mean retirement from everything else just yet.