Guitarist Rich Ward (FOZZY, STUCK MOJO, DUKE) has posted the following lengthy message via his official website (www.dukerocks.com):

“Being busy is a choice. When you hear someone say, "Damn, this has been a busy week," it's not like having a busy schedule is just thrust upon them. You know - free will and all that good stuff. We always have the option to just say "No" and deal with the consequences that follow. That's the beauty with freedom. We can do and be whoever we choose, but always looming close by are those damn consequences if we don't choose wisely. So to catch you beautiful people up on all things Duke, "Damn, this has been a busy week!"

First on my plate, was working on a project that I had mentioned in a previous Duke Views featuring Allison Irby, a female R&B; vocalist from Atlanta. We'll call it the "Allison Project" for now because, at this moment, it doesn't have an official title. Here is a quick background on the project.

About five months ago, Duke manager Mark Willis told me about a young female R&B; singer from Atlanta that had the goods. A great voice, great look and the right personality for the business. Her dilemma is that she's not completely thrilled with the direction of today’s pop and R&B; scene. Although this is the musical direction that she has been pursuing since she started singing, she is more drawn towards being a rock singer.

After Allison and her manager heard the Duke demos, they spoke to Mark about having me write some songs for her. After an informal meeting with all parties present, the decision was made to move forward with a partnership and the recording of a demo would be the first step. With all of my song writing currently focused on my solo record, I decided to rework a couple of Sick Speed tracks that I knew she would sound great on. The songs we chose to record were "Time and a Place" and "Can't See Straight."

Those of you who are familiar with the original Sick Speed demo of Can't See Straight know that I did rap vocals for the verses and the original Sick Speed singer, Eddie, tracked the melodic vocals. After spending some time listening to the vocals that Allison had tracked, I decided that my "aggro" rap style seemed out of place next to her smooth and laid back style. That's when one of my rare moments of genius hit me. Call Bonz!

As you know, Bonz and I have had a few phone conversations regarding the new Mojo record. But we haven't worked together in the studio since 1999 and haven't written together since 1997. I knew that we both still had some issues that needed resolving, so I thought this would be the perfect place to collaborate again. Being in a neutral place would give Bonz and I a great opportunity to work together again and to iron out any wrinkles before we start on the Mojo record.

After explaining the project in a brief phone conversation, Bonz and I both felt hesitantly excited about the prospect of working together again after all these years. He arrived at the studio and, after some pleasantries, we got right to work. I gave him a CD of the riff he was to work on and, after a few minutes of jotting down lyrics while listening to the track, he proceeded to lay down one of the best vocal performance that I have ever heard him deliver!

I have to say that my previous experiences of working with Bonz in the studio have almost always been unpleasant overall. But this time was much different. He came down with a great attitude and with his game face on. Shawn Grove was engineering the session and the studio's owner, Chaney Brannon, (both long time friends) commented that it was awesome to be in the room to see Bonz and I working together again. All parties involved were "feeling it." So let's hope that this a sign of what's to come. Needless to say, my enthusiasm towards writing and recording a new Mojo record with Bonz are ten times what they were two weeks ago.

The other part of this week’s adventure was the filming of Fozzy's music video for the song “Enemy.” The concept of the video was written by British film maker Paul Hough, who also directed the video. I have to give it up for Paul. He has the perfect demented writing style to put him on the map of horror movie royalty. There are a lot of cool shots and plot devices used in the video but, in the interest of time, I won't detail all of them. Here's the Reader’s Digest version of the story.

Guy with one leg crawls up multiple flights of stairs, catches his wife in the stairwell with another dude, keeps climbing until he gets on the roof where the band is playing and crawls over to the edge. He looks over and then throws himself off to his death. It's the feel good story of the year. Trust me, I fought hard to keep the handicapped from killing themselves in my video. In the end they did agree to film two different endings to appease me, but we all know what's going to happen. Phone rigs, "Hey Rich, MTV loves the amputee suicide ending, so we're gonna go with that one."

How a band can go from wearing spandex and wigs to killing off the handicapped in two short years makes me wonder if there is hope for humanity. I am well aware of the fact that there is a special place in hell for those of us who f@#k with the handicapped. I only hope that when I leave this Earth, that there is a Post-It note at the Pearly Gates reminding interested parties that I thought it was a bad idea.

On the upside, the video is going to be a work of art and filming it was mucho (that's Spanish) fun. All the scenes involving the band were shot on the roof of a building in downtown San Diego. Those of you who have never been to San Diego should drop what you're doing and go NOW! It is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and even the ridiculous cost of living is well worth it; even if just for the weather. So, obviously, hanging out all day on top of a skyscraper, overlooking the ocean in the beautiful southern California sunshine made a great day even better. In addition, the cast and crew were complete professionals and a pleasure to work with making it one of the best video/film shoots that I have ever been a part of.

The guy who played the role of the amputee was a native New Yorker named Eddie McGee who had already acquired some notoriety having been the first season winner of the reality show “Big Brother.” I've never met anyone quite like Eddie. He had a way about him that made you feel honored to be in his presence. The nicest of the nice, the coolest of the cool and he had the kind of charisma and talent that should make him a sure fire success in Hollywood. Earlier in this commentary, I referred to the character that he played in the video as being "handicapped." In real life Eddie is the furthest thing from being handicapped. For example, between takes on the set, he would hop over a four foot wall like it was nothing. Pretty much everyone was in awe of this dude by the end of the day. The general opinion was that he may only have one leg, but he has eight balls!

Eddie was a pro in every respect and willing to do whatever was asked of him, even when it truly freaked most of the rest of us out! For example, he had to do several takes where he would pull himself across the gravel roof of this 10-story building, crawl right up to the edge, pause, and then hop up on his leg only inches away from the edge! That move, by the way, made many of us almost nauseous because of the danger. It was genuinely frightening. In a straight up bar fight, I'd have my money on him over just about anyone. I'll be looking for Eddie and Paul to do big things in the future.

As for straight up band camaraderie, this trip was off the charts. As if the presence of the usual suspects in the Fozzy camp weren't enough to complete the male bonding, the king of all multimedia, Ed Aborn, was on board to document the shoot for a future DVD as well as Mike Martin, our new band-mate and shred mechanic. Throw in a few good meals, meeting the guitar player for REO Speedwagon and an afternoon throwing around some iron at Golds Gym in Venice Beach and you've got an experience for the record books.

Pray for me! The Duke.”