No need to thank me, guys, all I did was send a PM.  Scott is the guy who noticed his absence and brought it to our attention.  I haven't been hanging out here much lately and it was only by coincidence that I happened to check in on X2 about the time that Scott posted this thread.  If not for Scott, I hate to think how long it would have been before noticing that Billy was gone.

sharke

The pages will always be there at archive.org, in fact you can go right back and see what it was like in 2003, he had some different pictures of himself up there.  He also had some different text up on his music page:

Right, but not the MP3's, right? I see the player itself is archived, but the playlist points back to "playlist_url=http://www.ba-midi.com/music/files/ba-midi%20main.xspf" and doesn't load (perhaps a player limitation or config to not load across domains). In any event, the MP3's would have had to been copied...  

keith

sharke

The pages will always be there at archive.org, in fact you can go right back and see what it was like in 2003, he had some different pictures of himself up there.  He also had some different text up on his music page:

Right, but not the MP3's, right? I see the player itself is archived, but the playlist points back to "playlist_url=http://www.ba-midi.com/music/files/ba-midi%20main.xspf" and doesn't load (perhaps a player limitation or config to not load across domains). In any event, the MP3's would have had to been copied...  

Yeah I don't think archive.org ever archives files, just the webpage (and sometimes not even the photos). So I guess you would have to download all of the MP3's off of his current site. I don't know what the moral ins and outs would be re: posting them somewhere else for posterity, I guess legally they're copyrighted to him and it would probably be up to his family to decide what happens to them?

Yeah, it's his property, and subsequently whoever inherits his property, executes his estate, etc. I'm sure there were boxes of CDs and gear and whatnot that maybe will end up in somebody's den, but once that hosting bill goes unpaid, the account goes away, the content gets wiped. Who knows, maybe a family member will pay the bill for a while, or a friend will take some of his tunes and make a nice charity compilation. There's some real quality stuff there. Just hate the thought of the man's artwork, that he obviously had a passion for, sitting out there for folks to enjoy, but not forever, like a sand sculpture...   

Have you heard this? http://www.ba-midi.com/music/files/vocals/3%29%20Billy%20Arnell%20-%20Andre%20-%202%20Wrongs%20Don%27t%20Make%20A%20Right.mp3

It's like classic R&B hip hop, the way it's supposed to be. Reminds of the good ol' days... 1998. :)

RIP Billy.  You went out of your way to help me in a couple tough situations.  I really appreciated that.  And from all the comments I read on this thread, you helped a lot of people.  What a great example of a human being your are.

I'm struck by all caring from the people on this forum.  Does Billy have any loved one's?  They should check this thread out.  It's amazing how many people he has touched in a positive way.

forgive me if i missed a few posts but is there anyway to download a few of his tunes and set up a memorial somewhere,id be willing to donate something to keep his site alive.

Well I was hoping for a different outcome to this, but I find the worst is upon us.
RIP Billy! I wish that I had not been totally immersed in trying to find work at the time when
you had asked for me to try to put down some guitar tracks for one of your songs, that would have been fun.
Good people are so hard to loose.

I was afraid of this...sigh...RIP Bill.

I was hoping that my worst fears were wrong. I will really miss Billy although I only 'knew' him via here, we seemed to have a similar sense of humour.

Dance on Billy. RIP.

RIP Billy a.k.a BA-Midi