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Led Zeppelin to receive Kennedy Center Honor


Janvier

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Thanks for the link, Geezer! [Folks better get it now before CBS begins their round on YT deleting stuff -_-]

P.S: How come no one's mentioning that Obama was getting into it? Guy actually knew lyrics to 'Whole Lotta Love' and was getting cozy there with the wifey.

Oh and the reaction of Debbie Allen? That's called being 'taken to church'.

See what Zeppelin does to people? :yesnod:

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I recorded it last night and watched it this morning. Damn that was good!! I love being a Zep fan!! After the O2 concert and the KCH, they don't have to prove anything to anyone ever again, not even themselves. It was emotional, beautiful and exciting and Gigi, for you to be there in person, what an experience for you. I am so proud of them, of Jason for being a big part of their legacy and especially to Jimmy, for overcoming personal obstacles to be in a healthy place in his life where he is able to witness his "baby" being honored and celebrated.

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Absolutely incredible! The harmonica player was out of this freaking world! Everyone was sitting there grooving....awesome!

That was Kim Wilson -singer and harp player for the Fabulous Thunderbirds.

I think it was a very fine show and tribute to the band. I got goosebumps when I saw Robert Plant get tears in his eyes when Ann and Nacy Wilson, Jason Bonham, etc were play Stairway to Heaven.

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Just a FANTASTIC tribute. I've watched it countless times, and still get teary-eyed. Seeing Jason and the choir in bowler hats was a touching tribute to John. Loved seeing Pres. Obama singing along to WLL, Lenny and The Foo Fighters were rocking it out, and for once in my life, I can say I enjoyed Kid Rock. Seeing the guys happy and being very moved was the icing on the cake.

Perfect!

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I think Stairway can be counted as one of the best ever tributes in the history of the KC Honors.

I know it meant a lot to all who participated in the tribute but I think this was a missed opportunity. I did not come away from the tribute (incl. the intro and video montage) thinking Zeppelin's music was adequately represented especially the variety and subtlety.

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Overall thoughts on the entire Zeppelin tribute.

First off, I F***in' LOVE Jack Black. He's a goof ball, but in a good way. I don't know if Plant in particular took his speech or him rather, that serious - but I think he genuinely loves the band and absolutely knows that Zeppelin is the "Best Band Ever" and ARE better than The Beatles and The Stones. (as he put it) I can't disagree.

I read somewhere (from a post) that "Plant looked like he needed a nap"....

I didn't pick that up at all. I thought he was very alert, and most shots of the band or as individual close-ups showed them as being very stimulated by the tribute, moved and fixated/attentive towards the presentation.

Plant was shown laughing/smiling quite a bit as was Page. And I didn't notice that John Paul Jones was cut from the picture either, as someone else mentioned. He was also very engaged.

I was a little disappointed at the extreme edits (due to the timing of the program). That being said , here's what I thought of each performance.

Foo-Fighters - I really dig Dave Grohl, but Taylor Hawkins was flat. I wish they had switched positions for the performance, but it's NO surprise that Grohl would be playing drums for a Zep tribute. After all, John Bonham is his (drumming) idol.

Kid Rock - BIGLY was a tease, because it lasted about 5 seconds. Would have loved to have heard that. I know forum member ":GIGI" was at the show, so I'm sure she got to see the full onslaught of Zeppelin tributes in it's entirety, properly done, as it should be-but that's not how it went down on TV.

I thought Kid's approach to the song was original, but towards the very end I was hoping he would "shut up", with all the unnecessary screaming that really, did more to distract from the beauty of the music more than anything.

Same with Lenny, (on the unnecessary screams at the end) -which sounded terrible IMO, yet he was better. WLL was edited big time. I believe that was John Cougars drummer (Kenny Aronoff) on drums. Nice job!!!

Heart- The best performance of the evening, hands down. Aside from the fact that it was Stairway, with Jason Bonham on drums, it was still - musically, the best performance of the night. It just sounded so tight and well done. No self -indulgent screams, crooning, etc. It was a very classy rendition of a wonderful, classic tune. I don't think many people outside the hard-core Zeppelin fan base would have caught on to the significance of the "boiler hat", but that was awesome. I teared up when Jason looked up at the sky at the near end of the song, as Ann Wilson sang the ending line. That was moving.

Plant was teared up as well. Kodak moment caught in time.

There's no denying the power and realism of what Zeppelin was and still is and their effect on American culture in general.

Led Zeppelin - They did so much to change and transform the face of music, and the industry as a whole. They set "new" standards. They ARE and WILL REMAIN -the Blueprint in which all others create and follow.

God Bless Led Zeppelin!

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The woman who was singing with Jeff Beck was Beth Hart. She has been around for a long time. She is a wonderful song writer as well as a great singer.

You should check out her records. :)

Beth is truly amazing! The closest thing to Janis Joplin you can get, without Janis actually returning from her grave - and then some :) IMHO of course :)

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thanks so much for posting!

i loved each of the zeppelin renditions. they were really great. i think the guys loved them, too. what a great night.

dunno who had the idea for the bonzo hats, maybe jason, but it was amazing, so touching for them.

just loved all of it! :)

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First off, I've gotta say after watching the broadcast last night, I'm even more happy for Gigi that she got to witness the whole shebang in person...unedited and unadulterated.

And ebk, I so truly wished you had given your other phone number, too!

So, my snapshot impressions in order of the presentation.

The first thing I noticed that made my heart leap was the fact that Led Zeppelin's name was right above Marian Anderson's on the wall of honorees. Marian Anderson is someone I hold in high regard, so to have my favourite band of shrieking monkeys broadcasted to millions sharing space with a woman of her class made me shout a jubilant "Yes!" in exultation.

Speaking of class...Caroline Kennedy never fails to charm me. She looked fantastic and I hear both her mother and father in her voice when she speaks. Which always makes me tear up.

I have loved many Dustin Hoffman movies, so I was disappointed in the clip montage they showed...no "Marathon Man"? No "Little Big Man"? Only one line from "All the President's Men"? Sub-par IMO. Maybe the clip montage was edited down for the broadcast. Gigi, do you remember if there were more clips shown than what was aired last night?

The tributes by Billy Connolly(WHOA! FIRST SURPRISE of the night!), Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts were okay, but the staging was awkward with all those people in the background pantomiming an acting class in New York. Very distracting.

As someone who enjoys ballet and dance, I knew of Natalia Makarova before the Kennedy Center Honors. I saw her on PBS as a kid and in person later on. Her segment was one of the highlights of the night for me, but I could not believe they neglected to mention that she was injured 30 years ago this very month in 1982 on the very stage and very same theatre they were all sitting in, when during a performance of "On Your Toes" at the Kennedy Center, Natalia Makarova was hit by a falling piece of pipe.

Anyway, ballet is so rarely accorded space on Network tv, it was a treat to watch the dancers pay tribute to her. Even better was seeing the clips of the woman herself in action.

Buddy Guy was another one I was looking forward to, knowing that great talents like Jeff Beck, Bonnie Raitt, Beth Hart and Jimmie Vaughn and Kip from the Fabulous Thunderbirds were on hand to perform. Of all the great original electric blues giants...B.B. King, Albert King, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, etc...Buddy Guy is my favourite and the one I listen to most often these days.

All the performances were very good..

Beth Hart really nailed hers...and the closing "Sweet Home Chicago" was suitably jubilant and how apropos that President Obama is also a Chicago guy. Noticed the camera showed Messrs Jones, Plant and Page often during the Buddy Guy segment...Jimmy especially was digging it, particularly when his buddy Jeff Beck appeared.

As a fan of David Letterman going back to his short-lived quirky morning show, I was kind of disappointed in his segment. I thought they could have chosen better and more representative clips...more from his truly groundbreaking work at NBC and less from the CBS era...and am I wrong in thinking Stephen Colbert was cut? I thought I had read Colbert was part of the tributes and I saw him in the audience. Ray Ramano, who I'm not a fan of, got off a good line or two about Led Zeppelin. I don't know...I was just expecting something more funny and inspired. I'm happy for Dave, though. After all the bullshit with Jay Leno, Dave has the last laugh. You won't see Jay Leno's stupid mug in the Kennedy Center Honors.

Finally, after the 100th Ally CD rate commercial of the night, it was time to rock and roll! The Natalia Marakova and Buddy Guy segments had set artistic and musical peaks for the night and now it was time to see the Zep tribute blow the roof off!

Jack Black was Jack Black...I think everyone had read enough about the show prior to last night that we all knew the jokes beforehand...the bit about Vikings making love, etc. The lads themselves seemed to be amused by it, even the selling your soul to Satan bit.

The clips were okay....although I was lead by some reports to believe that there would be unseen clips in the montage. I didn't see any, but it's possible the montage was edited down from the actual show so maybe the rare stuff got edited out.

Then the musical tribute portion began and I have to be honest, it wasn't a great start. First off, every song seemed heavily edited down to one verse and a solo. Secondly, although the Foo Fighters made a game attempt at "Rock and Roll", Taylor's voice was flat and just made you miss Robert even more. Where was "Black Dog"? Was there more to "Rock and Roll" or did Taylor really just sing one verse and screech the rest?

At least I got the sublimely weird thrill of seeing hometown Germs-boy Pat Smear playing Led Zeppelin for the President. Having seen both the Germs and Led Zeppelin 35 years ago in 1977, I can say that not in my wildest dreams would I have thought last night was possible in the summer of '77. Strange...very strange how things turn out.

Kid Rock is next...some attempt at "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" before abruptly turning into "Ramble On"...again the heavy hand of the editor. Too bad the editor couldn't have edited out Kid Rock's voice. Horrible gutteral garbage. Who invited this clown?

Why couldn't they have asked Joni Mitchell to do "Going to California" instead? It would have made more sense and been a lot cooler, besides.

Lenny Kravitz at least was better than Kid Rock, but once again we just got a verse and then the solo...at least during the Buddy Guy tribute they sang the whole song. Why were they doing a hatchet job on Zeppelin? It irked me as a sign of disrespect.

Ahhhh, but finally salvation was at hand in the form of Seattle's own Wilson sisters and Jason Bonham, son of John Bonham.

From the moment Jason strode forth wearing the Clockwork Orange bowler hat that his dad wore on the 1975 tour, I knew at last we might get something musically inspired. I wasn't disappointed...even though it seemed edited once again.

But everyone from Ann and Nancy to Jason to the choirs and orchestra played their HEARTS out. Yeah, the guitar solo seemed flubbed and rushed, but the overall effect and impact of the performance was emotional.

What was really something to see was the shots of EVERYONE from Yo Yo Ma to Alec Baldwin to Debbie Allen to Buddy Guy to the President to Jimmy, John Paul and Robert themselves being moved by the performance. My god, Plant was even moved to tears.

And so was I...I was crying right along with them all. A great emotional wallop to end the night on. It more than made up for the cheesy lameness of Kid Rock.

I've never seen the Kennedy Center Honors ceremonies made available on DVD before, but now would be a good time to start. For I think there would be tremendous interest in a DVD of the complete unedited show. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for a bootleg DVD.

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Beth is truly amazing! The closest thing to Janis Joplin you can get, without Janis actually returning from her grave - and then some :) IMHO of course :)

I agree she is the closest to Janis Joplin there is. I absolutely love her. I have been listening to her for over 10 years. I was thrilled to see her there. Kudos to Jeff Beck for insisting that she be the singer on that song. I don't think she has gotten the musical credit she so richly deserves.

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