You're welcome Julia. Wow, a lot of you are suffering through rain. I'm sorry to hear that. June should be sunny and warm.

Perfect. Absolutely 80° F. perfect. To illustrate, here's some photos I just snapped strolling along Sunset Blvd. near the Chateau Marmont, where Led Zeppelin stayed in 1969. The house on the top of the hill in the last two photos is the "Iron Man" house.

Hope it works out for you, Kate...not having use of thumb and forefinger would put a severe crimp in my life. After all, it's our thumbs that separate us from most beasts. Good luck. As for you MM, stop being a nancy-boy and report to a dentist at once!

Naw, I think Major Major is referring to the VH logo used for the first two albums. To answer your question MM, I don't think they had their logo finalized yet. As you can see by badgeholder's post, they still were tinkering with their fonts. For instance, this was going to be the first album's cover until cooler heads prevailed: Anyway, hope that answers your question. Now, here's another dose of the timeline... Post #15: School's Out for Summer and the Mothership Touches Down!!! DATE: Saturday June 4, 1977 The school year was over. Friday June 3 was the last day and it was time to celebrate my surviving my freshman year of high school. That meant heading to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday with a few guys I knew from the basketball/football teams for something called the Music Sound Funk Festival. The line-up was choice: Parliament-Funkadelic, Bootsy's Rubber Band, The Isley Brothers, Rufus w/ Chaka Khan, The Brothers Johnson, and Rose Royce. This was to be the final show of P-Funk's Earth Tour, the one with the crazy Mothership landing on stage with lazers and pyros going off, whereupon George Clinton would emerge in his Dr. Funkenstein persona. The P-Funk band at this point featured some crazy talent...Eddie Hazel, Garry "Diaperman" Shider, Bernie Worrell, Bootsy Collins, Maceo Parker, Fuzzy Haskins, Lynn Mabry, and a host of others...it was very hard to keep track of who was onstage and what was going on at a P-Funk show back then. I was particularly excited that I was going to see P-Funk because I had missed their show at the Forum back in January due to it being a school night. So I was thankful they were back in L.A. After doing my Saturday morning chores, my pals picked me up a little bit past noon and we headed northwest to the Coliseum across from the USC campus. Confession time: some quantity of marijuana was smoked on the way and during the show. Sad to say, as awesome the line-up was, the concert wasn't as great as it could and should have been. For one thing, the Coliseum(home field of the L.A. Rams, USC and UCLA football teams at the time) was far from sold out...maybe 50,000 tops. Second, the sound quality was subpar...mostly booming bass, and the volume depended on where you were located. Third, the time between bands was interminable; the show already had started more than an hour later than the advertised 3pm start time. There would be an hour or a 90-minute wait between some of the acts. Then there was the complete no-show by the Isley Brothers, which was later reported as being about money...the Isley's reportedly wouldn't go on unless they were paid in cash, while the promoters said the Isley's demanded more money or they wouldn't play. Whatever the truth, the Isley's didn't play and Bootsy Collins' Rubber Band played before the headlining Parliament-Funkadelic. Not seeing the Isleys, who were one of my favourite funky r & b acts(and whose "It's Your Thing" I had noted on a few Zeppelin bootlegs), took the wind out of my sails a little bit. Or to put it another way, it put a damper on my buzz. I think it was after midnight by the time the P-Funk Mothership landed...and thank god, because all the hassles and frustration of the day melted away as the funk flew furiously and non-stop thru their set. By this time, we had already moved closer to the stage as others had wilted as the day went on and either left early or retreated to the stands. All I remember is just a kaleidoscope of colours and costumes...I SAW A MAN WEARING A DIAPER!!!...and of course, the endless groove and funk of the music and the chanting and dancing. Yeah, all in all, it was worth it just to see P-Funk in their prime, complete with the Mothership spaceship special effect. It was also worth it to see the Brothers Johnson, riding high off their "Right on Time" album with their excellent cover of Shuggie Otis' song "Strawberry Letter 23", and Rufus with the amazing vocal talents of Chaka Khan. Rose Royce wasn't anything special. Oh, and the LAPD was heavy-handed as usual and arrested lots of people...not as many as they did at the Pink Floyd shows in 1975, but still in the hundreds. The concert didn't end until nearly 2am if I remember correctly...it was like a Stones show in that regard, haha. As this was the last show of P-Funk's Earth Tour, this was the last concert with the band in this configuration, as after the tour, quite a few P-Funkers left, having grown tired of George Clinton's stranglehold on the band's direction and finances. Anyway, that was that...this would be the last concert I would see until the Led Zeppelin shows at the Forum now 17 days away. Due to a number of factors: shortage of money, lack of a ride, lack of interest, wanting to conserve my strength for the Zeppelin marathon; I passed on the Little Feat show on June 7, the ZZ Top show June 11, and the Alice Cooper extravaganza at Anaheim Stadium June 19, and the Weirdos and the Germs at the Whisky June 20.

Well, it was going to be Jack White and the Peacocks tonight at the Wiltern. But I've been feeling like death all week, so I'm going to have to pass...I kept hoping I'd feel better, but no dice. Thing is, Mogwai is playing this Saturday at the Fonda, and now I'm worried I'll have to miss that one, too. Big bummer.

Post #14: Van Halen and The Mumps @ the Whisky a Go Go DATE: Saturday May 28, 1977 Having lain low for most of May since the somnambulant Pink Floyd show...Bad Company with Dave Edmunds @ the Forum was one show I passed up going to, as well as Jethro Tull I think...my interest was, however, piqued when I saw Van Halen was returning to the Whisky for a three-night stand May 27-29. The opening band was The Mumps, one of the many bands that sprung up in the wake of the New York Dolls, Ramones and the whole nascent punk scene. As I wrote earlier in this thread, my first time seeing Van Halen back in January at the Whisky was an eye-opener. So I wanted to see them again to confirm if my first impressions of them held up and if they really were as fresh and exciting as I thought. I most certainly wanted another peak at the guitar player...I don't think at this time I had remembered his name yet. I do recall he played like he had 20 fingers. I recruited the same buddies I went with the first time I saw Van Halen. The show we attended was Saturday night's on May 28. There were tons of people of course...it's funny, before I saw Van Halen I hadn't really given their name a second-glance when it appeared in club ads. But after that January show, all of a sudden I started noticing how many shows the played everywhere around town. They had buzz for sure. I was somewhat surprised by the turnout and enthusiasm shown The Mumps. They were certainly an energetic band, which helps when you're opening for Van Halen. Most of the members gamboled athletically or spastically around the stage, creating quite a glam-punk type racket. It wasn't until I saw them that night that I found out that the leader of the Mumps was none other than LANCE LOUD! If you're asking 'who the Dickens is Lance Loud?', you're obviously not gay nor have you ever seen the landmark 1973 PBS documentary "An American Family"...the first reality show. Google it. The Mumps weren't bad...in fact, they were better than some other punk bands of that era; bands that did get record contracts. For whatever reason, though, the Mumps never got signed and soon split up. Van Halen was the headliner, however, and all thoughts of the Mumps were banished once their set was over. The crowd and anticipation was building for Van Halen...and remember, they STILL didn't have a record or even a single out. I don't think they were yet signed to Warner Brothers at this point. But their reputation as THE party band of Southern California had obviously spread far and wide. When Van Halen took the stage and began playing, it was like a bomb going off. LOUD, uncouth, raw, powerful yet also ridiculously catchy, they immediately confirmed my initial impressions were correct. This was a band that gave me hope hard rock wasn't dying and there was still room for PERSONALITY in the face of such faceless corporate FM rock as Foreigner, Styx, Kansas, Chicago. Again their set was covers interspersed with some originals. What was noteworthy was that the originals were often better than whatever ZZ Top, Zeppelin or Aerosmith cover they played. Somebody on another thread asked if Van Halen ever played the Deep Purple song "Maybe I'm a Leo"? I'd love to be able to answer definitively yes or no, but to tell you the truth, I wouldn't have recognized the song if they had played it. You see, by 1977, Deep Purple was one of those bands I had tossed aside...I was bored with them. So on the slag heap they went, along with Grand Funk Railroad, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Uriah Heep, Elton John, Alice Cooper, Black Oak Arkansas, and other bands I thought had grown stale. So while I would have recognized any Zeppelin or Aerosmith cover, I didn't have a clue what "Maybe I'm a Leo" sounded like, so wouldn't have noticed if Van Halen played it. What was noticeable to me, seeing Van Halen a second time, was that the current crop of hard rock acts were put on notice. It seemed it was only a matter of time before Van Halen would get a record deal and soon have an album out. Bands like Aerosmith, Nazareth, Boston, Ted Nugent, Bad Company, were going to have to step up their game or get buried. One more thing...after this second time seeing Van Halen, I never forgot the guitar player's name again...Eddie Van Halen was permanently imprinted on my mind. Jenny Lens was a girl who photographed tons of shows back then, especially of the early punk bands. The following photos were taken by her. I still see her at various events and shows...she's quite a trip. The guy with David Lee Roth is Lance Loud of The Mumps...not Joe Perry as many people mistakenly assume. That's The Mumps in front of the Whisky in the other photo.

I wanted to ask you how this show was, Jahfin? War on Drugs "Slave Ambient" was one of my favourite albums last year. Unfortunately I had to miss their L.A. date(with Sharon Van Etten no less!), as it was March 20, the same day as the of Monreal/Deerhoof show. Sharon is coming back to L.A. in August with Andrew Bird. I am hoping War on Drugs makes another swing thru Los Angeles before the year is over. Anybody who thinks there aren't any good rock bands anymore needs to check out War on Drugs.

Just saw "Snow White and the Huntsman" tonight. It opens June 1 in the U.S. The screening I saw was a special one at the American Cinematheque with costume designer Colleen Atwood in attendance for a Q & A afterwards. For good reason too, as the costumes were very good. I liked "Snow White and the Huntsman" more than the other Snow White adaptation this year, "Mirror Mirror". I thought its approach to the story was more interesting, its cinematography, look and set design better(one of the highlights was the Fairy Forest). But mostly it was better because Charlize Theron was a better Queen than Julia Roberts. She is wicked fun to watch as the evil Queen. In fact, over-all the cast was better than "Mirror Mirror"'s. Look for Bob Hoskins, Eddie Marsan, Ray Winstone, Nick Frost, among others playing the Dwarves. I believe I've mentioned my ambivalence towards Kristen Stewart as an actress. Thought she was okay in "Adventureland" but inadequate in "The Runaways" and sheer torture in the idiotic "Twilight" movies. She isn't bad as Snow White, but once again she has this annoying habit of using the same mouth-slightly open expression throughout the film. Her emotional range is limited. I think of all the other young actresses out there they could have used...Emily Blunt, Anne Hathaway, Amy Ryan, Carey Mulligan. But Kristen Stewart isn't a disaster...she doesn't ruin the movie. Anyway, along with the base Brothers Grimm "Snow White" story, there's also elements of Robin Hood, King Arthur and Lord of the Rings. So any fantasy lovers should enjoy "Snow White and the Huntsman". Oh, and judging by the applause at the end, the guy playing the Huntsman is very popular with the ladies. According to the 12-year old girl I was with, he was in the "Thor" movie.

NO! TCM doesn't interrupt movies with commercials. I wouldn't watch the channel if they did. Nor do they pan and scan or show "edited for tv" versions like AMC. Which is why I never will watch a movie on AMC no matter how many times they show "The Godfather" or "Goodfellas"...it'd be like watching porn on the Disney Channel. TCM is what AMC used to be like in the 80s before they changed ownership. Another movie channel that has been ruined by commercials in movies is IFC, the Independent Film Channel.

I have to work an event tonight from 6 to midnight, so I'm just resting and chilling on the couch all day. Just finished watching the Orson Welles noir-classic "The Lady from Shanghai" with the delectable Rita Hayworth on Turner Classic Movies(TCM). "It was YOU who killed Grisby!" In about 10 minutes at 12:45 pm, TCM is showing another of my favourites, "The Lady Eve", starring another of my faves, Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. One of the classic Preston Sturges screwball- comedies.

Thanks Ally...although it must have pained you to see them knock off your Canucks.

^^^ Ego? What ego? I haven't the foggiest notion what you're talking about. Welcome back by the way! This place has missed being filled with your magic for too long!

I think I still prefer the "Fame"/"Fame Monster" songs. All this hullabaloo reminds me of the protests Madonna used to get whenever she tried to tour Southeast Asia or Italy. It's the same old usual suspects protesting and puffing themselves up in false outrage. Glad to see nothing's changed in the last 20-30 years...except that more children were raped under the guise of religion.

Man, if I was in Blighty I'd take you up on your offer in a New York minute! But I'm not...sorry I can't help you out Henry. But I urge anyone who is in the UK to take henrybonzo up on his offer. The new Jack White album is a good one and he's got a cracker of a band with him...all girls, including a violin player, and can play as well as being easy on the eyes. He plays White Stripes chestnuts as well as Raconteurs and Dead Weather songs amongst his new songs. When I saw him at the Mayan April 30, he opened with "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" and the crowd went apeshit when he played "Hotel Yorba". If you're thinking of going, don't hesitate...just GO!!!

Drats! There goes my chance for an A+.

After nearly 20 years the LA Kings are back in only their second Stanley Cup Finals!!! Plus, went to a good concert tonight.

I hope you are talking about the 1976 original "Bad News Bears" and not the lame remake from a few years ago. It's Buttermaker...although I think one of the kids calls him Boilermaker in reference to his drinking. "Bad News Bears" is one of the most awesome-est movies ever...especially if you're a kid. The kids all actually LOOK like kids and not the typical prettified kid clones Hollywood usually casts in movies. All hail Jackie Earle Hailey! Who actually has been having a career resurgence lately...he's in the new "Dark Shadows". The kid who cracked me up the most when I was a kid(I was 14 when the film came out) was Tanner...he didn't take shit from nobody, haha! Tanner: "Hey Yankees...you can take your apology and your trophy and shove 'em straight up your ass!" Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal had great chemistry together and let's not forget the late great Vic Morrow as the opposing coach. I loved this movie when I was a kid and I love it still today. I have had the pleasure of introducing my nieces and godson to the pleasures of the "Bad News Bears" and when my nephew gets old enough, I'll turn him on to it, too. A right fucking classic!

Lots of live Spiritualized, including the great Live at the Royal Albert Hall cd. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfgTlbdZzTQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

May 22: SPIRITUALIZED @ Wiltern Theatre! After Brian Jonestown Massacre, another trippy band comes to the Wiltern to exorcise the bad vibes left behind after the recent Creed/Live concert at the venue. Spiritualized is one of my favourite British bands from the past 20 years...the post-Nirvana, or if you're British, the post-Stone Roses era. This will be my 10th Spiritualized show...but my first one sober. No drugs or drink for me tonight. One of my favourite quotes by anyone is this one from Spiritualized leader Jason Pierce: "We take drugs to make music to take drugs to".

Post #13: "STAR WARS" ARRIVES...ONE MORE MONTH TO GO DATE: Saturday May 21, 1977 It had now been 110 days since we bought our Led Zeppelin tickets for the run of Forum shows that long ago day in January. And there was still a month to go before June 21 arrived! Almost half a year would pass between the time of purchasing the tickets and the concert transpiring. That is a helluva long wait for anybody, let alone a 15-year old. I was constantly nervous and paranoid about the concerts...would something happened to the band on tour? Would the dates be postponed again? Would I lose the tickets...or misplace them? Never before or since have I had to safekeep concert tickets for 5 freaking months. Have you? It's positively nerve-wracking. The other nerve-wracking thing with the wait, was having to make sure I kept my nose clean so as not to fuck up and get grounded and miss the Led Zeppelin shows. No parties, no sneaking out to shows on school nights...in fact, I curtailed my extra-curricular activities quite a bit in the months before the Zep concerts. I didn't want to give my stepmother any excuse to ruin my summer. But I wasn't a complete hermit. Fortunately there were a few good shows scheduled on the weekends that I could get permission to attend. I believe the last concert I posted about on this thread was the April 1 Runaways/ Cheap Trick show. I'll take the opportunity now to catch you up on the timeline since then. Friday April 15, 1977 Iggy Pop w/ Blondie @ Santa Monica Civic Having been a fan of The Stooges, I was already interested in seeing Iggy's first tour since the "Raw Power" days. But when word came out that David Bowie was playing keyboards on the tour, this concert became a must! "The Idiot" had been released a couple months prior...to almost no mainstream radio airplay...and I knew that Bowie was involved in the album's production. But playing in Iggy's band? That was a trip. The album was okay...not as good as any of the Stooges records but it featured "Funtime", "Nightclubbing" and "China Girl", which David Bowie later covered to much success. In my opinion, it would be the next album, "Lust for Life", released later in 1977, that would firmly establish Iggy's comeback. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anyone who wanted to go to the show...and I needed a ride. At the last minute I cajoled my dad into giving me a ride. The Santa Monica Civic wasn't sold out, and it was far from full for Blondie's opening set. I had just recently seen Blondie open for the Ramones at the Whisky, and nothing I saw this second time changed my opinion of them. If it wasn't for the presence of Debbie Harry, there wasn't anything of note about them. Iggy, however, was Iggy...and well worth the wait. Mixing in a few choice Stooges cuts amongst the songs from "The Idiot", Iggy spastically rubber-banded around the stage from beginning to end. If the overall effect and sound of the band wasn't as corruscatingly charged and warped as a Stooges show, Iggy was still a magnetic and feral presence on stage. Oh, Bowie handled his keyboard and backup vocals with aplomb, but another interesting tidbit about Iggy's band on this tour was that it featured the Sales brothers, Tony and Hunt, on bass and drums respectively. Tony and Hunt have played with lots of people over the years...Todd Rundgren was probably their first gig of note...but if you're of a certain age, you recognize the name Sales from their father, comedian Soupy Sales, who I would always see pop up on television in the 60s and 70s. I never really found him to be funny, and I doubt anybody under 50 recognizes his name. Saturday April 16, 1977 Television @ Whisky a Go-Go The good news about this show was that I was able to cross another "New York" band off my list. I had already seen the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, and the Ramones in previous years, and 1977 had offered up Blondie and Television so far. The Talking Heads would come to L.A. later in the year. I had read rave reviews(including Nick Kent's famous one in N.M.E.) of Television's debut "Marquee Moon", which convinced me to buy the album a week or so after its release. It took a while for me to get used to the vocals, but what was instantly clear from the opening track "See No Evil" was that both Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd were better than your average punk guitarist. More importantly, their approach to riffs and solos and texture was so refreshing and different than the usual blues-rock cliches that were getting stale by 1977. These guys were definitely more arty and cerebral than the Ramones or the English punk bands...which wasn't always a good thing. But they had guitar solos, which made it easier to convince an older friend who had a car to go to the show. There was another lure for my friend...one of those new-fangled punk bands that everyone was hearing and talking about, but few in the U.S. had actually seen. You see, originally the opening band was supposed to be The Damned...one of the original English punk bands. In fact, it was the Damned and not the Sex Pistols who released the first punk record and were the first punk band from the UK to play the U.S. Aa a kid who for the past year voraciously read all the stories coming out of the U.K. about these "punk" bands, I was highly anticipating my chance to see an actual live UK punk band in the flesh. Would they spit on the audience? I realize that this sounds dopey in hindsight, but I was 15...whaddya expect. Television and the Damned were scheduled to play 4 nights at the Whisky...Thursday April 14 thru Sunday April 17. Since Friday was already taken by the Iggy show, Saturday was the only night I could go. Well, we get to the Whisky Saturday night only to find the Damned aren't on the bill. No explanation given either...at least nothing more than vague excuses. Right off the bat, my spirit was a little deflated. I had been curious about the English punk scene for so long and felt superior to my MOR schlock-loving classmates because I was gonna finally get a peek at one of these supposed scourges of society. But no...no Damned. Instead we got...hmmm, I'm not entirely sure who we got as the opening band. Probably The Quick...they seemingly opened for EVERYBODY in 1977, especially at the Whisky. So, being a little annoyed about the Damned's no-show, I reminded myself that I was still getting to see Television...and I was spending a night away from my annoying stepmother, which was always a plus. I'd love to say Television knocked my socks off...and indeed, there were moments that gave me goose-bumps. "Marquee Moon" for example was all I wanted it to be and more...guitars ringing in my ears for days. But their stage presence left a lot to be desired, and the vocals were definitely an acquired taste. I don't know exactly why...but I was kind of expecting more, you know...like I was going to be blown away. And I wasn't. Still liked the album, though. Later I found out that Television had kicked the Damned off the tour...apparently the band had offended Television's delicate sensibilities. After much last-minute scrambling, the Damned were offered two nights at the Starwood club the following week, April 18-19. Unfortunately those were school nights so I couldn't go. Damn Damn Damn! Yes, this was the same Starwood where Van Halen and Quiet Riot played early gigs, along with many of the first wave of LA punk bands. It has a seedy backstory thanks to its Eddie Nash connection...which I will expound upon when I have more time. But among its pluses was the fact that it was all-ages. Sadly, now it's a mini-mall. Saturday May 7, 1977 Pink Floyd @ Anaheim Stadium This will probably ruffle some feathers...good thing Electrophile isn't here to see this...but this was one of the most dreary, soulless concerts I've had the displeasure of seeing. And it had nothing to do with the rain. Pink Floyd was playing two nights at Anaheim Stadium(baseball stadium for the California Angels), a first for any band...me and my friend and some stoner pals of his went to the second night. It was a rainy weekend in May, but most of it stopped by the time Pink Floyd began playing. Still, it was wet enough to think about heading into the stands for shelter...the stands were reserved seating while the field was general admission...but we stuck it out on the field for most of the show. I think I retreated to the stands during intermission. I'd had enough of the animals in the crowd. Yes, this was the "Animals" tour...which is not exactly my favourite Pink Floyd album. Musically it is boring in many stretches...about 5 minutes of good ideas stretched to a 18 minute snooze-fest. Thematically, the idea of taking on Orwell's "Animal Farm" is intriguing, but in actuality it comes across as a cold and remote subject. It's a hard album to wrap your arms around. Which, given Roger Waters increasingly misanthropic manner, was probably the point. But apart from the fact that I disliked "Animals", I still was looking forward to the concert. I hadn't seen Pink Floyd since the first time I saw them at the Hollywood Bowl in 1972. They played a bunch of stuff I hadn't heard of, which we later discovered was their yet-to-be-released new album "Dark Side of the Moon", and a second set of their early glories: Echoes, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, Careful with that Axe, Eugene and more. It was a great show and the special effects enhanced the concert without overshadowing the music. I missed the April 1975 Sports Arena shows due to being grounded for three months. These shows became infamous when the LAPD went crazy arresting hundreds and hundreds of kids at the concerts...Pink Floyd and lots of other bands vowed never to play the Sports Arena again. Oh, and the people that went to the '75 concerts also talked about the plane crash. Anyways, I did like Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here...even if I thought the tempos were getting a little sluggish. I didn't think Nick Mason was all that great a drummer. So I was hoping to hear copious amounts of both albums at the Anaheim Stadium show, along with the "Animals" material. Well, as it turned out, the '77 setlist was the "Animals" album played first, an intermission, then "Wish You Were Here" in its entirety, followed by an encore of "Money". The sound suffered the usual problems that plagued outdoor shows...the quality, loudness and depth of the sound came and went with the wind and the elements. Sometimes you could hear the vocals, othertimes not. And even with the addition of Snowy White on second guitar, along with Dick Parry on sax, the sound was lacking a physical presence. It certainly wasn't a force like the Who show the previous year at the Stadium. Which helped give the Pink Floyd concert rhis cold, distant feeling. Not to mention, the demeanor of the band itself, which seemed as if they would have preferred being anywhere else that night. But then, Pink Floyd never was a band that gave the impression of enjoying playing on stage. I could go on and on...but I'd rather not at the moment. I'll just say that it was this concert and subsequent Pink Floyd interviews that led me to reevaluate my feelings about Pink Floyd and their music's place in my life. The pig catching fire and burning up was pretty amusing I must admit. Saturday May 21, 1977 "Star Wars" @ Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood The movie had come out the day before on May 20, but my dad wanted to take us to see it at the Chinese Theatre, so we waited for the weekend to make a day of it. The 70s was a decade full of films that became huge social and cultural events...each one pushing the envelope further and further regarding what a "blockbuster" meant money-wise and how long people would stand in line for a movie. There was "Love Story" in 1970, "The Godfather" in 1972, "The Exorcist" in 1973...and even "Deep Throat". But the stakes really changed when "Jaws" broke the $200 million barrier in 1975. When "Star Wars" followed in 1977, the transformation of the idea of a "summer blockbuster" was complete. Henceforth, the studios pretty much abandoned the adult-market during the summer to focus on catering to kids and their repeat-business. That's what I remember most about "Star Wars" that year...the constant and endless lines of people waiting to buy tickets and then waiting to get in the theatre. Theatres were screening the film nearly round-the-clock...I think the first screening at the Chinese was at 8 am. In fact, so many of the showings were sold out in advance, we had to get tickets for a late-night screening. We ended up walking around Hollywood and then had dinner at the Tick-Tock restaurant on Cahuenga Blvd. They had a great turkey dinner and to-die-for cinnamon rolls. "Star Wars" was pretty nifty, a fun popcorn movie. But to tell you the truth, 1977 will always be remembered by me more for "Annie Hall" than "Star Wars". "Annie Hall" had a much more profound effect on my life than "Star Wars". I saw "Star Wars" about 8 times that year...I saw "Annie Hall" around 20 times. But one lasting effect "Star Wars" did have was that it provided me with a way to describe Jimmy Page's theremin part of his guitar solo on the '77 tour. I always said it sounded like a light saber battle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHQAE5PGeM8&feature=youtube_gdata_player