Now that it's light out and I'm out and about, I can see the extent of the damage. Lots of beautiful trees destroyed. Cars, houses, buildings with trees and debris crashed thru them. I know technically they can't call it a hurricane, but it sure felt and sounded like one. I don't scare easily, but last night freaked me out. There were times when it sounded like the earth was being ripped apart by the devil himself. I haven't even made it to the beach yet...I wonder if the piers survived?

Holy fucking SHIT! What a mess...and what a howling, groaning noise all night...I couldn't get to sleep for more than an hour or two. I have never seen winds of this power in L.A. before. The only other places I have encountered winds of such force are in the South USA and the Himalayas. I got up early...couldn't sleep anyway...and this is some of what I encountered on my morning run. Green St. REALLY is "GREEN" now. Now I'm having breakfast at this place on Lake...it's sign almost completely ripped off.

The winds of Thor are blowing cold. http://m.nbclosangeles.com/nbclosangeles/pm_107879/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=MJnuIcNv And to think that earlier it was such a lovely, sunny day. Now trees are being toppled, leaves are piling up everywhere, and I've seen more vaginas in one night than I have all year...thanks to the wind blowing up women's skirts. How can a woman go commando in this weather? I think I saw Dorothy and Toto whiz by earlier. Later...whoops! There go the lights...power is out now and we're driving home in complete darkness.

CONGRATULATIONS KIWI! That is happy news indeed!

And so it's here...the week that is going to test my stamina and wallet. Plus, a third show has been thrown into the mix, along with an appointment at the hospital. Oh, and it's Thanksgiving week, too. Which means finding time to prepare and cook my contributions to the feasts. Monday 11-21: The Cure @ Pantages Theatre…seen many memorable shows at the Pantages: Talking Heads in 83, G n R 91, Bob Dylan & Merle Haggard in 2005, Springsteen in 2005...this should be another one. Tuesday 11-22: Fiona Apple & Jon Brion @ Largo…this was a late announcement, but obviously a must-see...and it's tonight only, which meant the Cure would have to be Monday and then... Wednesday 11-23: Lucinda Williams @ El Rey Theatre…fortunately Lucinda was kind enough to schedule two nights, otherwise I would have had to choose betwwen her or the Fiona show. In fact, Lucinda has a habit, or misfortune, of scheduling her concerts on the same nights of other great shows. Back in August, she was playing a free concert the very same day that Aimee Mann was ALSO playing a free show! I chose Aimee, thinking I would have to miss Lucinda this tour. Little did I know she'd be back so soon! Lucky for me...lucky for L.A. Tuesday is my appt., Thursday is Thanksgiving, and Friday is the Pink Floyd/Led Zeppelin double-bill. Yes, I'll have lots to be thankful for this week.

I wrote a brief review of "J. Edgar" in the "going to the movies" thread. Nobody plays JFK as he isn't in the movie...you only hear his name mentioned and an off-screen voice. There is RFK, played by Jeffrey Donovan. In fact, you never SEE any of the Presidents Hoover dealt with except for one: Richard Nixon, played by Christopher Shyer. They show Nixon's famous reaction to Hoover's death.

Have I been going to the movies? Boy, have I EVER! Now that Thanksgiving is approaching, the studios get ready to bring out their big Oscar hopefuls, which means any movies that have been out in theatres for awhile will soon be getting the heave-ho. Plus I need to do my homework in preparation for the Oscar Pool...winning the pool helps pay the Christmas bills. Which means I have been out at the movies every night for the last 6 days. If I haven't made it clear yet, I absolutely must see a film I am interested in on the big screen, in a theatre. Once I have seen it, then I can watch it on dvd or catch it on cable if I so desire. But for that first viewing, that first impression, it has to be in a theatre. I couldn't imagine not seeing "2001", or any of David Lean's films("Lawrence of Arabia", "Bridge Over the River Kwai") on a big theatre screen. I feel I owe it to the filmmakers...the director, the cinematographer, the lighting technicians, who all spend hours and hours composing, lighting and framing their films to look a certain way. To see the results of their effort on a tiny mobile screen or a panned and scanned video copy seems an insult. But that's one of my quirks...along with never going into a film if I am late. Friday was a Wim Wenders (one of my favourite German directors) double-bill of "Wings of Desire" and "Faraway, So Close!" at the American Cinematheque's Aero Theatre, with a Q & A with the director between films. As a special bonus treat, Nastassja Kinski also showed up. She still looks lovely as ever. "Wings of Desire" is simply one of those movies you have to see before you die. I remember when it was released in 1987...within 10 minutes my skin was literally tingling. Stunning in its visual poetry and it has one of the great ending soliloquys in cinema history. It is one of those films where you feel yourself vibrate with pleasure. One of the most scintillating and transformative films I have ever seen. "Faraway, So Close!" continues the story from "Wings"...it's okay but it is not as magical as "Wings". It's a more traditionally "plot-driven" film, whereas "Wings" is a film you let envelop you; it's an experiential and emotionally-driven film. Plus, "Faraway" has some stunt casting(LOOK! It's Lou Reed! There's Mikhail Gorbachev!) that doesn't quite work. Oh, there was an American remake of "Wings of Desire" in the 90s with Nic Cage called "City of Angels". STAY AWAY...FAR AWAY from this travesty! Saturday was a program of short films from the 70s and 80s by African-American filmmakers at the Hammer Museum, screened in conjunction with the current art exhibit, "Now Dig This: Art & Black Los Angeles 1960-1980. Films by Julie Dash, Larry Clark, and others, with most in attendance for a moderated discussion afterwards. Sunday I went to the new Lars von Trier movie "Melancholia". I have had a love/hate relationship with von Trier for some time now. I first encountered him when I saw his "Zentropa" in 1991. It actually was titled "Europa", but since there was also a movie called "Europa Europa" out at this time, they changed the title in America to "Zentropa". Then von Trier blew my mind with both the Kingdom TV series(like "ER" on acid/crossed with "Twin Peaks") and 1996's "Breaking the Waves", with an unforgettable performance by Emily Watson. But then he seemed more interested in putting his female characters through all manner of indignities and misfortune: Bjork in "Dancer in the Dark"(which I actually liked but would not want to sit through again), Nicole Kidman in "Dogville", and Bryce Dallas Howard in "Manderlay"...the last two films being nigh unwatchable. I was just about ready to write von Trier off for good when he surrpised me with "Antichrist". Yes, some dark and heavy things happen in this film, but in this movie it makes sense thematically and story-wise. Plus it isn't just the female character who suffers...Willem Dafoe gets his share of abuse, too. So I actually was looking forward to seeing "Melancholia", especially since it had an interesting cast: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg(Serge and Jane Birkin's daughter), Kiefer Sutherland, Alexander Skaarsgard, Udo Kier(hilarious as the put-upon wedding planner), Charlotte Rampling. It is good, but not great...certainly not as great as "Breaking the Waves", "Zentropa" or "Antichrist". One problem I had was that I thought he undercut the effectiveness by revealing the end right from the beginning. One hell of a prologue, though. http://youtu.be/xWQ2YZG8kcA Monday (at the AMC Santa Monica) I saw "Tower Heist" and "J. Edgar", the new Clint Eastwood movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio as long-time FBI head honcho J. Edgar Hoover. Of course, I doubt that anyone not American or under 50 will have a clue who Hoover was and the shadow he cast on the 20th century. The picture has the same problem that most films about well-known figures have...we already know most of the story and how it ends. That said, it is the usual tasteful Eastwood production, and the cast is almost uniformly excellent, particularly DiCaprio and Armie Hammer and Naomi Watts. I never would have said this a few years ago, but DiCaprio finally doesn't make me laugh when playing grown-up men. For years, he was so young looking, that he appeared a boy playing at being a man. But he's finally gained some gravitas. As usual on his recent films, Eastwood composed the score and his son Kyle plays the piano...that's one way to keep costs down. As for "Tower Heist"...YAWN. Tuesday (at the Grove Theatres) was the interesting "Drive" and Johnny Depp doing Hunter S. Thompson again in the adaptation of Thompson's posthumously published book "The Rum Diaries". Not as weird and wild as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" but it has moments...and with both Johnny Depp AND Aaron Eckhart, plenty of eye-candy for the ladies and men who love men. Finally, last night...went to the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood (the one with the movie star hand-and-foot prints in cement) to see Brad Pitt in "Moneyball" and the cancer movie, "50/50", with Seth Rogen and that guy from "Inception", Joseph Gordon Levitt. Both were all right...you don't even necessarily have to like or know anything about baseball to enjoy "Moneyball". I think I liked "50/50" just a tad better...and usually cancer-themed movies deal with either old people or young kids; rarely 20-somethings. So it was refreshing to see a film deal with how cancer affects a young adult's life. And on the 7th day, I rest. At least until tonight when I'll be helping out at the bookshop for Michael Lindsey-Hogg's book signing...he filmed a lot of movies featuring the Beatles, Rolling Stones and other rock groups of the swinging sixties. "Let It Be" and "Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus" are two of his more famous films.

^^^Directed by Clint Eastwood. Was surprised this didn't do better at the box office...maybe Angelina Jolie-fatigue played a part.

I'll second that, Redrum!

Last night I went to see more Antonioni at the Cinefamily Theatre. This time it was his classic "Blow-Up" from 1966, with David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, and a host of Mod Birds from that time...Jane Birkin, Verushka. And of course, this scene with the Jeff Beck-Jimmy Page era Yardbirds: http://youtu.be/_zeza1xeWKM Two idiots sitting in the couch next to me(the Cinefamily theatre has love seat couches in the first two rows) left before the end, missing the great closing scene, which I won't give away here, just in case there are some of you who still haven't seen this great and influential film. I thought they were showing "Zabriskie Point" afterwards, but due to a snafu, I missed it as that was the Tuesday night's program; last night "The Passenger" was the second film. Even though I just saw it Sunday night, I stuck around to see it again, just for fun. Yeah, I know..."for fun" isn't exactly a phrase normally associated with this piece of existentialism. Jack Nicholson is REALLY good in this, so that makes it fun, in a way. Anyway, all of the 4 Antonioni films I saw this past week still hold up to this day...particularly "Blow-Up" and "The Passenger". "Red Desert" and "Zabriskie Point"(of all the ones, this seemed the most dated) less so, though they are still great in their way, especially in their cinematography and in "Zabriskie Point"'s case, the music score. Naturally, I would suggest you try to see these on the big screen, if possible...your local college perhaps or a repertory cinema in town, if you have one. But if you don't live in an area where they show old movies in a theatre, I guess renting or netflix is your best bet. Just try to get the Criterion editions if you can...as these have the correct screen ratio and restored colour prints.

How do I love Clint Eastwood? Let me count the ways... One of the ways is the fact that you can't pigeonhole him...either artistically or politically. One of the last true GIANTS left in Hollywood. I always see his movies, no matter what. Even though I was disappointed with "Hereafter", I still look forward to see the new one, "J. Edgar" with relish. I've been hearing great things about it for some time. When I do(Antonioni, AFI Film Fest, concerts, book events have been keeping me busy), I'll let you know what I think. In the meantime, here's a nice little piece that appeared in this past weekend's LA Times: Clint Eastwood talks politics: Who's the Democrat he voted for? By Patrick Goldstein November 7, 2011 Clint Eastwood is such a passionate fiscal conservative that when he married his second wife, Dina Ruiz, in 1996, he included her finances in his own personal deficit-reduction campaign. “My wedding present to her was paying off her credit cards,” he told me the other day, using his bungalow on the Warner Bros. lot as a staging area for interviews touting “J. Edgar,” his new film about longtime FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover. When I asked if he’d made any similar offers as, well, an anniversary gift, Eastwood said with a laugh, “No, I told her it was a one-time deal.” Showbiz has its clear partisans — Sean Penn, Barbra Streisand and George Clooney are ardent liberals; Kelsey Grammer, Tom Selleck and Jerry Bruckheimer are true conservatives. But the right and the left both like to claim the 81-year-old Eastwood as one of their own. When I quizzed Eastwood, he couldn’t remember ever voting for a Democrat for president — including in the last election, where he supported John McCain. But when he condemned anti-gay marriage fanatics in a recent, profanity-studded GQ interview (“Don’t give me that sanctity crap! Just give everybody the chance to have the life they want”), my liberal friends shared the excerpts on Facebook with pretty much the same delight as 12-year-old girls passing around Justin Bieber videos. When it comes to his films’ depiction of sensitive issues, Eastwood has carried off an astounding balancing act. Look at his back-to-back movies about World War II: The first, “Flags of Our Fathers,” was openly admiring of American exceptionalism; the next, “Letters From Iwo Jima,” venerated the courage and sacrifices made by Japanese soldiers in one of the war’s bloodiest battles. “J. Edgar” won’t satisfy Hoover haters or supporters. The first half of the movie portrays him as an energetic crusader who modernized crime fighting, with fingerprints and scientific evidence analysis. But in the second half, Hoover turns into a headline-hogging zealot, snooping into private lives of suspected Communists or people Hoover simply saw as threats to his power, including a number of sitting presidents. Having promoted dozens of films, Eastwood is shrewd enough to tread carefully, not wanting to rub any potential moviegoers the wrong way. “Hoover was a patriot in his heart, but he definitely exceeded his power,” he said in his soft, sandpaper-like voice. “Whether he helped the country remains to be seen.” In other words, draw your own conclusions. Eastwood was far more open about his own politics. Having started voting for GOP presidential contenders in 1952 with Dwight Eisenhower, Eastwood said he was tempted to break ranks only once — in 1992, for Ross Perot. “I liked him,” Eastwood said. “I guess because I like rebels.” The only Democrat he can remember voting for is Gray Davis when he was elected governor of California in 1998. Yet Eastwood is also a big admirer of the current governor, Jerry Brown, and what Eastwood likes about Brown is revealing. He sees him as a kindred spirit, a free-thinking libertarian willing to take unpopular or unorthodox positions on key issues. Eastwood says he contributed to Brown’s campaign to establish several charter schools in Oakland when Brown was mayor there, seeing them as an important example of new thinking on education. “I’ve always been very liberal when it comes to people thinking for themselves,” said Eastwood, who supports gay marriage, abortion rights and environmental protection. “But I’m a big hawk on cutting the deficit. I was against the stimulus thing too. We shouldn’t be bailing out the banks and car companies. If a CEO can’t figure out how to make his company profitable, then he shouldn’t be the CEO.” When it comes to the current crop of Republican presidential candidates, if Eastwood is enthusiastic about anyone, it’s Herman Cain. “I love Cain’s story,” he says. “He’s a guy who came from nowhere and did well, obviously against heavy odds. He’s a doer and a straight-talker, which I don’t see enough of from either party.” He’s not as bullish on Mitt Romney. As a film icon, Eastwood has been fiercely protective of his image, but he’s not especially enamored by that attitude in a politician. When Eastwood was in Massachusetts in 2002, filming “Mystic River,” Romney was running for governor there. “I saw a lot of him and you have to admit — he looks like a president,” Eastwood recalled with a tone that you’d have to describe as being slyly sarcastic. “I mean, if you were casting a movie where you needed someone to play president, you’d definitely pick him.” He sounded equally skeptical about Rick Perry. When I suggested that Perry, as a rugged, gun-toting Texan, would probably crave a photo op with Eastwood even more than with Donald Trump, Eastwood said with a shrug, “If he wanted to meet me, he might be a little disappointed.” I’m here to testify that it’s awfully difficult to be disappointed when you meet Eastwood. He has a self-deprecating charm that wears well, even if you’re on the other side of the political spectrum. When I push back at his criticism of the auto company bailout, he flashes one of his trademark Eastwood squints, the kind of squint that has made hundreds of bad guys quake in their boots. “Look at me,” he said evenly. “I’ve had to make films for less money or go out and find my own money. On ‘Mystic River,’ I had to cut my salary and everyone else’s to get it made. I know the score. If I start to grind out two or three turkeys, I’ll be unemployed, just like anyone else.” Hollywood may be a town of la-la-liberals, but when it comes to individual careers, it’s a business with a nakedly conservative embrace of free-market principles. The hit makers are the toast of the town. The flopmeisters can’t get anyone to return their calls. Eastwood had his biggest hit ever as a filmmaker with 2008’s “Gran Torino.” But his last two films, “Invictus” and “Hereafter,” were disappointments. So if “J. Edgar” is a stiff, Eastwood will be skating on thin ice. Whatever happens, he isn’t expecting any handouts. When times are hard, he says, “People are forced to figure things out — it makes you more creative at what you do.” Even though he was talking about Wall Street bailouts, he was also talking about himself. When you’re in Clint Eastwood country, it’s the strong who survive. Copyright Los Angeles Times 2011

Tonight Nov. 10: BRANDT BRAUER FICK @ Satellite(formerly Spaceland) in Silver Lake. One of the more interesting electronica acts to come along in recent years. Check out this cool video for "Bop" A piece in the LA Times today: Brandt Brauer Frick defies electronic-music conventions By August Brown November 10, 2011 The abiding problem with seeing electronic music live is that what you're hearing often has no relationship to what's happening onstage. Whether it's a DJ cross-fading or a dubstepper banging on a sampler pad, a guy behind a laptop could be doing almost anything -- perhaps just hitting the spacebar. The German electronic dance trio Brandt Brauer Frick pulled the curtain back in the video for its well-received single, "Bop." Over its nine minutes, the experimental electronic group takes the stage on a cheeky fake-TV show, "Minimal Parade," and methodically shows you how it's done. The song starts with a whack on a muted drum, then on the side of a xylophone, with stick claps and a bit of synthesized bass to build a handmade house beat. Then clones of the band members join them and build it out -– dissonant pianos, vocal slivers and a human-sized shaker add up to an orchestra of many Daniel Brandts, Jan Brauers and Paul Fricks making some of the most beguiling dance music in recent years. The clip is a funny riff on the depersonalization of wonky electronic music and also a kind of brave open-source guide to their process. The formula yielded two acclaimed albums, including last month's "Mr. Machine," that manipulate classical instruments to arrive at a sound meant for late-night raving. The band has two dates in Southern California this week, including the Satellite on Thursday and the Luckman on Saturday, part of a rare U.S. tour that continues the buzz from its 2011 Coachella performance, which turned heads for defying nearly every stereotype about electronic dance music -- the biggest being that it's all just cutting and pasting. "A lot of my studies were in weird, noisy, avant-garde music," Frick said. “But when we started playing them in this dance context, it felt surprisingly fresh." If it sounds gimmicky on paper, on record BBF's musical logic quickly coheres. Its sounds are less about swooning romance and more about the repetition, drone and sound-art legacies of Steve Reich and John Cage. Its members have formal music training (Frick's at the Berlin University of the Arts) and swap instruments constantly, and although their sonic palette comes from the reedy, organic timbres of a chamber orchestra, they dice them up into samples and loops that interlock into surprisingly sinuous beats and melodies. They aren't playing techno on classical instruments -- they're sampling themselves to make an especially handmade kind of club music. "Pretend" gets a sense of impending doom from timpani hits, while a skittish marimba gives the song its swing, and guest vocalist Emika gives a frosty spin on the already-deadpan vocal style of Nico. "You Make Me Real" takes liberties with atonality and ambience, and "On Powdered Ground (Mixed Lines)" creeps like a highbrow update of a slasher-movie score. But the record's high points come on songs such as "Mi Corazon," when all the interlocking percussive elements catch like watch gears, a funk-steeped bass line propels it forward and the band arrives at the same catharsis and physical pleasure of techno by taking an entirely different path. "It is heavily edited, but only to take it to a next level," Frick said. "We have a lot of really dirty sounds and do things like pluck strings inside the piano, but we also want it really clear so you can hear each element." But as any crossover act knows, sometimes doing two things well means it's twice as hard to find your audience. Should they be playing acoustically treated concert halls to crowds of classical fans in evening wear, or sweat-damp warehouse parties with kids slipping pills to one another in a heaving throng? The answer, surprisingly, has been yes to both. Stephen Bolles, who handles U.S. marketing for the band's label (the esteemed German dance imprint !K7), had the task of building that crowd in an American market where mainstream rave culture is a recent import and classical audiences have been steadily graying. "They’ve played concert halls and gotten interest from serious classical journals," Bolles said. "But then I also saw them at Coco 66, a club in Brooklyn with just an incredible sound system, and if there was any doubt this was dance music, that cleared it right up." Recently, the band has been touring Europe with a 10-piece ensemble, largely re-creating the intricacies of its albums and ditching much of the looping. The band will stick to the traditional three-piece configuration for this U.S. round, but it's a setting that the group actually prefers in some ways, as it's free to wander off the sheet music. You don't want to lose all the mystery, after all. "The three-piece version really is rave music," Frick said. "It starts slower, but by the end it turns into really intense techno." Copyright Los Angeles Times

Wild Flag @ Troubadour 11/2/11 continued...any band that covers Television gets bonus points in my book..."See No Evil": http://youtu.be/Vma1L06mFUM

This was probably my favourite song of the night...or one of them...this is "Racehorse", and they jammed the hell out of it: http://youtu.be/KTDGB_lkK90

After Mastodon in the relatively large Wiltern Theatre, the next night was at the much more intimate Troubadour Club, site of Elton John's breakthrough show in 1970. Nov. 2: Wild Flag @ Troubadour Club As I posted in the "What's the Next Concert You're Seeing?" thread, I had multiple choices for tonight, but due to my finding out at the last-minute that Stew and Heidi of The Negro Problem and creators of the rock musical "Passing Strange" were appearing at the Hammer Museum for a talk and performance at 7pm, that narrowed my choice to Wild Flag. Since the Stew and Heidi show would end about 9pm, that left me with just enough time to get to the Troubadour, which was the closest to the Hammer of all the possible concerts I had to choose from. Now, Sleater-Kinney was one of the great unsung bands of recent times, so any band that features Carrie Brownstein(guitars, vocals) and Janet Weiss(drums, vocals) is going to get my attention. Add Mary Timony from old 90's band Helium on second guitar and vocals(just like Sleater-Kinney, they don't need no bass in this band) and Rebecca Cole from The Minders on keyboards, and you've got yourself a nice rocking quartet, and the just-released new album does not disappoint. I missed them the last time they came down to California last November, so was happy to finally see them play; especially in a small place like the Troubadour. They played most, if not all of their first album, and added some surprising covers: "She" by the Misfits and Television's "See No Evil". They also played two new unreleased songs...presumedly they will be on the next album, or be released as singles. It was good trashy, punky, rocking songs, and if I enjoyed the show more than I did Mastodon(which I did), it's probably because that's the kind of music I am more interested in these days than prog-stoner-metal, or whatever it is they call Mastodon's brand of heavy metal. Better vocals, too. Here is one of the first songs of the night, "Romance": http://youtu.be/B5y5s3eQa_4 T

Mastodon live at the Wiltern Theatre, 11-1-11...Another new song, "All the Heavy Lifting": http://youtu.be/-mH2FRahYZ4 Why is there a one clip limit now as opposed to the old three clip limit? It makes it a nuisance to try to write about concerts when you can only post one clip at a time.

Sorry to keep you waiting Jahfin...things are coming at me fast and furious these days, so that just when one event is over another is coming around the bend and I barely have time to catch my breath, let alone stop and reflect on past shows I've seen. But a quick recap of last week: Nov. 1: Mastodon at the Wiltern Theatre. I hadn't seen them in a while, and I was in the mood for some loud, heavy rock, and this evening's line-up promised that at least tonight would be LOUD. I only have two Mastodon albums: "Leviathan"(an album about Moby Dick! The whale, NOT the drum solo, smart-ass, hehe) and "Live at the Aragon", so I'm still not sure if Mastodon is the greatest thing in metal since early Metallica. I'm not even sure if I care...I listen to less and less metal as the days go by. Their lyrics and themes can be a bit loopy, but you gotta give them points for even attempting concept albums in this day and age and they do create quite a racket. The Wiltern usually has great sound at shows, but for some reason Mastodon(and the other bands Red Fang and the Dillinger Escape Plan) sounded like sludge most of the night...but maybe that's how they wanted it. The Wiltern security was a little too uptight...since the sound sucked anyway, they should have booked this show at the Palladium, where the crowd could have roamed free. Here's the first song of their set: Dry Bone Valley from their new album "The Hunter":

Finally, please bring a sense of humour and open-mindedness to this...it's Jon performing "Stairway to Heaven" as only he can at Largo...and yes, that is Jon playing ALL the instruments you hear. He has a looping thing that lets him lay down a drum track, then he'll play a bass riff, then either keyboards or rhythm guitar, and then sing and play lead on top of all that...it's truly a sight to behold, watching him build a song up from the ground, so-to-speak. Anyway, since today is the 40th anniversary of Led Zeppelin IV, what better time to share this with the more eclectic Led Zeppelin fans here. For those with ADD, the guitar solo kicks in around the 7-minute mark: http://youtu.be/2zR3SMcfPZ0

Next, Jon on one of his rare forays outside of Los Angeles, with a whole host of friends(including Pat Sansone and John Stirratt from Wilco) doing the Beatles "I Feel Fine" at the Harris Theatre in Chicago, 2007: http://youtu.be/oxe_0wijLjM

Jon Brion's one-of-a-kind shows have always been a mix of Jon's originals and requests shouted out by the audience, ranging from Cole Porter to the Beatles to Radiohead and everything inbetween. Largo has a strict no-taping policy, which was easier to get around in the old days when Largo was on Fairfax, so I didn't hold out much hope of finding a lot of Brion on YouTube, only to be pleasantly surprised at what I did find. I should probably start a stand-alone thread for Jon Brion and his unique talents, but I'll leave that for another day. But for now, here are three covers that I found; two of them I was actually in the audience for: Stairway to Heaven and Alone Again(Naturally). You should keep in mind that these songs were often performed off-the-cuff, in response to the audience's requests, with little or no planning beforehand. First up, Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Alone Again(Naturally)" w/ Aimee Mann at Largo, 1997: http://youtu.be/l3C7defYJ8g

September 2, 1970 Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, CA "Another Night On Blueberry Hill" 2cd set on Electric Magic label Yet another concert I finally was able to add to my collection. Just as March 1973 was a blazing month in Led Zeppelin concert history, so too does September 1970 stand out in its greatness. The "Live on Blueberry Hill" LA Forum gig of Sept. 4 and the New York MSG shows on Sept. 19 alone assure this month its place in the annals of Led Zeppelin legend. Having just finished listening to this two-disc set of the Oakland show that took place just two days prior to the famous "Blueberry Hill" show only confirms how on fire the band was at this time. Led Zeppelin was a muthafucking BEAST in concert by this point. Bonzo and Jones were laying down serious beats and grooves while Jimmy seemed to be pulling riffs out of nowhere on the fly at a million miles-per-hour. While the sound isn't quite as good and clear as the famous LA Forum gig(the Oakland taper seems to have been way up in the rafters), it is far superior than both the 9/19 MSG shows. Right off the bat, you hear Bill Graham introducing the band. The band slams into "Immigrant Song" and one thing I like about this version is that Plant mirrors the vocals of the studio version closely, meaning that you even get the ooohs echoing at the end of the song that he does on record, which rarely happened in concert. The first part of the concert could have been paced better, but that doesn't detract from the overall quality of the performances...in particular, this might be the best "Bron-Yr-Aur" I've heard yet. If only the uncouth Oakland hooligans would shut up. And SIBLY is, well, as it always is on this tour...white hot and as close to the album version as Jimmy will get. Plant, of course, is in full flight vocally...the power and sheer range of his screams is frightening to behold; he really pushes it to the point where you fear for his voice. "Thank You" suffers from the tape sounding distorted during Jimmy's solo; why does it always have to be during the solo?!? The same thing happens on the 1970 MSG tape and on the 1972 LA Forum tape...what's maddening is that you can tell Jimmy is really shredding the solo and it just makes you wish you could hear it more clearly. Disc 2 is simply jaw-dropping in its power: "What Is and What Should Never Be" was always an effective number in concert; remember that Led Zeppelin II was still on the charts and highly popular nearly a year after its release and when these concerts were taking place. I usually fast-forward through "Moby Dick", especially the later years, but in 1970 the audience response to Bonzo is enough to keep me listening and I am rewarded with one of the better drum solos Bonzo played, and the roar of the audience might be the loudest of the night. Until the Whole Lotta Love extravaganza and the speedy encores that follow wind the audience into an ever increasing fervor. Whenever I run into some lunkhead Black Sabbath fan who says Zeppelin could never be as heavy as Sabbath, I always play them a "Communication Breakdown" from 1970 and shut them up. This Oakland one might be the best yet...it might even be the FASTEST CB I've heard, especially when after going into "Good Times Bad Times" and the band reenters into the end of CB at hyperspeed. Heavy and FAST...it makes Sabbath's "Paranoid" look limp in comparison. Oakland is going bonkers by this point, and there's no way they are going to let the band get away with just once encore. Dutifully, the band comes back for three more songs: a short but sweet "Stroll On/Train Kept a Rollin'", followed by the FIRST appearance of the Fats Domino classic "Blueberry Hill", a real pleasure to hear and another trait that set them apart from the other heavy blues-rock bands of the time...Sabbath, Deep Purple and Grand Funk weren't nimble enough to handle old 50's classics to save their life. The night finishes with a whiplash version of "Long Tall Sally"...seriously, it is THAT FAST! Man, I have listened to and loved the 9/4/70 "Blueberry Hill" show forever...it was my first bootleg; bought it in 1972. But after hearing this Oakland show, I am going to have to do some serious A>B comparison listening to see if Oakland doesn't top, or at least match that classic Forum concert. Needless to say, 9/2/70 Oakland is a definite must-have for your collection!!! Oooops, I almost forgot...since this was a Bill Graham show, and it seems most Bill Graham shows were taped by Wolfgang or somebody, does anybody have any information about a possible soundboard or in-house tape existing of this show? Next up...it appears that today is the 40th anniversary of the release of Led Zeppelin IV...man, has it been 40 years already? I'm never trusting of what the internet says are the release dates of old albums; record-keeping was still kind of scattershot back then(hell, even the Billboard website can't even get it right half the time). But I guess I'll go along with the CW, and assume it WAS November 8, 1971 that this landmark album was released. So, I'll have a listen to it now, which I haven't done since March when I was doing my Stairway post.

I'll look for that. After listening to this Vienna show, I still think Offenburg is my favourite of this tour...man, if a good soundboard existed of that show, it would blow people's minds.