You're not a loser, Charles. Classic Rock magazine are the losers for coining that idiotic term. What's next...White Rock?

QFT. Amen. Yet another Raven gets off with a slap on the wrist. Sammy Watkins seems to be wowing them at Buffalo's training camp. I bet Rick is putting bets on the Bills winning the Super Bowl as we speak. Lots of activity in the NFL...poor Paul's Dolphins losing Pouncey, Sidney Rice retiring, Jets blah blah blah...but Pat Bowlen stepping down because of Alzheimer's was sad to hear, even for this Raider fan. I think it is obvious that for as long as Pat Bowlen has owned the Denver Broncos, he has been a model owner. Successful and classy. He is what everyone wishes their team's owner was like. Sports needs more owners like Pat Bowlen and less like Dan Snyder and Donald Sterling.

An already sad month just became ineffably sadder. The forum and the NFL pick 'em thread will not be the same without the devoted Led Zeppelin and New Orleans Saints fan Brett. I can't say I was a close friend but I did enjoy our pm exchanges. She was fun. I lost a bet with her but I didn't mind, for it accorded me the opportunity to send her a boot of the 1973 New Orleans show. I hope she was able to take some pleasure and comfort during her illness from listening to Zeppelin. I was just thinking the other day, "where was pottedplant?" and planning on sending a pm to her today after taking a sabbatical over the weekend. Alas..."never put off to tomorrow what you can do today". If only I had followed that advice. I'm going to miss Brett. My deepest condolences to her family and friends. May she rest in everlasting peace, free from pain and suffering. In memory of pottedplant: WHO DAT!

I unexpectedly got today off from work, so I'm going bicycling down at the beach. Going to ride the complete Santa Monica to South Bay Bike Path...44 miles round trip. Which means I've better get going, as I've got plans tonight as well. TGIF to you all!!!

Aye, and lots of Type O Negative too! So TypeO shares a birthday with the French Independence Day? How interesting. Belated Birthday Wishes to you, TypeO! Cheers.

Oh, I'm sure they've been asked...many times over. But it's probably been a combination of bad timing and/or bad vibes that has led they guys to say "no" so far. One sticking point may be Jimmy's reluctance to reveal the master tapes. Remember his refusal to let Guitar Hero use them? Or his anger at the individual tracks for Led Zeppelin II coming out on bootleg?

True. But that doesn't mean there isn't videotape of it deep in the Zeppelin Vault under the Giant's Causeway.

My leafy repast tonight entailed arugula, spinach, and endive tossed with walnuts, cranberries, watercress, coconut shrimp and tamarind vinaigrette. Crisp Riesling wine.

All-Star game? Completely missed it. Somehow survived. I can't say I'm surprised Wainwright was chosen to start. That's his manager, of course he's gonna show loyalty to his guy. I don't blame him. It means nothing in the long run anyway. Nobody remembers who starts an All-Star game...they barely remember who wins. Nice to see Mike Trout do well.

Is it? You may be right...I'm generally selective about what I post about, especially when it comes to tv, books, movies, music, as I learned long ago that my tastes are out of sorts with the majority. I don't even watch that much tv anymore, often preferring to watch a show I like on DVD in one fell swoop. I can't pretend to be a GoT fan. I never read the books and have only caught the occasional episode here and there. I do prefer it to many other current shows, such as True Blood. But since I know many others here enjoy the show and may not have been aware of the LA Times piece, I felt obliged to share it here.

That's why I was happy for you, clw. I see Macca played 39 songs at the Fargo show. Surely your favourites must have been among them? I hope you stayed to the end, especially since the "Golden Slumbers-Carry That Weight-The End" is often the emotional and musical climax of the night.

The kids are alright. It is refreshing to hear you actually went to a concert. So glad you went and had a good time. Yes, Paul puts on a great show with a helluva extensive setlist.

Ummm, don't know where you've been or who you hang out with, but there has been no shortage of discussion about this show...here or elsewhere. It has to rank among the 10 or so most talked-about Led Zeppelin boots. Peter Grant unfortunately decided to schedule the beginning of the 1975 tour to coincide with winter in the Northeast U.S., so on top of recovering from throat node surgery, Robert had to deal with the flu caught from touring thru blizzards of snow. And I'm not just talking about the Peruvian kind. Which leaves Robert's vocals very rough and raspy in spots. Which is fine for the PG songs in which his voice was raspy on record...such as "Kashmir", "Sick Again", "IMTOD". But on songs like "Heartbreaker", where his voice cracks on the "That's All Right" part, it mars the performance level a tad. Also lowering my overall grade for this show is the lack of the "Crunge-Funk-Theremin duel" interlude between WLL and "Black Dog", and the missing parts of "Dazed and Confused". Still a worthy show, though, and helped immensely by the much better soundboard quality of 1975 compared to the 1973 soundboards. Chock full of fantastic Plantations. "For a minute I wondered about my anatomy".

Just wondering...does Robert play guitar more often than Jimmy these days?

Well...no low numbers for me. As the calendar turned to July, I finally cracked the seal on my Led Zeppelin II box and got a wildly divergent number from the first album box - 24,694! My curiosity was now so piqued that I went ahead and opened my Led Zeppelin III box, just to see what # I received. FYI, I purchased all three boxes at the same time on the day of release, June 3, at Amoeba Records in Hollywood. My numbers: I - 03950/30000 II - 24694/30000 III - 05342/30000 Obviously, there was no rhyme or reason to the shipping pattern of the Super Deluxe boxes. It is one of the negative aspects of the packaging that there's no way to tell what number you're getting when you buy the box. As I was sifting through the boxes, inspecting each one thoroughly to choose the most perfect one, it would have been nice to know what number it was, so I could choose the lowest one. Or if I had a lucky number or wanted a number sequence such as 666.

^^^ Yesterday was a crushing blow...not only for Tommy Ramone, but before that news hit I heard about Charlie Haden's passing. http://variety.com/2014/music/news/charlie-haden-legendary-jazz-bassist-dies-at-77-1201261391/ Charlie Haden was the real deal...a true jazz legend. So many great bands, so many great works. Yesterday I listened to a lot of his Quartet West albums...right now I'm listening to "Beyond the Missouri Sky", his collaboration with Pat Metheny. His musical talent was passed down to his children, all of whom are talented. A sad day when two musicians go. My thoughts to both their families.

I went walking around the city today, exploring this 'n' that...one highlight being the Bradbury Building on 3rd and Broadway. Famous from "Blade Runner", "D.O.A.", "White Cliffs of Dover" and many other films.

Don't worry...no donuts today Chalks and Chillum. Started the day with white acai peony tea and a white peach I picked up at the farmers market. Then went on an architectural walk around downtown, focusing on the Bradbury Building and the Broadway Theatre district. Only tenants can use the old elevators in the Bradbury, so that meant much climbing up and down stairs. Which built up my appetite for lunch. Lunch was al fresco...Cuffie al nero di sepia ( squid ink pasta with saffron sole ragout ), spinach pesto and ciabatta bread, and a large bottle of water. Browsed the aisles of a bookstore afterwards, and then the park before ascending the Spanish Steps up to Bunker Hill and the MOCA Museum and the Music Center. Wound my way thru Little Tokyo and back to the Broadway district. Stopped for dessert before getting on the subway. This place called Syrup makes their own version of a Ding Dong...rich and chocolatey.

This was published in the Los Angeles Times a few weeks back, but I wanted to give people a chance to see the season finale first before posting it here, as it contains spoilers. So, if you still haven't seen the GoT finale, proceed with caution. 'Game of Thrones' writers on season finale and why 'All Men Must Die' By Mary McNamara June 15, 2014 Warning — the following article contains major spoilers about the season finale to "Game of Thrones." Wrapping up its fourth season, HBO's "Game of Thrones" has not just avoided toppling under the weight of its own story lines, it's become a bona fide cultural phenomenon, with an audience larger than even "The Sopranos." Going into the final episode of the fourth season, writers D.B. Weiss and David Benioff promised the show's best finale ever. It's difficult to imagine any scene that could beat Emilia Clarke's Daenerys rising from the ashes adorned only in baby dragons, and not surprisingly, Sunday night's episode was not made available to critics for Monday deadlines. But Weiss and Benioff did answer many questions about the season and its finale. Who chose this season's tag line, "All Men Must Die"?And was there a lot of "and we mean it literally" laughter in the meeting? We suggested the tag line because the phrase has such resonance in the books (and, we hope, the series). Since we hopscotch between so many story lines in the show, it's difficult to find a single sentence that's relevant for all of the characters. "All Men Must Die" seemed appropriate for this bloody season. Our friend Rob McElhenney suggested "All Men Must Breathe" or "Everyone Poops," but HBO rejected these offerings. Throughout the series, Tyrion has been one of the few truly noble characters, in that he has tried to protect those less fortunate and never killed anyone out of malice or even vengeance. Although I was certainly happy to see Tywin go, I felt bad that Tyrion killed him, and I can't even talk about Shae. How do you feel about the new Tyrion and how does his transformation affect the tone of the show? As much as Tyrion tries to shield himself with self-deprecating humor, wine and faux cynicism, the events of this season have battered his psyche. We see him start to drop the facade during the trial sequence, where he is framed for a murder he didn't commit. We see it in the scene with Oberyn, when Tyrion learns how his sister tortured him even as an infant. And finally we see his reaction when Oberyn, his champion, dies horribly, and Tyrion hears his own father sentence him to death. He's a good man, but he's been pushed too far, and his decision to seek vengeance in the finale shows this is not the Tyrion Lannister we first met in the Winterstown brothel. How did Peter Dinklage react to news of his upcoming rampage? Or did he already know? You know what Peter calls a rampage like that? Tuesday. We've been talking to Peter and Sibel [Kekilli, who plays Shae] about their final scene together for a long time. We would have talked to Charles [Dance, who plays Tywin] about his final scene, but we're afraid of him. Just kidding, Charles. Honestly, Charles. It was George, Charles! Blame George! Sibel insists that we bring her back as a zombie. We told her that's "Walking Dead"; we have wights on our show. She said something unprintable in German. At this point, everyone has someone's blood on their hands — Daenerys has grown a bit more ruthless, Arya loves to kill in a way that is a bit upsetting. Meanwhile, characters like Jaime Lannister and the Hound become more human. So what is the "Game of Thrones" definition of a hero? The definition of a hero is the same in "Game of Thrones" as it is everywhere else; the problem is that heroes in "GoT" rarely survive for long. Ned Stark was a hero, so was his son Robb, so was Oberyn Martell. Courage, nobility and a refusal to compromise are admirable qualities — and generally fatal in Westeros. The characters who endure tend to be more adaptable, more willing to evolve to conditions in a merciless world. Daenerys has shown a ruthless side ever since the moment she unflinchingly watched her brother's skull melt. As a queen, she shows great compassion for the powerless and a willingness to destroy anyone who stands in her way. To some she's a heroine; to others she's a foreign tyrant with messianic delusions. Arya's childhood was ravaged by violence. Everyone she loved and trusted has been brutally murdered: her father; her mother; her brother; even Yoren, who rescued her from King's Landing. She has decided she will not be a victim. Her nighttime lullaby is her own personal hit list. She doesn't care about being a hero: She cares about surviving and avenging her family. The closest thing we have to a classic hero is Jon Snow, who always tries to do the right thing and believes in the lessons Ned Stark taught him. His inherent nobility is both a strength and a weakness and gets him in trouble time and again. How fun was it to put giants on mammoths in the penultimate episode? And did you think "take that, Peter Jackson!"? All credit to the VFX department for bringing them to life. And to Peter Jackson for showing that a mesmerizing adaptation of a high fantasy classic was possible. Nobody would have green-lit "Game of Thrones" if not for the success of Mr. Jackson's "Rings" trilogy. I would think one of the biggest challenges you face, besides losing main characters at an alarming clip, is juggling all those story lines and giving everyone enough screen time. I am imagining an enormous white board, but maybe you guys should be the next spokesmen for iPad — seriously, how do you keep it all going? Do you break the script episode by episode? Or do you treat it more like a 10-hour film? We're Luddites, so we use index cards on corkboards. Each story line (Castle Black, say, or Arya/Hound) gets its own color. At our peak in Season 3 we were up to 13 different colors. One upside of losing main characters at an alarming clip is we no longer have to use taupe or mauve. Once we've mapped out each story line we start putting cards on the board and argue over which scenes should be in which episode and in what order. We end up reordering quite a bit in post, when we've seen the directors' cuts and realize certain transitions make more sense than others. Who's been the hardest character to let go of so far? Ah, we'd be like grandparents trying to choose a favorite grandchild. And it's hard to separate the characters from the actors. We miss them all. Except Rose Leslie [the Wildling Ygritte], who is evil incarnate. What has surprised you most about the audience reaction to the show? And now that you're officially "bigger than 'The Sopranos'" do you ever panic and wonder "how are we going to top that?" Well, as far as being "bigger than 'The Sopranos'" — plenty of television shows had higher ratings than David Chase's masterpiece. But how many had a more enduring impact on our culture? "The Sopranos" changed everything. So there's no point in panicking about topping "The Sopranos," because we won't. But that's OK. We have hundreds of other things to panic about. We have a schedule so we don't forget to panic about anything that needs panicking. I have to ask: How did they make Oberyn's head explode? And how many takes? Those few gory seconds took a remarkable team effort: Barrie Gower, our prosthetics whiz, created a skull for the Mountain to crush. Our brilliant VFX team, led by Steve Kullback and Joe Bauer, worked on the illusion of the Mountain's thumbs digging into Oberyn's eye sockets, then partially reconstructed Oberyn's face for the gruesome aftermath shot. Tim Kimmel and the sound team came up with that awful sound of the skull exploding. All this grisly gorgeousness was pieced together by ace editor Tim Porter, and directed by the incomparable Alex Graves. I've been camping this week, and I have to admit my relationship to crows has changed significantly. Are there things about this story, or this experience, that have changed the way you look at or think about things? No one invites us to weddings anymore. It all went exactly according to plan. mary.mcnamara@latimes.com

Seeing the people gored and stampeded by the bulls during that silly "Running of the Bulls" tradition in Spain. Maybe it is Spain's way of thinning the herd of idiots...sort of like their Darwin Awards. It goes without saying that I root for the bulls.

Thanks for this bit of info Ady! Had not seen it before.

Très cool! Dig that painting, too!

Happy birthday (July 10) to a young lion and one of my favourite jazzmen...trumpeter Lee Morgan (1938 - 1972). "Search for the New Land" is ESSENTIAL Lee...released 50 years ago in 1964. Note the talent on this album...Wayne Shorter on tenor, Grant Green guitar, Herbie Hancock piano, Billy Higgins drums, Reginald Workman bass. Another musician sadly gone much too young.

Well, I haven't eaten any bull scrotums lately, but I do like to explore different cuisines...within reason, haha. I wonder if donairs are similar to cro-nuts, which is a donut crossed with a croissant? Or perhaps New Orleans' beignets? The S'mores donut is new...I have only seen it at this new Kettle Glazed Doughnut shop that recently opened up in Hollywood, near the Hollywood Hills, I will ask them how popular it is with their customers. They also have some tasty blueberry donuts, as well as vanilla bean raspberry and Boston Cream. And of course, the maple bacon bar.