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.

But not eating like one. Pardon my skepticism, CP, but it seems to me that England's problem isn't qualifying but in advancing past the Round of 16. Hosting a World Cup wouldn't guarantee England's solving that dilemma. Dead chuffed for Die Mannschaft's victory...World Cup #4!!!! As were these fellow German revelers cruising down Hollywood Blvd. afterwards.

^^^ It's apples and oranges, Rick. Some argue for Ronaldo...some for Messi. In the long run it doesn't matter because Pelé stands above all. Unless you're English...then you're probably flying the flag for George Best. Ironic matchup in the World Cup Final today: Germany vs. Argentina, haven for former Nazis. Deutschland über alles!

^^^ 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.

Ho hum. Holland blows it in a big match...again. They are like the Dallas Cowboys of the 60s and early-70s...branded as a team that "couldn't win the big one". Who's bogus idea was it to have Vlar kick a PK, let alone the first one? Robben had a couple interesting forays near the goal but couldn't finish the job. Persie was useless. I nearly nodded off during the extra time...I could feel it was going to penalty kicks. Both teams seemed to be playing not to lose instead of playing to win. I think it was nearly 80 or so minutes into the match and both Robben and Messi had still not attempted a shot on goal. Germany vs. Argentina. No surprise who I am rooting for...Deutschland, natch! Obviously, Argentina's defense is stouter than Brazil's so it won't be raining goals like it was Tuesday. I wonder which country the referee will be from? Brazil vs. Netherlands is interesting only to see which team can muster any spirit and pride after their losses in the semifinals. Is it easier to play after you've been humiliated like Brazil, or lose a heartbreaker like the Netherlands?

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.

You truly do not understand Group Play in the World Cup, Rick. Germany had already clinched a spot in the Knockout phase, so they had no reason to play full-throttle against the U.S. That is why I couldn't understand why you were making these bets on games where the teams had no incentive to play all-out. As for Klose being held out against Algeria...many of the German team came down with illnesses that week, and Klose must have been one of them. Also, as Klose is older, Coach Low probably wanted to keep Klose's legs fresh, and thinking Germany could take care of Algeria without Klose's help, he saved him for France. Notice that against France and Brazil, Low STARTED Klose, whereas before he brought him on in reserve. Kind of similar to how Popovich saves Duncan and Parker for the playoffs in the NBA. I have to admit, I was a little nervous before the match yesterday when I saw the referee for Germany vs. Brazil was Mexican. I feared chillumpuffer's predictions would come to fruition. Thankfully, my newly acquired Led Zeppelin shirt, won and delivered from zepscoda via our Stanley Cup bet, brought Team Germany good luck. Yes, I am rooting for Deutschland. But I also want Holland because I want an all-European final...I don't want any South American team to get in. I remember how Argentina cheated in 1986 and I don't want a repeat of that this year. If it is Germany vs. Netherlands, then I will be happy no matter who wins, for I love both countries very much...and their women and bier, Hup Holland Hup!

Two questions planted: 1. Did you grill the peaches or use them freshly sliced? 2. What type of vinaigrette/dressing did you use, if any?

In case anyone wants to know, "mondegreen" is the term used to refer to misheard lyrics or phrases. Coined by author Sylvia Wright in 1954. I heard the same thing when I was a kid hearing "Misty Mountain Hop" for the first time!!! That's why I always smile and giggle inside when I see your screen name, Whoopie...it reminds me of "Misty Mountain Hop". The song is "Blinded by the Light", and originally written and performed by Bruce Springsteen on his 1973 album "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.". "Cut loose like a deuce" is the correct lyric as Bruce wrote and sang it. When Manfred Mann covered it in 1976, it sounded to most people, including me, like they changed the lyric to "wrapped up like a douche". What the hell, most of us Americans thought at the time, they're English, so they probably have no clue about hot-rods and what the term 'deuce' refers to in car-culture. But then on the Midnight Special and other live performances, you could faintly hear Chris Thompson sing the word "deuce"...so apparently, it was just slurred vocals or a lisp that caused his "deuce" to sound like "douche" and his "revved" like "wrapped". Which is a shame. Because purposely singing "wrapped up like a douche" makes for a better and funnier story.

Crikey! All this kerfuffle over a little donut? You'd think I was eating monkey brains or head cheese or marmite, hehe. First of all, there seems to be a time mix-up...that was not my dinner, Charles. I don't eat donuts for dinner. It's strictly a morning thing for me, to go with a cold glass of milk or a hot cup of coffee for dunking. Fortunately, the bakery is right near one of the trailheads that lead into the mountains, so I went on a long hike after eating that scrumptious donut. Donuts are one of those items that when bad they are execrable, but when fresh and made with care, are sinfully delightful and hit the spot. I'll give Whoopie Cat and CP a pass, as they live in countries with no donut tradition (and apparently no clue about S'mores either), but surely donuts and S'mores have made their way up north from the U.S. into Canada, Chalks? Berries and fruit and water are great on their own and I eat them more often than donuts. But every once in a while, nothing satisfies like a freshly made maple glazed or an apple fritter. I know I am not the only American on this Forum...is there no one else that will defend the donut and the time-honoured tradition of making S'mores around a campfire?

How adorable. Congrats on the happy occasion!

Welcome fellow Badgeholder! Hauling ass up the 405 to the Forum or Long Beach Arena is a trip I made many times with my dad or whomever was taking me to a concert back in the '70s. http://forums.ledzeppelin.com/index.php?/topic/16032-for-badgeholders-only-la-forum-june-23-1977/?hl=%20june%20%2023,%20%201977%20%20la%20%20forum

Not in the long run. I see it as Jimmy judging it on a case-by-case basis. Not all shows and tapes are created equal. So far as I know, the only non-multitrack live recordings that Jimmy has sanctioned for release have been from radio and/or TV broadcasts: The BBC Sessions, the Danish and French TV gigs on the DVD, and the 1969 Paris L'Olympia show. Because the band was so en fuego back then, whatever flaws there are in the performance and/or sound quality of the tape are masked by the overall passion, energy and total whoooosh of sound Led Zeppelin put out. That is a far cry from the mistakes evident on 1977 soundboards, which makes Jimmy ever sanctioning a 1977 Pontiac or Seattle official release very unlikely.

While it is true CJW and I share a passion for water and the great outdoors, we are not the same person. Hope you did choose to go see "A Hard Day's Night".

Going to a Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald concert tonight at the Hollywood Bowl. http://www.hollywoodbowl.com//tickets/ella-love/2014-07-09 ARTISTS The Legendary Count Basie Orchestra directed by Scotty Barnhart Patti Austin, special guest Dee Dee Bridgewater, special guest Clint Holmes, special guest Yuna, special guest Gregg Field, drums and special guest musical director Shelly Berg, special guest piano Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra Carmen Bradford, special guest

I finally got a chance to watch the HoF thing after a friend dropped off a dvd of the show. Most memorable part of the Kiss induction for me was Tom Morello's introduction. That was totally fun and energetic and awesome...and I don't even like Kiss. Yet, I had to feel for the fans that Kiss didn't even perform...how anti-climactic for those fans. But then, Cat Stevens came on and rocked the house and I forgot all about Kiss.

Nice. Thanks geeky. I've put them on my shopping list for my next visit to the record store.