It's like this, CJW...being born in the U.S., I naturally cheer for the U.S. But I am also of Irish heritage, so I support Ireland's national team when I can...no concern this year as they didn't qualify for the World Cup. My soft spot for Germany comes from the three years I spent there in the 1980s...a glorious time of my life, frolicking among the Fräuleins. Not that I didn't have fun in other European countries, but Deutschland war wunderbar!

At long last...SHAVING. Who was it that said "Golf was a good walk spoiled."? John Fienstein? Dan Jenkins? Frank Deford? Oscar Wilde?

FINALLY some '70s live Queen! Was getting tired of all the '80s releases. Looking at the scheduled release date, this should be right before the next round of Led Zeppelin releases. Save your pennies.

To what? It's almost pointless to post Prince clips because his lawyers/sharks pull them almost immediately and what you end up with is a thread full of dead links. Fortunately, you can still find interviews with him on the internet. One of the best Prince stories of recent vintage was the cover article from V magazine last year: http://www.vmagazine.com/site/content/1262/everlasting-now

Great win by Germany! And the USA! Hope the media and fans don't blow this out of proportion now and expect the US to contend for the championship. Beating Ghana is one thing...beating Deutschland quite another. If the US can get a draw versus Portugal, then they should be able to move on from Group Play. But the win aside, the US suffered some crucial injuries and even before the injuries, showed an inability to possess the ball and frittered away several scoring possibilities through sloppy passing and/or poor positioning. With Ireland not even qualified (AGAIN), I have to resort to my other fallback team should the US not make it through. Deutschland über alles! I like the Orange too! Reswati should be high as a kite over Amsterdam.

Ahhh, that's our Charles...always thinking about water. Have no fear, CJW, as a seasoned hiker I am always conscious of hydrating myself. You'll never see me cramping up like Lebron James. No Cup since 1927? That makes you a Senator, then. Hmmm...we should start a pool where we pick which Canadian team will finally break the Stanley Cup drought. No Canadian team has won since the Habs in 1993...I should know as it was the Kings they beat that year, thanks to Patrick Roy. And Marty McSorley's stick. Hey PPH...congrats on the job front.

Going to the Kings Victory Parade amd then celebrating Bloomsday with some Guinness and the festivities at the annual Bloomsday event.

Hey wait a minute...you mean to tell me the NBA Finals are happening? Errrr, sorry...my focus has kind of been engaged elsewhere. I just discovered SA is up 3-1 on Miami after back-to-back ass-whippings on the Heat's home court! Paul, have you thrown in the towel or can Miami force a Game 6?

^^^ Thanks PC. You're not losing faith in the Heat, are you?

A great and fabulous year indeed, Rick! Let's hope your Sabres do something with those picks they've accrued and get back to being a competitive team again. No city as devoted to hockey as Buffalo is should have to suffer a season like 2013-14 again. When Dustin Brown brings the Cup back to Ithaca will you make the drive to see it?

Damn you witty Aussie! You made me snort coke out my nose. I'm glad you're a toker CP...I'd fear for your blood pressure otherwise. Charles, your faith in the Lions is as admirable as your devotion to your kids and proper hydration. But I fear that even if the Queen were to send over a gallant and mighty side, there's no way the refs would allow England to prevail. Do you think the 'Hand of God' would have happened anywhere else than the southwestern hemisphere?

Thanks zepscoda! Little by little I can breathe again...those overtime games take a lot out of you. I thought we were headed towards a third overtime and possible defeat the way things were going. I lost count of all the near-misses off the posts. Even though the series was short, and TV may gripe, three of the five games went into overtime, twice into double-OT. It was a thrilling hotly contested battle, no matter what the game score was. The Rangers have nothing to be ashamed about. One thing's for sure...Ranger fans can't fault Lundqvist. Once again, he was an absolute beast in goal. Two Stanley Cups in three years, when before 2012 I thought I would never see a Cup win in my lifetime. Somebody pinch me. This was definitely the more satisfying and surprising of the two. To think when the Kings were down 3 games to none to the Sharks in the first round that they would end up winning the Cup? Incredible. Dustin Brown, pride of Ithaca, NY (anywhere near you Rick?), becomes the first American-born Captain to hoist the Cup twice! Doughty! Quick! Kopitar! Williams! Martinez! Richards! Carter! Stoll! Toffoli! Pearson! Greene! Even Regehr...hey Rick, what were your feelings seeing ex-Sabre Regehr lift the Cup? Victory Parade is on Monday and I'm off work...so I'll be there! What about the Funky Phantom?

Breakfast of champions.

Hope you're comfortable and on the mend.

Crikey! That's 100 demerits for me. How dare I misplace "From Russia With Love" in the James Bond timeline.

Holy crap, it took me forever to find your post! Haha. I remember you asking about the wine, Super Dave, but then couldn't remember the thread I saw your post in. At last, here it is... The wine was pretty good. I had the Shiraz...looking to try their Riesling next. They are from Australia. Here's the info: http://echelonwine.com.au/wine/zeppelin

^^^ Cheese on salmon? What sort of cheese did you use?

Yeah, the Bond films are definitely more fun, light-hearted. Re "Get Smart"...love Barbara Feldon!

Apologies Bong-Man for the delay in replying, but I just wanted to say THANK YOU! for your post...all is revealed! Man, I am in the second week of devouring this remastered Led Zeppelin and the Paris Olympia show, and I am dead chuffed at the quality. For years, I thought nothing could come close to the original first pressings of the vinyl for optimum Led Zeppelin audio experience...maybe the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab pressings or the Classic Records 45 rpm vinyl set. But definitely no CD issue has come close...until now. I am still soaking it all in, switching back-and-forth between the vinyl and cds, but I can definitely say this is money well-spent. If you are still wondering whether to get the new remasters or hold on to the old box sets, I can assure you: Dump the old cds and get the new ones NOW! My only worry now is that I have set myself a Herculean (or is that Sisyphean?) task in waiting to listen to my Led Zeppelin II and III sets. I may have to give in as I don't know if I can hold out that long.

I feel it wasn't so much the rigidity of the class system in the UK, but the rigidity and hierarchy of the UK radio and television industry that played a part in Led Zeppelin not having the sustained presence in England's pop culture as they did in the U.S. In the U.S., pop and rock radio was broadcast constantly, 24/7. Besides the Top 40 AM pop stations, you had the burgeoning underground FM radio scene, where dj's could play the longer (5 minutes and more) songs that were becoming the norm in acid/heavy/progressive rock circles. When I was growing up, I could hear rock and roll at any time of the day and any day of the week. I had plenty of stations to choose from on both the AM and FM dial. That wasn't possible in the UK and probably most of Europe, where you only had a few stations and you were lucky if they devoted an hour or two to rock and roll. It seemed that when the UK stations did play rock and roll, it was mostly geared to the Top of the Pops crowd. Since Led Zeppelin wasn't a "singles act", with the exception of the odd "Whole Lotta Love" breakout hit or Top Gear appearance, it was easy for Led Zeppelin to get lost in the shuffle while the UK media focused on whatever was the latest teeny-bopper craze, whether it was the Glam Rock hype of T Rex, Bowie, and Gary Glitter or the Bay City Rollers or the Punks. Since Queen and the Stones and the Who all catered more to radio by releasing singles and being willing to appear on TV pops programs lip-synching their latest hit, these bands were able to keep a higher profile in the UK than Led Zeppelin. Even though Led Zeppelin might have been selling more albums and more concert tickets, their refusal to kowtow to the "star-maker machinery" made it easy for the UK media to overlook, nay, ignore Led Zeppelin. And since the UK youth seemed more dependent than their American counterparts on the pop-culture media to tell them what group was worth listening to, apart from the Led Zeppelin II/Whole Lotta Love hysteria and the Earls Court concerts in 1975 and Knebworth in 1979, Led Zeppelin seemed to fly under the radar in their homeland. While in America, Led Zeppelin was a constant presence on rock radio no matter what the year or whether they had a hit album or single or not. Glam, disco or punk...it didn't matter what craze the teeny-boppers were into, Led Zeppelin still would form a sizable chunk of any FM rock radio's playlist. So, while the UK kids were getting only what was on Top of the Pops, American kids grew up hearing Led Zeppelin on a daily basis. Creem, Circus, Rock Scene, Hit Parader, even Rolling Stone...they all covered the band and their tours, for better for for worse. It didn't matter whether the coverage was positive or negative, as the saying goes: "any publicity is good publicity". So, Led Zeppelin was never far from your mind when you were growing up in America in the '70s...conjecture about their next album, the next tour, was always prevelant. That is a major reason why Led Zeppelin was bigger in the US than the UK: The kids in America were simply given more Led Zeppelin in their daily diet than the kids in the UK, due to US radio being more free-wheeling and less beholden to Pop Top 40 strictures. How is a kid in the UK supposed to like Led Zeppelin if he/she never gets an opportunity to hear them? Actually, you can call a band with million-selling chart-topping albums a 'cult band'...and when I have more time, I will explain why.

Open it, I say! You can gently slit the plastic on the seam down the right side, so that you can ease the box out without breaking the shrinkwrap. Once you see what number you have, you can then slip the box back inside the shrinkwrap and keep it minty fresh! At least, that's how I did my LZ I SDBS...I bought seperate deluxe cd and vinyl sets for everyday use.

Interesting question, Mark, and one I am curious about myself. On a similar note, is there a deadline for using these download codes in the Super deluxe Box sets or are they good indefinitely? I don't really listen to much music on computers or my phone, so I haven't bothered with the HD downloads yet. I still listen to music mainly through albums and cds, but one never knows what the future holds. So if there is a time limit on when you can use these HD downloads, I would like to know so they don't go to waste.

It is Father's Day this Sunday (at least for us Americans), so enjoy the time with your dads and you dads enjoy the time with your family. The American Cinematheque has created quite a Father's Day conundrum and I thought it would be interesting and fun to see how the Forum members would vote. You see, at their Hollywood theatre the Cinematheque is showing the first two Godfather movies for Father's Day, while at the Santa Monica location, they are screening the first two James Bond films, "Dr. No" and "Goldfinger". So if you had to choose, which would you (or your father) rather see: Godfather or James Bond?

There's a World Cup? Seriously, I wouldn't go near any soccer match with my money; I don't know how or why Rick bets on 'em. This isn't a recent development either...there have been match-fixing scandals stretching back eons. This, coupled with the fact that any soccer matches played in Latin/Hispanic countries are dubiously refereed anyway, has me disinclined to expect fair results from this World Cup. It more than sucks...it positively reeks. Vomit-inducing bilge.

Wasn't this the source for the Dancing Avocado bootleg? I believe Bill Graham/Wolfgang had mics set up underneath the stage to record the shows? That's why Bonham's drums sound so clear.