For some inexplicable reason, Black Sabbath liked having hippy-dippy prog bands open for them...maybe they thought they would seem heavier coming after some prog rock. In 1972, on the Masters of Reality tour, Yes opened for Black Sabbath. This would be the last tour Bill Bruford played before he left and Alan White took over.

Only thing I remember about them is I saw them open for Black Sabbath at the Hollywood Bowl in 1973 and they bored the audience to distraction. Never got intrigued enough to check out their albums until much later. Not my cup of tea, I guess.

After I write my Led Zeppelin book, haha. You flatter me too much.

Dorothy Parker, Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, Charlotte Bronte, Lewis Carroll. Or... Virginia Woolf, Vladimir Nabokov, Hunter S. Thompson, Edgar Allen Poe, Zelda Fitzgerald.

Does anyone think the situation with the Packers' coach's son dying affect how they play Sunday?

^^^Don't forget about those beasts at Tight End for New England, LZF77...it's not just Wes Welker. But I agree about New England's defensive liabilities and depending on how Flacco looks against Houston, I could see Baltimore knocking off New England this year. Interesting stat...after starting 10-0, Brady is 4-4 in his last 8 playoff games. 0-3 for his last three!!! Okay, it's the day before the games, and though I'm not betting this week(lost enough already with LSU gagging Monday), if I was betting, here's how I would pick 'em: To win: San Francisco, New England, Baltimore, Green Bay. Using the point spread: San Francisco +4, Denver + 13.5, Baltimore + 7.5, NY Giants + 8. Why San Francisco? I don't know...it's just a funny feeling I have...a hunch. Every week there's always at least one wacky upset, and I think San Francisco pulls it off this week. I don't think Houston can do it...Baltimore eats rookie quarterbacks for breakfast. Green Bay and New England will win, but their defenses can be scored upon so I wouldn't be confident laying so many points. Should be some good games this weekend...can't wait til tomorrow!

^^^That 69-13 LA Laker team with Jerry West and Wilt that won 33 in a row and beat the Knicks for the NBA title was the 1971-72 team, not 1970. It was the Lakers first title in LA after being so close so many times losing to the Celtics. Just a month after the Lakers won the championship in May 1972, I started going to my first rock concerts, and my first Led Zeppelin concert was also my first concert at the Fabulous Forum of Inglewood: June 25, 1972. I was almost as excited at being in the arena where Jerry West and Gail Goodrich played as I was at seeing the band.

We have those here in LA, too...they're great. Awww, Fool in the Rain, don't let 10 lbs. stand in the way between you and happiness. When I die, I know I won't be saying I wished I had ate more chocolate, hehe.

I'm a big Los Angeles Laker fan...from 1969, so I'm no recent bandwagon jumper...and therefore I'm a big NBA fan. Football's my #1, NBA my #2. But to tell you the truth, I liked the fact the season didn't start until Christmas. There's no way the owners would give up the money a shortened season would mean, but I kind of wish every season started on Christmas. October is too early...I'm knee-deep in college and the NFL, so I thought the lockout was great this year. Because of the lockout and the shortened season, it's added an element of surprise to the game...at least to the Western Conference. In the East, it's pretty much Chicago and Miami, that's it. Sorry Orlando, no soup for you. But the West is wide open. Still, it is weird looking at the Lakers bench and not seeing Phil Jackson over there...and Tex Winter and Brian Shaw and Jim Cleamons... Let's just say after over 30 years of great ownership by Jerry Buss, I have serious doubts about his son, Jim, taking over.

"Machine Gun" is on the professional list...although it is too low at #29. That a flood of cliches solo like "November Rain" not only is on the list but ranked higher than a transcendent blast like "Machine Gun" is ludicrous. Gibson should know better...but maybe they're biased because Slashed used a Les Paul while Jimi used a Strat. But then, I'm a hypocrite for even caring about this list and bothering to post. However, while I'm here and got guitar solos on my mind, here's just a few that I feel get overlooked. Jimmy Page: "Good Times Bad Times"; "Dazed and Confused"; "How Many More Times"; "You Shook Me". I have no problem with "Stairway to Heaven" and "SIBLY" being on the list, but it's always baffled me why the two from LZII(WLL and Heartbreaker) get the nod over the blazing solos from the first album. It was that first album that announced to me, and the world, the arrival of Jimmy Page. To begin with, there was that muthafucking GODHEAD tone of his Telecaster...driven through a Leslie as on "Good Times Bad Times", or laden with echo as on "You Shook Me" and "How Many More Times". And throughout, the solos bear a searing white-hot heat and blazing aggression. "Dazed and Confused" features not just that glorious rampaging solo, but the psychedelic bowed guitar break, equally mindblowing and groundbreaking...the same could be said for "How Many More Times". Why Jimmy's work on the first album continually gets overlooked in favour of the subsequent WLL and Heartbreaker solos is a puzzlement. Robin Trower: "Daydream" and "Day of the Eagle". Oh, there's lots more I could've picked but these two are the first that come to mind. A perennially overlooked guitar player, it's a shame he seems to be forgotten. Tone to die for. Dave Navarro: "Three Days"; "Ocean Size"; "Trip Away"; "Mountain Song". Usually these lists are heavy on classic rock guitarists from the 60s and 70s. If there's anyone post 1980, it's almost always EVH and Slash. Well, fuck Slash and especially fuck November Pain. "Three Days" pisses all over that soggy shit. Yeah, I'm disappointed with what Dave Navarro became in the 2000s...all that rock star posturing and hanging out with porn stars. But when Jane's Addiction burst on the scene in 1986, with Dave and Steven Perkins barely out of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High School, Dave's guitar playing was galvanizing. Here was a band that had punk roots but wasn't afraid to acknowledge Led Zeppelin...they made it cool to play guitar solos again in underground and alternative rock. Hughie Thomasson, Billy Jones, et al: "Green Grass & High Times". Eagles schmeagles..."Hotel Cali-boring". You can keep your "Free Bird" caged, too. To my ears, THIS is the great post-Allman Bros. epic trade-off guitar solo song of the 70s...and it's totally ignored. Unbelievable! Not only is the soloing in "Green Grass" better than the Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd songs, it's a better "SONG" period. Eddie Hazel: "Maggot Brain". Note to Rolling Stone, Gibson, and all other magazines: Jimi Hendrix isn't the only black rocker that can play guitar. This P-Funk classic is a must for any guitar aficionado, and Eddie Hazel deserves to be recognized. I can think of dozens more guitar solos that get short shrift...solos from bands like Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Talking Heads, Stooges, Dinosaur Jr., Frank Zappa, and more...but the above will do for now.

Continuing my anniversary celebration of Led Zeppelin's historic debut at the Fillmore West in San Francisco...today is the fourth and final night, January 12, 1969. Taj Mahal opened, then Led Zeppelin, and Country Joe McDonald and the Fish headlined. All hail the Dragon Telecaster!

Oooops...wrong thread. Nevermind.

Aha, now there's the question of the modern age...311 or Nickelback?

Quarterbacks have it so easy today compared to back then. Receivers and qbs could be brutalized back in the 60s. Now you barely breathe on a qb and you get flagged. Plus, quarterbacks were responsible for calling the plays back then. They didn't have some coach calling in the plays from the sideline like they do today. Meanwhile, am I hearing people right? It seems like a lot of people are picking the Giants over Green Bay this week.

When the first thing I see when I clicked on the link is 311...no thanks, I'll pass. Didn't even bother reading the list.

And they'll both STILL have to take a back seat to Mr. Bart Starr, number 15 in your program, who led Green Bay to FIVE Championships. And HE beat Dallas...remember the ICE BOWL?

^^^Yes they were...and Keith Moon, to boot! I'm listening to January 11, 1969. Fillmore West.

"Network" - 1976 Arthur Jensen's speech to Howard Beale. When people mention Network, it's usually Howard Beale's "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" rant they remember...and rightly so, and Peter Finch deserved the Oscar and every bit of praise he received for that part. It was a shame he passed away before the Oscar awards. But, for me, the key scene of the film, and one of the most powerful and indelible monologues in cinema history is this scene where Ned Beatty (as TV station owner Arthur Jensen) lays down the law of the land to Peter Finch's Howard Beale. "You are meddling with the primal forces of nature!" This movie is over 35 years old, and it is just as relevant today as it was then...maybe even more so. That is the genius of the screenwriter, Paddy Chayevsky. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sySuIXG_IM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I thank your son for his service to his country. I'm happy right now as my coffee is strong and black(like my men, ) and my bacon perfectly cooked. I always say there are three things that make everything taste better: chocolate, peanut butter, and bacon.

GAA! What was it with you Brits and that fooking Mull of Kyntire song? Bloody barf-inducing dreck. Every week I would see the British charts and there it would STILL be at #1: Mull of Kyntire. Thank god for the punks and their nihilism. I'll take Pretty Vacant over Mull of Kyntire anyday...in fact, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols was, BAR NONE, my favourite album of 1977. Holiday in the Sun, Bodies, No Feelings, God Save the Queen, Pretty Vacant, E.M.I...that album SLAYED from start to finish. I don't care if they only lasted one album...I don't care if eventually it was all a pose and a construct of Malcom Maclaren...at the time they SOUNDED like they meant it and in 1977 that was enough. Anyway, I'm straying off-topic...this is the tv thread. Right now(9am), I am having breakfast and watching Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith give each other aneurysms over Tim Tebow on ESPN.

How far away do your kids live from you? Are you still chocolate deprived...will we have to airlift some chocolate to where you are?

^^^Do you mean you like Baltimore to make the Super Bowl? Or are you just referring to the Houston game? I like Baltimore against Houston. I like Baltimore against Denver...part of me wants to see Denver beat New England just so the world can see Ray Lewis and Baltimore's defense eat Tim Tebow for lunch. Baltimore against New England? Not so much...especially since the game will be at New England. Walter, God took the last few weeks of the season off so he could get more profitable odds on the Broncos for the playoffs. Anybody catch ESPN First Take this morning? One of the topics was who would you take in their prime: Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers? I know there's a lot of hate for Favre now, especially for how he became a drama queen late in his career...I can't stand Favre myself. But I'm old enough to remember Brett's prime and as much as I love Aaron Rodgers and the class with which he conducted himself during the whole Favre or Rodgers thing, and I even think Rodgers will eventually surpass Favre in championships and numbers...all that said, to see Brett Favre play football during that stretch in the 90s was something special to see. Right now, I still give Brett Favre in his prime a slight edge over Aaron Rodgers.

^^^Won't BD be there to help/hinder/indoctrinate to all things Zep?

That made my morning. Well played, sir.