Since I saw just about every Los Angeles-area Led Zeppelin concert from 1972 to 1977, and because the LA shows in those years were usually the best of those respective tours, my pick would come from something earlier. Bath 1970 is an obvious choice, as is Jimmy's birthday show at RAH. Then, there are 3 that, everytime I listen to them, I wish there was a time machine so that I could go back in time to experience each one. Those three are: 1. Sept. 4, 1970 LA Forum 2. Sept. 19, 1970 Evening show Madison Square Garden, NY 3. Sept. 29, 1971 Osaka, Japan But when I really think about it, and if someone had a gun to my head and said I could only pick ONE SHOW, my answer would be: Sept. 7, 1968 Teen-Clubs, Gladsaxe, Denmark. To be able to say you were at the VERY FIRST concert would be very special. That's cachet money can't buy.

Sounds great! I love anything from 1971, so I will look for this as it's one I don't have. Shame it's incomplete...but at least it has Celebration Day and That's the Way and Whole Lotta Love, 3 of the highlights of the 71 tour.

Yeah, especially with that pirate costume on. Oh no! Nancy Wilson's speeding away...

Queen's a great band; made some great albums and were a joy to see in concert. I'm not questioning the fact there's a thread. But to think Queen is underrated is a bit misleading. In fact, they're pretty highly regarded. They sold millions and millions of records. Toured all over the world playing to huge crowds. Their performance at Live Aid was widely acclaimed as the best of the day. Freddie Mercury frequently tops or makes the top 10 of various Best Vocalist/Frontman in Rock polls. Hell, in the UK, they've even topped the Beatles as favourite band on occasion. So is Queen underrated? Not in my book.

^^^ Strider & Steve...sounds like a sitcom; or one of those earnest, rustic folk-duos from the 50's and 60's.

Wasn't this 1975? Not trying to be a prick...I know this takes a lot of time and effort. Nope...YOU ARE RIGHT! My error...I was thinking the Superdome was their only scheduled New Orleans stop in 1977. I should've known better than to question you, Deborah.

A gentleman never tells. Anyway, that post wasn't meant for this forum...a rather unfortunate slip of the thumb.

Sorry...this wasn't meant to be posted here...that's what I get for trying to multi-task on a phone.

Oh definitely it was the Jack...and whatever other substances he was on. Plus, you have to remember that it was Van Halen's freewheeling and raucous interviews that endeared them to the press in the first place, much like the Beatles charmed the media with their wit and personality. So even if a reporter didn't like Van Halen's music, as a writer they were irresistible because they would fill your notebooks with juicy quotes. And they were absolutely feerless about slagging other bands. Sometimes they would be over-the-top and baseless, but they frequently would be spot-on and hilarious. Oh and FireOpal...as a Doors fan, you should know that the surviving Doors have their handprints at the Guitar Center, too.

Still not enough to get me to watch the show. But I have friends and family that DO...so I'll probably hear about it.

"I'm a single successful guy..."

Big Leave it to Steve to one-up me...of COURSE he was there, too. To answer FireOpal's question, I did not speak to him. By the time I arrived there was already a sizable crowd, and since I'm 6'7" myself, I don't mind hanging in the back and letting shorter people stand in front of me so they can get a better view. Besides, if I had tried to speak to Jimmy, the Alchemist's Archivist might have taken one look at this giant approaching Jimmy and sicced security on me.

Okay, found a story on laaska news site, citing an Al-Jazeera report that his wife and daughter have escaped TO Tunisia. No official confirmation yet.

Wait a minute...how can you escape TO Libya when you already live there? Do you mean escaped FROM Libya? Just did a quick google search of gaddafi's wife escapes and didn't see anything more recent than May 6...will keep checking.

I read and liked the book, or at least "liked" as much you can any book about a difficult subject as the rape and murder of a 14-year old girl. But the way the book is structured, and how the author Alece Sebold handles the characters and the transitions between the corporeal and the ethereal, the book is a more enjoyable and easy read than the plot would lead you to believe. If you are in any way skeptical of religion or the supernatural, the idea of a girl narrating the story from heaven might seem too precious and put you off, and I admit some of the spiritual sentiments come across as new-age mumbo-jumbo, but that didn't detract from the main thrust of the book for me: the affect of a brutal crime on a family and what happens in the aftermath. Alice Sebold had previously written a memoir called "Lucky", about her rape and recovery, but "Lovely Bones" exploded on the scene when it was published. Given its popularity it was only a matter of time before Hollywood tried to adapt it, and I had my doubts whether a film adaptation could work. But when Peter Jackson announed that he was going to direct "Lovely Bones", my hopes improved. After all, "Heavenly Creatures" was brilliant, and if he could pull off that story's mix of murder and fantasy, maybe he could do the same for "Lovely Bones". Alas, when the movie came out, it was a big disappointment to me...it just laid there, and the spiritual, heaven parts were even more cloyingly _ new-agey and goopier than the book. Plus, large sections of the plot were cut or changed, and not for the better. Character motivations often seemed bizarre because of the edits of the plot. The girl, Saoiran, or something like that was okay, I suppose; she was in another "great book turned into lousy movie" adaptation, "Atonement". The sole reason, IMO, for watching Lovely Bones is Stanley Tucci as the killer...he's excellent as always. So yes, this is another case of read the book instead of seeing the movie. Meanwhile, I have spent 24 hours watching time go by. Some of you may be familiar with the artist Christian Marclay, a visual and audio montage specialist. In fact, he's regarded by some as the father of "turntable-ism". Well, LACMA just staged a free screening of his latest work, "The Clock", a 24-hour montage of clips dealing with clocks and the passage of time. It has previously been shown in London last year, and earlier this year in New York. LACMA's screening ran from 11am Monday to 11am today(Tuesday), and I stayed awake for all 24 hours. Id like to say more, but I've gotta get some sleep before going to the Mitch Hedburg tribute tonight at the Steve Allen Theatre. But you can just google Christian Marclay The Clock if you're interested.

Since Evster is indisposed for the time being, I, being a native Los Angelean, will answer for him. The photo was taken in front of the Guitar Center on Sunset Blvd., just east of Gardner, next to the Sunset Grill, made famous by the Don Henley song of the same name. Some time in the late-80's,Guitar Center decided to create their own kind of attraction similar to the Grauman's Chinese Theatre courtyard of the Stars and the Hollywood Blvd. Walk of Fame. So they started a Rock Walk of Fame, and now the entire entry-way into the Guitar Center is filled with the hand-prints of great guitarists and other musicians. John Bonham has a plaque there. I was there for both the Jimmy Page and the Yardbirds unveiling. Next time I go, I'll take some snaps and post 'em here.

"Romans were pussies. He still has His eyes." Meanwhile, I see that "The Troubles" have even infiltrated this thread. Everywhere you go, it's the fookin' Irish! THEY are to blame for Osama...Usama...wouldn't you like to be a Sama, too?

With the Lakers out...and so too, our archrivals Boston Celtics, I'm not as enthused about watching the rest of the playoffs. But HELL YES! GO BULLS! Beat Miami!

Seasick Steve, eh? What, did Steve A Jones return from Japan by boat?

I'm not particularly religious and I hope you don't find me too forward, but I found myself thinking of these lines when reading your post, ebk. The Angels are carrying her home Where the Lord will meet her With a pair of wings

:lol: Yeah, you probably are...although I made a few alterations to my original text...but it's a movie I feel so strongly about that I had to share it with the board. Plus I know there's some gearheads on here that, if they haven't already seen it, should at the very first opportunity.

Do tell...pm me if there's details you'd rather not have out in the open.

One thing I like almost as much as going to concerts, is going to the movies. Plus, it's cheaper going to the movies than it is to concerts, so I tend to see more of them than I can keep up with...I probably average about 150-200 films a year, depending on how good the schedule is in a given year. Here in LA, we have several organizations and venues that devote their programming to old, classic movies or independent, off-beat fare along with periodic retrospectives of stars and directors. One such organization is the American Cinematheque, which has two theatres for their programming: the Aero in Santa Monica and the Egyptian in Hollywood. The Egyptian opened in 1922 and it was run by Sid Grauman, before he left in 1927 to the Chinese Theatre down the block, which is famous for the cement footprints of the stars in the courtyard(cf. the final scene in "Blazing Saddles"). The first film to open at the Egyptian in 1922 was "Robin Hood" with Douglas Fairbanks. Through the decades it changed ownership many times; United Artists was the last corporate owner before it closed in 1992. I saw two premieres at the Egyptian Theatre in the '80's, coincidentally both James Cameron films: "Aliens" in 1986 and "The Abyss" in 1989. The American Cinematheque took it over, restored it to it's original exterior and finally had it's grand reopening in 1998. Right now, they are running two tributes concurrently: one for the recently departed Elizabeth Taylor...they showed "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and "Cleopatra" earlier this week, and "Giant" is screening this Sunday. The other tribute is for director Monte Hellman, an obscure director from the 60's and 70's who made these wonderful movies, many of them with the underrated actor Warren Oates and a young Jack Nicholson. So for 3 nights(thurs-sat), they have been showing Monte's films, including the premiere of his latest one, "The Road to Nowhere", his first film in 20 years, and Monte will be there all 3 nights for a Q & A. But it's Thursday night's double-bill I want to talk about: "Two-Lane Blacktop" and "Ride in the Whirlwind". "Two-Lane Blacktop", from 1971, is one of my all-time favourite "road" movies...heck, movies period. I see it every chance I get on the big screen: 1) because of the wonderful widescreen cinematography; and 2) because it's rarely shown on TV. It's kind of like "Easy Rider", only instead of 2 guys riding cross-country on motorcycles, it's 2 guys racing a 1955 Chevy across the U.S. It's also more existential, with minimal dialogue, and there's long stretches where "nothing" happens. But as Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf and Seinfeld showed, it's those little "nothing" moments of the day that add up to a world of importance. And here's the real surprise of "TLB"...it stars 2 non-actors; musicians who would never act in a film again, even though they are so wonderful, so natural in this film. They are James Taylor and Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. I've always liked the Beach Boys, and being a surfer when I was a young grommet, had a soft spot for the late, great Dennis Wilson, drummer of the Beach Boys and the ONLY surfer in the band. But James Taylor was another matter...when I was younger, I couldn't stand his music; thought he was too bland and wimpy. And I liked plenty of folk and stuff back then...just not James Taylor. So imagine my surprise when I saw "Two-Lane Blacktop" for the first time and saw these two musicians in starring roles...and they were GOOD! In fact, I think it's the coolest thing James Taylor's ever done. The rest of the cast includes the great and hilarious Warren Oates as the driver of the GTO, and in an early bit part as a hitchhiker, Harry Dean Stanton, credited as H.D. Stanton. Then there's Laurie Bird, as "the girl", who was one of those iconic hippie-chicks of the early-70's. The "plot", such as it is, involves James(the driver) and Dennis(the mechanic) going to town to town in their primer-grey '55 Chevy, trying to hustle up a drag-race for cash wherever they go. Along the way, they keep bumping into Warren Oates, who is driving this 1970 G.T.O. across country for some un-named reason; Warren keeps picking up hitchhikers along the way, but he tells a different story to each one. Finally, Warren challenges James and Dennis to a race from Oklahoma to Washington DC for pink slips. But as in most road movies, it's not the race or the destination that's important but the experiences along the way, the people and places seen. The movie takes place in a key point in our history...1970, as the 60's end and people are trying to make sense of the decade just past and what the future portends. All the characters seem haunted by something, like the reason they have to keep on the move is to outrun their past. It's also a portrait of an America that is almost vanished...and America before globalization, a time when every region had its quirks and personality. Before there had to be a Starbucks and McDonalds and Wallmart everywhere. And it's a paean to the pre-catalytic converter era of cars-when muscle cars roamed the land: Cameros, Chargers, GTOs, Barracudas, Mustangs, Firebirds...if you're a gear head(I'm talking to YOU, MissMelanie!), you will LOVE this movie just for the car and racing footage. But don't think just because it's existentialist, the movie's all dark and dour. No, there's plenty of humour...Warren Oates is especially funny, and even though the dialogue is sparse, what is said is eminently quotable. What the movie especially gets right is the behavior of real people. You never get the sense you are watching actors "act", but of people just behaving. It also captures, in the relationship between James and Dennis, that type of close friendship you have with someone where you are comfortable enough with each other to be quiet. Which is another aspect I love about this movie...the poetic quietness it achieves, which is ironic considering it's about the car racing culture. Beautiful soundtrack, too...the Doors, Kris Kristofferson, Arlo Guthrie. Depending on how big a city you live in, it's doubtful you'll get a chance to see "Two-Lane Blacktop" in a theatre, but there's a great Criterion DVD edition that you can rent, buy or put on your Netflix queue. If you liked "Easy Rider", give TLB a shot...I think you'll like it; maybe even be moved by it. Here's the opening ten minutes of the film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZez1NS7Ptk The second film screened Thursday night, "Ride in the Whirlwind", is a western Monte directed in 1965 for Roger Corman. It's most notable for being written by, and starring a young Jack Nicholson. Jack and his cowhand buddies get mistaken for bandits and hunted by vigilantes. Harry Dean Stanton also appears. If you like westerns, it's worth renting, if only to see Jack and Harry Dean before they became well-known.