Love the Beasties. Just got their new CD "Hot Sauce Committee Part Two" last week. Still in the process of digesting it; my first impression is that like other recent albums, it's uneven. IMO, "Hello Nasty!" was their last great album. You should at least have their first 5 albums: License to Ill; Paul's Boutique; Check Your Head; Ill Communication; and Hello Nasty!. Especially now that they've been released in remastered special editions with B-sides and instrumental jams. I first heard of the Beach Boys when I saw them open for Madonna on her Like a Virgin tour, April 1985 at the Universal Amphitheatre. Believe me, I took a lot of ribbing from friends about liking Madonna. In fact, the Madonna shows were shortly after the run of Iron Maiden shows at Long Beach Arena that were recorded for Live After Death...SCREAM FOR ME LONG BEACH! So I caught hell from Maiden fans when I said I was going to the Madonna concert. Didn't know anything about the Beastie Boys...don't even think I knew they were opening. I was purely going for Madonna...well, and because my GF wanted to go, too. The Beasties were rough, rowdy, and showed some promise but a lot of it was silly nonsense. Surely nothing that would suggest they would soon release rap's first #1 album. I can't even remember what their setlist was...I do remember my GF hated them and just wanted Madonna to come on. Next thing I know, it's 1986 and Fight for your Right to Party is ALL OVER MTV. I immediately go out and buy License to Ill and from the very first sampled John Bonham beats from When the Levee Breaks, I am hooked. I especially perk up when I recognize the Ocean riffs in She's Crafty. Wow, these guys dig Zeppelin/hard rock and are repurposing it in interesting ways. Around the same time I got hooked on the album, Run-DMC's Raising Hell tour was coming to LA, and the Beasties were one of the opening acts. The show ended up being crazy with fights breaking out between gang members, but I recall being enthused by the Beastie Boys set. Their own headlining tour for License to Hill in 1987 is legendary: girls dancing in cages, inflatable cock on loan from the Rolling Stones, and beer, beer, BEER EVERYWHERE! It got to the point where the boys could barely stay upright, the stage was so slippery from beer. It was a CONCERT PARTY of epic proportions. And just in time, too, since the previous party band supreme, Van Halen, had now, with the departure of David Lee Roth, become Van Hagar, boring boomer dad-rock. What really sealed the deal in making me a life-long Beastie fan was 1989's Paul's Boutique, a textural, kaleidoscope of sound...a masterpiece that no record collection should be without. And it's not just the sampling prowess that made the Beasties great, it was their voices and the way they bounced off each other...ping-ponging rapidly between singing solo to singing in tandem or all three together. It helped that all 3 (MCA, Adrock, Mike D) had distinct voices so you could tell who was singing what. I was an MCA fan myself...he was my fave Beastie Boy. I think it was his raspy voice. But where the Beastie Boys truly separated themselves from the rap pack was in their live shows. Most rap concerts of the time were disappointments, with the headliner doing a few lines and then letting his backups or the crowd fill in the blanks. And you often never got a full song; instead you got the dreaded rap-medley. Then there's the hoary cliché of the chant "put your hands in the air and wave 'em like you just don't care". With a couple exceptions, like RUN-DMC and Public Enemy, most rap groups were lazy and their shows were lame and amateurish. The Beasties concerts were different; for one thing they approached it like a rock concert. So you got a full show, with full song performances. Later, in the 90's, they would switch up between using a DJ and playing their own instruments, with the addition of Money Mark on the organ. In short, they raised the bar for rap concerts, and forced rappers to step up their game or fade to oblivion.

Now you got me blushing. I thank you kindly for the kind words, Foolintherain, but to be honest, I'm pushing 50 and my hair is turning grey.

I liked Soundgarden, enjoyed their records for the most part, and while I don't think CC is the greatest voice in rock, he's in the top 10. Although the last few times I've seen him: Soundgarden in 96, solo in 2000, and Audioslave in 04, his vocals didn't have the range and power he used to have. My all-time favourite Soundgarden song is "Head Down". Utterly hypnotic. Curiously, as much as I enjoyed their records, I always found them underwhelming in concert. Too withdrawn and lacking in charisma, particularly Chris. He tended to look like he was moping on stage. But I'll still go see them when they play the LA Forum this summer.

Didn't you know? Evster is a shoe cobbler in his spare time. Many a rock star's pair of feet have been shod in Evster's handiwork; his specialty is clogs. If I may add my personal anecdote, the times I've been close to Jimmy in person, whether it was at a show, Amoeba Records or the Bodhi Tree, I've judged his height to be somwhere around 5' 10" to 5' 11". Robert is closer to 6'...maybe even 6' 1"; especially if he's wearing boots. Or clogs.

How do you feel about a man confident enough to like musicals? And is a major fan of Judy Garland? To be honest, I've never understood the supposed aversion to pink men are expected to have, or any of the silly gender stereotypes. I presume the whole "men shouldn't wear pink" thing stems from the custom of newborn babies being assigned their own colour: blue for boys and pink for girls. Well, if that's so, why don't people freak out if a girl wears blue the way they do if a man wears pink? Like I said, it's all too silly. Kiwi, that's a good motto you have. But my favourite comes from the movie "Funny Face", starring Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire. There's a great scene with Kay Thompson(the author of the Eloise books) sings the song, "THINK PINK!" FYI, my top 5 colours are: 1. Pink...with my blue eyes and tan skin, when I wear my pink shirt with faded blue jeans, the effect is devestating. 2. Blue...all shades but especially cobalt and sky blue. 3. Black...goes with everything and has a slimming effect. 4. Green...makes a good combination with pink. 5. Purple...Go Lakers!

Or the glow and haze of a billion lights, neon and otherwise, such as what I'm looking at right now at midnight on Hollywood Blvd.

The Lakers LOST TO DALLAS!?!? You mean, it wasn't some terrible absinthe-induced nigtmare? Sorry...but I'm still in pain. And I've already posted my grief over the Lakers, only somehow I didn't see this NBA thread, so I vented my thoughts on the "what made you unhappy today thread?". I'm just having a hard time letting the anger go...the Lakers going out like that, and to Dallas, a team we've owned the last few years. But, fair is fair...the Lakers got beat so I gotta give props to the Mavs. Maybe it IS their year...FINALLY. At least they're getting plenty of rest while OKC and Memphis battle on. Of all those teams, I guess I want Dallas to come out; at least then the Lakers can say they lost to the champion. In the east, it's easy: I'm rooting for Chicago. D-Rose and Noah(son of French tennis great Yannick!) are major fun to watch. Besides, if Miami gets to the finals, it will be 2006 all over again: Dallas won't be able to breathe on Dywane Wade without having a foul called. Just my 2 cents...oh, make it a nickel.

^^^ Well, whaddyaknow...pink is my favourite colour, too. And in that exact shade, too...goes well with my blue eyes. Been known to wear hot pink on occasion as well.

OH MY EFFIN' GOD! That is hilarious...that kid's a future hockey player. Or he will end up in a bar band playing Nightranger and Winger songs. And I realize it's easy to say in hindsight...but there's no way I would I would've thought that was really you.

That is DEFINITELY Lisa Robinson! Besides Hit Parader, she also wrote for Creem; see the September 1973 issue for her report on the 1973 US tour.

Well, what do you know...seek and you shall find. I guess you don't have to respond to my earlier pm to you today, Melanie. Purely by accident, I clicked on the Meet and Greet section here, and you know what they say, "when in Rome...". So roam I did, and that's how I discovered your thread here, which answers some of the questions I had. Anyway, let me add my welcome to the others here...and I hope you enjoy your time here. As for discovering Led Zeppelin the way you did, better late than never. And I don't blame you for leaning towards Jimmy...he was an ethereal, pretty presence back then. Plays a mean guitar, too. Hmmm, I never posted an introductory "hello" post myself...maybe that's why my friend box is so anemic compared to others that have been here as long as me. Or maybe people just don't like me.

Ridiculous...there's absolutely no basis to presume JPJ hates ITTOD.

Yes, there's been a thread about this already...go to the Led Zeppelin Master Forum, scroll down about 10 topics until you see Nicole Scherzinger- Jason Bonham NBA Playoffs commercial. Don't know about a full version of the song; the longest clip I've seen on youtube is a minute long. There's full length Black Dogs from the Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience tour on youtube...don't know who the singer is as I've yet to watch one.

BINGO! We have a winner! Show her what she's won, Vanna!

Thanks for posting those.

Mr. Jones who bought it? Or who put the shirt up for sale?

The latest issue of Uncut(a British music magazine) also has a Bob Dylan cover story: Uncut Bob Dylan 70th Birthday issue There's 4 different Bob covers you can get...below is one of them.

^ ^ ^ Well said

Going through old video clips of Van Halen, I discovered that TODAY is the 40th Anniversary of the start of the 1981 Fair Warning tour...Van Halen's BEST TOUR, performance-wise and setlist, ever, IMO. I went to 5 shows on this tour: June 20-21: LA Forum August 30: Nashville Municipal Auditorium, Nashville TN September 12: Sam Houston Coliseum, Houston TX October 2: Frank Erwin Center, Austin TX Each concert was one big non-stop party, which, when you're 19, is EXACTLY what you want at a rock concert!!! These shows remain among my most treasured concert memories...the Nashville show being my first big-time road-trip and first visit to the "Music City". Of course, I had seen Van Halen before, having the good fortune to live in Southern California...my very first Van Halen show was at the Whisky-a-Go-Go the weekend right before tickets went on sale for Led Zeppelin's 1977 tour at the Forum. Being a hometown band, Van Halen shows in LA were always off-the-charts insane. What I was not expecting was how BELOVED the band was in Texas...I swear, I think Van Halen audiences in Texas were just as geeked up as the LA ones. And Van Halen seemed to return the love, for if you look at their tour schedule, they played Texas almost as much as California throughout their history. And not just the big cities like Dallas and Houston, but the rinky dink towns, too, that most bands of their stature passed over. Anyway, here's the full tour schedule: see if you can find the date you went to on this tour. I've included a setlist, too...a correct one, the one on wikipedia is wrong. If there's anyone here old enough to have seen Van Halen on this tour, post the show you went to and your memories. Van Halen 1981 Fair Warning Tour First North American Leg * May 12, 1981: Halifax, NS - Halifax Metro Centre * May 15, 1981: Providence, RI - Providence Civic Center * May 16, 1981: Portland, ME - Cumberland County Civic Center * May 17, 1981: Glens Falls, NY - Glens Falls Civic Center * May 18, 1981: Rochester, NY - Rochester Community War Memorial * May 20, 1981: Charleston, WV - Charleston Civic Center * May 24, 1981: Kalamazoo, MI - Wings Stadium * May 27, 1981: Cleveland, OH - Richfield Coliseum * May 31, 1981: Spokane, WA - Spokane Coliseum * June 2, 1981: Vancouver, BC - Pacific Coliseum * June 6, 1981: Seattle, WA - Seattle Center Coliseum * June 8, 1981: Portland, OR - Memorial Coliseum * June 9, 1981: Portland, OR - Memorial Coliseum * June 11, 1981: Oakland, CA - Oakland Arena * June 12, 1981: Oakland, CA - Oakland Arena * June 13, 1981: Oakland, CA - Oakland Arena * June 16, 1981: Las Vegas, NV - Aladdin Theater * June 18, 1981: Fresno, CA - Selland Arena * June 19, 1981: Los Angeles, CA - The Forum * June 20, 1981: Los Angeles, CA - The Forum * June 21, 1981: Los Angeles, CA - The Forum Second North American Leg * July 2, 1981: Milwaukee, WI - MECCA Arena * July 3, 1981: Detroit, MI - Cobo Hall * July 4, 1981: Detroit, MI - Cobo Hall * July 5, 1981: Detroit, MI - Cobo Hall * July 7, 1981: St. Paul, MN - St. Paul Civic Center * July 9, 1981: Indianapolis, IN - Market Square Arena * July 10, 1981: Chicago, IL - International Amphitheater * July 11, 1981: Chicago, IL - International Amphitheater * July 12, 1981: Chicago, IL - International Amphitheater * July 14, 1981: Pittsburgh, PA - Civic Arena * July 16, 1981: New Haven, CT - New Haven Coliseum * July 17, 1981: New York City, NY - Madison Square Garden * July 18, 1981: Uniondale, NY - Nassau Coliseum * July 20, 1981: Philadelphia, PA - The Spectrum * July 21, 1981: Philadelphia, PA - The Spectrum * July 22, 1981: Philadelphia, PA - The Spectrum * July 24, 1981: Boston, MA - Boston Garden * July 25, 1981: Boston, MA - Boston Garden * July 26, 1981: Portland, ME - Cumberland County Civic Center * July 27, 1981: Roanoke, VA - Roanoke Civic Center * July 28, 1981: Largo, MD - Capital Center * July 29, 1981: Largo, MD - Capital Center * July 30, 1981: Largo, MD - Capital Center * July 31, 1981: Buffalo, NY - Buffalo Memorial Auditorium * August 2, 1981: Cleveland, OH - Richfield Coliseum * August 4, 1981: Toronto, ON - Maple Leaf Gardens * August 5, 1981: Montreal, QC - Montreal Forum Third North American Leg * August 18, 1981: Hollywood, FL - Hollywood Sportatorium * August 19, 1981: Lakeland, FL - Lakeland Civic Center * August 22, 1981: Atlanta, GA - The Omni * August 23, 1981: Knoxville, TN - Knoxville Civic Coliseum * August 24, 1981: Charlotte, NC - Charlotte Coliseum * August 25, 1981: Greensboro, NC - Greensboro Coliseum * August 27, 1981: Hampton, VA - Hampton Coliseum * August 29, 1981: Cincinnati, OH - Riverfront Coliseum * August 30, 1981: Nashville, TN - Nashville Municipal Auditorium * August 31, 1981: Birmingham, AL - Birmingham Jefferson Civic Complex * September 1, 1981: Memphis, TN - Mid-South Coliseum * September 3, 1981: Huntsville, AL - Von Braun Civic Center * September 4, 1981: Jackson, MS - Mississippi Coliseum * September 5, 1981: Biloxi, MS - Mississippi Coast Coliseum * September 6, 1981: Baton Rouge, LA - Riverside Centroplex * September 8, 1981: Shreveport, LA - Hirsch Memorial Coliseum * September 10, 1981: Dallas, TX - Reunion Arena * September 12, 1981: Houston, TX - Sam Houston Coliseum Fourth North American Leg * September 28, 1981: Phoenix, AZ - Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum * September 29, 1981: San Diego, CA - San Diego Sports Arena * October 2, 1981: Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center * October 3, 1981: Norman, OK - Lloyd Noble Center * October 6, 1981: Albuquerque, NM - Tingley Coliseum * October 7, 1981: El Paso, TX - El Paso County Coliseum * October 9, 1981: San Antonio, TX - San Antonio Convention Center * October 15, 1981: Tulsa, OK - Mabee Center * October 16, 1981: Wichita, KS - Kansas Coliseum * October 17, 1981: Kansas City, MO - Kemper Arena * October 18, 1981: St. Louis, MO - St. Louis Arena * October 20, 1981: Omaha, NE - Omaha Civic Auditorium * October 21, 1981: Cedar Rapids, IA - Five Seasons Center * October 24, 1981: Orlando, FL - Citrus Bowl (Opening for The Rolling Stones) * October 25, 1981: Orlando, FL - Citrus Bowl (Opening for The Rolling Stones) Set list 1. On Fire 2. Sinner's Swing! 3. Drum Solo 4. Hear About It Later 5. So This Is Love 6. Jamie's Cryin' 7. Bass Solo 8. Runnin' With The Devil 9. Dance the Night Away 10. Sunday Afternoon In The Park 11. Romeo Delight 12. Everybody Wants Some!! 13. Ice Cream Man 14. Mean Street 15. Guitar Solo 16. Feel Your Love Tonight 17. You Really Got Me Encore: 18. Unchained 19. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love

"Bob Marley & the Wailers Live!" is an outstanding album. You were a fortuitous one, Jahfin, to have that as your entree into the world of Marley and reggae. It's obvious you have what I like to call, "open ears"...you hear something that you like and you have the curiosity to dig further into the roots and the subsequent fruit that develops from those roots. I find it distressing sometimes when some people's musical tastes seem to run the gamut from AC/DC to Aerosmith. How many power chords and 4/4 beats can you listen to in one lifetime before it all gets a little stale? Not that I'm knocking hard rock, but man does not live on bread alone. You can see it in the people who bashed Plant's alliances with Alison Krauss and now, the Band of Joy...if it's not hard rock, it's not worth their time seems to be the gist of their complaints. Which is ironic, given that it was getting into Led Zeppelin that led me to so many different strains of music: folk, bluegrass, krautrock, progressive, funk, metal, North African trance, blues, reggae...reggae, which leads to Bob Marley, which is the topic of this thread. So let me get this train back on track... My first Bob Marley album was "Burnin'", which I got in 1974 after hearing Eric Clapton's "I Shot the Sheriff" on the radio that year. After finding out that it was a cover of a Bob Marley song, that led me to seeking out Bob's version, which I discovered was on the "Burnin'" album, which had just been released late in 1973. My prior knowledge of reggae to this point was limited...I had seen "The Harder They Come" in 1973, and had the soundtrack album, so I knew about Desmond Dekker and the Maytals and Jimmy Cliff. But being a kid, I had limited funds, so I didn't have the spending money to be able to explore the reggae section of the local record store. Then, after "Houses of the Holy" came out in late March 1973, many reviews mentioned the band's take on reggae, "D'yer Mak'er", most of them unflattering, but I liked the song. Then, later that year, Elton John released his opus, "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", which also had a reggae-inflected track called "Jamaica Jerk-Off", so you could see that, at least among the Brits, reggae was becoming the latest "hot thing". I believe it was also around this time, either 1973 or 1974, that Creem magazine ran a reggae article, sort of a guide to reggae, that further primed my interest. So by the time Eric Clapton's "I Shot the Sheriff" hit the radio, I decided it was time to further explore the whole reggae genre, and since Bob Marley was the name on everyone's lips, I started there. Naturally, it helped that the first Marley album I bought, "Burnin'" was one of his best. And that led me to his earlier albums and to put him on my list of people I wanted see in concert. Which I finally did in 1975, when he played a week of shows at the Roxy in Hollywood around my birthday.

Thanks for that article, Jahfin. It's a pretty interesting take on Bob Marley and his legacy. I think Bob Marley is up there with Che Guevera as one of the most misused icons of the 20th century...especially among middle-class white kids.

Well, I'm going to show my age here... This is SOOOO FREAKING AWESOME! Thank you planted...I owe you big time, as you've helped to clear my foggy memory. You see, I saw Elvis Presley 4 times in the 70's, and I thought Elvis had mentioned Led Zeppelin being in the audience at one of the shows; but was confused about whether it was at the 1973 or 1974 show. Now, I know for sure...it was May 11, 1974, 37 years ago today. Hmmmmm, time sure flies. I couldn't believe it when Elvis mentioned that Led Zeppelin was in attendance at the show...my head immediately started spinning like it was on a swivel stick, trying to locate them. By the way, Elvis was still pretty good at this stage. It wasn't until I saw him in 1976 that you could see the decline; he was fat and sweaty then. But the time I saw him in 1972(Long Beach) was the best of all 4 Elvis Presley concerts I attended. Having seen concerts at both the Rose Palace and the Santa Monica Civic, I can only imagine how loud the sound must have been at a Led Zeppelin show at these venues. There doesn't seem to be ANY tapes of these shows, which I find puzzling, since by this point in time, Led Zeppelin was building a buzz through the concert scene. Has anyone else heard of either the Rose Palace or the Santa Monica Civic shows being taped/booted ever?