As soon as I saw Lady Gaga perform "Born This Way" on the Grammys, I immediately thought of Madonna's "Express Yourself"...as I'm sure a million other people did.

Now THIS is how you open a rock concert!

I'd love to say I've never mixed them up...but I can't. Although at least I've never mixed up the names when writing a paper or posting. But in conversation, there have been a couple times where I've slipped up and said Osama when I meant Obama. Strangely enough, I've never done the reverse; said Obama when I meant Osama. But it's understandable when you're speaking; especially if you are at a party and have had a few drinks What I find less forgivable, nay unconscionable, is when the mistake is made in writing, where you have the ability to self-edit. And what's really beyond the pale is when news broadcasters make the mistake...you're a professional, act like one. Like when Fox News kept making the slip on their bottom-of-the-screen news crawl during the 2008 election; it was such a transparent attempt to slur Obama.

"If freedom of speech means anything at all, it is the freedom to say things that people do not want to hear." ~ George Orwell

Welcome to the board CIAFTOG! As you can see, others have posted their photos and YouTube clips, so I say "Post away!" I think we'd all like to see your pics.

Poor kashmiran. All he wanted was some advice on which shows were best to get and instead he gets a bunch of lectures about buying vs. downloading, and "my dick is bigger than yours" audiophile posturing. My apologies kashmiran. If it's not too late to be of use, I'll give you my opinion of the 5 shows you listed to choose from. 1. March 11, 1975, Long Beach: This is the first show of the 5 that you should get, but on one condition...make sure it is the Godfatherecords release "The American Return" and NOT the Empress Valley or Eelgrass releases, as they run too fast. The Godfather release has the soundboard tape at correct speed in excellent sound; for some reason the 1975 tour soundboards all sound better than the 1973 and 1977 sbds. Another plus you get with the Godfather version is better patching of the gaps with Mike Millard's tape, better fades into and out of the discs, better artwork...and, as a bonus, the hilariously inept liner notes of Paul deLuxe, who, it seems, has only a passing relationship with the English language. The cover of this release features a photo of Jimmy playing the doubleneck against the backdrop of the American flag. And while the band's performance doesn't top the next night in Long Beach, nor the other March 75 dates, it's good enough...1975 found Zeppelin getting their funk on and the funkiness usually reached a peak in the Crunge/Theremin interlude between WWL and Black Dog. March 11, '75 Long Beach provides a cool example of that, along with some great Plantations. Add in the excellent sound, and it's clear this is the first choice...but only if it's the speed-corrected Godfatherecords release. 2. February 28, 1975, Baton Rouge: Another great sounding 75 sbd, with good to great versions of nearly every song, including the first use of Woodstock in Dazed & Confused...well, at least until a tape of the '75 Houston show surfaces. Only Stairway and Black Dog are subpar. I have EVSD's "Rampaging Cajun", which I believe is the one you said your store had. P.S. If your record store doesn't have the Godfatherecords version of the 3-11-75 Long Beach sbd, then Baton Rouge moves up to the #1 slot and Long Beach moves down to the #3 or 4 slot; unless there's another speed-corrected version that they have. 3. June 7, 1977, New York: Now if your store did have the Godfatherecords version of the 3-11-75 sbd, and you got that first, then to avoid 1975 fatigue, you could get this second and then get the '75 Baton Rouge show. The version I have is Empress Valley's "Magical Sound Boogie", and once you get used to the dry sound of the '77 sbds, you'll find this is a pretty good show, especially if you prefer the '77 setlists to '75. It's the opening night of a 6 show stand at Madison Square Garden, and from all accounts the atmosphere was electric. Of course, that's the one thing sbds can't capture: atmosphere. But you do get great versions of IMTOD, Achilles and the acoustic set in sbd sound. No Quarter includes Nutrocker. Only Kashmir and Rock n Roll fall apart, and surprise surprise, neither was Jimmy's fault. Jones and Bonzo were at fault in Kashmir and Plant came in too soon in Rock and Roll. Another drawback is that there are gaps and cuts in the sbd tape. But all in all, an above average 1977 show from the run of Madison Square Garden shows, from which NO decent quality audience tape exists. LA had Mike Millard; where was New York's equivalent? 4. May 14, 1973, New Orleans: As noted before, you got the date wrong for this show. My version of this show is Godfatherecords "The Drag Queen of New Orleans", which is how Plant introduces Bonham before Moby Dick. It's a typical sounding 1973 sbd, maybe better in some spots(Jonesey's keyboards really come through in No Quarter and Jimmy's guitar does have that wondrous 73 tone), with some, but not all, of the gaps patched with an average audience tape. In fact, the opening two minutes of the show is the audience tape...the sbd doesn't kick in until the middle of Rock n Roll. But worse, Communication Breakdown cuts out before the end...right when the band was getting into a funky groove. So all in all, a decent early-US leg 1973 show, but not as essential as the other shows on your list, so I would wait until you got the others before you got this show. As usual with a Godfatherecords release, you get excellent packaging and photos(for way cheaper than EVSD and other labels) coupled with the nonsensical musings of Paul DeLuxe. 5. March 14, 1975, San Diego: You mentioned "Conspiracy Theory", which is EVSD's release of the sbd from the heretofore unknown SECOND San Diego show of March 14, 1975. Alas, I just don't find it a good show, so I rarely feel like putting it on. For one thing, it suffers by coming between the AMAZING 3-12-75 Long Beach show and the Seattle/Vancouver bacchanals. And it's not complete...it's missing the WWL/Crunge/Theremin/Black Dog encore, which often was one of the highlights of the tour. I would recommend this for completists only. The cover features a photo from one of the Earl's court shows, not San Diego. There you have it kashmiran...hope it's of some use to you.

I've never seen the booklet for the Complete Studio Recordings on sale separately...only the booklet from the first 4-disc box set from 1990. So if your search through ebay and the internet proves fruitless, finding someone who can scan you a copy might be your best bet.

Wow...you could knock me over with a feather. I HATED that Arthur's Theme song...and just about everything else Christopher Cross did in the '80's. Just goes to show...you learn something new every day. What's next? Barry Manilow filling in on keyboards with the Grateful Dead? Ann Murray subbing for Grace Slick?

Oh, I'm past the point of caring what people think of me...especially people on the internet, where the chance of ever meeting is pretty small. Besides, if I was worried about what other people thought, I never would have become a fan of Led Zeppelin in the first place.

You'll get no argument from me. As I've previously said, two of the major musical moments in my life was hearing Led Zeppelin and the Velvet Underground for the first time. Those bands both remain among my favourites, and there's a good chance that if a current band is influenced by either one, then I will give them a listen and more often than not like them; ie. Television, the Stooges, Jane's Addiction, Soundgarden, Sonic Youth, Stereolab, My Bloody Valentine, R.E.M., Autolux, No Age, White Stripes. One of my pet projects I'm working on for the board is a sort of buyer's guide to the Velvet Underground.

I know. My post also was more in response to duckman's original hypothetical question and perpetualmotions post.

Thanks SuperDave! It's all good so far. What happened was last December they found a blood clot in my leg and I ended up spending Dec-Jan in the hospital. After I was released, I still had to take Coumadin for my blood, and every two weeks I go back to the hospital for tests to make sure my blood's ok. The initial prescription was that I would have to be on the coumadin for 6 to 8 months...which meant no alcohol or green leafy veggies(spinach, broccoli, green beans, asparagus) during that time. Today the doc said I could stop taking the coumadin on June 10. Can't wait to have green veggies again! Anyway, sorry...this is the what show are you listening to? thread...not what ails you? thread.

On disc 3 now of Rampaging Cajun...Dazed & Confused just finished. Which points up another reason why the second leg of 1975 was better than the first leg: they replaced "San Francisco" in D & C, with the far better, far moodier and spookier "Woodstock" interlude. Another thing about the 1975 Dazed's...the last 3 to 5 minutes of the song often has some of Jimmy's best soloing of the night.

A nice fantasy, but there's NO WAY they would've released the entire show back then...and it's not just a question of the length of the concert necessitating a costly and hefty vinyl box set. Hell, they could've released the entire concert on a tidy 3 cd set back in 2003 and they didn't. Like you said, Houses of the Holy hadn't been released yet, and with OTHAFA, Dancing Days and The Ocean all being on the set list(not to mention The Crunge interlude in Dazed & Confused), Atlantic would have been apoplectic about releasing those songs on a live album before Houses of the Holy came out, for fear that it would cut into sales of Houses of the Holy. So, right off the bat, any so-called Live at the Forum release would not have any of the new HotH songs. And Dazed & Confused and Whole Lotta Love, if they made the cut, would definitely have been edited. The most likely scenario would have been a single album release, with one side featuring heavy rockers and one side, the softer, acoustic numbers. So, something like this: Side 1. 1. Immigrant Song 2. Heartbreaker 3. Since I've Been Loving You 4. Communication Breakdown Side 2. 1. That's the Way 2. Going to California 3. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp 4. Thank You(minus the Louie Louie/organ intro) One thing this lineup does is highlight the LZ III numbers, which I'm sure the band felt wasn't given a fair shake by the public. Given how most LZ tracks like Immigrant Song and SIBLY were even better in concert, having these explosive versions on the live album would have the added benefit of spurring some fans to revisit LZ III...and inspiring the others who hadn't bought it yet, to now do so. If you're asking why no Black Dog, I think Plant's lyric flub nixes that...and both R n R and Stairway sound rough in spots; you can see Jimmy is still working out how to resolve second half of the Stairway solo. Anyway, there's no time machine so it's all moot. But the above list is my considered opinion on what a hypothetical 1972 Live at the LA Forum album release would have looked like.

At the hospital, waiting on blood test results...so I've got time to kill. Listening to "Rampaging Cajun", the soundboard from the Baton Rouge, Louisiana show from Feb. 28, 1975. Excellent sound so far...one of the best of the 75 soundboards as far as balance, clarity and overall quality of sound. As far as performance, so far I think it's better than the St. Louis '75 show I checked out last week...maybe even better than any show from the first leg with the exception of St. Valentine's Day Massacre. I'm on disc 2...a really good, bluesy No Quarter just ended...Trampled Underfoot now beginning. As this is a Louisiana show, I'm picturing Deborah there rocking out...hmmm, let's see, it's 1975?...then I'm picturing her in a halter top and Ditto jeans. Wait...it's February, so better put a sweater over that halter top.

With the way the Lakers got PUNKED on national TV yesterday, football (college AND NFL) can't come soon enough IMO.

Made me unhappy yesterday...and I am still unhappy about it today. "IT" being the COMPLETE AND UTTER BEATDOWN of the LA Lakers by Dallas yesterday, knocking the Lakers out in the second-round of the playoffs. For the first time in 3 years, the Lakers will not be in the NBA Championship Finals. But, you know, it wasn't losing that hurt...you can't win EVERY year. No, it was the WAY they lost and the way they lost their cool and lack of class(such as Bynum's cheapshot foul). Getting blown out by 30+ points? Where was the Lakers pride? Watching the game yesterday, I felt bewildered, dismayed, ANGRY...then finally ASHAMED AND EMBARRASSED. What a way for Phil Jackson to go out. And yesterday is just another reason why, no matter how many championships Kobe wins, the Kobe-era teams will never surpass the Magic Johnson Showtime teams in Laker fans hearts. OK, I realize that getting upset about a basketball team looks inconsequential in light of all the floods, tornadoes, sickness and death that surrounds us. But the thread asks what made you unhappy...and that's what made me unhappy. If that makes me frivolous in your eyes, so be it. There is a silver lining in all this. With all the Laker-haters out there, the Lakers getting swept out of the playoffs means a lot of people are HAPPY today.

Remember when I posted that ESPN ROCK BRACKETOLOGY thread? I said it may be silly, but the fact that it was ESPN could lead to unexpected consequences or benefits, depending on how you feel about hearing Led Zeppelin on TV. Sure enough, to the surprise of many media-types I'm sure, Led Zeppelin crushed their bracket, even beating the holy Rolling Stones(who are always #2 to the #1 Beatles in the media's rock n roll narrative)...only the Beatles could stop them. It's possible that ESPN's executives noticed this and, always mindful of trying to attract as many of the 18-34 crowd that advertisers crave, instead of using the Rolling Stones "Start Me Up" for the millionth time, they decided to use some Zeppelin...only with some hot female singer as a sop to their primarily male audience. By the way, that Nicole Sherzinger popped up the other night at the Prince concert I went to at the Fabulous Forum...she sang an old Chaka Khan song with the Purple One. But the story about THAT show is for another thread.

When I first read this yesterday in the Daily Telegraph(a British paper), I thought it had to be a hoax, but apparently these two douchebags are serious...UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE! What a couple of ass-clowns. Read below... Dutch men attempt to report Barack Obama Two Dutch men have attempted to report Barack Obama for the "murder" of Osama bin Laden at their local police station. By Bruno Waterfield, Daily Telegraph May 4, 2011 Ruud Snoeren and Terry Flohr accused the American President of "perpetrating" a crime by ordering the special forces raid that led to bin Laden's death on Sunday. Police in the Dutch city of Tilburg refused to accept the case and referred the men to an international war crimes court based in The Hague. "We are very angry," said, Mr Snoeren, 30, a lawyer. "There is a murderer who has admitted the deed on television and who dumped the evidence at sea. And the whole world is celebrating.' The pair denied that they were not defending bin Laden and insisted that the al-Qaeda leader should have been captured to be put on trial. Dutch police officers recorded the complaint but told the men the issue was outside their jurisdiction. "We have had a conversation and registered it. It is not that we do not take the case seriously, but this is not something for Tilburg police," said a spokesman. "We are not going to commit police resources on this." The men were told by officers to contact the International Criminal Court in The Hague. "We are going to consider it," said Mr Flohr, 29, a student.

I have the Empress Valley's entire Deep Throat Set Parts 1, 2 and 3 on 9 cds, which are Mike Millard's tapes of all three Forum shows in probably the best sound yet. I also have both Long Beach shows: the March 11, 1975 I have in both the Mike Millard recording and the soundboard via Godfatherecord's "The American Return", which doesn't have the speed problems the other versions have. I have the best quality version I've heard yet of the superior(performance-wise) March 12 Log Beach Arena show: Badgeholder's "Taking No Prisoners Tonight", which has another audience source (heavy on the bass) for the majority of the show, until Mike Millard's recording(OUTSTANDING SOUND!) takes over from the middle of Stairway on through the encores. In case you don't know, the reason Mike's recording started late is because he got caught in traffic when there was an accident on the freeway on the way to the show. And if you're interested, I have both San Diego shows from March 10 and March 14, 1975...the version I have of the March 14 show is Empress Valley's "Conspiracy Theory"; don't know off hand which release of the 10th I have. Frankly, neither of these shows are of note...not when compared to the other shows on the West Coast Swing: Long Beach, Vancouver, Seattle, and L.A. I could burn these on cd-r's and do a trade with you, if you want. There's still some Zep shows I'm looking for and perhaps you have them. I neither have the capability, the equipment, the time, nor the know-how in turning my cd's into computer or torrent files for downloading purposes.