I'm wondering what this has to do with the price of eggs in China? You're equating Plant's solo career with Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience? Sounds like you went in expecting Led Zeppelin and a exact replication thereof. Ain't going happen short of summoning Bonzo back from the great hereafter.

From RollingStone.com: Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Experience Does the Band Proud Zep’s magic was in effect at the opening of John Bonham’s son’s tour By Ritchie Yorke Oct 20, 2010 Led Zeppelin's magic was in effect October 15th in Dawson Creek, British Columbia as Jason Bonham, the 44-year-old son of late Zeppelin drummer John "Bonzo" Bonham, led his five-man Led Zeppelin Experience through a rousing two-hour-plus set of classics from the Zep canon at the EnCana Events Centre. This was much more than just another tribute band: the Bonham bloodline carries its own responsibilities. With state-of-the-art lighting and effects, dazzling video treatments and a crisp, thundering sound, the JBLZE offered a set of Led Zep gems that were strikingly faithful to the originals. The band tore through a set that included "I Can't Quit You Baby," "Dazed and Confused," "Kashmir," "The Lemon Song," "When the Levee Breaks," "Moby Dick" (which featured a video of father and son pounding out the drum solo) and, of course, "Stairway to Heaven." The encore of "Whole Lotta Love" coupled with "Rock and Roll" earned a standing ovation. With the home-movie segments and heartfelt voiceovers honoring the 30th anniversary of the elder Bonham's death, Jason portrayed the story of what it was like to be the son of rock's heaviest drummers. Robert Plant had rejected a reported $200 million offer for Zep to undertake a world reunion tour, but Jason has occupied the drum stool for a revived Zeppelin several times, including the acclaimed one-off reunion concert at London's O2 Arena in December of 2007. JBLZE's lineup also includes guitarist Tony Catania, vocalist James Dylan, bassist Michael Devin and keyboardist/pedal-steel guitarist Stephen LeBlanc. The band plans some 30 shows in the US and Canada over the next two months — for dates and other details, see www.jasonbonham.net.

Probably one of the first novelty songs I ever remember hearing. Somewhere, I even have a copy of it on 78 that I inherited from an older sibling. and the flipside:

I know there's a new breed of spider (circa 2008) named after Neil Young.

He's certainly well respected by his fellow musicians in the industry, which sort of puts him in the "musicians' musician" category so it's not like he shows up on a lot of "best of" guitar player lists but he is certainly one of them. His track record pretty much speaks for itself. As a teenager he won the Topanga Canyon Bluegrass Banjo and Fiddle Contest in CA five years in a row (in fact, they had to retire him to Judge so others could have a chance at winning). He was also in the seminal folk-psychedelic band Kaleidoscope (who I've yet to check out) before going on to all of that great session work and his life long career with Jackson Browne. Speaking of which, they have a new live album out together that I highly recommend called Love Is Strange. They even revisit some vintage tunes Lindley's El Rayo-X covered which are the highlight of the album to me. You finish your sentence with a "LOL" so I'm not quite sure if you're serious or not. Not to pick but you honestly don't know who that is?

Love it. Reminds me of our Barrel Monster here in Raleigh, the controversy over which inadvertently started an international shitstorm. The artist, Joseph Carnevale, has since created several spin-offs of Barrel Monster, two of which are on display at the NC State Fair. The original One of the Barrel Monster spin-offs at this year's NC State Fair

First heard about this during an interview with author Steve Almond on NPR. During the show a caller phoned in to share their latest musical obsession, Mumford & Sons. The song played was Little Lion Man which immediately sold me on that band. If you're interested in learning more about Steve and his book, click on the photo above.

One of the cooler artist exhibits I've been to in quite a while is The Record: Contemporary Art & Vinyl at the Nasher Museum on the campus of Duke University in Durham, NC. If any of you find yourselves in the area, I highly recommend checking it out. I went on opening night but not all of the exhibits were on display so I'm due for a return visit. By all means, follow the link above and check out some of the exhibits online, there's some really cool stuff there. Though not part of the actual exhibit, this is one of the neatest things I've ever seen:

Just the sort of essential information I look for in a review.

As much as I love Led Zeppelin I don't consider any of them an "idol" or "hero". Lots of cool questions though for all band members. Wouldn't it be something if Sam could arrange a Q & A where the questions could actually be posed to band members? Ethan Kaplan, who runs the Murmurs.com site did that exact same thing several years ago except it was with Mike Mills of R.E.M.

I wouldn't consider that a remix but an actual cover since, at least to my knowledge, it doesn't use any elements from the actual original recording of the song (more on Far Corporation below). Speaking of which, I have a copy of it on cassette somewhere that I probably only listened to once. It has to be right up there with the great atrocities of rock including Will To Powers "Show Me the Way/Freebird Medley" and Big Mountain's massacre of "Baby, I Love Your Way". From AllMusic.com: The brainchild of producer Frank Farian, Far Corporation was an assembly of German session musicians and several better-known rockers, including members of Toto. Having most notably been the producer for Boney M. in the late '70s and early '80s (and later Milli Vanilli), Farian brought together musicians he had utilized in the studio and christened them Frank Farian Corporation, which was truncated to Far Corporation for the act's recorded output. Added to the mix were guitarist Steve Lukather, keyboardist David Paich, and singer Bobby Kimball (all of Toto fame); drummer Simon Phillips (Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend); and vocalist Robin McAuley. The quasi-supergroup's debut, Division One, was released in the spring of 1986 and consisted primarily of outside material, including a cover of Free's "Fire And Water." However, it was Far Corporation's interpretation of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" that garnered a modicum of interest for the act. The song earned Far Corporation some posterity as the answer to a trivia question when the song scraped into the bottom of the U.S. singles chart and, briefly, entered the U.K. Top Ten, making it the durable epic's first chart appearance (Led Zeppelin had never released their version commercially). The conglomerate wouldn't surface again for nearly a decade and, when it did with Solitude in 1994, it was to little interest of anyone aside from the most ardent fans of Toto's talented players.

Anyone hear about this over the weekend? UK 'sunflower seed' exhibit closed as health risk LONDON (AP) — An art exhibition involving 100 million porcelain sunflower seeds has been closed to visitors because it is generating dust that is a potential health hazard, the Tate Modern gallery said Friday. Chinese artist Ai Weiwei filled a giant hall at the London gallery with a 1,000 sq. meter (10,000 sq. foot) carpet of the imitation seeds, hand-crafted by thousands of artisans in China over a two-year period. Visitors were invited to walk across the surface when the show opened earlier this week. But the gallery said Friday that the "enthusiastic interaction of visitors" was releasing a "greater than expected level" of ceramic dust. It wasn't clear whether the seeds were breaking or simply being worn down. "Tate has been advised that this dust could be damaging to health following repeated inhalation over a long period of time," the gallery said in a statement. "In consequence, Tate, in consultation with the artist, has decided not to allow visitors to walk across the sculpture." It said visitors could view the exhibition from a walkway above the hall. The gallery said the seeds, a common Chinese street snack, represent friendship and compassion, raise questions of individualism and evoke the enforced conformity of the Cultural Revolution, when propaganda posters depicted Chairman Mao as the sun and Chinese people as sunflowers turning toward him. The commissions in the huge Turbine Hall have become one of the most popular attractions at Tate Modern, a former power station that opened as a gallery in 2000 and draws 4 million visitors a year. It is not the first time an exhibition there has caused mishaps. In 2007 three visitors tumbled into Doris Salcedo's "Shibboleth," a jagged crack running the length of the room. Several people suffered bumps and bruises on Carsten Holler's twisting slide in 2006. Last year a man was injured in Polish artist Miroslaw Balka's "How It Is," which invited visitors into a pitch-black room.

I was never really all that fond of either Fair Warning or 1984. Not that they don't have some great tunes but my favorite overall is most likely Women and Children First. I'm currently listening to Two Cow Garage's third record. Just saw them for the second time ever over the weekend and they were absolutely kick ass live.

Ah, the age of remixes. I was particularly taken by it too and proceeded to track down the 12". It took me a few years but I finally stumbled upon a copy at The Sound Shop (a small chain based out of Nashville, TN) in Kinston, NC.

They sold songs to Cadillac, something I thought Led Zeppelin would never do.

Perhaps not but Bonham's sampled just as much as James Brown and Aerosmith when it comes to rap records. Hell, when rap was new I even heard a Mellencamp riff lifted for a rap single. Goes to show, no one "opens themselves up" to this sort of thing, it's whatever fits the sound of the record.

Diver Down is probably one of their most maligned albums, particularly before Hagar entered the picture and they went through the Gary Cherone phase. Sure, it's full of covers but it doesn't stop it from being one kick ass record. That said, I did find myself skipping over the radio hits so I could get to the meat of the album with strong cuts like The Full Bug and Little Guitars.

Thanks. Lindley's great and one of my all time favorite guitarists. You've probably heard him on tons of records but just never realized it. He first came to my attention via Jackson Browne and the album Running On Empty. I became hooked with the first of the three David Lindley & El Rayo-X studio albums and have been a diehard fan ever since. Be sure to check 'em out if ever you get the chance. If you're anything like me, you'll be blown away by his playing.

I don't think so, according to their website this is the inspiration for their name.

I didn't go to the movies to see The Exorcist when it was new but I did see it when it aired on network television for the first time so I'm sure it was (obviously) very heavily edited. I know a couple of my friends that went to see it at the movies when it was first released, they both slept with their lights on for weeks. Anyone mentioned this made-for-TV one yet? This was some scary shit. I think most (if not all) of it has been uploaded to YouTube for those that may have never seen it before.

Garage rock aficionados, take note. From the description of the clip on YouTube: The still astounding Gratefully Dead remains one of the jewels in the Animals' acid rock crown. Burdon was hanging out with the likes of Ron 'Pigpen' McKernan from the Grateful Dead at the time, and the connection is likely the inspiration behind the song's title, although the track itself is more aggressive than anything the Dead ever committed to vinyl. That this incredible, jaw-dropping performance has never been officially anthologised on any number of Nuggets/Back from the Crave/Pebbles/Psychedelic highs of the '60s-type (or even Animals) compilations is truly puzzling. Make no mistake this track is a fuzz-drenched garage-punk monster of the highest order, lie Animals matching any number of primal punk combos from the Seeds and the Count Five to the Sonics and the 13th Floor Elevators every step of the way. The band pounds the song's raucous 12-bar blues riff into the ground with relentless precision while Burdon is at his blues-wailin' best over the top. There's enough razor-sharp fuzz on the bass and guitars to virtually lacerate your ear drums. There's even a false ending as the tape machine grinds to a halt before the riff charges back in for the final rave-up.

Two Cow Garage w/ The T's and Dave Hause (of The Loved Ones) at King's Barcade in Raleigh last night. Saturday night I caught a bit of The Thermals at King's. Friday was The American Beauty Project at Page Auditorium at Duke followed by Sorry About Dresden w/ Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun at the newly opened Motorco in Durham.

Used to own Richard Pryor's Greatest Hits on vinyl but since it's never been issued on CD I opted for this anthology which encompasses most (if not all) of everything that was on that record. Limited Edition box set